Digging beneath the surface: Results from stage one of a qualitative analysis of factors influencing the well-being of trans youth in Quebec

ABSTRACT

Background: The literature on trans youth has been dominated by etiological studies interested in trans experience as a medical phenomenon. An emerging body of literature has begun to document that trans youth are a diverse, vulnerable, yet resilient population, and to investigate the role of various sites of support such as the family, peer groups, institutions, and community spaces in contributing to or impeding trans youth's well-being.

Method: This article presents the results of Stage One of interviews (n = 24) conducted for a Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) qualitative research project based in Quebec. It studies the factors that enhance trans youth's well-being as well as the factors of oppression that negatively affect it. This paper offers a brief overview of the anti-oppressive methodology used for this project, emphasizing how CBPAR was combined with Grounded Theory (GT) methods to encourage the direct involvement of communities and the translation of knowledge into action.

Results: We present preliminary categories emerging through the ongoing axial coding process. These categories address trans youth's experiences in and perceptions of various “sites”: 1) healthcare services both for gender-related and general care, 2) other institutional spaces, 3) the family and other social circles, and 4) community spaces.

Conclusion: While much of this study's results support existing evidence on trans youth's experiences, they also provide a more nuanced portrayal of the complex ways in which recognition, as well as non-, mis-, or mal-recognition, influence trans youth's well-being at different sites. We also argue that recognition itself must be considered through the lens of intersectionality.     

Sartre and Bergson: A Disagreement about Nothingness

Abstract

Henri Bergson's philosophy, which Sartre studied as a student, had a profound but largely neglected influence on his thinking. In this paper I focus on the new light that recognition of this influence throws on Sartre's central argument about the relationship between negation and nothingness in his Being and Nothingness. Sartre's argument is in part a response to Bergson's dismissive, eliminativist account of nothingness in Creative Evolution (1907): the objections to the concept of nothingness with which Sartre engages are precisely those raised by Bergson. Even if Sartre's account of nothingness in its entirety is found to be flawed, I argue that the points he makes specifically against Bergson are powerful.

My discussion concludes with a brief examination of the wider philosophical background to Sartre's and Bergson's discussion of nothingness: here I point to some important aspects of Sartre's early philosophy, including some features of his conception of nothingness, that may testify to Bergson's positive influence on his thought.     

The men's movement: Substance and significance for mainstream men

Abstract

The men's movement has a breadth and significance for mainstream men, too little evidenced. This paper provides a historical review of the men's movement and presents implications for mainstream men. Four themes in the men's movement are identified: 1) men adopting a feminist philosophy, 2) fathers with equal rights interest in divorce, 3) men supportive of gay rights, and 4) mythopoetic men. Implications for mainstream men and emotional health are considered for each theme within the Men's Movement. Finally, it is argued that each time a man struggles to balance his work with his family, his anger with his pain and his power with his care, he is an active participant in the men's movement.     

D.H. Lawrence's The daughter-in-law: Transforming a family system

Abstract

D.H. Lawrence's play The daughter-in-law, written in 1912, explores underlying, implicit conflict within a family. Set in a small mining town in England, the family consists of Mrs. Gascoyne, her sons Luther and Joe, and her daughter-in-law, Minnie, Luther's wife. The central conflict is between Mrs. Gascoyne and Minnie, who challenges her mother-in-law's control over her sons, who also compete with each other for the love and recognition of their mother. Joe, the youngest son, perturbs the family system and acts as a mediator, functioning as a family therapist. He sets a process in motion through which the rigid family alliances are challenged and ultimately realigned. Mrs. Gascoyne's self-image as a perfect, self-sacrificing, self-righteous mother ultimately is transformed, and she accepts Minnie as a family member. Brandchaft's concept of “pathological accommodation” explicates how enmeshed family members can collide, and thereby stultify their personal development. As Joe plays his role of “family therapist,” the family dynamic changes. Through the process of rupture and repair, each family member begins to recognize the needs of the other, and thereby a path for differentiation, individuation, and autonomy becomes possible for them.     

The role of a parent's illness in the emotional experience of a child evidence from Klein's Narrative of a child analysis

Abstract

The analysis of Richard, described by Melanie Klein in Narrative of a Child Analysis, gives us some insight into the effect on a child of threats to the health of his parents. His mother was involved in a road accident when Richard was 2; his father collapsed during the time of the analysis when he was 10. This paper links these events with disturbances in Richard's relation to his father and to his mother, as well as with threats to his own integrity, as demonstrated in the analysis. Richard's reversal of roles with his father and mother is discussed, as are Klein's reaction to Richard's report of finding his father ‘ill and nearly fainting’ and Richard's response to her behaviour. The paper draws attention to the way in which a child's reaction to the ill health of one parent can affect relations with both parents, as well as disturbing his sense of himself.     

Francis Xavier: Figure of Exile and Holiness

Abstract

Francis Xavier was one of the great Christian figures of the 16th century. The aim of this article is to delineate some of the important, and sometimes underemphasised, influences on his life in order to help shed light on the motivation which inspired his activities. It sets him first within a brief account of his family background, university education and life-changing friendship with Ignatius Loyola, which is described as generating ‘the undying archetype of the twin, with Loyola at the centre of the universe and Xavier at its periphery, complementing each other as perfectly as the point and the circle’. Against the background of ‘ever-present’ Islam, it then addresses Xavier's experiences with the corrupt and rather secularised Portuguese colonial environment in India and East Asia, and the royal ecclesiastical patronage exercised under the Padroado system, which led him to the role of a ‘counter-figure’ an exile or castaway, lançado or degregado. Japanese culture and religion and Xavier's fascination with China are two further areas explored. Permeating this account is the question of the nature of Xavier's spiritual life and personal holiness, within which his adventurous voyages may ultimately be seen as an immense pilgrimage and as the sign of a sanctity that was augmented rather than diminished by the obscurity of his death.     

Review Article: Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation

Abstract

Martin Bucer's role in the Edwardian Reformation has been the subject of much study, most of which has been focused on his involvement in the Vestments Controversy, his role in the revision of the 1549 Prayer Book, and on his last major work, De regno Christi, which he wrote in 1550. What has received less attention is his sojourn in Cambridge, where he spent the majority of his time in England. Bucer's sometimes tense relations with members of Cranmer's circle, and even with Cranmer himself, provide a striking contrast to the ‘electric’ impact he had in Cambridge, which serves to underscore the importance of Cambridge to Bucer's English sojourn. The individuals whom he most influenced were members of the academic community at the University of Cambridge (where he served as Regius Professor of Divinity), especially the so-called ‘Athenian tribe’—although he did encounter the hostility of many members of his College, the largely conservative Trinity College. Cambridge proved to be the locus of Bucer's influence upon the English Church in these years, and his residence there deserves greater attention than it has received to date.     

Michael J. Dodds,O.P. Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science & Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

Philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig has argued for the past-finitude of the world, employing contemporary cosmology in support of the Kalam cosmological argument for the existence of a First Cause. However, his argument has gained little traction in the world of interdisciplinary theology. In what follows, we present Craig's argument and entertain potential objections from the perspective of interdisciplinarians. Finally, we argue that, in spite of the potential objections raised by contemporary theologians, Craig's argument remains theologically pertinent—provided his conclusion is framed within the more modest methodology of a best explanation.     

Family-focused management: Treatment of choice for deviant and dependent families

Abstract

Helping professionals working with troubled families takes two approaches. One approach, noting that the identified patient's family's behavioral interactions have positive and negative effects on the patient and his symptoms, advocates involving family members in the treatment process. The other approach, noting that the identified patient alone has the power to resolve his problem, advocates treating the patient independently of the family. This latter approach, in effect, relieves family members of the painful feelings of responsibility. At first glance, these two approaches appear to be in conflict, and it is no wonder that professionals choose to remain with one or the other. Both points of view are valid, so that approaches need to be developed which incorporate both.     

Sapientia and Stultitia in John Colet's Commentary on First Corinthians

ABSTRACT

While John Colet, friend of Erasmus and founder of St Paul's School, London, was himself widely read in Classical and pagan authors, he famously characterized pagan books as having the ‘savour of the Demon’ and exhorted minor clergy to reject human or secular wisdom. This article seeks to resolve the apparent tension between Colet's disparagement of human wisdom in his commentary on First Corinthians and his own use of pagan learning and humanist activities. Through a close analysis of Colet's understanding of human and divine wisdom and human stultitia (foolishness) in the commentary, the article argues that Colet's principal concern in reproaching human wisdom (sapientia) was the moral purity of his audience. The article concludes by considering how Colet's view of secular wisdom, thus conceived, represented an early expression of his commitment to religious, ecclesiastical and moral reform.     

The Necessity of Thinking Historically – Heidegger After Nietzsche

ABSTRACT

This paper is concerned with the turning that occurs within the work of Martin Heidegger. In particular it seeks to reveal it as a turning that takes place within the notion of history as it is elaborated by Heidegger in the difference between Nietzsche and Hölderlin, that is, in the difference between philosophy and poetizing. It locates the necessity for such a turning in Heidegger's dissatisfaction with his own thinking up to the early 1930s (as suggested in his Black Notebooks). In particular the paper focuses on Heidegger's confrontation with Nietzsche over the question of nihilism in the hope of drawing out the different approaches of each thinker in trying to think this problem historically, and how this confrontation helps move Heidegger's thought towards a more poietical way of thinking. The paper concludes that Heidegger, in seeking to distinguish his thought from that of Nietzsche's, not only owes a debt to Nietzsche but that Heidegger's non-public texts of the late 1930s and early 1940s are also formally indebted to him.     

The German Rabelais? Foul words and the Word in Luther

Abstract

Luther is infamous for his use of scatological language, but Luther scholars (with the notable exception of Heiko Oberman) have not attempted to relate his use of scatology to his theology. This contrasts strongly with Rabelais scholarship, in which the theological significance of the Frenchman's scatology is widely acknowledged. Suggested is a number of ways in which the ‘problem’ of Luther's scatological coarseness could be explained on non-theological grounds (by attributing it to the exaggerations of Roman Catholic polemic, or to the angry ravings of Luther's painfully afflicted and disillusioned dotage, or to an anally-fixated psychology, or to the coarseness of the age in which he lived), but the conclusion is that none is completely successful. After a brief comparison with relevant work on Rabelais that provides a theoretical context, a review of the state of the question in Luther scholarship shows that the nature and function of Luther's scatological language in polemical contexts has been convincingly elucidated by Mark Edwards and Heiko Oberman. However, the author suggests that an investigation of Luther's unexpected use of such language in pastoral contexts (in letters of spiritual counsel and in several Table Talk fragments) demonstrates more directly how his scatology relates to the key themes in his theology. Here Luther recommends scatological outbursts as an efficacious remedy against diabolically inspired attacks of melancholy (depression). These outbursts are shown to be based on his doctrine of creation, his doctrine of incarnation, and his doctrine of justification by faith alone. A concluding comparison reveals that, while the scatology of Rabelais the humanist emphasized the importance of perceiving a harmonious balance between one's higher and lower natures, Luther's emphasized the tension inherent in this life of being simul iustus et peccator.     

Instructing Parents to Use Dialogic Reading Strategies with Preschool Children

Abstract

Caregiver use of dialogic reading (DR) strategies in home, preschool, and daycare settings has been shown to facilitate development of oral language and emergent literacy skills in toddlers and preschool age children. Training in the use of DR strategies may be provided ‘live’ or via videotape. Using a randomized, control group, repeated measures design with 18 caregiver-child dyads, we investigated (a) caregivers' ability to learn to use DR strategies with their young children through videotape training in community health centers, and (b) children's verbalizations during shared book reading. Caregivers learned to use DR strategies through the videotape training and maintained their use of DR strategies 12 weeks later. In addition, an intervention effect was observed related to levels of child on-task verbalizations such that children of parents who learned DR strategies talked more about books during shared book reading relative to their baseline and to the control group children, whose parents did not view the DR training video.     

Sense data and logical relations: Karin Costelloe-Stephen and Russell’s critique of Bergson

ABSTRACT

Though scholarship has explored Karin Costelloe-Stephen’s contributions to the history of psychoanalysis, as well as her relations to the Bloomsbury Group, her philosophical work has been almost completely ignored. This paper will examine her debate with Bertrand Russell over his criticism of Bergson. Costelloe-Stephen had employed the terminology of early analytic philosophy in presenting a number of arguments in defence of Bergson’s views. Costelloe-Stephen would object, among other things, to Russell’s use of an experiment which, as she points out, was first conducted by Carl Stumpf. Russell appeals to Stumpf's experiment in his attempt to prove that sense data are terms in logical relations, a thesis presupposed by the project of logical analysis outlined in Our Knowledge of the External World. A reformulated version of Costelloe-Stephen's argument put forth by this paper shows that Russell's argument fails to provide adequate proof for his thesis. Further modifications of the argument can also address a reconstruction (based on contemporary reports) of Russell's reply to Costelloe-Stephen. In his reply, Russell would use, already in 1914, the term ‘analytic philosophy’ in contrasting his and Moore’s approach to a continental one, exemplified by Bergson and Costelloe-Stephen.     

Psychoanalytic reflections on global warming and its relation to human omnipotence and ethical responsibility

Abstract

Global warming – reality or fantasy? Certainly, global warming is a dystopia linked to other catastrophes in human history, such as the Flood and Noah's Ark. Noah's belief in God saved his life and the life of his family. In our time, we need to sustain our belief in the human capacity to cooperate and survive. This is a necessary background when thinking of the future and analysing the border between fantasy and reality, between fear and paranoia, and in the process in which a new worldview takes form.     

Power and Pleasure

SUMMARY

In exploring issues of power and pleasure in relationships the author uses Erikson's (1965) developmental 'eight ages of man' as both a conceptual framework and a way of describing aspects of the developmental growth of boys as men, and he completes Erikson's (1968) epigenesis of the life cycle in relation to identity and intimacy. Drawing on literature on male psychology, his own experience and his experience as a counsellor and a Transactional Analysis (TA) psychotherapist in clinical training, the author focuses on male identity and men's capacity for intimacy in relationships. The use and abuse of power in achieving male identity, and the implications for mutual pleasure and interdependence in intimate relationships are outlined and practice issues for counselling and psychotherapy with men in relation to identity and intimacy issues are considered.     

Personal and family determinants of dietary behaviour in adolescents and their parents

Abstract

The first aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of personal and family determinants in explaining variance in dietary behaviour using objective as well as subjective food scores as dependent variables. The second aim was to provide insight into the aggregation of determinants of dietary behaviour within families. 104 family dyads (n = 208) consisting of an adolescent and his/her parent were recruited. All participants went through a computer routine and completed questionnaires to investigate personal determinants, family interactions around food and more general family characteristics. Results revealed that family determinants explained a maximum of 10% additional variance in dietary behaviour over and above personal determinants. Further, considerably more variance in subjective food scores could be explained (R mainly between .35 and .65) when compared to variance in objective food scores (R mainly between .10 and .40). Finally, the family aggregation was rather low. This argues against the hypothesis of a strong family base of the traditionally used personal determinants. It also shows that a subject?s reports of family interactions are mainly a reflection of an individual's perception and can hardly be considered to be objective truth.     

Family systems consultation with an athletic team: A case study of themes

Abstract

Utilizing family therapy theory and techniques to consult with businesses and other organizations has grown in popularity. In recent years, systems consultation has also been utilized with athletic teams (Schindler-Zimmerman, Washle, & Rotinsky, 1990; Zimmerman & DeVoe, 1993; Zimmennan & Protinsky, 1993; Zimmennan, 1991, 1993). The literature on systems consultation and athletic teams has primarily focused on interventions, guidelines for consulting with athletic teams, common concerns of athletes and specific theories utilized. This article presents themes which emerged from a consultation case study with a university women's athletic team. The themes emerged from videotape analysis using qualitative methodology. This presentation of themes will give the reader a flavor of systemic consultation with athletic teams including typical issues, team structure, and the similarities between families and sports teams.