Repaying the gift of life: self-help,organ transfer and the debt of care

A total of 2,552 organs from deceased donors were transplanted in the UK in 2009, yet more than 1,000 people die each year waiting for an organ transplant. The metaphor of the ‘gift of life’ remains the rubric under which increasing the availability of organs for transplant is commonly organised. Like all gifts, the ‘gift of life’ must be reciprocated. Reviewing the advice given by, and for, transplant recipients in self-help and autobiographical literature aimed at those waiting for or who have just received a new organ we argue that reciprocity is circumscribed through projects of ‘care’ articulated at a range of scales including the organ, the self, the donor and the transplant community itself. We argue that the scarcity of organs available for transplant is used to compel recipients into adopting practices of self-care, to embodying the promise of the gift of life and to articulate a set of ethical responses to the new geography of embodiment that emerge from the movement of organs from one body and their transplantation into another.     

Public service broadcasting in Italy: Historical trends and future prospects

The article outlines the current structure and organization of public service broadcasting in Italy and explores various options for its future development. With moves towards digital broadcasting, RAI is set to enter a discrete next stage which will bring new challenges and will inevitably lead to a revision of its public service remit. While it is currently unclear how far Italian public service broadcasting will change, there is evidence that members of the government and senior RAI managers wish partially to privatize core elements of its public service. Focusing on the development of television, the article addresses some of the salient issues facing RAI and other public service broadcasters who have become the victims of a pervasive disenchantment with public provision of goods and services.     

A Review of “Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government”

We explore the sensitivity of Congress to statements of administration policy (SAPs) and signing statements in the struggle with the executive over policy. We hypothesize that the nature and use of objections contained in these presidential communications generates additional congressional oversight. To test whether this happens, we developed a dataset with all SAPs, signing statements, and congressional oversight hearings from 1997 through 2007. The results indicate that the type and number of objections raised in presidential communications affects congressional oversight activity.     

Before the Honeymoon Ends: Presidential Leadership and Congressional Response

Academicians and journalists inevitably pass judgment on the progress of a president's major "honeymoon period" initiatives. Obviously, the success of those initiatives will depend on how Congress responds to new presidents. Data on aggregate congressional response to the "honeymoon" initiatives of the Carter and Reagan presidencies are presented in order to explore how members of Congress react as they evaluate and interact with a new president. Evidence suggests that, despite the conventional wisdom regarding Carter's limited political ability and inflexible nature, members of Congress were more inclined to emphasize organizational deficiencies. Conversely, while Reagan was perceived to be almost as inflexible as Carter, he received superlative marks for organizational efficiency and for providing access to Congress. The analysis then considers the importance of organization to future presidential effectiveness, and the importance of organizational concerns with respect to personal characteristics for overall presidential success.     

A Review of “Henri Lefebvre and the Spanish Urban Experience: Reading the Mobile City”

In this article, the author analyzes how Salvador Espriu in La pell de brau (re)builds the myth of Sepharad that refers to the Hebrew name of the assembly of the medieval Hispanic kingdoms. La pell de brau is a work that opens the "collective cycle" toward a "we" framed within a specific historical context. The poet criticizes the unified vision of the Spanish nation and of the Catholic religion. The (re)construction of the myth of Sepharad not only reflects the crisis of the subject in search of an identity in an intolerant Spain after the civil war but also subverts the myth of the Spanish nation as created by the doctrine of National Catholicism under Franco.     

Contesting Keweenaw: competing visions of landscape aesthetics at Keweenaw National Historical Park

Keweenaw National Historical Park (hereafter KNHP) is one of a periodically growing list of partnership parks developed in response to changing ideals of what the National Park Service ought to preserve and interpret. Established in 1992, KNHP and some other newer parks are intended by Congress to be public–private partnerships. This paper illuminates how KNHP stakeholders used information vacuums to intensify competing narratives regarding landscapes in a partnership park. Ethnographic fieldwork illustrates that stakeholders’ competing narratives complicate KNHP's management. Furthermore, this case study highlights the need for historic preservation professionals to build trust and to communicate effectively with all stakeholders in communities with historic preservation programs. Within a social group, insiders’ knowledge construction guides ideas of landscape aesthetics.     

The Role of Future Discounting in Subsistence Decisions: The Case of Hohokam Agave Bajada Cultivation

This article demonstrates the relevance of future discounting behavior to studies of prehistoric subsistence strategies. The case study of Agave spp. bajada cultivation among the Classic Period, a.d. 1150–1450, Hohokam of southern Arizona illustrates how slight discounting of future rewards can significantly alter agriculture investment strategies. Despite a higher kcal/hour return than maize agriculture, agave cultivation lessened or ceased in several communities during a time in which intensification would be predicted due to inferred subsistence stress. We surmise the decade-long maturation of agave made it unattractive relative to more immediate return resources in any context that presented risks to land tenure. The cessation of agave cultivation can be understood on two levels of explanation. The long-term investments required by agave and tendency to discount future rewards are the ultimate causes. Political and social instability during the tumultuous Classic period, causing increased insecurity in land tenure, are the proximal causes.