ANTHMETHGRP2-2425-FAUSTO-LETO

[Last modified: December, 3 2024 03:47 PM]

Young women’s perceptions of breasts and breastfeeding

Research topic number 5 may be classed as high risk if framed the wrong way, due to the topic overlapping with sensitive issues that may affect people’s mental health, such as sexuality and body image, in addition the research also includes minors. However, if the following ethical considerations are taken into account, I believe it should pass as low risk. I would also like to briefly mention that this may depend on the positionality of the researcher (which I shall expand on later) due to the gendered nature of the research.

 

Minors

Researching minors presents some ethical challenges and pre-requisites. Firstly, for the researcher to conduct research in schools they must pass a DBS check. Secondly, they must get consent from parents for anyone under the age of 18. Finally, they must ensure to never put them selves in a position where they are alone with a minor(s).

The topic of body image and mental health is sensitive, which is linked to questions of bodies, breasts, and the sexualisation of both, and in the context of minors it may be considered high risk. To avoid the research being framed as potentially harmful to minors mental health I suggest the researcher collaborate with frameworks already existing within the school that talk about these issues. This might be in the realm of sex-ed, or mental health and wellness. By collaborating they will be in a space and framework where the school has already taken the safeguarding measures deemed necessary. However the researcher may want to make sure a counsellor is present during the research. Additionally, the researcher can frame this a collaborative space where the researcher, school, and students are working together to talk, empower, and create support networks to overcome social stigmas.

 

Mothers

In terms of mother-toddler groups, the risk is quite low provided that the researcher ensures they are never left, for any reason, alone with a toddler. Here the only ethical question is that of social judgement within the group. Mothers may have different values and since being a parent is a sensitive topic for some, the researcher should ensure they have the skills to diffuse and contentious differences of opinion, as well as facilitate the voices of those whole might have opinions that are not widely shared.

 

Positionality:

Researching on bodily behaviour of women (breastfeeding) in the context of the sexualisation of breasts and women through different forms of media and society worldwide is necessarily gendered and will encounter themes of  misogyny and patriarchal relations. As such, if the researcher is male the sensitivity of participants to the research is completely different compared to researchers of other genders. As males are the primary beneficiaries and enforcers (but not the sole enforcers) of this oppressive and unjust system, participants may monitor thier responses or feel generally uncomfortable depending on the individual and their life experience. As such I would highly discourage male researchers from doing the research alone, without having seriously creative methods of breaking down any pre-perceptions of participants.

[Last modified: November, 25 2024 04:57 PM]

A couple classmates and I walked across the road to a small food market. Upon arrival one of them split off and A and I explored the area, considering how the roofs were well suited for parkour, before settling down on the side of the church for a chat infront of three foodstalls.

While we chatted in the back of my mind I considered the sensory information I was able to perceive. While it was a loud environment I tried to filter out this source of information, instead focusing on the intimate conversation A and I were having. One thing I could not filter however were the smells, my nose was constantly greeting by different scents wafting in our direction, smoke, fried onions, paprika and barbequed chicken all had there turn at alerting me to what a rich environment we were in. I wondering how I could best represent this in an ethnography, visual mediums could not do it justice, text could be an option but I think you’d have to be skilled, perhaps audio was the best.

While this sounds counterintuitive, audio perhaps telling the audience less about the food itself than visual mediums, I think it would emphasise the weight of this sensory stimuli. Let me explain, as I mention A and I were having a pretty intimate conversation about our family histories, how it’s impacted us, and how it’s been a significant part in shaping who we are today. If this conversation was recorded, the act of interrupting A while they were telling me something quite personal to comment on the various smells would add significant weight to their intensity, depth and dominance of the atmosphere.

As I alluded to earlier, I did not record the conversation, and I feel conflicted over this. On one hand I don’t have media which would’ve added richness to my reflection of the field work. On the other A and I were having a personal conversation, and I think he would have phrased things differently, or perhaps omitted certain parts (perhaps even unconsciously) due to the recording, I know I would have second guessed my own answers. From this experience I take that in fieldwork one cannot collect everything. Some questions and mediums will generate a certain type of information, but at the same time exclude different methods and creation of other information in the same moment.

[Last modified: November, 11 2024 04:12 PM]

My project is based on the assumption that indigenous knowledge of psychological healing methods has been developed to a greater depth than occidental methods. This is based on the fact Mazatec communities have been using psilocybin longer than occidental doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuroscientists.

The position hear is an anti-orientalist one, whereby I acknowledge that other cultures and peoples have valid and important knowledge that has long been ignored or repressed, often violently. However, I avoid fetishizing their culture, not taking everything to be fact, acknowledging that every culture and ways of knowing have both good and bad things implicit within the structure and knowledge produced by different cultures. In addition I do not wish to replicate colonial relations of extractivism.

Politically speaking Mazatec communities has endured a lot of harm from research of their knowledge of psychedelics, starting from the 1950’s and although the nature and methods of research has changed today, the political arms of the capitalist hegemony continues to deconstruct their traditional ways of life. What I mean here is the exposition of psilocybin mushrooms to the world by western researchers in the 1950’s diminished the spiritual realm of the Mazatec people as for them it is a god, Xknon, and meant to be kept secret. Thus the research, popularity, and extractivism of knowledge on mushrooms has greatly diminished their spirituality. Furthermore, the spread of western modernity has seen many Mazatec people take up Mexican ways of life and thinking, many turning away from their indigenous way of life and viewing the culture as inferior.

As a result of the aforementioned political context, this research will be conducted in the style of participant lead ethnography, where I will be ‘shadowing’ Mazatec community healers and at there behest. A key part of the research outcome is to ask the communities how the research produced can be of value to them, I envision in terms of advocacy. While this may limit what information is collected, it’s important any knowledge collected is done so with full consent of the healers and the wider Mazatec community. In addition, Notes on when I am restricted on what information I may collect or have access to will be tell tale signs of culturally important information, the type which can be speculated upon and areas of importance for occidental medicine practitioner to develop knowledge of in their cultural and knowledge context.

 

[Last modified: October, 28 2024 09:09 PM]

A vignette:

11:45, Friday, 25/10/2024

I arrived at Byng place in a curious mood, not really sure what I was looking for, other than a place to stand and take notes. I had thought this would be pretty easy but found that all the benches where either taken, some by fellow ethnographers, or positioned in small corners of the place. I wanted a nice overview of the place, to examine the going’s on of the day. I soon found a spot slightly above the place, with a conveniently located electricity box which became my desk.

Here I looked onto the street, the place across from me, and the couple of shops in it which where all dwarfed by the church behind. however my eager onlooking was interrupted by a class mate who smiled on her way to her site, and told me I looked suspicious. At once I was made aware of my existence in the field, I had Imagined myself invisible but realised I was faaaar from it. So I moved back a bit, tucking myself away from the pavement and sitting down to make myself less prominent and utilising my favourite means of justifying my existence, smoked a cigarette, immediately falling into place.

After 20minutes of observing people, nothing had changed, not many people hung around, most walked on going about their day, and those who stayed in the place did so just to wait for their food from the stalls. It seemed like a very quiet, grey unassuming time of day. I though the shear size of the church aided to this end, imposing an aura of insignificance on the everyday goings-on of people.

I spotted an old red telephone booth tucked in between the church and the shop stalls and decided to check it out on my way back. Walking past the stalls the vibe immediately changed, it seemed tucked away, covered by green trees and shrouded colourful banners and flags from the pro-Palestinian encampment. Here people chatting among each other, I heard the first laughter and saw the first smiles since my classmate had walked past.

A reflection on note taking:

Note taking itself was quite a reflexive exercise, I considered  my physical positionality more than anything, and my connection to the field. This was emphasised as across the place from me I saw a fellow ethnographer from a different group taking notes, and I was so curious what he observed from his perspective.

The story I wanted to tell way how space influenced the vibes (or affect if you want) of individuals, and I feel note taking helped. I used certain adjectives in the moment which I really felt, and brought me back to the field, I have added emphasis to these words.

[Last modified: October, 21 2024 06:01 PM]

To reflex on my own positionality in the research I must first contextualise said positionality, something which lacks from most ethnography’s, and compare it to the positionality of interlocutors.

Being a third culture kid, as we are called, positionality has always been something made obvious to me. Always an outsider even at home is how it might feel on a bad day, a social chameleon on a good day. Having never been completely imeshed in a particular culture I find it easy to critique problematic parts of cultures I’ve experienced, to see the good and the bad, and to live in it while at the same time be able to remove myself and take up an outsiders perspective. I don’t think any of the perspectives available to me are objective as each culture has systemic biases and contradictions, however being able to view the same event from different positions allows me, if I’m focused that is, to compare biases. In terms or race class and gender it’s all pretty standard in terms of the stereotypical anthropologist, white middle class male.

 

I expect half of my interlocutors to be completely at ease with my positionality, those who’ve gone through clinical therapy in the US or UK. Positionality becomes more important in terms of research of Mazatec communities. This is for the following reasons: a) Mazatec communities and Mexico generally have been the site of European and Euro-American colonial projects, to this day structural inequalities created during these projects exist today. As an outsider from states who’s from a coloniser nation, and white, I must be aware to not replicate extractive relationships (Goddard, 2018). b) As an outsider not familiar with Mazatec customs I must be aware of my positionality and not decontextualize any knowledge, but rather understand practises both in the cultural context the Mazatec view them (Abu-Lughod, 1991) and secondly by making observations of events as they happen, not from a biased perspective. c) In my comparison of outcomes from the different therapeutic methods, I must be careful to impose  judgment (Goddard, 2018) of what I believe is the ‘correct’ approach but only report the efficacy of the methods from participant reports and observed facts.

 

[Last modified: October, 14 2024 05:56 PM]

A Vignette:

20 minutes after leaving the lecture theatre I found myself wandering the long hallways of the the Psychology department at UCL. There was little sound and I encountered only a cleaner with which I exchanged smiles with. I was searching for the common room, which is where I imagined there to be tens of psychology students and lectureurs to be casually chatting, ready to be interviewed on the topic of integrated psychedelic therapy. As I stepped out the lift onto yet another floor I was greeting by the smell of fresh coffee, I must be close I thought to myself. As I rounded the corner I found what I was looking for… although it was not what I had imagined.

Unlike the humanities common rooms I’d often frequented in the past this room was deadly quiet, and other than a student trying to flirt with her lecturer and the barista was the only one who didn’t have their nose tucked into a book laptop. I decided to break the social etiquette in the room and strike up a conversation with the student next to me, only to be met with blank stares and uninterested one word answers before they returned to scrolling. This was painfully awkward and not something I was used to, it’s not like these students were particularly busy, while some were studying most were scrolling Instagram on online shops. I sat there for a further 20 minutes, feeling out of place and hoping some chatty group of PhD students would enter the room. Unfortunately non materialised, so I gathered my notes on the irony of psychology students being unsociable despite studying people, and made for the exit.

I reasoned that perhaps certain individuals had instilled an unsociable air into the room at the start of the term which lingers to this day, and therefore anyone who wanted to socialise hung out outside the building. Outside the building was a stark contrast to the common room, while the common room was stagnant and impersonal the street was full of movement, people talking, and drivers rueing the fact their choice to navigate through a bustling campus. Yet, a commonality remained, it was still just as impersonal, with many people rudely dismissing or ignoring my attempts to start conversation.

Finally I successfully engaged someone! A young psychology student called Coline, aged 20, in meaningful conversation. However, the relief I felt quickly disappeared on discovering they were in their first weeks of their bachelors degree. I quickly shifted the topic of conversation from psychological practise to her experience of therapy and thoughts on my research topic, hoping to create and ‘encounter’ which might add data to my research.

Unfortunately, the conversation was cut short as we both realised we had to get to class, but parted and friendly acquaintances. This was a lovely note to end things on as I felt while I hadn’t acquired much relevant data, I had fostered human connection in what can at times be a cold impersonal setting, and reciprocated this to my interlocutor .

 

Reflections:

From my observations in the field I took away three key facts:

1. Accessing the field you’re interested in can be a challenge if you don’t have any ‘ins’ or prior connection.
2. Psychology student’s unsociability is concerning given they are interested in studying peoples behaviour and experiences
3. Londoners are ruder than Brightonians. I suspect it’s the scale of the city that causes people to disengage from others around them, among other things.

[Last modified: October, 7 2024 07:06 PM]

Topic:

Using psychedelics to treat mental health issues

Question:

Can the most important factors for the use of psychedelics to treat mental health by identified by comparing patient outcomes of two different methods? Comparing outcomes of clinical trials of psilocybin with outcomes of their use by Mazatec communities.

Relevancy:

In todays cultural landscape I think people tend to view the use of psychedelics for therapeutic use in several ways. Firstly, as part of their tradition and rituals, and of both spiritual and cultural significance by many peoples around the world. Secondly, in a medicalised sense, where the focus of research is either on the biological and neurochemical effects of psychedelics (Talin & Sanabria, 2017). Third, where the research explore the psychotherapeutic value of the state induced by certain psychedelics, as a state where emplotment is easier and progress for progress is higher (Calebrese, 2008). Forth, in a so called ‘spiritual’ way by neo-shamanic groups While this group acknowledges indigenous communities around the world have been using psychedelics and have important knowledge about them. It is typical of this group to appropriate cultural symbols and ideas from different groups without context. While these two categories are an exaggeration of different view points on the use of psychedelics for therapeutic intervention, and there is often overlap across and beyond them, they serve to paint a picture of the current landscape, in broad terms.

While the medical aspect of psychedelics is extremely important to understand, it is not the only relevant knowledge for using psychedelics to treat mental health in the most effective way. As psychedelic experiences are broad and often cross personal and spiritual experiences, understanding the patient’s world view is important. Therefore I think more research is needed into what factors contribute to the success of psychedelic therapy, and successful integration of the outcomes into the patients life. Moreover, this must be contextually relevant to the patient’s worldview, beliefs, and culture (Perkins et al. 2023).

Ethics:

Care will be taken in order to be purely extractive when observing traditional practices. In order to prevent this I will be offering to work where needed within the community. In addition I intend to allocate some of the budget to paying for practitioners time and knowledge if possible.

In the context of clinical trials there is less risk of extractivism as trials are fully funded, as well as expected to generate value for the funders and researchers in most cases.

In regards to participants of the treatment in both sites, informed consent will be gathered from participants in both sites.

 

Methods:

Multi site ethnography, field research and observation of therapeutic processes. In addition, in depth semi-structured interviews conducted across time with both practitioners and patients.

Potential Findings:

For the best chance of long lasting positive effects, integration of the experience with the patient’s worldview, including culture and spiritual beliefs is the most important factor, closely followed by recognition of the experience, change and support of  the process by the patient’s community.

Literature & bibliography:

Calabrese, J.D. (2008), Clinical Paradigm Clashes: Ethnocentric and Political Barriers to Native American Efforts at Self-Healing. Ethos, 36: 334-353. https://doi-org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2008.00018.x

Piera Talin, Emilia Sanabria, 2017, Ayahuasca’s entwined efficacy: An ethnographic study of ritual healing from ‘addiction’, International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 44, 2017, Pages 23-30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.02.017.

Noorani, T. (2020). Making psychedelics into medicines: The politics and paradoxes of medicalization. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 4(1), 34-39. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2019.018

Wolff, T. J., Ruffell, S., Netzband, N., & Passie, T. (2019). A phenomenology of subjectively relevant experiences induced by ayahuasca in Upper Amazon vegetalismo tourism. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 3(3), 295-307. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2019.007

Perkins D, Ruffell SGD, Day K, Pinzon Rubiano D and Sarris J (2023) Psychotherapeutic and neurobiological processes associated with ayahuasca: A proposed model and implications for therapeutic use. Front. Neurosci. 16:879221. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.879221

Al-Olimat S (2024). Psilocybin Mushrooms: A Journey from Ancient Traditions to Modern Clinical Use. Online. Avalable at [https://www.drugtopics.com/view/psilocybin-mushrooms-a-journey-from-ancient-traditions-to-modern-clinical-use].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Last modified: October, 1 2024 05:58 PM]

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