Definition and Examples of Structural Violence

Definition and Examples of Structural Violence Structural violence refers to any scenario in which a social structure perpetuates inequity, thus causing preventable suffering. When studying structural violence, we examine the ways that social structures (economic, political, medical, and legal systems) can have a disproportionately negative impact on particular groups and communities. The concept of structural violence gives us a way to consider how and in what forms these negative impacts occur, as well as what can be done to curtail such harm. Background The term structural violence was coined by the Johan Gultang, a Norwegian sociologist. In his 1969 article, â€Å"Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,† Gultang argued that structural violence explained the negative power of social institutions and systems of social organization among marginalized communities. It is important to distinguish Gultang’s concept of violence from the term as it is traditionally defined (physical violence of war or crime). Gultang defined structural violence as the root cause of the differences between people’s potential reality and their actual circumstances. For example, potential life expectancy in the general population might be significantly longer than the actual life expectancy for members of disadvantaged groups, due to factors like racism, economic inequality, or sexism. In this example, the discrepancy between the potential and the actual life expectancy results from structural violence. Significance of Structural Violence Structural violence enables more nuanced analyses of the social, cultural, political, economic, and historical forces that shape inequality and suffering. It creates an opportunity to consider seriously the role of different types of marginalization – such as sexism, racism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, and/or poverty – in creating lived experiences that are fundamentally less equal. Structural violence helps explain the multiple and often intersecting forces that create and perpetuate inequality on multiple levels, both for individuals and communities. Structural violence also highlights the historical roots of modern inequality. The inequities and suffering of our time often unfold within a broader history of marginalization, and this framework provides a critical context for understanding the present in terms of its relationship to the past. For instance, marginalization in post-colonial countries often connects closely with their colonial histories, just as inequality in the U.S. must be considered with respect to complex histories of slavery, immigration, and policy. Structural Violence and Health Today, the concept of structural violence is widely used in the fields of public health, medical anthropology, and global health. Structural violence is particularly useful for examining suffering and inequity in the sphere of health. It highlights the complex and overlapping factors that influence health outcomes, such as in the case of health disparities (or inequity) between different racial or ethnic communities in the U.S. or elsewhere. Paul Farmer’s research, writing, and applied work in the field of global health has brought significant attention to the concept of structural violence. An anthropologist and physician, Dr. Farmer has worked in this field for decades, using the lens of structural violence to show the connections between vast differences in wealth accumulation and related disparities in health care and outcomes around the world. His work emerges from the intersections of public health and human rights, and he is the Kolokotrones University Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University. Dr. Farmer co-founded Partners in Health, an international organization that aims to improve preventable negative health outcomes in disadvantaged – and disproportionately ill – communities. Why is it at some of the world’s poorest countries are also the sickest? The answer is structural violence. Farmer and Partners in Health began working in Haiti in the mid-1980s, but the organization has since expanded to multiple sites and projects around the world. Projects related to structural violence and health include: The aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in HaitiTuberculosis epidemics in Russian prisonsReconstructing Rwanda’s health care system after the 1994 genocideHIV/AIDS interventions in Haiti and Lesotho Structural Violence in Anthropology Many cultural and medical anthropologists are influenced by the theory of structural violence. Key anthropological texts on structural violence and health are: Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor (Paul Farmer)Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil (Nancy Scheper-Hughes)Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States (Seth Holmes)In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Philippe Bourgois) Structural violence is particularly prominent in medical anthropology, including the anthropology of global health. It has been used to analyze a variety of topics, including but not limited to substance abuse, migrant health, child mortality, womens health, and infectious disease. Sources Farmer, Paul. Haiti After the Earthquake. Public Affairs, 2011.Kidder, Tracy. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a M an Who Would Cure the World. Random House, 2009.Rylko-Bauer, Barbara and Paul Farmer. Structural Violence, Poverty, and Social Suffering. The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Poverty. April 2017.Taylor, Janelle. Explaining Difference: Culture, Structural Violence, and Medical Anthropology. Office of Minority Affairs at Diversity, The University of Washington.

10 Grammatical Mistakes You Can Avoid When Speaking Spanish

10 Grammatical Mistakes You Can Avoid When Speaking Spanish Unless youre something other than human, theres no way to learn and use a foreign language without making your share of mistakes- and getting caught at it. With expectations that you would rather learn of your mistakes in the privacy of your home rather than being corrected, here are 10 fairly common Spanish grammatical errors, grouped in no particular order, that you should try to avoid. Key Takeaways Remember that Spanish and English, despite their similarities, dont always structure sentences in the same way.Short words- including prepositions- are more likely to trip you up than long ones.Mistakes are inevitable- just do your best, and native Spanish speakers are likely to appreciate your effort. Using Unnecessary Words Using buscar para instead of buscar to mean to look for. Buscar is best translated to seek, which like buscar is not followed by a preposition. Correct: Busco los dos libros. (I am looking for the two books.)Using un otro or una otra to mean another. The indefinite article isnt needed in Spanish. Neither is one needed before cierto, which can mean a certain. Correct: Quiero otro libro. (I want another book.) Quiero cierto libro. (I want a certain book.)Using un or una when stating someones occupation. The corresponding word, a or an, is required in English but not used in Spanish. Correct: No soy marinero, soy capitn. (I am not a mariner, I am a captain.)Wrongly using days of the week. Days of the week are usually used with the definite article (singular el or plural los), and it isnt necessary to say that an event happens on a certain day. Correct: Trabajo los lunes. (I work on Mondays.) Errors With Prepositions Ending a sentence in a preposition. Although some purists object, its quite common to end sentences in English with prepositions. But its a no-no in Spanish, so youll need to recast the sentence to make sure the prepositions object comes after the preposition. Correct:  ¿Con quià ©n puedo comer? (Whom can I eat with?)Using the wrong preposition. The prepositions of English and Spanish dont have one-to-one correspondence. Thus a simple preposition such as in in English might be translated not only as en but also as de (as in de la maà ±ana for in the morning), which typically is translated as of or from. Learning proper usage of prepositions can be one of the most challenging aspects of learning Spanish grammar. A lesson in prepositions is beyond the scope of this article, although you can study some of them here. Correct: Le compraron la casa a mi padre. (They bought the house from my father, or, depending on the context, they bought the house for my father) Es malo con su espos a. (He is mean to his wife.) Mi coche chocà ³ con su bicicleta. (My car ran into his bicycle.) Se vistià ³ de verde. (He dressed in green.) Other Grammatical Errors Wrongly using quien in relative clauses to mean who. In English, we say the car that runs but the boy who runs. In Spanish, we usually use que to mean both that and who. There are a few instances, beyond the scope of this lesson, in which quien can be used to mean who, but in many of them que can also be used, so que is usually the safer choice. Correct: Mi hija es alumna que estudia mucho. (My daughter is a student who studies a lot.)Forgetting to make the cientos portion of numbers feminine when required. We say cuatrocientos treinta y dos to say 432 to refer to a masculine noun but cuatrocientas treinta y dos when referring to a feminine noun. The distinction is easy to forget because of the distance between the number and the noun being referred to. Correct: Tengo quinientas diecisà ©is gallinas. (I have 516 hens.)Using possessive adjectives when referring to body parts and articles of clothing. In English, we usually refer to a persons body parts or clothing using possessive ad jectives. But in Spanish, the definite article (el or la) is used when the person to whom the body part or item belongs to is obvious. Correct:  ¡Abre los ojos! (Open your eyes!) El hombre se puso la camisa. (The man put on his shirt.) Avoiding those redundancies that are required in Spanish but would be incorrect in English. As noted in this lesson, a redundant indirect object is sometimes required, and as this lesson points out, double (or even triple!) negatives are sometimes needed. Correct: Juan le da una camisa a à ©l. (John is giving a shirt to him.) No dijo nada. (He said nothing.)