You are what you don’t eat - fasting, ethics, and ethnography, in Serbia and beyond

<i>The Politics of Memory of the Second World War in Contemporary Serbia. Collaboration, Resistance and Retribution</i>

Throughout the era of socialist Yugoslavia, the Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera ‘Torlak’ in Belgrade was a well known producer and exporter of vaccines. After the dissolution of the...

This introductory chapter provides a definition of some key terms: ethics, morality, reflexive awareness, and affordance. Studies that focus on virtues, values, and ways of life tend to fall under the rubric of ethics. Those that focus on obligations, prohibitions, general principles, systematicity, and momentary decisions are treated as morality. There is a great deal of overlap and interaction between these. Cutting across the distinction between ethics and morality is another one, that between the tacit and the explicit—those background assumptions, values, and motives that go without saying or are difficult to put into words, on the other hand, and those that easily lend themselves to conscious reflection, on the other. Meanwhile, ethical affordance is any aspects of people's experiences and perceptions that they might draw on in the process of making ethical evaluations and decisions, whether consciously or not.

Background: In addition, Health promoting behaviours among the nursing students may affect the quality of patient education. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine the health-promoting lifestyle behaviours of nursing students in a tertiary care institute, Maharashtra.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 124 nursing students. Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile Proforma (HPLP)was prepared which consists of two parts, Part I deals with the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and Part II of the proforma deals with Health-promoting lifestyle information which was a modified version of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II). It consists of 46 items divided into 7 subscales (Health responsibility, Physical activity, Food practices, Spiritual growth, Self-concept, Inter personal relations and Stress management). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of this tool was 0.8197. Permission of Institute Ethical Committee was taken. Descriptive statistics were used to describe HPLP. Data was analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Mann Whitney test. Results: Majority 89(71.77%) were have good HPLP score and 29(23.39%) were excellent category. The mean overall (Total) HPLP score was 62.27±9.66 (range 33-87). The highest mean score in the subscale were for self-concept and spiritual growth. The lowest scores were for food practices and physical activity. Highly significant difference (p&lt;0.0001) was found between overall mean HPLP scores among the different age groups.Conclusions: These nursing students had reasonably good orientations towards health behaviours. Attention need to be paid for healthier food choices. Health promotion planning to motivate students for regular physical activity with the purpose of promoting health and preventing diseases is necessary.

Background: Health behaviours’ are most likely introduced in adolescence stage of life. Socio-demographic and socio-economic factors have found to influence health directly or indirectly. Therefore, study was conducted to assess the status of health promoting lifestyle among secondary school students of Government Schools as well as their associations with socio-demographic and socio-economic variables.Methods: The cross sectional study was performed among Government School students. Health promoting lifestyle proforma (HPLP) was prepared consisting of 2 parts, Part-I sociodemographic and socio economic characteristics and part-II health promoting lifestyle profile-II developed by Walker et al. was modified into Nepalese version. It consists of 46 items divided into 7 subscales (health responsibility, physical activity, food practices, spiritual growth, self-concept, inter personal relations and stress management). Descriptive statistics was used to describe HPLP. Data was analyzed by using SPSS. Chi-square test was used to identify the associations.Results: The overall HPLP mean score of respondents was 2.99±0.27, with the highest mean scores for spiritual growth (3.2±0.28) and interpersonal relations (3.16±0.28) and the lowest mean score for physical activity (2.80±0.25) and nutrition (2.84±0.29). Only, Occupational status of mother were found to be significantly associated with the Health-Promoting Lifestyle.Conclusions: This study showed that the status of health promoting lifestyle among secondary level students was good with ample room for improvement as adoption of sedentary lifestyle is increasing remarkably. Therefore, health education and promotion programs might be prerequisite to promote the health of Youths.

ABSTRACTThe article offers a critical reading of two documentaries that tackle Yugoslav socialist past: Mila Turajlić's Cinema Komunisto and Marta Popivoda's Jugoslavija, kako je ideologija pokretala naše kolektivno telo/Yugoslavia, How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body. Both films maintain what we deem the ‘anti-Communist hypothesis’: the assumption that the socialist Yugoslavia was first and foremost an ideological construction, used by the Communist Party to manipulate the consciousness and the body of the people. Using theoretical lenses of Jacques Rancière and Alain Badiou, the article analyzes thematic differences and similarities of the films. In our reading, for all their differences, the films have a common contradiction: both Turajlić and Popivoda criticize the illusionary and ideological nature of the Yugoslav socialism, while simultaneously indulge in a nostalgic view on the country's past. Caught in-between condemnation and fascination, the documentaries fail to problematize their own retrospective post-socialist look into the socialist past and legacy, remaining silent on some of the main specifics of the Yugoslav context.

The article explores the approaches of individuals from two different religious traditions regarding prison spirituality: Said Nursi, who received a comprehensive classical education and furthered his knowledge through modern education, and A. Solzhenitsyn, who initially grew up as an atheist but rediscovered his religious upbringing while imprisoned, subsequently strengthening his spirituality over time. The research objectives of this article are to delve into the personal, intellectual, and spiritual transformations of these two influential figures during their time in prison, examining their pursuit of inner peace and the expansion of the heart. Additionally, it analyzes their development in parallel with the works they wrote. The experience of incarceration provided them with an opportunity to reflect on their own lives, independently of each other, and diagnose the societal issues prevalent in their respective times, such as atheism, materialism, hedonism, lack of spirituality, and excessive consumption. They then attempted to propose and develop solutions to these issues, not only for their immediate circles but also for the wider public. Thus, it is useful to identify these commonalities and differences, and then, discuss them from the comparative theological perspective set up by Francis J. Clooney, S.J. Their profound understanding of this crucial task of improving the lives of others enabled them to endure the hardships of prison and transform its detrimental effects into more fruitful endeavors. While there are similarities in their reflections on faith and the human condition, there are also notable differences in their approaches and perspectives. Nursi’s prison spirituality centered on Islamic teachings and the pursuit of religious knowledge, while Solzhenitsyn’s focused on ethical, moral, and existential evaluations in the context of atheistic and authoritarian regimes.

Dominique de Menil (1908–1998) with her husband, Jean, amassed one of the finest collections of ancient and modern art in the United States. Rivaling the Frick Collection in New York City, their acquisitions are housed in a museum in midtown Houston; through their largesse, the Rothko Chapel for interfaith dialogue and a Byzantine Chapel stand nearby. Philanthropists, they supported the civil rights movement at home and peace initiatives abroad. They were committed to enrich Catholicism through theological inquiry and the arts. After Jean died, Dominique's willingness to listen to her inner voice prompted many contributions. The spiritual biography of Mrs. de Menil requires a theoretical lens not provided by existing constructs of spiritual development over the life course. Here, I deploy the metaphor of “landscapes” to illuminate critical moments in her spiritual growth, especially during her later years.

Background: Several recent studies concerning men’s pornography use have challenged past research conclusions that male pornography use negatively impacts relational outcomes in heterosexual relationships. While extant literature has explored the intersection of religion and men’s experience with pornography consumption, the impact on religious wives has primarily been understudied. Purpose: The present study examined the impact of a husband’s problematic pornography use on a religious woman’s spirituality and religiosity. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 women who self-identified as religious women. Faith traditions of the participants include Catholic, Jewish, Latter-day Saint, Native American Spiritual, non-denominational Christians, Protestant Christians, and Spiritual. The data was analyzed using interpretive phenomenology, a qualitative methodology. Results: Using a feminist hermeneutics theoretical lens to analyze the data in a way that gives preference for the woman’s experience, three primary themes emerged: Wrestle with Religion, Relationships that Facilitate Healing, and Spiritual Growth. Nine subthemes were identified, including Influence of Religious Culture, Unmet Expectations of Religious Leaders, Challenges to Faith, Support from Inside the Religion, Recognizing the Need for Support Outside the Religion, Women Need Women for Healing, Divine Assistance, Relationship with God, and A Journey of Growth and Transformation. Conclusions &amp; Implications: These primary themes and subthemes provide a rich description of the religious context, means to healing, and resilience that characterize religious women’s experiences after discovering a husband’s problematic pornography use. Most importantly, the authors discuss significant implications for religious leaders and clinicians seeking to provide culturally sensitive care to distressed women.

This paper focuses on the television chef Ivan Ivačič’s contribution to Yugoslav (Slovene) socialist foodways, specifically their modernisation, through his 1960s TV cooking shows. It examines the ways in which Ivačič’s cooking shows contributed to the changing food practices in Slovenia, and thus to the general detraditionalisation of cooking practices – including gender roles – and the introduction of new cooking ingredients and techniques. In the context of Yugoslav socialism, it shows television’s role in supporting the secular agenda of the state through food, while at the same time following nutritionist advice of the time and also offering suggestions for meals that contain more meat and less fat.

Food-related health concerns of Punjabi British Columbians: postcolonial perspectives on nutrition and health education

Introduction: According to the available statistics, 53% of deaths are related to lifestyle. The aim of this study was to evaluate health-promoting lifestyles in medical students of a medical college of Western Maharashtra, India. Objectives: To determine the health-promoting lifestyle behaviours among undergraduate medical students and to find out sociodemographic determinants of HPLP. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 307 undergraduate medical students. Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile Proforma (HPLP)was prepared which consists of two parts, Part I deals with the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and Part II of the proforma deals with Health-promoting lifestyle information which was a modified version of HPLP II. It consists of 46 items divided into 7 subscales. Permission of Institute Ethical Committee was taken. Data was analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Mann Whitney test and predictors were determined by multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Medical students of this Institute showed good level of health-promoting lifestyle in total HPLP II score. The overall HPLP-II mean score and all subscales of HPLP except interpersonal relations were significantly more among the first and third year students than 2nd year students. Female students practiced significantly better food practices while Male students showed a significantly higher level of physical activity and self-concept. Income was the significant predictor of overall HPLP; age was the significant predictor of Health responsibility, sex and income were the significant predictor of physical activity, sex, living with family and income were significant predictor for food practices; sex, living with family were predictors of spiritual growth; BMI and income as a predictors for Interpersonal relations; and age was a predictor for stress management. Conclusion: The study results showed that Medical college students in Pune had reasonably good orientation towards health promoting practices.

The dietary choices of male athletes are increasingly a topic of moral and nutritional debate. Though it has long been a consensus that athletes require animal products to advance their athletic goals, this understanding is now challenged in academic and popular sources based on nutritional evidence and concern about the environmental impacts of animal products. In order to better understand how (semi-)professional male athletes perceive plant-based diets and diets containing animal products, thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with male athletes competing nationally and internationally, including mixed and plant-based eaters. Interviews were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, in line with a critical, qualitative research methodology. Justifications for meat, situated knowledge and masculinity were used as theoretical lenses. Our analysis shows how athletes reproduce nutritional claims about the necessity of protein for athletes, but disagree on the suitability of plant-based sources. This nutritional discourse derives from a broad range of sources, including professional nutritionists, friends, online influencers, and media. Second, when explaining their own food practices, food being ‘nice’ and ‘normal’ – common justifications for meat as evidenced in the 4N theory – often supersede necessity. Embedding these views in their everyday lives as athletes shows that food environments and shared eating practices fortify a mixed diet as normal, and plant-based diets as anomalous. It further shows how the view of meat being normal is subject to shifting masculinity norms. Interviewees reject meat eating as normal and masculine for men, while male athletes who show dedication, constraint, and knowledge in a plant-based diet are viewed positively. As role models for diet and masculinity, this has implications for a potential role of athletes in a societal transition towards lower consumption of animal products.

Solidarity and citizenship are intertwined in a very complex manner, where the former usually operates as the “social glue” for the latter, holding together its formal components such as rights, duties, and membership criteria. The “we” that sets the parameters for membership and equality is not only legally defined but also discursively produced and maintained. Here, the rhetoric of solidarity plays an important yet ambiguous role, as it can advocate for interdependence and full inclusion while at the same time solidifying the exclusionary “we.” The aim of this article is to show how solidarity reasoning—the question of with whom we should be solidary and why—plays a functional role in maintaining citizenship agendas, and how this reasoning changes to support and enable shifts in these agendas. The dominant solidarity narratives that have supported prevailing citizenship agendas in Serbia (and across the post-Yugoslav space) over the last couple of decades will be discussed, as will counter-narratives that have served to destabilize hegemonic agendas by envisioning citizenship communities differently. Today, the ambiguous role solidarity can play within a citizenship agenda becomes especially obvious in neoliberal regimes, where, as I will show in the case of contemporary Serbia, calls for solidarity can be deployed to foster very distinct, arguably mutually opposing, kinds of political subjectivities and citizen activism.

The globalization and industrialization of the agri-food system has been linked to declining knowledge and skills in the general population related to growing, preserving and cooking food. In rural communities, loss of this knowledge and associated culture and traditions has been further exacerbated by depopulation due to outmigration and the subsequent erosion of social and physical infrastructure. Counter to this trend of food deskilling, however, are the efforts of individuals who are actively working to maintain and perpetuate traditional food practices. The purpose of this research was to understand what factors motivate and enable the preservation of gardening, cooking and canning skills among a group of women and their children in a small rural community in Alberta. Qualitative research methods were used to gather relevant data, which were analyzed using a social practice theoretical lens. Findings from this study revealed four conditions influencing the continuation of these social practices among the research participants: the experience and history of scarcity; normative expectations; a close connection to family; and, development of a community of practice. This study illustrates the relevance of a social practice framework for examining food knowledge and skills, and points to the potential of this approach for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable consumption in the food system.