Religion and the Future of Nigeria: Lessons from the Yoruba Case

This paper presents an illuminating analysis of the place of religion in Yoruba social and political life, and why the Yoruba experience represents a great ex­ample to the rest of Nigeria, particularly the religiously-volatile north of the country. Combining multiple approaches from historical sociology, the sociol­ogy of religlon, political history and the public lives of critical political and re­ligious agents over a period of about a century of Yoruba history, the article explains why the Yoruba case is an exemplar in religious harmony. He argues that the Yoruba are constantly pressed towards olaju (modernity/development/progress) which makes cross-cutting communal belonging more salient, thus ensuring that the Yoruba constantly mobilize both religious and secular insti­tutions and processes in the all-embracing project of olaju.

Public Lives, Private Water: Female Ready-Made Garment Factory Workers in Peri-Urban Bangladesh

In Dhaka city and its fringe peri-urban sprawls water for domestic use is an increasingly contested commodity. The location of our research, Gazipur district, bordering the growing city of Dhaka, is the heartland of Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) industry, which has spread unplanned in former wetlands and agrarian belts. However, unlike Dhaka, the almost fully industrialized peri-urban areas bordering the city, like many other such areas globally, function in an institutional vacuum. There are no formal institutional arrangements for water supply or sanitation. In the absence of regulations for mining groundwater for industrial use and weakly enforced norms for effluent discharge, the expansion of the RMG industry and other industries has had a disproportionate environmental impact. In this complex and challenging context, we apply a political economy lens to draw attention to the paradoxical situation of the increasingly “public” lives of poor Bangladeshi women working in large numbers in the RMG industry in situations of increasingly “private” and appropriated water sources in this institutionally liminal peri-urban space. Our findings show that poorly paid work for women in Bangladesh’s RMG industry does not translate to women’s empowerment because, among others, a persisting masculinity and the lack of reliable, appropriate and affordable WASH services make women’s domestic water work responsibilities obligatory and onerous.

Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Patients With Mental or Physical Diseases

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) and the consequences of the pandemic on individuals’ social, economic, and public lives are assumed to have major implications for the mental health of the general population but also for patients already diagnosed with psychological disorders. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with psychological disorders or physical health conditions in inpatient mental and physical treatment programs. A total 2710 patients completed COVID-19 related questions concerning their psychological distress and financial burden during the pandemic. Patients with psychological disorders reported the highest level of psychological distress and financial burden compared to patients with physical health conditions. Furthermore, most patients with psychological disorders attributed their individual psychological distress to the COVID-19 pandemic. In comparison to patients with physical health conditions, patients with psychological disorders are more strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and have an additional need for psychological/psychotherapeutic treatment due to the COVID-19 crisis. The findings stress the importance of continuous psychosocial support and availability of psychosocial support services for patients with psychological disorders during the pandemic.

Some Firsts

Although the public lives and history of giraffes have been well recorded in many books, the story of giraffes told in this book would be incomplete without a brief review of how giraffes first entered into the consciousness of those humans who did not live in Africa. They did so via art and literature. The first appearance of giraffes in literature is probably in the Old Testament, but after that, many other authors wrote of them, in particular Pliny the Elder. Their appearance in art begins with rock paintings in southern and northern Africa, and artwork in Egypt over the period 6000 to 3000 BC. More modern images began appearing ~AD 500 in the first texts that dealt with the natural world. Julius Caesar brought the first living giraffe to Europe, followed by Lorenzo de Medici in the thirteenth century. By the late seventeenth century they had disappeared from public view in Europe except as a stellar constellation.

Introduction

The Introduction situates the discussion in the present book in its historical and autobiographical contexts, and delineates the characteristics of poetry that emerges from the experience of political oppression. The major terms employed—‘the language of oppression’, ‘freedom’, and ‘artistic engagement’—are defined. Poetry, politics, freedom, and oppression are considered through their manifestations in language that governs private and public lives. While the Introduction establishes that the main argument does not proceed from views of ‘art for art’s sake’ or ‘art for social justice’, the notions of artistic commitment and the social utility of art are presented in order to explore the processes of language as they play a role in determining how people understand their place in a turbulent world, and, more importantly, how literary language helps them define, and perhaps also achieve, a sense of personal freedom.

The Public Lives Of Private Family Albums : A Case Study In Collections And Exhibitions At The Art Gallery Of Ontario And Max Dean : Album

This thesis uses Toronto artist Max Dean's performance A survey of the critical literature that addresses the placement of vernacular objects such as family albums and snapshots in the art gallery functions as a preamble to a series of interviews done with scholars, academics and curators in the fields of photography and art history. Drawing on the results of these interviews, this paper examines the challenges that arise when family albums are publicly displayed and exhibited. Terry Barrett's methodology of investigating the context of photographs is considered and applied to family albums and to Dean's

The Public Lives Of Private Family Albums : A Case Study In Collections And Exhibitions At The Art Gallery Of Ontario And Max Dean : Album

This thesis uses Toronto artist Max Dean's performance A survey of the critical literature that addresses the placement of vernacular objects such as family albums and snapshots in the art gallery functions as a preamble to a series of interviews done with scholars, academics and curators in the fields of photography and art history. Drawing on the results of these interviews, this paper examines the challenges that arise when family albums are publicly displayed and exhibited. Terry Barrett's methodology of investigating the context of photographs is considered and applied to family albums and to Dean's

Public knowledge, beliefs, psychological responses, and behavioural changes during the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Middle East

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, believes, psychological and behavioural impact of COVID-19 on the general population in the Middle East, exploring how it impacted public lives. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional online survey was sent to a convenience sample in the Middle East through social media (Facebook and WhatsApp) between 16th of June and 30th of June 2020. The questionnaire was designed to collect the demographic, participant’s source of information regarding COVID-19, knowledge and believes about COVID-19, the psychological consequences of COVID-19, impact of COVID-19 on participant’s behaviour. The final version of the questionnaire was further tested for content validity by experts in the field. Results: A total of 2,061 participants completed the survey, with the majority being females (n=1394, 67.6%), from urban areas (n=1896, 92%) and the majority were from countries of The Levant (n=1199, 58.1%), followed by the Arabian Peninsula (n=392, 19.1%), Iraq (n=300, 14.6%) and Egypt (n=138, 6.7%). Few participants (3.0%) reported to have been infected and many (n=1847, 89.6%) were committed to quarantine at home. Social media platforms were the most common sources of information (41.2%). Many (63%) believed that COVID-19 is a biological weapon and were afraid of visiting crowded places (85%). The majority avoided public facilities (86.9%) such as prayer places and believed that the news about COVID-19 made them anxious (49.5%).