- Last 7 days
-
docdrop.org docdrop.org
-
his scholarship resonates with the work of postcolonial theorists who argue that God and spirits are not social facts but rather are “existentially coeval with the human.” When the postcolonial theorist dipesh Chakrabarty argues that being human means “the possibility of calling upon God [or spirits] without being under the obligation to first establish his reality” (Chakrabarty 2000, 16), his claim is strikingly similar to sts arguments about the fabrication of facts in science. Just as quarks and embryos are fabricated, so is God. Latour argues that it’s only Enlightenment moderns who predicate reality on the denial of the fabrication of both God and nature through mediators
What this is basically saying is that both God or spirits and scientific facts, like quarks and embryos—are made real through how people engage with them. It’s not that one is “real” and the other is just “belief.” Postcolonial theorists like Chakrabarty argue that being human means we can call on God without needing to prove He exists first—God is real because people live with that reality. Latour, makes a similar point about science: quarks aren’t just discovered out of nowhere, they’re fabricated through experiments, instruments, and institutions. What ties these together is the idea that reality doesn’t just exist on its own—it’s always mediated through human practices. The key issue is that Enlightenment thinking made us separate “fact” from “belief,” when actually both are different ways of making things real.
-
- Apr 2025
-
docdrop.org docdrop.org
-
In contradistinction to the liberatory claims made by the Gay International inrelation to what it posits as an always already homosexualized population, Iargue that it is the discourse of the Gay International that both produces homo-sexuals, as well as gays and lesbians, where they do not exist, and repressessame-sex desires and practices that refuse to be assimilated into its sexual episte-mology.6I show how this discourse assumes prediscursively that homosexuals,gays, and lesbians are universal categories that exist everywhere in the world,and based on this prediscursive axiom, the Gay International sets itself the mis-sion of defending them by demanding that their rights as “homosexuals” begranted where they are denied and be respected where they are violated. Indoing so, however, the Gay International produces an effect that is less than lib-eratory.
This passage is powerful because it flips the script on what we usually assume about LGBTQ+ advocacy. Massad is suggesting that the Gay International doesn't just "liberate" pre-existing identities, it actually creates them through a specific Western framework. In doing so, it may erase or suppress other ways of expressing same-sex desire that don’t fit neatly into the labels “gay” or “lesbian.” What’s really compelling here is how he draws attention to the idea of sexual epistemology, the ways in which knowledge about sexuality is formed and structured. He challenges the idea that Western LGBTQ+ identities are natural or universal, and shows how these identities are tied to particular historical and cultural developments.
-
- Feb 2025
-
docdrop.org docdrop.org
-
Th e discourse that distinguishes between “civilized” and “primitive” peoples has long been characterized by a deep ambivalence on the part of the “civilized” toward the “savage” type. Th e negative sides of primitive life are the ignorance and unsanitary conditions that threaten good health. In this context African- American women belong to the same “primitive” category as African women, so it is only natural for an American physician to assert that “the Negro’s reaction to disease is primitive.” On the positive side, the primitive is associated with a biological vitality and a hardiness that is fi nally indistinguishable from a profound harmony with nature and its mysterious pro cesses. (2005, 94
This passage clearly examines how radicalized ideas like "civilization" and "primitiveness" were used to justify medical racism and social hierarchies. This describes both degrading and idealizing "primitive" peoples was a common factor of colonial and racist ideologies. These caused real-world consequences and still do today. This influenced medical practices and polices that contributed to racial disparities in healthcare.
-
-
docdrop.org docdrop.org
-
In urban China and the United States herbal medicine and acupuncture are primarily used for conditions where biomedicine is less effective or in-effective. )ese conditions include, on the one hand, subhealth conditions such as allergies, pain syndromes, and other chronic illnesses
I have seen a lot of changes through acupuncture by going for myself. I have acute pain in my back most days and getting acupuncture was one of the best things I have done for it. Also I have witnessed this helping my dad after he had gotten rear ended by a delivery truck. He suffered nerve damage through his left arm and down his hands. He went for about 10 sessions, and started to feel a difference. Unfortunately during that time he had alopecia, which he also treated with acupuncture.
-
-
-
Surplushealth research aimsto constantly increasethe total numberof medicines we consume. A clinical trial designed to reducethe amount of medication people take and still save lives sounds like a win- win solution: the company has a betterdrug to sell that will be more tar-geted, and peoplewill get better faster. But actually this kind of trial is remarkably rare, even counterintuitive. If successful, such a trial would take a large numberof people out of a risk category, essentially telling them they had less risk than they thought.The drugs they were taking to gain health would no longer be seen to do so. In the joke for this scenario, the doctor would tell the patient, “Good news, you haven’t changed, but the guidelines have!”
Surplus health research—which aims to expand medication consumption—rarely prioritizes reducing medication use, even when it could be beneficial. Instead of conducting trials to deprescribe or reassess risk categories, the pharmaceutical industry often reinforces the need for more medication. This made me think back to Purdue Pharmas case in the early 2000’s regarding OxyContin and the opioid crisis. Purdue aggressively marketed OxyContin by reframing chronic pain as an underrated medical condition. Doctors, influenced by misleading research, aggressive marketing, and patient expectations, were pressured into prescribing more opioids. This critiques the way pharmaceutical companies shape medical guidelines and research to sustain medication dependence rather than reducing drug consumption when possible.
-
The pharmaceutical industry is a massive elephant. Like the blind men of the famous parable, we each catch hold of a tiny piece of it—leg, tail, trunk—and think we have a handle on it: it is strong and solid, it is hairy, it moves like a snake. From about $880 billion dollars of sales for 2011, the industry is expected to growapproximately 5 percent a year in the future.
This analogy presents the pharmaceutical industry as a powerful but multifaceted entity that different stakeholders perceive differently. The industry's financial growth suggests continued expansion, but the metaphor subtly implies the challenges of incomplete understanding and differing priorities among those interacting with it. Scientists may focus on research and innovation, while policymakers see regulation, and patients experience cost and accessibility concerns.
-
- Jan 2025
-
docdrop.org docdrop.org
-
In 1982, with the Brazilian government's announcement of its commitment to a new politics of abertura-a democratic "opening" and political "awakening"-!
The Abertura refers to a period of political transition in Brazil during the early 1980s when the military dictatorship had ruled the country. During the earlier years of the military dictatorship, Brazil experienced widespread repression. Abertura coincided with severe economic difficulties in Brazil where they faced high inflation, unemployment, and growing social unrest. This was a pivotal moment in Brazil’s history because it represented the military regime’s decision to begin transitioning away from authoritarian rule.
-