Analyses based on sociology, cultural anthropology, and the study of religion as well as interpretations of the situation in colonial and postcolonial Africa point out…
Abstract
Analyses based on sociology, cultural anthropology, and the study of religion as well as interpretations of the situation in colonial and postcolonial Africa point out emphatically the growing tendency of confronting the world view, economics, and human ecological makeup of modernity with more or less occult magical practices. Description of urban development in Leopoldville/Kinshasa, the Congo/Zaïre respectively allows no exception to this. Analysts sensitized by pastoral sociology show anxiety over this “return to Kindoki magic” in the West African metropolis. Since these phenomena of urbanization—characterized more and more under the sociological categories “social pathology” or “structural anomie”—have recently received specific forms of expression in the capital of Zaire which are typical for Black Africa, the following should first briefly describe a few modern aspects of these developments in terms of traditional lifestyle interpretations. In the second part, one of the many possible forms of therapy should be presented which—and this is our working hypothesis—opens past encoding models useful in the current search for methods of resolving conflict: the African Negro palaver system.
Processes of anomie are affecting more and more societies. Anomie has become endemic, individual, and social. No society and no community appears to be immune to this process. We…
Abstract
Processes of anomie are affecting more and more societies. Anomie has become endemic, individual, and social. No society and no community appears to be immune to this process. We are at present witnessing the world‐wide degeneration of social bonds and social structures. We are witnessing a re‐barbarization of political conditions. Ex‐Yugoslavia is a nearby example. At the same time we are witnessing anomic conflagrations in Africa. Insidious anomic processes are also evident in the territories of the former Soviet Union. You may judge for yourself the extent to which the virus of anomie has also infected the social body in the core countries of the West.
In fall 1994 a group of social scientists from different parts in the world met in Switzerland. The Swiss Academy for Development (SAD) organized a symposium to discuss problems…
Abstract
In fall 1994 a group of social scientists from different parts in the world met in Switzerland. The Swiss Academy for Development (SAD) organized a symposium to discuss problems of contemporary developmental policy and research. The meeting focussed on the upcoming World Summit of Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995 and so the participants intended to present themes of international interest that would be introduced to a greater audience. The important contributions and propositions of this symposium are found in this publication.
Felicity Callard and Lynne Friedli
This paper describes the qualitative evaluation of Imagine East Greenwich (IEG), a series of arts/health projects developed as part of a regeneration programme on two housing…
Abstract
This paper describes the qualitative evaluation of Imagine East Greenwich (IEG), a series of arts/health projects developed as part of a regeneration programme on two housing estates in a London borough. The evaluation seeks to identify (through consultation with various stakeholders) indicators for measuring the impact of arts/health on communities, and to itemise some of the key factors that appeared to influence the success of IEG's arts/health projects. The paper reflects on some of the challenges that attend arts/health evaluations and, in so doing, contributes to ongoing debates about the role and value of the arts, notably in deprived and fragmented communities.
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Public mental health can be described as the science, politics and art of creating a mentally healthy society. This paper discusses these three concepts with reference to the…
Abstract
Public mental health can be described as the science, politics and art of creating a mentally healthy society. This paper discusses these three concepts with reference to the literature as the necessary components of any strategy or programme to create, promote and maintain mental well‐being at a community and population level. It goes on to describe how they were applied in a cross‐border rural mental health project in Ireland.
There are encouraging signs that mental health, as opposed to mental illness, is beginning to move up the political agenda, but much still needs to be done to challenge…
Abstract
There are encouraging signs that mental health, as opposed to mental illness, is beginning to move up the political agenda, but much still needs to be done to challenge misconceptions. Drawing on the growing literature on social capital, this paper looks at the case for building a new agenda for mental health promotion, one which recognises that we all have mental health needs, whether or not we have a diagnosis. Such needs underpin all health and well‐being and provide a rationale for placing mental health at the centre of the new public health debate.