scholarly journals The moral life of epinephrine in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danya Glabau
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Food Allergies ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Financial Cost ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Emergency Medication ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Political Economic

This paper follows the ‘moral life’ of epinephrine auto-injectors, devices that people with food allergies and their caretakers use to administer emergency medication to stop serious allergic reactions, in the United States. These devices are potent signifiers of the seemingly precarious nature of life with food allergies. I follow auto-injectors from their social birth as a commodity object, through how they structure doctor-patient interactions and parenting, to the ways that parents and illness advocates talk about their life-saving properties. At every step of the way, their significance is influenced by the political-economic context of health care in the United States, which places significant burdens of financial cost and responsibility for deciding what constitutes ‘good’ care upon individual patients and caretakers. The moral life of epinephrine serves as a model for thinking about how medical devices take on meaning that is at once practical, moral, and economic as they circulate through manufacturing and distribution channels and into the lives and social worlds of users.

scholarly journals Resurrecting Empire

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 112-115
Author(s):  
Samer Abboud
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indigenous Resistance ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
Colonial Experience ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Political Economic

Written at a critical historical juncture of Arab-western relations, Khalidi’stext provides a refreshing and informed account of western intervention inthe Middle East. It stresses the catastrophic human and political consequencesof western colonial adventures in the region and the neglect of thishistorical experience by current American foreign policy decision makers.Although written primarily for a non-academic, American audience, it is auseful and important text on contemporary Middle East history.Accessible and highly readable, it provides insights into a series ofmajor issues currently relevant to the study of the Middle East: democracy, oil, Palestine, and Iraq. The first chapter provides an account of westerncolonialism’s social, political, economic, and cultural legacy wrought on theMiddle East. Beginning with a brief introduction to the American march towar with Iraq, the author establishes an approach employed throughout thetext: juxtaposing the historical western colonial experience with theAmerican invasion and occupation of Iraq. Locating western involvement inthe Middle East within the context of the Ottoman Empire’s decline, Khalidihighlights the differential systems of colonial rule imposed on the region.Throughout, he emphasizes the indigenous resistance to colonialism, thusarguing against Orientalist discourses of indigenous acquiescence and subservienceto the supposed benevolence of colonialist rule. Two importantpoints emerge: first, that the political structures imposed by the colonialregimes have persisted, and second, that the region’s political cultureremains deeply rooted in the anti-colonial experience. This experience –entirely conditioned through European involvement in the region – meantthat for many, the United States never experienced the same political andcultural hostility as Europe. Throughout the cold war, however, the UnitedStates’ image as a disinterested outside power began to give way to an imageof the United States as a significant power broker in the region with manyinterests, and, most importantly, few objectives compatible with the politicaldesires of the region’s peoples ...

Compounding Racialized Vulnerability: COVID-19 in Prisons, Jails, and Migrant Detention Centers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G.T. Denney ◽  
Ramon Garibaldo Valdez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Correctional Facilities ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Detention Centers ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Improved Sanitation ◽  
Immigrant Detention

Abstract Context: Carceral institutions are among the largest clusters of COVID-19 in the United States. As outbreaks have spread throughout prisons and detention centers, detainees have organized collectively to demand life-saving measures. Chief among these demands has been the call for decarceration: the release of detainees and inmates to prevent exposure to COVID-19. This paper theorizes the compounding racial vulnerability that has led to such a marked spread behind bars, mainly among race-class subjugated communities. Methods: We use journalistic sources and administrative data to provide an in-depth account of the spread of COVID-19 in American correctional facilities and of the mobilization to reduce contagions. We also use two survey experiments to describe public support for harm reduction and decarceration demands and measure the effects of information about (a) racial inequalities in prison, and (b) poor conditions inside migrant detention centers. Findings: We find that only one-third to one-half of respondents believe that response to COVID-19 in prisons and immigrant detention centers should be a high priority. We also find that Americans are much more supportive of harm reduction measures like improved sanitation than of releasing people from prisons and detention centers. Information about racial disparities increases support for releasing more people from prison. We do not find any significant effect of information about poor conditions in migrant detention centers. Conclusions: The conditions in prisons and migrant detention centers during the pandemic—and public opinion about them—highlight the realities of compounding racialized vulnerability in the United States.

Manufacturing Crisis and Fomenting Fear at the Dawn of the Age of Mass Expulsion

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-133
Author(s):  
Adam Goodman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
Everyday Reality ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Undocumented Mexican Migration

This chapter explains how the United States' ongoing demand for cheap migrant labor normalized the deportation machine at the border and in the interior. It talks about the Immigration and Naturalization Service's increasing dependence on voluntary departures and immigration raids between 1965 and 1985 that made the possibility of deportation an everyday reality for undocumented immigrants. It also describes the pattern of circular, undocumented Mexican migration that emerged as a relatively open and benign labor process with few negative consequences. The chapter reveals how bureaucratic practices, changes in law, and combination of political, economic, social, and cultural factors demonized ethnic Mexicans and solidified the stereotype of them as prototypical “illegal aliens”. It also highlights the changes in the policy and political economies of the United States and Mexico from 1965 to 1985 that resulted in significant transformations to the deportation machine.

Introduction: There Was a Moment

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Luke Patey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Technology Leaders ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Engagement ◽  
Political Economic

China views the decline of the United States and the West as signal to advance its interests, norms, and values on the world stage. But sentiments that one superpower will replace another miss the bigger picture. China’s rise to the commanding heights of the global economy and world affairs is not preordained. Its potential evolution into a global superpower, with a deep presence and strong influence over economic, political, military, and culture abroad, will rather be conditioned by how China behaves toward the rest of the world, and how the world responds. The world’s other large economies, major militaries, technology leaders, and cultural hubs will be significant in shaping the future world. For developed and developing countries alike, there is recognition that economic engagement with China produces strategic vulnerabilities to their own competitiveness and foreign policy and defense autonomy. China will struggle to realize its political, economic, and military global ambitions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document