On the Apportionment of Archaic Human Diversity

The apportionment of human genetic diversity within and between populations has been measured to understand human relatedness and demographic history. Likewise, the distribution of archaic ancestry in modern populations can be leveraged to better understand the interaction between our species and its archaic relatives, and the impact of natural selection on archaic segments of the human genome. Resolving these interactions can be difficult, as archaic variants in modern populations have also been shaped by genetic drift, bottlenecks, and gene flow. Here, we investigate the apportionment of archaic variation in Eurasian populations. We find that archaic genome coverage at the individual- and population-level present unique patterns in modern human population: South Asians have an elevated count of population-unique archaic SNPs, and Europeans and East Asians have a higher degree of archaic SNP sharing, indicating that population demography and archaic admixture events had distinct effects in these populations. We confirm previous observations that East Asians have more Neanderthal ancestry than Europeans at an individual level, but surprisingly Europeans have more Neandertal ancestry at a population level. In comparing these results to our simulated models, we conclude that these patterns likely reflect a complex series of interactions between modern humans and archaic populations.

“What a wonderful world!”: human relatedness, social space and accountability through action in a top-level amateur choir

PurposeDuring choir rehearsals, a conductor continuously holds choir members accountable for what they do and how they sing. Hence, members are held accountable through action. This allows a conductor to emphasize his/her expertise and underline his/her authority. Choir members typically respond in certain ways when this is done, for instance by commenting on the feedback they receive or by trying to improve their singing. The interplay between these accounts, how they develop over time, and what they (do not) accomplish in terms of human relatedness are the focus of this study. We use Bauman's (1993) conceptualization of social space to investigate these issues.Design/methodology/approachBy providing reasons for their conduct and behaving in a certain way, a conductor and choir members, but also a choir's management, can alter their position in social space. Thereby, they solidify or change how they relate to other individuals in the choir. Bauman assumes that processes of social spacing require so-called “misunderstandings”. We examine seven misunderstandings that occurred in a particular rehearsal of a top-level amateur choir, analyzing their impact on human relatedness. Video analysis methods, interviews and photo-elicitation are the main research methods used.FindingsWe find both short-term and long-term effects of misunderstandings on human relatedness, and offer two extensions of Bauman's (1993) conception of social space. Firstly, we assert that there is a reflective side to processes of social spacing that needs to be taken into account when changes in human relatedness are discussed. Secondly, we find that the emotional impact of accountability on how individuals behave ought not to be underestimated, as this can have lasting effects on how people relate to one another.Originality/valueThis research makes two contributions to the extant literature. It is shown how accountability through action unfolds when people engage in leisurely activity, and how this affects the way they relate to one another – in sometimes unintentional and unpredictable ways. It also extends a well-known theoretical framework on social space that has seen little application in the accounting literature. This framework is adapted so that it may be used more fruitfully in future accounting studies.

Christian Globalism at Home

Child sponsorship emerged from nineteenth-century Protestant missions to become one of today's most profitable private fundraising tools in organizations including World Vision, Compassion International, and ChildFund. Investigating two centuries of sponsorship and its related practices in American living rooms, churches, and shopping malls, this book reveals the myriad ways that Christians who don't travel outside of the United States cultivate global sensibilities. The book traces the movement of money, letters, and images, along with a wide array of sponsorship's lesser-known embodied and aesthetic techniques, such as playacting, hymn singing, eating, and fasting. It shows how, through this process, U.S. Christians attempt to hone globalism of a particular sort by oscillating between the sensory experiences of a God's eye view and the intimacy of human relatedness. These global aspirations are buoyed by grand hopes and subject to intractable limitations, since they so often rely on the inequities they claim to redress. Based on extensive interviews, archival research, and fieldwork, the book explores how U.S. Christians imagine and experience the world without ever leaving home.

Ethical Literacy Education

Ethics, broadly conceived, concerns the moral principles that guide what humans do, and the branch of knowledge related to moral principles. Ethics goes beyond simply what is, and endeavors to lay the groundwork for what should be; every pedagogical decision, including whether, what, and how to teach literacy, rests implicitly or explicitly on moral principles. The moral principles of educators and those charged with developing and supporting literacy education matter profoundly for educational decision-making. Relatedly, the issue of justice (social, redistributive, recognitive, representative) is an inescapable one in education, where children’s lives, futures, and flourishing are routinely determined by choices made by those with power. Some of the central ethical principles that may be taken from discussions of ethics and social justice into the specific realm of education include: ahimsa and satyagraha; human relatedness; a moral relationship to place and to non-humans; varied conceptualizations of love; respect for individual freedoms, including the freedom of human flourishing; equality of opportunity; and mutual respect for the multiplicity of differences that exist among people. There are three areas of inquiry that may help educators and researchers examine the moral principles at stake in instructional decision-making about literacy. First is the issue of how, or to what extent, literacy development should be conceptualized as an ethical goal. If it is conceived as an ethical goal, we should ask whose notions of development count, who has access to literacy, and who is included and excluded are all critical questions. Literacy goals should then also be seen as socio-culturally, contextually, and individually contingent. Second is the issue of how literacy teaching may be a pathway to support students in be(com)ing ethical individuals, and/or in transforming society itself to become more ethical. If literacy is understood in this way, ethical individuals should be willing and able to think deeply and carefully about ethics, use print and other media critically and with discernment, and take action in the service of making the world more just. Finally, the act of relating ethically to others (as teachers and students, as readers and writers) in the literacy classroom must be theorized. We must consider treating texts and authors in ethical ways, and consider ethical dialogue as a literacy pedagogy, and honor divergence in interpretation and composing. The intent is not to provide definitive answers, but to indicate some of the ways in which such questions and possible answers may complicate and expand views of literacy education.

Intrinsic Motivation and Psychological Connectedness to Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation: The Perspective of Self-Determination

This study adopts the perspective of the Self-Determination Theory to look at the psychological experience of drug users and their decisions to take drugs or not, with particular emphasis on the concept of relatedness. To achieve this objective, a qualitative methodology was employed to explore the experiences of these drug users regarding how they take drugs and/or relapse. Theory-driven thematic analysis was employed to identify themes related to this topic. Results show that one’s psychological need for relatedness is an important determinant of whether one will take drugs or not, via the interaction mechanisms that exist in dimensions of affiliation and intimacy. While drug taking is a result of the modeling behavior existing in affiliated relationships, it is also a coping strategy for the ultimate satisfaction of psychological needs when human relatedness disappears. The implication is that significant others can develop unconditionally warm, caring, and empathetic supportive relationships with drug users, so as to enhance their fulfillment of psychological needs and reduce the risk of drug relapse.

What Do We Know About Babies as Cloth Suckers?

Winnicott discusses the psychology of infancy with particular reference to babies that start to attach to and are comforted by pieces of cloth or teddies. He proposes that a baby’s objects are halfway between being part of the infant and part of the world and that this represents a crude form of what later we call the imagination. The imaginative feeding experience is much wider than the purely physical experience and can quickly involve a rich relationship to the mother’s breast, and feeling, finger-sucking, the sucking of cloths or the clutching of the rag doll are the infant’s first show of affectionate behaviour. For the immature self of a very young child it is self-expression perhaps in habits like cloth-sucking that feels real, and gives the mother and infant an opportunity for a human relatedness that is not at the mercy of the instincts.