BackgroundGenome-wide association studies provide a powerful means of identifying genetic variants that play a role in common diseases. Such studies present important ethical challenges. An increasing number of GWAS is taking place in lower income countries and there is a pressing need to identify the particular ethical challenges arising in such contexts. In this paper, we draw upon the experiences of the MalariaGEN Consortium to identify specific ethical issues raised by such research in Africa, Asia and Oceania.DiscussionWe explore ethical issues (...) in three key areas: protecting the interests of research participants, regulation of international collaborative genomics research and protecting the interests of scientists in low income countries. With regard to participants, important challenges are raised about community consultation and consent. Genomics research raises ethical and governance issues about sample export and ownership, about the use of archived samples and about the complexity of reviewing such large international projects. In the context of protecting the interests of researchers in low income countries, we discuss aspects of data sharing and capacity building that need to be considered for sustainable and mutually beneficial collaborations.SummaryMany ethical issues are raised when genomics research is conducted on populations that are characterised by lower average income and literacy levels, such as the populations included in MalariaGEN. It is important that such issues are appropriately addressed in such research. Our experience suggests that the ethical issues in genomics research can best be identified, analysed and addressed where ethics is embedded in the design and implementation of such research projects. (shrink)

Contrairement à Roland Barthes qui en avait analysé le « discours », Odile Blanc s'intéresse aux images de mode, tout en trouvant chez l'auteur du Système de la mode (1967) une inspiration. Son corpus est celui des miniatures ornant les ouvrages des bibliothèques princières au temps de Charles VI (1380-1422). On en apprécie l'intérêt grâce à de splendides reproductions en couleur. Pour l'essentiel, ces images révèlent surtout les codes vestimentaires du milieu curial. Malgré leurs limi..

This paper explores the potential of a contextual approach to multicultural conflict. It reconstructs two cases that were hotly debated in the Netherlands—Islamic headscarves for police officers and for court officers—and asks whether a contextual approach reaches compromises and thus promotes social stability more easily than a deductive approach. The argument is that a deductive approach accepts standing interpretations of normative principles, whereas a contextual approach reinterprets these principles in the light of the circumstances and that, whether or not it (...) promotes social stability, a contextual approach makes us attend to otherwise neglected perspectives and thus yields greater normative insights. (shrink)

Concerns related to the future of work has precipitated various studies aimed at ensuring that the labour market is a place where people can earn a living, work in dignity, and flourish as human beings. Studies on labour market inequalities and how macroeconomic policies can be used to address such inequalities are also plentiful. What macroeconomic studies have often failed to do, however, is highlight the differences between individuals in the labour market. This is important, especially in an economy with (...) large inequalities, such as South Africa. These inequalities are further entrenched given that wage employment is the primary mode of income generation for the majority of households in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in quality of work at the microeconomic level in relation to changes in the macroeconomy, using a decent work index built from secondary labour force survey data. The data show that changes in the macroeconomic policy environment coincide with differential outcomes for different groups of workers in the labour market, with women benefitting in terms of quality of work during times in which the government undertakes an expansionary fiscal approach, although only in occupation groups which are male-dominated. The study also finds, however, that in some occupation groups, quality of work does not change in relation to shifts in the macroeconomy. The study highlights the need for microeconomic analyses to inform macroeconomic policies to ensure that expected outcomes are distributed in the intended way. (shrink)

Postmortem reproduction refers to normally unnatural situations that are made possible by modern medical technology. It's a definition that applies to a situation in which one parent of an offspring is dead at the time of conception of the offspring or at the time of birth of the offspring. It is a situation which raises complex and multifactorial dilemma as with most issues that concern decisions over human life; accordingly, this discussion of its ethical ramifications is not intended to be (...) exhaustive, but illustrative. (shrink)

Consider sentences like (1): 1. Null Complement Containing Sentences a. Aryn followed b. Marie-Odile promised c. Corinne left d. Samir found out at midnight e. I applied f. They already know g. He volunteered h. Abdiwahid insisted i. I suppose j. Paul gave to Amnesty International These illustrate the phenomenon of null complements -- also called ‘pragmatically controlled zero anaphora’, ‘understood arguments’, and ‘linguistically unrealized arguments’. In each case, a complement is (phonologically) omitted, yet (a) the sentence is well-formed (...) and (b) the meaning effect is as if a complement were present. This contrasts on the one hand with structures that lack complements, but are ill-formed as a result – e.g., (2a-c) – and, on the other hand, with structures that lack overt complements, are well-formed, but do not exhibit the meaning effect of a complement – e.g., sentences (3a-b). 2. Contrast with Ill-formed Structures.. (shrink)

This paper examines how, building on earlier filmic representations such as Ousmane Sembene’s La Noire de… and Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako, Khady Sylla’s Le Monologue de la muette traces a continuum of women’s exploitation, from slavery to colonization to globalization.

Les normes somptuaires édictées dans les communes de Bologne, Venise, Pérouse, Sienne font apparaître l’usage aux XIIIe-XVe siècles de banquets réservés aux femmes, particulièrement à l’occasion des fiançailles et des noces. Ces traces confirment d’autres observations sur les solidarités féminines dans ces sociétés mais ne sont guère relayées par les textes littéraires, dont les auteurs sont pratiquement toujours des hommes ; elles suggèrent cependant de poursuivre l’enquête. The sumptuary laws enacted by the City-states of Bologna, Venice, Perugia, Siena bring to (...) light the fact that the banquets reserved to women were not uncommon practice between the XIIIth and the XVth century, particularly on the occasion of engagements or weddings. Such traces confirm other observations concerning solidarity among women in those urban societies, though they are not mentioned in literary texts (authors being practically always men) ; yet encourage scholars to go on investigating. (shrink)

En se posant la question du " goût des belles choses " dans notre quotidien, les ethnologues rassemblés ici ont emprunté une autre voie que celles de la réflexion philosophique classique - centrée sur la définition d'une catégorie du ...

Au cours du xixe siècle, porter l’uniforme est devenu un élément constitutif de l’identité militaire, particulièrement en France où le service militaire s’est progressivement universalisé à la veille de la Première Guerre mondiale. Objet matériel doté de fonctions symboliques, l’uniforme introduit l’historien au cœur du fonctionnement d’un milieu social qui est alors l’un des laboratoires de la masculinité. Décrit, critiqué, modifié par les médecins militaires soucieux de fonctionnalité et de bien-être, il donne à voir un corps qui demeure cependant largement (...) façonné, redressé par une armature de tissu dissimulant une réalité beaucoup moins idéale. Son port est le fruit d’un long apprentissage qui agrège le jeune soldat à la communauté masculine qui l’entoure. Offert au regard d’autrui, à celui des femmes tout particulièrement, il construit une identité masculine en quête de reconnaissance et se trouve situé, par conséquent, au cœur des processus de construction de la différence sexuée. (shrink)

Although the world has experienced remarkable progress in health care since the last half of the 20th century, global health inequalities still persist. In some poor countries life expectancy is between 37-40 years lower than in rich countries; furthermore, maternal and infant mortality is high and there is lack of access to basic preventive and life-saving medicines, as well a high prevalence of neglected diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Moreover, globalization has made the world more connected than before such that (...) health challenges today are no longer limited within national or regional boundaries, making all persons equally vulnerable. Because of this, diseases in the most affluent countries are closely connected with diseases in the poorest countries. In this paper, we argue that, because of global health inequalities, in a situation of equal vulnerability, there is need for global solidarity not only as a means of reducing health inequalities, but also as a way of putting up a united force against global health challenges. We argue for an African approach to solidarity in which the humanity of a person is not determined by his/her being human or rational capacity, but by his/her capacity to live a virtuous life. According to this view of solidarity, because no one is self-sufficient, no individual can survive alone. If we are to collectively flourish in a world where no individual, nation or region has all the health resources or protection needed for survival, we must engage in solidarity where we remain compassionate and available to one another at all times. (shrink)