Monthly Archives: September 2012

Franz Fanon refers to ontological blackness, the social-psychological notion of ‘self-identity’ in relation to the “fact of being a black person,” in chapter 5 of his book, Black Skin, White Masks. As a part of my quest to answer how and … Continue reading →

Joseph Dumit, in his paper “Objective Brains, Prejudicial images,” argues that although there are no necessary connections between an abnormal brain and an insane person, “popular portrayals of the brain continuously reiterate the chain of associations than an abnormal brain implies … Continue reading →

– WordPress finally let me upload this! Did any one else have issues? In Yanqiu Rachel Zhou paper “If you get AIDS…You have to endure it alone”: Understanding the social constructions of HIV/AIDS in China,” she explores how HIV/AIDS, as … Continue reading →

In his article, Modernity, Cultural Reasoning, and the Institutionalization of Social Inequality: Racializing Death in a Venezuelean Cholera Epidemic,” Charles L. Briggs explains the long term impact of institutional responses to the cholera epidemic as a significant worsening of social, … Continue reading →

In their article on Race, Ethnicity, and Health: An Intersectional Approach, Lynn Weber and M. Elizabeth Fore examine the relationship between health and race, ethnicity and other intersecting systems of inequality. They define health disparities as “differences in the incidence, … Continue reading →

The Brandt reading on The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study shows a terrifying  example of how structural violence (in this case, racism) can lead to “ethically unjustified” experimental research on societies most vulnerable citizens. One such population of vulnerable … Continue reading →

Towards the end of his lecture on human values, Michael Ignatieff discusses the issues surrounding military intervention and human rights. He states, “Intervention, instead of reinforcing respect for human rights, is consuming their legitimacy, both because our interventions are unsuccessful … Continue reading →