Invisible injuries and silent witnesses: The shadow of racial oppression in workplace contexts

Abstract

Internalized oppression is the primary means by which all of us hold on to, ‘agree’ and re-enact our unresolved and repressed difficulties. This paper will examine this particular phenomenon with specific regard to black and white relations in workplace contexts. The reality of prevailing external and internal issues will be fully discussed to highlight factors relating to racial oppression, capacity for resilience and their deleterious effects on black identity development.     

Three Ways of Being Church

This article proposes a theological re-appraisal of three images of the Church: institution, servant and community. The defining characteristics of an institution can be applied positively to the Church when it is seen to have been instituted by Jesus Christ. But what is instituted is a continuing relationship grounded in Christ's own presence. The servant Church is characterized by its commitment to the purposes of God in ‘secular’ society and the promise of God's kingdom. The community model of the Church has two common expressions, one emphasizing social relationships, one stressing mystical communion, but these are grounded in the trinitarian community itself. While each model has its own contribution and integrity, taken together they suggest mutual inter-dependence, itself reflecting the divine community and expressed in the mutually affirming virtues of faith, hope and love.     

“Turning a blind eye” on sexual abuse,boundary violations and therapeutic practice

This article explores the themes related to ‘turning a blind eye’. This is first discussed in terms of the marvellous benefits of turning a blind eye and not seeing; this is followed with a discussion about the dangers of seeing and encountering the erotic. History and myth are referenced. Sex is special: the most powerful of all sensual experiences and therefore brings with it the power to transform or distort the mind. The link is made between pivotal developments in psychoanalysis and blindness to erotic manifestations in both patients and therapists. There follows a detailed discussion of the correspondence between Jung and Freud concerning the former’s severe boundary violations with Sabina Spielrein. From there, I discuss later developments within psychoanalysis which continues the theme of ‘turning a blind eye’. I bring this theme up to date with a clinical example of my own illustrating a multiple reluctance to see sexual abuse. The discussion concludes with thoughts about seeing and not seeing erotic material and/or sexual abuse prompted by the grave of Jimmy Savile. I conclude this article with some additional ideas stimulated by the discussion following my original lecture.     

Caught in the crossfire: A case of mistaken identity among religious revivalists and secularists

The discussion of Islamic and Protestant revivalisms inflames not only believers but secularists as well. This paper is about standpoint and perceived standpoint in relation to carrying out feminist research about why some women in a liberal democracy join revivalist movements. The article also discusses the variegated nature of power relations within the research process. Situated within a Women's Studies Centre the author found herself in the crossfire between secular feminists and religious revivalists—some members of each group insisting she represented the position of the opposing view. This paper explores the conflictual situation and resulting ‘epistemological vertigo’ in circumstances where revivalists and secularists each believed in the stereotype of the other and assumed the researcher embodied it.     

Writing against...

The German ‘headscarf debate’ was sparked off by a dispute concerning a teacher who refused to remove her hijab at work. ‘Case Ludin’ brought the issue to national attention and eventually led to new legislation in half of Germany's 16 federated states. This article focuses on a critical analysis of a party-political debate around Case Ludin in the Baden-Württemberg parliament in 1998. The analysis shows that whilst party-politicians claimed to be concerned with issues of social justice as well as with the protection of constitutional rights and democratic values, the party-political arena of this debate has been preoccupied with the discursive construction of German national identity and its assumed incompatibility with Muslim identity. It comes to the conclusion that discourses used in this debate reproduce stereotypical images associating Islam with ‘gendered oppression’, political extremism and irreconcilable difference, and that these discourses continue to shape current debates in Germany and beyond.     

Negative attitudes towards cyclists influence the acceptance of an in-vehicle cyclist detection system

The shift towards automation and safer vehicles will increasingly involve use of technological advancements such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Nevertheless, these technologies need to meet users’ perceived needs to be effectively implemented and purchased. Based on an updated version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study analyses the main determinants of drivers’ intention to use an ADAS aimed at detecting cyclist and preventing potential collision with them through an auto-braking system. Even if the relevance of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust on the acceptance of a new system has been already discussed in literature, we considered the role of an external variable such as attitudes towards cyclists in the prediction of an ADAS aimed to improve the safety of cyclists. We administered a questionnaire measuring negative attitudes towards cyclists, trust, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and the behavioural intention to use the system to 480 Italian drivers. Path analysis using Bayesian estimation showed that perceived usefulness, trust in the system, and negative attitudes towards cyclists have a direct effect on the intention to use the ADAS. Considering the role of attitudes towards other road users in the intention to use new ADAS aimed to improve their safety could foster the user’s acceptance, especially for those people who express a negative representation of cyclists and are even more unlikely to accept the technology.     

Association of financial and health literacy with cognitive health in old age

We tested the hypothesis that higher financial and health literacy is associated with better cognitive health in 755 older persons who completed a literacy measure (M = 67.9, SD = 14.5) and then had annual clinical evaluations for a mean of 3.4 years. In proportional hazards models, higher literacy was associated with decreased risk of developing incident Alzheimer’s disease (n = 68) and results were similar for financial and health literacy subscales and after adjustment for potential confounders. In mixed-effects models, higher literacy was related to higher baseline level of cognition and reduced cognitive decline in multiple domains. Among the 602 persons without any cognitive impairment at baseline, higher literacy was associated with a reduced rate of cognitive decline and risk of developing incident mild cognitive impairment (n = 142). The results suggest that higher levels of financial and health literacy are associated with maintenance of cognitive health in old age.     

Liturgy and drama: a context of catharsis and transcendence?

This article is concerned with the role of liturgy and drama in the life of the Church and especially with regard to church growth. The assumption that traditional liturgy has only a tangential role in mission is questioned by comparing liturgy and drama and their role in evangelism. Christian worship from the fourth century began to be dramatised; this was a process reinforced by allegorical interpretations of the liturgy. That development and the para-liturgical dramas created from the tenth century onwards were in response to evangelistic needs. Mystery plays, the Holy Week liturgy and popular devotion in medieval Christianity in the West tended to focus on the passion of Christ. They were like tragedy in creating an encounter with death which could lead to catharsis and self-transcendence. Parts of the Holy Week liturgy are looked at in that light. The final section of the article deals with the way the liturgy offers an opportunity for corporate and personal renewal both in terms of inward preparation and outward proclamation of the Easter mystery. In these ways liturgy offers a context for an experience of God and can be seen as having an important role to play in church growth.     

Theological Influences in Scientific Research Programs: Natural Theology “in Reverse”

The Boyle Lectures were created to promote natural theology, where science leads to belief in God. Russell's 2017 Boyle Lecture moves in the ‘opposite’ direction, showing how theological convictions held, often implicitly, by research scientists can play a creative role in both the construction of scientific theories and the choice between existing theories. As examples, Russell explores the conflicts over Big Bang versus Steady-State cosmologies, and between Einstein and Bohr about quantum mechanics. Against the claim that these influences die off once the conflict is over, Russell shows that they continue to be inherited by successive generations of scientists.