Message sent
on behalf of Prof Mohan Dutta (Director, Center for
Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)) following up on
the earlier email, below are the updated event posters and the online livestream
links to CARE’s Anti-Racism Events between 21-23 March 2020
Mohan J. Dutta Director, Center for Culture-centered Approach to Research & Evaluation, Massey University
Foreign migrant workers washing luxury condo in Singapore
Foreign migrant workers painting luxury condo in Singapore
Foreign migrant workers relaxing on their Sunday day off in Singapore
Responding to the continued rise in COVID19 clusters in migrant worker dormitories in Singapore, and building on earlier research (See CARE White paper Issue 6), this White Paper reports on the findings of a survey conducted with low-wage migrant workers in Singapore. In addition to the poor living conditions highlighted earlier, the structural constraints on preventive behavior are explored. Drawing on the key tenets of the culture-centered approach, the research highlights the powerful role of structural factors such as arrangements of dormitories, the absence of hygienic conditions because of the structures, the lack of clean toilets, pressure on limited toilets, and scarcity of water. The findings highlight the challenges to mental health and wellbeing experienced by the workers. Moreover, it points to the absence of voice infrastructures, and the ways in which this absence contributes to conditions that are rife for the pandemic. Solutions for structural solutions and voice democracy are offered.
Gayle Moana – Johnson, CARE – Community Research Assistant and Mohan J. Dutta, Director,Center for Culture – centered Approach to Research & Evaluation Massey University
In this white paper, the community advisory group in Highbury, working with community researcher Gayle Moana-Johnson, developed the key conceptual guidelines for culture-centered community-grounded testing. The white paper highlights the key concepts anchoring the partnership between the community advisory group and the clinical team at HHPNZ
This white paper outlines the key principles of culture-centered community-led testing that are voiced by the advisory group of community members in Highbury, anchored in the principle of representing the most “in-need” members of the community (referred in the rest of this white paper as the “margins of the margins”). The key ideas in this white paper are developed as anchoring principles for the partnership between the community advisory group and the Health Hub Project New Zealand (HHPNZ).
Courtesy Julio Etchart as part of CARE’s “Respect Migrant Rights” campaign in Singapore
This white paper responds to the high prevalence of COVID-19 in clusters associated with dormitories that house low-wage migrant workers in Singapore. Based on an ongoing digital ethnography (45 hours of participant observation) conducted in spaces where low-wage migrant workers participate online, 43 interviews conducted between April 7 2020 and April 13, 2020, inputs from advisory group of lowwage migrant workers, and drawing on 157 in-depth interviews conducted since 2013, the following key challenges with housing and food, as well as corresponding key solutions are proposed. Each of the key challenges is presented, alongside specific recommendations for solutions. The participants for the interviews were identified using snowball sampling. The interviews were conducted in Bengali, mix of Bengali and English, or English, depending on the level of comfort of the participant. Given the sense of anxiety expressed by the participants (see theme 7 below), the white paper does not disclose the locations. Also, it does not separate the different forms of arrangements to protect the confidentiality of the participants. The excerpts from the interviews are truncated to protect the identity of the participants. One of the limitations of the current study is the small sample size of the COVID19- specific data gathered between the April 7 and April 13 timeframe; however, the depth of the narratives offer rich contextually-embedded insights into the challenges being experienced by low-wage migrant workers and the potential insights they envision. The CARE research team is currently conducting a follow-up quantitative study exploring everyday experiences of health and wellbeing among low-wage migrant workers.
The findings reported here are drawn from our advisory group of community members that represent the community in Highbury. The advisory group has been built on the basis of purposive sampling, ensuring that the voices of the “margins of the margins” are represented. The advisory group meets face-to-face as well as on a digital platform. The group is facilitated by two community researchers, recruited from within the advisory group and trained in the fundamentals of interview-based research.
A wide range of models have been proposed as frameworks for responding to Covid-19. These models highlight the significance of health communication in preventing the spread of COVID19 as well as in effectively responding to it. The positioning of specific models as solutions to COVID-19 is tied to the creation of actual strategies of response globally. One such model that has been rapidly disseminated in policy discourse and circulated in articulations of COVID response is the “Singapore Model.” Drawing on the key tenets of the CCA, this paper will examine the premise of the “Singapore Model” as a framework for global health.
The white paper draws on the key tenets of the CCA to examine Singapore’s pandemic response. The CCA foregrounds the interplays of culture, structure, and agency in the constructions of health meanings and the development of health solutions.
Structure refers to the political economy of organizing resources in society. Culture reflects the community norms, community-based meanings, and community values guiding relational negotiations of health and wellbeing. Agency reflects the relational and collective capacities of communities to develop solutions.
The global nodes of spread of Covid-19 highlight the significance of health communication in preventing the spread as well as in effectively responding to it. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Noting the aggressive movement of the virus across countries, with eight countries reporting more than 1000 cases of COVID-19, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. Drawing on critical analyses of the pandemic and crises response literatures as well as building on the experiences of CARE in developing culture-centered community grounded interventions,this white paper outlines the culture-centered approach to pandemic response, specifically directed at offering culturecentered guidelines for effective communication. The culture-centered approach foregrounds the interplays of culture, structure, and agency in the constructions of health meanings and the development of health solutions
Talk Abstract: Communicating about cancer presents many challenges for patients and their families. Uncertainty is prevalent across the survivorship trajectory; specifically, questions regarding recurrence, unexplained symptoms, and renegotiating relational roles all may persist after cancer treatment is completed. This talk will consider the communication processes and uncertainty management strategies patients and families engage in throughout a cancer experience and beyond.
Short Bio: Laura Miller received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee in the USA. Her works explores how individuals communicate about health, how families communicate support amid health stressors, and how illness-related uncertainty is managed. She is passionate about global education and has taught in Beijing, Dublin, and Sydney.
Dr Phoebe Elers, Dr Steve Elers and Professor Mohan Dutta
This study explores the challenges experienced by residents in Glen Innes, Auckland. The findings have assisted in the identification of local problems and corresponding solutions, including the ‘Poverty is Not Our Future’ campaign, which has served as anchor for residents to challenge dominant structures and, at the same time, communicate their everyday realities of poverty. While this study is focused on Glen Innes, material hardship continues to be a significant issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, with research determining that 13 percent of children lived in households that experienced material hardship in the 2017/18 financial year (Statistics New Zealand, 2019) and that children born into disadvantage in Aotearoa New Zealand have a significant likelihood of remaining disadvantaged (New Zealand Treasury, 2016a, 2016b; Templeton, 2016).
Dr. Phoebe Elers, CARE Massey spoke on Radio Waatea about the forthcoming launch of #PovertyIsNotOurFuture campaign. Waatea News and interviews are broadcasted on all 21 radio stations of the Iwi Radio Network.
