The Librarian Mystique

  I wanted to take my kids to the movies today but my physical and cognitive fatigue took over. I had taken my florinef for increasing salt retention and to raise my blood pressure. I had taken my midodrine to increase vasoconstriction ( which prevents fainting and reduces my dizziness and seeing stars). I had taken my nasonex to stop my random allergic reactions to…well…. everything. I had taken a stimulant for cognitive fatigue, my second for the day. I had drunk about a litre of electrolytes to try and raise my blood pressure as well as heavily salting my lunch. My blood pressure was finally in the normal range but I still felt too sleepy. So I drank a coffee and still could have gone straight to sleep afterwards. My hands felt weak and my concentration was shot for anything serious like driving. I felt angry and defeated. Why can’t I just drive my kids to the movies like a normal mum? I have a condition called POTS*. It's an autonomic nervous system disorder which affects my he...

  One of the first tenets we learn in the social sciences is the value of human beings. An ethnographer learns not to call the people they interview "subjects" but participants. When we find someone who introduces us to a subculture or a helpful participant, we call them an "informant". These distinctions may seem redundant, after all, they may mean the same thing to other scientists.  However, in the qualitative sciences, the use of terms to describe someone is a conscious effort to affirm the agency of a person. They are contributors to a body of information you would never have had without them. The way they talk, walk, work and play reveals precious data for an ethnographer.  However, even that expression of a "participant" appears to me unethical, after all, what I just expressed is that their value to me as a researcher is in providing me information for my research. This reductionistic description of a person is against my foundational ideas of onto...

 Now the Star-Belly Sneetches  Had bellies with stars.  The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars.   Those stars weren't so big. They were really so small.  You might think such a thing wouldn't matter at all.    (Dr Seuss, 1957) In Erving Goffman’s 1963 book Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity, the term stigma is explained.  “The term stigma, then, will be used to refer to an attribute that is deeply discrediting, but it should be seen that a language of relationships, not attributes, is really needed” (Goffman, p, 13). What Goffman means by this is that stigma is not an automatic standard response from one person to another, but one determined by context. There is often an automatic stigma about certain indicators of “difference” in society. For instance, if we meet a person in a wheelchair, we may be tempted to treat them differently than others as an automatic response to their perceived inability to perform things ...

  What is a person? What makes a person valuable? If we strip away our social, economic and civilised definitions, what is left? Who are you? What makes you, you? We live in an age where economically, persons are not particularly valuable. If we work and produce money to contribute to society through taxation or perhaps through some altruistic purposes, or through social and communal engagement, we can depend on a pretty good eulogy, from someone. But what if we cannot do those things?  The elderly in aged care are seen as a burden on families, the health system, and even society. We do not interact with the elderly in our siloed zones of school, work and socialising, unless one of our sectors is deliberately designed for them. An elderly person, unless known and loved by their families, loses their social value in a society where policy separates them from the rest of the world.  In their homes and segregated places, the process of ageing is in many ways humiliating. Bec...

My name is Amy Isham, I have a doctorate in social science, specialising in Leadership in regional social and economic systems. I'm interested in what kinds of leadership fosters social and economic sustainability and in social cohesion. I'm using this blog as a kind of social geography of issues I am interested in. We can map the political changes in our world and the impacts this has had on our private lives, travel, work and the economy, but the social facts of our world shift more subtly and are harder to understand. I'm seeking to analyse our world using my training in social theory, ethnography and economic trends to make sense of our world. Seeking to increase social cohesion, dialogue and engagement rather than support the growing polarisation and unrest in Australian society.  I believe the greatest change we can make in society starts with us reading widely, thinking generously and communicating respectfully.

From rising COVID19 cases in construction to a mandatory vaccine requirement, the explosive strike and ensuing riots, it’s all escalated so quickly that it felt out of control. But could it have been prevented?  Although I am not endorsing the behaviour of a group that lists among its demands that the Australian government widely distribute ivermectin, vitamin C and zinc rather than vaccines, it’s helpful to look at the way the situation escalated, and why. It’s easy to separate ourselves from “them” and enjoy the moral higher ground and moral indignation of being part of the socially accepted, who are willing to comply with stay at home orders and be vaccinated. First, let’s look at what Premier Andrews demanded after allowing the COVID19 cases to rise in the construction industry for weeks before acting. “Construction workers state-wide will need to show evidence to their employer that they have had at least a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by 11.59pm on the 23rd of Septembe...