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Imagining a post-antibiotic era: a cultural analysis of crisis and antibiotic resistance
The study presented in this article is about the role played by imagination when national and international organisations convey the idea of a dystopian crisis involved in the real transition to a postantibiotic era. The present is an era that can be defined as a time when no new antibiotics are discovered or developed, and existing antibiotics simultaneously become less effective since bacteria develop resistance against the active substances. Today, antibiotic resistance is an international fact; thousands of people die every year in Europe and the USA as a result of bacteria that have become resistant. Then, imagination can conjure up a different and a much more dystopian future. This article stems from a public debate concerning the global increase of antibiotic resistance; and will examine how the concept of fantasy and imagination is central in picturing such a future crisis in society. The article’s empirical basis mainly consists of reports from global and Swedish organisations, dating from the 1990s and onwards. These fantasies show that our society has a strong urge to always try to understand and explain present time and to identify how ‘our’ era relates to the past as well as the future. The concept of crisis plays an important role in these fantasies, it is key to use it when thinking about change. The analysis builds on texts and illustrations from global organisations like the WHO and also national authorities in Sweden that aim to convey the science behind the challenge. The aim is to develop a theoretical and empirical understanding, from the perspective of cultural analysis, of how fantasy and crisis are linked when the future is conceived.
Journal Article
Extending the Life World: Phenomenological Triangulation Along Two Planes
Phenomenology is often mistakenly understood as both introspectionist and anthropocentric and thus as incapable of providing us with objective knowledge. While clearly wrong, such critiques force us to spell out how the life world that is given in human experience is in fact not anthropocentric and not incompatible with science. In this article we address this by adapting a recent proposal to extend the key methodological principle of cognitive semiotics, phenomenological triangulation, along two planes. The first is horizontal and concerns the dimensions of Self, Others and Things, as irreducibly interrelated dimensions of the life world. The second is vertical, and deals with the way phenomena are accessed: from a first-person (philosophical), second-person (empirical in a qualitative sense) and third-person (scientific in a quantitative sense) perspective. With each perspective, the life world becomes correspondingly extended beyond direct experience. It is thus neither static nor confining. We exemplify each step with corresponding research, also providing examples of how non-human animals and not only human beings may serve as Others, thus addressing the critique of anthropocentrism. We conclude by pointing out how, despite some theoretical differences, the focus on subjectivity and the explicit or implicit adoption of the principle of phenomenological triangulation can serve as common ground for cognitive semiotics and biosemiotics.
Journal Article
A Strong Sustainability Framework for Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage: Introducing the Eco-Sufficiency Perspective
The intensifying effects of climate change are becoming one of the main threats to cultural heritage, posing risks of degradation or destruction. Climate change is bringing complexity and uncertainty to ensuring the resilience of cultural heritage, and among risk mitigation measures digitalisation is regarded as a promising tool. However, the infrastructure required for the digitalisation process exerts significant pressures on the environment contributing to climate deterioration. To address these issues, this contribution developed a strong sustainability framework for the preservation of cultural heritage through digitalisation, for minimising environmental impacts and maximising the potential of preservation. To construct the framework, a literature review was conducted on efficiency and sufficiency concepts and existing approaches to sustainability of digitalisation in cultural heritage. To test the potential application and feasibility of the framework in driving environmental sustainability efforts within cultural heritage organisations, the case study of the Finnish Heritage Agency was analysed. The results showed that the understanding of the sustainability of digitalisation is not fully developed. Strong sustainability is hardly applied in practice, even though an inherent tendency for sufficiency especially in the appraisal stage was identified. It was highlighted that extensive stakeholder networks are required for advancing the sustainability of digital preservation. Ultimately, re-examining current practices and realigning stakeholders would be required for addressing the current challenges.
Journal Article
Engineering organs, hopes and hybridity: considerations on the social potentialities of xenotransplantation
The development of replacing human organs with those from genetically modified pigs holds immense potential for alleviating the shortage of organs necessary for patients in need of transplants. This medical advancement is also accompanied by significant social changes, including the emergence of a bioeconomy, new modes of biotechnology governance, altered human-animal relations and increased public engagement. Some aspects, such as the impact on the transplant allocation system, effects on clinical practice and healthcare provision, global trajectories and most importantly the consequences for patients and their families remain unpredictable. Given that xenotransplantation occurs within a societal context and its success or failure will not be confined to technical feasibility alone, it is essential to engage a social sciences perspective to highlight the social implications and emphasise the importance of social research in accompanying future developments.
Journal Article
Imagining the postantibiotic future: the visual culture of a global health threat
This article is concerned with the visual culture of global health data using antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as an example. I explore how public health data and knowledge are repackaged into visualisations and presented in four contemporary genres: the animation, the TED Talk, the documentary and the satire programme. I focus on how different actors describe a world in which there are no or few antibiotics that are effective against bacterial infections. I examine the form, content and style of the visual cultural of AMR, examining how these genres tell a story of impending apocalypse while also trying to advert it. This is a form of story-telling based around the if/then structure: we are told that if we do not take certain actions today, then we will face a postantibiotic future with certain, often catastrophic, consequences. Within this if/then structure, there are various aims and objectives: the goal may be preventing further spread of AMR, building awareness or pushing for certain policy or funding decisions. These stories also serve to place or deflect blame, on animals, occupations, patients, industries and others and to highlight risks and consequences. These examples share similarities in the forms of story-telling and narrative, and in the use of specific data sources and other images. By using several Swedish examples, I demonstrate how global data are reinterpreted for a national audience. Overall, I argue that while the convergence of a dominant narrative indicates scientific consensus, this consensus also stifles our collective imagination in finding new solutions to the problem. Finally, I also use the example of AMR to discuss the need for a broader social science and humanities engagement with the visual culture of global health data.
Journal Article
Experimental evaluation of a method for the removal of polyethylene glycol (PEG) from conserved wood
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is commonly used in the conservation of wooden artifacts, but its presence adversely affects the accuracy of radiocarbon dating. It is therefore critical to have robust methods for the removal of PEG from heritage materials. This paper presents the results of an experiment designed to test a protocol for the removal of low molecular-weight PEG-400 from conserved wood. We conducted a known-age test using PEG-400 impregnated materials from the excavation of the medieval royal shipwreck, Gribshunden, built in 1484 CE and sunk in 1495 CE. We test our results by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) to show that no PEG is detectable in our samples after a three-step pretreatment protocol. Furthermore, radiocarbon dates of our pretreated samples returned dates that match the known age of the wood. Our results indicate that our pretreatment protocol can be used to successfully remove PEG-400 from conserved wood, allowing for accurate 14C dating.
Journal Article
Coping by metaphors: the versatile function of metaphors in blogs about living with advanced cancer
Living with a life-limiting cancer illness can entail a turmoil of feelings such as constant fear of loss, suffering and dying. Because patients live longer with life-limiting illness, there is a need for enhanced understanding of how people make sense of and cope with the complicated aspects that this life situation brings on. In this article, we explore how bloggers with advanced cancer use metaphors as ways of making sense of their experiences. Our study is theoretically grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, where metaphors are seen as a powerful phenomenon that both reflects and affects our thinking. The data consist of a corpus of blogs written in Swedish by individuals with advanced cancer, and the findings from our linguistic metaphor analysis are consistently interpreted against the backdrop of literature on coping. Our study thus highlights the intersection of linguistic metaphor analysis and psychological theories of coping by illustrating the many and complex functions metaphors can have as part of sense-making processes. Our hermeneutic approach enables us to show some differences among the three most pervasive metaphor domains in our material, battle, journey and imprisonment: the journey and imprisonment domains are more flexible than the battle domain in terms of the different kinds of coping strategies that are actualised by the bloggers’ use of metaphors. One particular finding from our analysis is the way in which the bloggers make use of metaphors to compartmentalise experiences and emotions. Our contention is that careful attention to the metaphors used by patients can improve communication in healthcare and enhance understanding of the complex role language use plays in coping processes more generally. By highlighting the relation between metaphor use and coping, our analysis also provides a way to discuss coping strategies based on the patient’s own use of language.
Journal Article