In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Feminist Studies 41, no. 3. © 2015 by Feminist Studies, Inc. 623 Jaye Cee Whitehead, Kath Bassett, Leia Franchini, and Michael Iacolucci “The Proof Is in the Pudding”: How Mental Health Practitioners View the Power of “Sex Hormones” in the Process of Transition In the United States today, popular discourse touts the power of “sex hormones” and hormone receptors in the brain to chemically produce gender expressions (...) (manifested in physical sex traits, behaviors, and attitudes) and identities (a sense of self as feminine or masculine). These accounts range from common assumptions that Western ideals of femininity (such as empathy understanding, cooperative orientation, nurturing behavior) and masculinity (rational/spatial understanding, competitive orientation, violent behavior) are produced by corresponding sex hormones, to studies that reduce complex gender identities and macrosocial economic phenomena to presocial, binary, hormonal processes.1 For sociologists, accounts that reduce complex identities to internal hormonal reactions are problematic for two primary reasons: first, they are inaccurate because they fail to examine how hormonal reactions are embedded in a complex cultural process of meaning and interpretation; second, they operate as bioreductive ideologies that obscure the social power inherent to the process of gender identity construction. In what follows, we extend both of these insights by examining mental health 1. For an example of a hybrid popular-scientific account of the power of sex hormones to destabilize economic structures, see Jon Coates and Joe Herbert, “Endogenous Steroids and Financial Risk Taking on a London Trading Floor,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 16 (April 2008): 6167–72. 624 Whitehead, Bassett, Franchini, and Iacolucci practitioners’ divergent interpretations of the power of sex hormones in the process of gender transition.2 In doing so, we examine the cultural power of sex hormones in crafting gender identities without reproducing reductionist interpretations of trans embodiment. Perhaps what is most perplexing about the way we speak of sex hormones is that we know it is inaccurate to describe these hormones as sexed; scientists have acknowledged since the 1930s that they are neither sex specific in their function, nor in terms of their location in male or female bodies.3 In her extensive historicization of sex hormones, Anne Fausto-Sterling concludes that it is more accurate to call androgen- and estrogen-based hormones, “steroid hormones” as they have functions that are not confined to corresponding sexed bodies. In fact she urges scientists to “break out of the sex hormone straightjacket” and to look at steroids as just one of a number of components that are important to the creation of sex and gender, including environment and experience.4 Scholars also point to an inextricable link between the chemical operation of hormones and the social process of constructing meaning, both at the level of social interaction and macrocultural constructions of sex categories and gender ideologies.5 While brain organization/activation theory attributes sex and gender differences to hormonal interactions within the developing brain, Fausto-Sterling questions the distinction between activation and organization by pointing out how “the brain can respond to hormonal stimuli with anatomical changes…hormonal systems, after all, respond exquisitely to experience, be it in the form of nutrition, stress, or sexual activity (to name but a few possibilities ).”6 Drawing from Elizabeth Grosz, Fausto-Sterling argues that the power of hormones is best understood according to the model of the 2. “Gender transition” is a controversial phrase, as it implies that transgendered individuals who receive hormone therapy are changing identities. We are only using it for lack of clear alternative phrasing, not because we believe body modifications change gender identities. 3. See Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (New York: Basic Books, 2000); Rebecca Jordan-Young, Brainstorm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010); and Nelly Oudshoorn, Beyond the Natural Body: An Archeology of Sex Hormones (New York: Routledge, 1994). 4. Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, 193–94. 5. Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body. 6. Ibid., 232. Whitehead, Bassett, Franchini, and Iacolucci 625 Möbius strip, wherein internal components of the self are always connected to and continuous with outer components such as culture and environment.7 In other... (shrink)

The recent finding that the human version of a neurodevelopmental enhancer of the Wnt receptor Frizzled 8 (FZD8) gene alters neural progenitor cell cycle timing and brain size is a step forward to understanding human brain evolution. The human brain is distinctive in terms of its cognitive abilities as well as its susceptibility to neurological disease. Identifying which of the millions of genomic changes that occurred during human evolution led to these and other uniquely human traits is extremely challenging. Recent (...) studies have demonstrated that many of the fastest evolving regions of the human genome function as gene regulatory enhancers during embryonic development and that the human‐specific mutations in them might alter expression patterns. However, elucidating molecular and cellular effects of sequence or expression pattern changes is a major obstacle to discovering the genetic bases of the evolution of our species. There is much work to do before human‐specific genetic and genomic changes are linked to complex human traits. (shrink)

O objeto da reflexão, neste artigo, são as propostas curriculares veiculadas a partir da segunda metade do século XIX, no Brasil e na Argentina. A questão que se coloca é perceber quais os conteúdos que estão incluídos sobre a América Latina, nestas propostas curriculares, se há semelhanças e diferenças entre estes documentos e se os conteúdos veiculados nas propostas curriculares implantadas a partir de 1995, nestes dois países, refletem as mudanças no ensino de história, sugeridas pelo MERCOSUL Educacional. O texto (...) foi dividido em dois subtemas, sendo que no primeiro, estão dispostos os dados referentes à América Latina no ensino secundário das propostas curriculares veiculadas nos séculos XIX até a década de 1980, do século XX e no segundo, são trazidos os conteúdos da América Latina que estão propostos para o sétimo e o oitavo anos, nos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, do Brasil e para o oitavo e nonos anos, nos Contenidos Básicos Comunes, da Argentina. Foi possível concluir que o lugar da América Latina foi bastante escasso, inclusive no contexto em que ascenderam suas preocupações com o nacionalismo. No caso do Brasil, o currículo foi fabricado de modo a tanto valorizar a história europeia e estadunidense, como modelo a ser seguido, e, num segundo plano, a valorizar a sua própria história. Esta lógica foi igualmente percebida na Argentina, que tinha a sua história como apêndice de uma história universal, privilegiando o olhar sobre o Estado, excluindo os conteúdos sobre a América Latina. Já as propostas curriculares veiculadas a partir de 1995, no Brasil e na Argentina, apresentaram mais permanências do que mudanças, uma vez que colocaram os conteúdos da História da América Latina na condição de ser a sobremesa de um menu, cujo prato principal ainda é a história europeia. Palavras-chave: Ensino de História da América. Mercosul Educacional. Propostas curriculares. (shrink)

O presente estudo tem como objetivo investigar como a diversidade afrobrasileira e indígena está contemplada na educação escolar, compreendendo que a escola é um lugar estratégico de articulação, um espaço para propostas de mudanças em relação a uma educação que respeite as diferenças e singularidades. A problematização se pautou na reflexão do livro didático, nos desafios e nas práticas dos professores, com o objetivo de analisar e compreender as mudanças e permanências, as inclusões e exclusões, os estereótipos, os preconceitos, a (...) visão etnocêntrica, as imagens, e os conteúdos que são veiculados na educação escolar. Quais representações e significados são veiculados nos livros didáticos e nas práticas dos professores, no sentido de perceber se estas questões levantadas contribuem para a ressignificação de uma educação escolar que estimule a formação de uma consciência histórica e cidadã. Utilizamos uma metodologia centrada em uma proposta investigativa crítica, com embasamento científico centrado em trabalhos de teóricos sobre a temática e, na compreensão de que o problema não se resolve com a criação de políticas de reparação das desigualdades, mas sim com ações incisivas para o tratamento e valorização da diversidade na escola. Das conclusões vimos que é relevante alterar valores, promover subsídios para que os profissionais da educação se insiram em um contexto de lutas mais amplo, em sintonia com o desejo por saberes diversificados, que vão além da disciplina escolar e do currículo, sabendo que não basta apenas denunciar e levantar dados. É fundamental a mobilização, o movimento, as ações coletivas, em um campo de luta em que a bandeira de combate ao preconceito e ao racismo seja permanente em todos os espaços, na escola, na sociedade e em toda a vida cotidiana. Palavras-chave: Educação escolar. Etnorracionalidade. Diversidade. Livro didático. (shrink)

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar uma reflexão sobre o processo de constituição da disciplina "Estudos Latino- Americanos" - que compõe a grade curricular da Educação Básica do Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - a fim de compreender como a mesma, em sendo objeto da cultura escolar, pode contribuir para a formação inicial dos graduandos do curso de História da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, no sentido de estimular a formação de uma consciência histórica e (...) cidadã. Na realização deste trabalho, analisamos o documento oficial que propôs a inclusão da disciplina ELA, na grade curricular do colégio, como também as considerações finais de seis relatórios de estágio-docência, realizados pelos alunos da sétima fase do curso de Graduação em História, nos anos de 2004, 2007 e 2008. Este trabalho concluiu sinalizando que essa disciplina tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento de uma consciência histórica e cidadã, na medida em que tem levado os estagiários docentes ao questionamento sobre seu desconhecimento da América Latina, sobre sua falta de familiaridade com a mesma, sobre suas dificuldades na elaboração e no desenvolvimento dos conteúdos a serem expostos na sala de aula e sobre a visão estereotipada do continente americano. (shrink)

As part of a European Erasmus Plus project entitled Death Education for Palliative Psychology, this study assessed the ways in which Master’s Degree students in psychology and the creative arts therapies self-rated their confidence and interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care. In five countries (Austria, Israel, Italy, Poland, Romania), 344 students completed an online questionnaire, and 37 students were interviewed to better understand their views, interest, and confidence. The results revealed some significant differences between countries, and showed (...) that older respondents with previous experience as formal caregivers for end-of-life clients showed greater interest in obtaining practical clinical competence in these fields. A mediation analysis indicated that students’ previous care experiences and past loss experiences were related to students’ current interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care through the mediation of their sense of confidence in this field. The qualitative findings identified five shared themes: life and death, learning about death, the psychological burden, personal experience and robust training, and four key training needs. Overall, students’ interest in studying and working with terminal illness and death are rooted in internal resources, a preliminary sense of confidence, but also external requirements. (shrink)

Advances in machine learning and the development of very large knowledge graphs have accompanied a proliferation of ontologies of many types and for many purposes. These ontologies are commonly developed independently, and as a result, it can be difficult to communicate about and between them. To address this difficulty of communication, ontologies and the communities they serve must agree on how their respective terminologies and formalizations relate to each other. The process of coming into accord and agreement is called “harmonization.” (...) The Ontology Summit 2021 examined the overall landscape of ontologies, the many kinds of ontology generation and harmonization, as well as the sustainability of ontologies. The Communiqué synthesizes and summarizes the findings of the summit as well as earlier summits on related issues. One of the major impediments to harmonization is the relatively poor quality of natural language definitions in many ontologies. The summit surveyed the state of the art in natural language definition development, based on lexicographic principles, as well as examples of ongoing projects that are explicitly dealing with harmonization and sustainability. (shrink)

There is an imbalance of gender roles in everyone's favorite space saga, with the vast majority of characters played by males while the female parts are minimized at nearly every turn. But the underlying problem of womanhood in Star Wars might be even more insidious than Darth Sidious himself. This chapter explains why it is difficult to embrace a strong female identity anywhere, let alone in the midst of intergalactic war. It analyzes whether the women in Star Wars have what (...) it takes to bring feminism to the Force. While Princess Leia and Queen Amidala are instantly recognizable figures in popular culture, the question arises whether they represent women positively. While Leia and Padmé are typically recognized as the feminist icons of Star Wars, they are not all the films have to offer. The women of Star Wars offer just as much as any of the individual male characters. (shrink)

Ce volume qui rassemble les actes d’un colloque tenu à Gênes en 2008 se présente comme un véritable kaléidoscope, une série articulée de fragments se proposant d’analyser, selon différentes perspectives, les identités et les représentations de genre dans l’Italie des xixe et xxe siècles. Une telle problématique n’échappe pas à une tendance centrifuge en raison de l’extrême variété des thèmes abordés mais a le mérite d’exprimer la vitalité et l’originalité des études de genre en Italie. Famill...