Humanity Of Others Research Articles

Solidarity on the screen and six feet apart? DisCrit mothering amid multiple social crises

In justice movements, solidarity means showing up for the humanity of others. This paper explores DisCrit mothering as a form of solidarity with children and families dehumanized by ableism and racism. As three motherscholars, who occupy varying spaces of privilege/marginalization in the academy, we reflect on our attempts to support our communities through DisCrit mothering, especially amid a global pandemic, uprisings for racial justice, and ongoing climate crises. As we encountered physical distance from our children’s learning communities, we asked: What might solidarity look like? To answer this question, we share how we attempted solidarity from a distance.

Misrecognition and Well‐being in Culturally White Northern New England☆

AbstractRural America is undergoing a demographic transition, as the white population decline is matched by a growing movement of racialized minorities into small towns. In the current study, I examine processes of belonging among middle‐class racialized minorities living in predominantly white and rural Northern New England. Through an analysis of in‐depth interviews with n = 58 individuals of color, I show how “misrecognition,” or the processes through which community members fail to affirm the humanity of others, can lead to diminished well‐being. I elaborate a novel conceptual model linking a stigmatizing cultural context (chilly social climate; ignorance and racism) with misrecognition (social distancing; having to prove oneself) and well‐being (unease; weariness). The study's main contribution is the generation of theory regarding symbolic boundary processes that undergird racialized minority residents' negotiation of the right to belong in a rapidly changing rural America.

Only Connect: The Growth of Relationship when Prisoners and College Students Study Together

This essay describes a class in a maximum-security prison that brought civilian college students and incarcerated learners together. The authors, one a professor of communication and one a sociologist, team-taught the class as a cross-disciplinary and cross-community partnership, designed to promote greater understanding between prisons and higher education communities. Students explored the two faces of education in the U.S.: on one hand, as a public good that spreads knowledge and opens doors to social mobility, and on the other, as an institution that reproduces social inequalities (such as the school-to-prison pipeline). The professors anticipated that these encounters would spark critical consciousness and a desire to work for social justice. However, the most salient part of the experience for both groups of learners turned out to be the affirmation their own humanity and the humanity of others through interactions that built a sense of community and caring.

Blueprints for well-being: Modeling the way through Human-Centered Leadership and Pathway to Excellence.

Blueprints for well-being: Modeling the way through Human-Centered Leadership and Pathway to Excellence.

A Meditation on Loss

A Meditation on Loss

Editorial Commentary

Editorial Commentary

Did the Prophets Teach Us to Protest?

If we pay attention to biblical prophets, we can hear in their messages a calling to seek out the liberation of the downtrodden and oppressed. Despite the common tendency to interpret biblical prophets as predictors of the future, their focus was not on the future but their present social and political environments. That means their messages are not straightforward treatises on theology. They are not universalized “truths”. They are messages that call us to be attentive to those who are downtrodden. Their prophetic critique can be read as a call to recognize the humanity in others and to be willing to enter into relational dialogue with them.

Dehumanization: trends, insights, and challenges.

Despite our many differences, one superordinate category we all belong to is 'humans'. To strip away or overlook others' humanity, then, is to mark them as 'other' and, typically, 'less than'. We review growing evidence revealing how and why we subtly disregard the humanity of those around us. We then highlight new research suggesting that we continue to blatantly dehumanize certain groups, overtly likening them to animals, with important implications for intergroup hostility. We discuss advances in understanding the experience of being dehumanized and novel interventions to mitigate dehumanization, address the conceptual boundaries of dehumanization, and consider recent accounts challenging the importance of dehumanization and its role in intergroup violence. Finally, we present an agenda of outstanding questions to propel dehumanization research forward.

Creating Technology Worthy of the Human Spirit

Spiritual caretakers have been present in every culture throughout human history. We know them as ministers, rabbis, llamas, shamans, imams, chaplains, gurus, and wise elders. In modern, secular times, they also include therapists, social workers, meditation teachers, and more. These caretakers support us through birth, death, and many of the most intimate and complex parts of the human experience. They use skills honed over many years that require paying radical attention to the humanity of others. Yet where is this expertise to be found in the creation of the digital technologies that have become portals through which we live, love, learn, grieve, and connect with our communities? Those who design and build digital technology must accept that we have become de-facto spiritual caretakers with the power to treat the well-being of humanity with care or with negligence. Unfortunately, caretaking is a role that computer science degrees do not prepare people for, few business models optimize for, and algorithms can not easily solve. This article outlines two concrete best practices that can help foster genuine responsibility and care on the part of technologists and technology companies. First, technologists must recognize that what we create is an expression of our own inner state. Our spiritual and emotional health is inextricably linked with our ability to build technology with responsibility and wisdom. Second, technologists must create an empowered seat at the table for those with the expertise and orientation needed to care for our souls, whether from a religious or secular lens.

Філософсько-релігійні повсякденні уявлення користувачів українського сегмента інтернету: спроба типізації

The article aims to identify the particularities of philosophical and religious thinking inherent in the social network audience of Ukraine. Discourse analysis was chosen as the primary method to analyse a set of posts in the form of quotes with accompanying visual components and comments to them that were posted on “Facebook” in 2020 on the pages of public groups “Ukraine is Free World”, “For Ukraine”, “Dialogue.UA” and private groups “Ukrainians Global Network”, “Ukraine is You”, “Ukraine Onlineツ. The author analysed a total of 630 posts with God’s obligatory explicit or implicit component (The Higher Power), which bring out the existential issues of life, raison d’être, human values. The meaning of life is increasingly prominent in the philosophical and religious discourse of the Ukrainian sector of social networks. The idea of the meaning of life is presented on two levels: ideological and social. At the worldview level, ideas about the meaning of life are concentrated in the systemic principle: “Freedom is worth dying for”. At the social level, ideas about the meaning of life are concretised in the following concepts: socio-demographic, aesthetic, religious, hedonistic, hygge, success. The next most common issue is a subject of love understood by the Ukrainian audience of social networks as a system of traits: an active position with the other, value-based principles of a code of conduct, the meaning-making basis for self-realisation, recognising and acceptation the humanity of others, orientation on vital activity, goodwill, and unity, overcoming loneliness, a mode of self-determination. The subjects of time, different issues related to dying and death are ranked last. The tendency of philosophical and religious thinking has shaped the Ukrainian sector of social networks. It has the following special features: 1) view of the world and personal choice of life strategies is based on first-hand knowledge; 2) absence of abstract, unrealistic considerations; 3) strong link with a particular socio-cultural context; 4) focus on solving problems related to anthropological dimensions of philosophising: man as a unique being, the place of man in the world and his role in the processes of being, freedom and responsibility, time as a characteristic of human.

Ubuntu in the Engineering Workplace: Paying it forward through Mentoring

Research reveals that South Africa is facing a critical skills shortage. Companies are struggling to source engineering professionals for their ongoing operational success. In order to retain critical engineering skills, young engineers should be provided with inspirational mentorship. Despite South Africa’s move to a democracy, its workplace is still mired by social inequalities. Organisations aiming to harness diversity should create a culture of respect and accessibility so that all employees can reach their full potential. While many studies focus on the importance of mentorship, little has been said about the value of Ubuntu in mentor-mentee relationships. The paper argues that for an inclusive workplace, the answer lies in Ubuntu. By practising Ubuntu, mentor engineers can contribute to the direly needed professional development of young engineers. Ubuntu is an African philosophy which acknowledges that one’s own humanity is interlinked with the dignity and humanity of others. Ubuntu is forgoing one’s personal interests for the benefit of people around you, while growing together as a community. The study aimed to establish that instead of looking at individualistic solutions, we should embrace mutual growth and empowerment. The author used questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions to collect data. Fifty engineering professionals in different fields and from different cities in South Africa participated in this case study. The data were analysed inductively as well as deductively. Mentorship was identified as an important aspect of Ubuntu. It was recommended that engineers practise Ubuntu in their workplace to cultivate an ethos of community and mutual respect.

Rocking the Boat: A Call for Asian American and Pacific Islander Counselors to Make Waves

Rocking the Boat: A Call for Asian American and Pacific Islander Counselors to Make Waves

School leadership, reflective practice, and education for students with refugee backgrounds: a pathway to radical empathy

ABSTRACT As the world becomes increasingly violent and disrupted by forces which impact on millions of families, destroying the communities and ways of life, the lives and prospects of those who survive are increasingly dependent on the humanity of others for understanding, generosity and acceptance as fellow humans. Many of those who suffer forced migration as refugees and asylum seekers are children and young people who have the right to be educated and whose future well-being is heavily reliant on acceptance and inclusion into societies which are very different from their homelands. While only a relatively small percentage (16%) of these populations are placed in schools in developed countries, the challenges for both the students and school leaders is considerable. This paper discusses the importance of belonging as part of school culture and ethos, indicating that deep, critical reflective practice undertaken by school leaders and principals with the intention of deliberately developing radical empathy, based on phenomenological principles, can play a critical role in transforming schooling for these students and their families. Furthermore, the possible impact of developing radical empathy is explored briefly using the perspective provided by Leithwood and his colleagues’ Four-Path model of school leadership.

Engaging dystopia: linguistic citizenship and migrant voice

Stroud (2015: 36) recently emphasized the utopian dimensions of linguistic citizenship as “where encounters can be reconstituted as an arena for the negotiation of difference rather than the imposition of commonality (in language, speech norms, or social identity).” A prominent feature of this utopic view of linguistic citizenship is agency and voice and the imagining of a different way of living through language. In this paper I want to draw not on examples of agency and voice, but on silence. This paper reports on a project that used an arts-based approach to investigate narratives of two groups of African migrants living in South Africa. This paper will investigate linguistic citizenship from a particularly dystopian perspective, in the sense of “a utopia that functions only for a particular segment of society” (Gordin, Tilley & Prakash 2010). Thus, the paper focusses on a lack of voice, not silence out of resistance, but the kind of silence that comes from an inability to speak. Stroud (2015: 37) states that linguistic citizenship “invites us to talk about language in visionary and utopian terms by encouraging reflection on the way in which the humanity of each of us depends on respectful recognition of, and engagement with, the linguistically mediated humanity of others”. This paper will investigate linguistic citizenship from the perspectives of those who have been stripped of humanity, and who choose not to talk. Specifically, I interrogate how silence fits into a utopian view of linguistic citizenship.

What Skills Should Be Taught in Health Humanities Education?

This essay argues that those working and teaching in the new field of Health Humanities should avoid definitions of their work that borrow from existing disciplines and focus instead on three fundamental skills. A case study is provided to differentiate health humanities questions from those typically asked by bioethicists. Three skills are given detailed examination: empathic listening, involving the capacity to expand our imagination to others; emotional equanimity, involving the ability to understand and learn from our emotional responses; and the de-centering skills of taming our moral vanity and recognizing the full humanity of others. These are not the only skills in play in health humanities, but these three are basic and will lead to the other skills needed.

From Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, to Action Research in Improving the Programming Skills of Students

Action research (AR) is often used when doing research about social phenomena in the real-world, when change is part of the researcher’s intention. The researcher participates in the research environment with the intention of improving the social phenomenon of learning to program, and to learn from it. AR typically follows an iterative process of five phases, namely diagnosis; action planning; action taking; evaluation and specifying learning. Although the incorporation of the work of critical thinkers is promoted, to guide the intervention, linking the methodology itself to Kantian thinking is uncommon. This paper demonstrates how the three questions from Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: What can I know? What can I do? and finally, What can I hope? may guide the AR method. We show how these can be utilized within the phases of AR to deepen understanding of the social phenomenon of learning to program. By focusing on a Kantian systems approach, as discussed by Werner Ulrich in his introduction of Critical Systems Heuristics, various conditioned realities can be considered within a real-world situation. The paper presents an AR study which focused on improving the programming skills of students, demonstrating the incorporation of the Kantian focal points into the AR cycle. It demonstrates that Kant’s respect for the humanity of others and the resulting hope in justice can guide the AR practitioner to effect improvement. By making a conscious effort to listen to the affected and to incorporate as many conditioned realities as possible, we were able to improve student engagement and interest in the programming module.

Human-Centered Leadership:: Creating Change From the Inside Out

Human-Centered Leadership in Healthcare is a new leadership model that focuses on the fulfillment and effectiveness of the leader who simultaneously focuses on others. Through recognizing the humanity in others, cultivating growth in others, and creating healthy, connected communities for others, the Human-Centered Leader establishes cultures of caring, excellence, and trust. In this article, the Human-Centered Leadership approach is demonstrated through an exemplar involving a nurse leader of an intensive care unit where the central line–associated blood stream infection rate has increased. The nurse leader at the point of care validates that sustainable change occurs from the inside out.

“Imagining a More Just World”: Interview with Julie Maldonado

AbstractIt is difficult to canonize anthropology and anthropological concepts, in part because of the creative tensions within the discipline's contradictions: a desire and deep respect for local knowledge with a global, comparative perspective, what might be called the “anthropological imagination.” Firmly rooted in—and in defense of—an inclusive vision of humanity, an anthropological imagination inspires “radical empathy.” It offers the scaffolding of a coalitional politics that values the specificity of local struggles but also reaffirms and defends humanity. We must identify the humanity in others, and the common humanity in their struggle, while affirming particular identities and challenging differential privilege: an anthropological imagination inspires radical empathy and solidarity, reminding us, in the words of the World Social Forum, that “another world is possible.” How people learn to cultivate this anthropological imagination and bring it in the service of marginalized groups is not generally discussed, and rarely taught. This article aims to bridge this gap. On October 10, 2018, Julie Maldonado, Associate Director for the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN), discussed her new book, Seeking Justice in an Energy Sacrifice Zone: Standing on Vanishing Land in Coastal Louisiana, via video‐conference with Mark Schuller's Anthropology and Contemporary World Problems class at Northern Illinois University. This interview offers one perspective of a career focused around advocacy anthropology that aims to reach public audiences and policy‐ and decision‐makers in ways that translates scholarly research into information that is most useful for problem solving and enacting change in response to our climate crisis.

Human-Centered Leadership in Health Care: An Idea That's Time Has Come.

The Human-Centered Leadership model, which is relevant for leaders at all levels in a complex health care system, embraces change from the inside out. The Human-Centered Leader (HCL) is embedded in the organization, rather than positioned above it, and recognizes the expertise and value of those who serve at the point of care. The HCL starts with a focus on self-awareness, self-compassion, self-care, and mindfulness while focusing on others through demonstration of the characteristics of an Awakener, a Connector, and an Upholder. As an Awakener, the HCL grows and cultivates the team through the development of individual growth plans and staff empowerment in decision making. The result is a professionally prepared workforce that delivers market-leading patient outcomes. The HCL, as a Connector, builds the community in the microsystem by creating a healthy work environment. Finally, as an Upholder, the HCL recognizes the humanity in others and brings out the best in them. Demonstration of sincere care for those who care for patients results in improved staff satisfaction and, in turn, exceptional patient experience. The sustainable changes resulting from Human-Centered Leadership are realized through development of Cultures of Excellence, Trust, and Caring.

Axel Honneth’s Cosmopolitanism

Amid now extensive debates about cosmopolitanism in political theory, this article explores the implications of Axel Honneth’s recognition theory for issues in international justice, not least the dire situation of poverty in the world. In contrast with a purely resource-distributive approach, the essay turns particularly to Honneth’s recent revival of the Lukácsian concept of reification as a process of self-distancing from the elementary humanity of others. Specifically, Honneth re-formulates reification as a failure of an elementary or ‘antecedent’ form of recognition. From the perspective of his theory, reification connotes the forgetfulness of others’ fundamental humanity. While Honneth takes such forgetfulness to become most readily apparent in dramatic violations such as the Holocaust, the article interprets his theory to explain, and eventually to challenge, the passive acceptance by many of dire material injustices. The article develops the implications of this challenge by interpreting from Honneth’s framework a duty to question international policies which tend to reify and objectify the least well off in the world, whilst remaining cognizant of the limits of de-reification to the more extensive, meaningful alleviation of poverty globally.