Afterword: materialities,care, ‘ordinary affects’, power and politics

In this paper I explore how the papers in this volume offer ways of thinking about materialities of care in terms of political ecologies, including hierarchies of value as well as assemblages, in which strategic agendas are made present in everyday practices, with profound and ordinary affects, as well as effects. I show how power can work through the association of multiple and heterogeneous materials and social processes to create ‘thresholds’, as spaces through which people must pass in order to be included as patients, and which circulate specific imaginaries over what counts as an appropriate need. I go on to suggest how some material practices are made mundane and immaterial, that is inconsequential, so that by drawing attention to their importance in how care is done (or not done) the papers help disrupt the commonplace production and reproduction of the ‘neglected things’ (Puig de la Bellacasa 2012 ) of healthcare environments, and by so doing help reimagine what is important for occasions to actually be caring. I then shift to thinking about a sensibility, one that is highly valued in this collection of articles, that helps illuminate different imaginaries of care to those that dominate healthcare environments, an approach that I have called elsewhere ‘relational extension’, and in the example I offer here show how shifts in extension as a form of motility disrupts stabilities and their reproduction, to accomplish different forms of world‐making.     

Veille sanitaire : outils,fonctions, processus

In France, the term “veille sanitaire” is widely used to designate healthcare monitoring. It contains, however, a set of concepts that are not shared equally by the entire scientific community. The same is true for activities that are part of it, even if some (surveillance for example) are already well defined. Concepts such as “observation”, “vigilance”, “alert” for example are not always clear. Furthermore, the use of these words in everyday language maintains this ambiguity. Thus, it seemed necessary to recall these definitions as already used in the literature or legislation texts and to make alternative suggestions. This formalization cannot be carried out without thinking about the structure of “veille sanitaire” and its components. Proposals are provided bringing out concepts of formated “veille” (monitoring) and non-formatted “veille” (monitoring). Definitions, functions, (methods and tools, processes) of these two components are outlined here as well as the cooperative relationship they sustain. The authors have attempted to provide the scientific community with a reference framework useful for exchanging information to promote research and methodological development dedicated to this public health application of epidemiology.     

“Wailing Lore” in a Yemenite–Israeli community: Bereavement,expertise, and therapy

This study explores Yemenite–Jewish wailing as an example of how a traditional community copes with bereavement in contemporary Israel. Observations of wailing events and interviews with Yemenite–Israeli wailers and mourners are analyzed in order to understand the respondents’ perceptions of wailing as a psychotherapeutic expertise and experience. These findings are further used to substantiate a theoretical reconsideration of models of bereavement, exploring the interplay between the modern, self-centered, and detached psychological model (the “clinical lore”) and the traditional, other-oriented, and continuous anthropological model (the “wailing lore”). The article concludes by discussing criticisms of the Western psychotherapeutic paradigm as it relates to bereavement and asking where a mourning ritual such as wailing fits into our understanding of the subjective experiences of grief.     

Resources,Barriers, and Tradeoffs: A Mixed Methods Analysis of School Pre-Consumer Food Waste

BackgroundFood waste is a global problem. School food waste before the point of purchase, pre-consumer waste, has been little studied.ObjectiveOur aim was to elicit a comprehensive assessment and understanding of pre-consumer food waste amounts, behaviors, policies, and attitudes.DesignThis study used mixed methods, featuring a convergent parallel design using key respondent interviews (n=20) and 80 hours of structured kitchen observations, including food waste measurement.Participants/settingSchool and district kitchens (n=14) using stratified random sampling to ensure school level and kitchen type reflected the population of three Colorado school districts in 2016-2017. Kitchen managers, district-level nutrition services directors, and sustainability staff were interviewed.Statistical analyses performedMean food waste volumes and percentages were calculated. Linear regressions were used to determine the relationship between school kitchen characteristics and food waste volumes. Interviews were coded to identify common themes.ResultsTrim waste and overproduction contributed the most to overall pre-consumer food waste; substandard foods and overproduction were the most common reasons for edible waste. Several competing priorities conflicted with schools’ and districts’ waste reduction efforts: food safety, promoting diet quality, food choice, and customer satisfaction. Batch cooking, production record use, shallow salad bar pans, and other inventory management techniques facilitated waste reduction. Staffing, space, and time constraints made it more difficult to implement these strategies. Increased food choice options were positively associated with pre-consumer waste volume (β=49.5, P=0.04), and this relationship remained significant once regression models adjusted for district, salad bar use, and new menu items (β=70.3, P=0.05).ConclusionsSchool nutrition programs are complex, and a systems approach is warranted to reduce overall waste in the context of existing food safety and nutrition policies. More research is needed to elucidate the impact of food choice on overall food waste of the school meal system.     

Changing homelessness services: revanchism, ‘professionalisation’ and resistance

This paper argues that the increasing international salience of homelessness can be partially explained by reference to the revanchist thesis (involving processes of coerced exclusion and abjection), but the situation on the ground is more complex. It reports on interviews with 18 representatives of 11 homelessness service providers in one city in England. As Cloke et al. found, these providers tended to be either larger, more ‘professional’, ‘insider’ services or smaller, more ‘amateur’, ‘outsider’ services. However, this does not mean that the former were necessarily more revanchist and the latter less so. Rather, the actions of both types of organisation could, in some cases, be construed as both advancing and counteracting a revanchist project.     

La fonctionnalité alimentaire : illusion aujourd’hui, réalité demain

Foods have always been considered by man as a means of ensuring his physiological needs, allowing the growth, development and preservation of the body and its tissues (nutritional value of food). To this can be added the feelings of satisfaction and well-being that food gives to its consumer, thus constituting an element that is fundamental for our physiological and mental balance (the sensorial value of food).Nevertheless, recent scientific studies have shown that over and above the ensuring of nutritional needs, eating habits can also adjust certain functions of the human organism and thus play a beneficial or harmful role on one's health (the functional value of food).The whole concept of nutrition has been enriched by the notion that eating is not only a survival reflex (satisfaction derived through eating and the avoidance of harmful effects due to eating deficiencies or excesses): eating aims to improve one's health and well-being and to reduce the risk of developing various pathologies. These new data open interesting new horizons in today's context where health is increasingly expensive and people are increasingly concerned to improve their quality of live.     

Pornography on the net: same attraction,but new options

Sex has come to stay on the Internet and will expand further as more people search for pornography and sexual topics that fulfill their erotic interests and needs. The young have ample opportunities to explore their sexuality through the media, either alone or together with other youths around the world. The youths who suspect or discover they are homosexual, bisexual, or have other specific sexual fantasies and urges can explore in a safe way their curiosities and sexualities, which may lead to easier self-accepting processes. Sometimes partners choose to look at pornography together but for those who keep their sexual interests hidden from their partners in fear of discomfort or disapproval the Internet offers options to fulfill their visual needs. Questions have been raised whether pornography on the Internet changes people's sexual orientation or if the net is rather a way to reach stimulation for existing sexual preferences. Another question is whether the viewing of pornography with various sexual content, e.g. sadistic content will trigger unlawful and harmful behavior outside the Internet. The Internet is a valuable source for sex research as a rich variety of human sexual behavior is represented there. Sexual minorities are not minorities any longer on the Internet. Hidden populations such as foot fetishists, individuals interested in sexual bondage, and individuals attracted to amputees openly discuss their sexual taste and are thus accessible to sex researchers.