Robert Graves,Marshall Hall,and reflex action in 1837

ABSTRACT

In several issues of the London Medical Gazette during June–July of 1837 there was an interchange of letters between Robert Graves, Regius Professor of the Institutes of Medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, and the London physician and experimental physiologist Marshall Hall, often considered the discoverer of the phenomenon of reflex activity. Graves asserted that he, rather than Hall, was the originator of the idea of reflex action as a disease mechanism. Hall rejected that assertion and, after exchange of some verbal “pleasantries,” began a tirade about a somewhat different, although not unrelated issue into which the journal editor interjected some not exactly dispassionate comments. Graves soon let the matter of priority lapse, and Hall continued his war with the Council of the Royal Society, but examination of the contemporary and earlier literature suggests that Graves probably was correct, by a narrow time margin, in relation of his claim for priority in using the concept of reflex action in explaining neurological disease mechanisms (not a claim for discovering reflex action), that Hall had used the phrase “reflex action” earlier than Graves, and that others before Hall had gone a long way in studying reflex mechanisms, although Hall’s writings had familiarized the medical profession with the concept.     

“Who is not an agent here?”: The Collateral Damage of Anti-Trafficking in Nepal

In this paper, I explore how the diverse labour migration practices of people who challenge their state’s restrictive policies produce a form of stigma that extends from people to the places where they reside. Drawing on the findings of Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted in Nepal, I demonstrate how people residing in one such place attempt to undo stigma by adopting diverse practices amidst restrictive anti-trafficking and migration policies. I reveal a novel practice of prospective labour migrants negotiating and receiving money from their choicest mobility facilitators to assist their unauthorised labour migration. This exchange of money potentially criminalises prospective labour migrants, their family members, unlicensed and licensed recruitment agents, community leaders, anti-traffickers, government officials, hotel owners, transport service providers, and airport immigration officials as traffickers. Underscoring the collateral damage of anti-trafficking in Nepal, I assert that the exchange of money to facilitate unauthorised migration expands the remit of criminalisation of citizens as “traffickers”.     

A lone ranger: My journey towards becoming a feminist geographer in Nairobi,Kenya

Abstract

Very few Kenyan universities offer modules on Gender or Feminism in their courses. Women are largely under-represented and very few hold senior positions. Due to the few numbers of female faculty, mentorship for young female scholars is lacking. Feminist writing by Female Kenyan geographers in professional geography journals is limited. Collective action among female geography faculty is also largely absent. This is largely due to the lack of feminist advocacy and policies in the universities. My journey to becoming a feminist geographer has received little or no support from the university. I have taken personal initiatives to link up with local and transnational gender associations in order to get insights on current feminist scholarship issues. My lived feminist experience and observations of the struggles of ordinary women in everyday livelihood negotiation have been my main motivation for continuing to do feminist work. Thus, my feminist work has concentrated on women in marginal economic informality. This paper presents my journey as a feminist geographer. It begins with a discussion on the state of feminist geography in three universities in Kenya namely, University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University and Egerton University. This is followed by a presentation of my journey toward becoming a feminist geographer in the absence of a supportive infrastructure. My journey has been inspired by my lived experience. The paper concludes with a call for a concerted effort for feminist advocacy in Kenyan Geography departments.