The concept of ‘cultural competence’ emerged as a pedagogic and ethical project in healthcare sys... more The concept of ‘cultural competence’ emerged as a pedagogic and ethical project in healthcare systems in the mid-1990s, mainly in the USA and the UK, and has received growing attention since then as a field of scholarly work and implemental practice. This paper argues that while the discourse of ‘cultural Competency’ marks an institutionalized commitment to acknowledge existing ethnic disparities in health, and to eliminate these disparities by means of education and regulation, the implemental practices of this concept evoke some urgent ethical dilemmas and tensions. The paper offers a sympathetic critique of the pedagogic and ethical issues that arise in the effort to produce ‘culturally competent’ healthcare systems. The focus of this critique is on some potential tensions between a ‘culturally competent’ commitment to acknowledge and respond to consumers’ unique ‘cultural needs’, and an ‘ethically competent’ commitment to best serve consumers’ physical and emotional well-being....
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright This article on young feminist activists in Israel explores the formation of feminist subjectivities using in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings reveal identifications with, alongside re-articulations of, existing feminist norms and values, exposing a productive tension between " the personal " and " the political ". Beside decisive motivation to act for social change, women use the movement as a supportive setting for identity work. This entails a fair amount of emotional boundary maintenance to mitigate out-group hostility to feminism, and in-group expectations to toe the collective line. The article outlines issues that preoccupy young activists and puts them in a broader context of Israeli feminism and of local cultural expectations regarding the management of forbidden emotions. We argue that the process of boundary maintenance that is implied in the activists' standpoints and experiences has a paradoxical effect of reinforcing feminism's attachment to the cultural surroundings that the movement is initially set to oppose.
This article explores the embodied process of being anorexic and the moral repertoires within whi... more This article explores the embodied process of being anorexic and the moral repertoires within which this process is entangled. The point of departure for this discussion is that, while critical feminist epistemology plays an important role in politicizing anorexia as a symbolic cluster of meanings, it has provided us with limited analytical tools for an in-depth understanding of an anorexic's lived experiences and of the embodied realities involved in being anorexic. At the same time, autobiographical accounts of anorexia provide insightful emic perspectives on being anorexic but are not engaged with symbolic and theoretical etic perspectives on anorexia. This article attempts to bridge this gap through an anthropological exploration of anorexia from within; that is, as a situated embodied knowledge of anorexic women anchored in concrete lived experiences. Findings from an ethnographic study of young women who were diagnosed with anorexia and admitted to an outpatient hospital unit in Israel suggest that anorexic women actively construct a “heroic moral subjectivity,” in which the experience of hunger plays a crucial role, and in which everyday (mundane) practices gain “out-of-the-ordinary” meanings. While these findings partially accord with feminist philosophical explorations of anorexia, I argue that it is only via a detailed ethnographic account that we can follow the ongoing phenomenological and semiotic process through which such heroic subjectivity actually develops. Using an anthropological perspective to bear on the phenomenology of anorexia as an embodied experience contributes toward extending our understanding of the concrete ways in which “culture” becomes present in anorexia. The concluding section discusses gaps between feminist and anorexic narratives of anorexia in terms of therapeutic encounters.
... tendency to reify and essentialize difference. Lamis, a Palestinian Muslim, says: The quarte... more ... tendency to reify and essentialize difference. Lamis, a Palestinian Muslim, says: The quarters policy is a double-edged sword. It's important, but sometimes it becomes a goal in and of itself. Iris, who volunteered throughout her ...
The concept of ‘cultural competence’ emerged as a pedagogic and ethical project in healthcare sys... more The concept of ‘cultural competence’ emerged as a pedagogic and ethical project in healthcare systems in the mid-1990s, mainly in the USA and the UK, and has received growing attention since then as a field of scholarly work and implemental practice. This paper argues that while the discourse of ‘cultural Competency’ marks an institutionalized commitment to acknowledge existing ethnic disparities in health, and to eliminate these disparities by means of education and regulation, the implemental practices of this concept evoke some urgent ethical dilemmas and tensions. The paper offers a sympathetic critique of the pedagogic and ethical issues that arise in the effort to produce ‘culturally competent’ healthcare systems. The focus of this critique is on some potential tensions between a ‘culturally competent’ commitment to acknowledge and respond to consumers’ unique ‘cultural needs’, and an ‘ethically competent’ commitment to best serve consumers’ physical and emotional well-being....
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright This article on young feminist activists in Israel explores the formation of feminist subjectivities using in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings reveal identifications with, alongside re-articulations of, existing feminist norms and values, exposing a productive tension between " the personal " and " the political ". Beside decisive motivation to act for social change, women use the movement as a supportive setting for identity work. This entails a fair amount of emotional boundary maintenance to mitigate out-group hostility to feminism, and in-group expectations to toe the collective line. The article outlines issues that preoccupy young activists and puts them in a broader context of Israeli feminism and of local cultural expectations regarding the management of forbidden emotions. We argue that the process of boundary maintenance that is implied in the activists' standpoints and experiences has a paradoxical effect of reinforcing feminism's attachment to the cultural surroundings that the movement is initially set to oppose.
This article explores the embodied process of being anorexic and the moral repertoires within whi... more This article explores the embodied process of being anorexic and the moral repertoires within which this process is entangled. The point of departure for this discussion is that, while critical feminist epistemology plays an important role in politicizing anorexia as a symbolic cluster of meanings, it has provided us with limited analytical tools for an in-depth understanding of an anorexic's lived experiences and of the embodied realities involved in being anorexic. At the same time, autobiographical accounts of anorexia provide insightful emic perspectives on being anorexic but are not engaged with symbolic and theoretical etic perspectives on anorexia. This article attempts to bridge this gap through an anthropological exploration of anorexia from within; that is, as a situated embodied knowledge of anorexic women anchored in concrete lived experiences. Findings from an ethnographic study of young women who were diagnosed with anorexia and admitted to an outpatient hospital unit in Israel suggest that anorexic women actively construct a “heroic moral subjectivity,” in which the experience of hunger plays a crucial role, and in which everyday (mundane) practices gain “out-of-the-ordinary” meanings. While these findings partially accord with feminist philosophical explorations of anorexia, I argue that it is only via a detailed ethnographic account that we can follow the ongoing phenomenological and semiotic process through which such heroic subjectivity actually develops. Using an anthropological perspective to bear on the phenomenology of anorexia as an embodied experience contributes toward extending our understanding of the concrete ways in which “culture” becomes present in anorexia. The concluding section discusses gaps between feminist and anorexic narratives of anorexia in terms of therapeutic encounters.
... tendency to reify and essentialize difference. Lamis, a Palestinian Muslim, says: The quarte... more ... tendency to reify and essentialize difference. Lamis, a Palestinian Muslim, says: The quarters policy is a double-edged sword. It's important, but sometimes it becomes a goal in and of itself. Iris, who volunteered throughout her ...
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