Browsing by Author "West, Anna"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Beauty in Strength: Discourse and Determinants of Body Image among Female Athletes at Haverford College
    (2018) Logan, Kendall; West, Anna
    Body image, or the mental perception of one’s own body, is shaped by external influences including, but not limited to: media, family and peer pressure, and cultural norms. The interactions between these influences constitute a social framework in which certain body types are deemed more acceptable, valuable, and beautiful than others. Within this framework, athletic bodies are often held up as a standard and an aspiration, yet those with conventionally “athletic” bodies often struggle to find pride in their figures, despite this supposed glorification. This thesis explores how female college athletes are caught between the physical demands of their sports, which require them to have muscular bodies, and traditional notions of femininity and gender norms, which insist that females be noticeably thin, often to an unhealthy extreme. Through interviews with nine female athletes at Haverford College, this thesis examines factors that shape Haverford College female athletes' body image, considers aspects of their experiences that may be unique to Haverford, and places their thoughts and experiences in a broader national discourse on body image.
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    Examining the Failure to Care: Shaming as a Public Health Strategy During & Beyond the Coronavirus Pandemic
    (2021) Belfi, Erica Loredo; Donahue, Thomas J.; West, Anna
    How far should we go to preserve and encourage community health? While some health experts and scholars believe that we are responsible to do as much as possible, others call into question the ethical and practical implications of certain health promotion initiatives. This paper examines the existing discourse around shaming as a tool for health and explores the extent to which institutions and individuals do and should use shaming-based tactics in their interactions with people in need of (health)care. One of its central questions is the role that institutional and interpersonal shaming should play in health promotion. Within situations requiring (health)care, shaming has been used through institutional approaches to the HIV epidemic, substance use, and obesity as well as in interpersonal interactions to address drunk driving and behavior that disrupts coronavirus pandemic protocols. Several influential arguments attempt to justify the use of shaming-based health strategies through ethical debate, including consequentialism, contractualism, and communitarianism. This paper will focus on shaming in public health policy, messaging, and atthe point of care during the 2019-2021 coronavirus pandemic in the United States. I will also consider other historical and contemporary examples of shaming in healthcare. I will be arguing that shaming is neither an ethical nor effective institutional tool for encouraging health and is highly questionable interpersonally, ultimately concluding that it should not be used in any context requiring care. My reasoning is in four main parts: 1) shaming is violent as evidenced by its psychological and physical impacts on itstargets and their communities, 2) shaming violates a human right to dignity, 3) shaming perpetuates hierarchies, and 4) shaming is an ineffective public health tool. By examining shaming in relation to violence, the body, and personhood, this paper opens up a conversation about our ways and obligations to care for one another, prompting a necessary reimagining of (health)care.
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    "Land is Revolution": Unearthing the Transformative Power of Black Gardening in Washington, DC
    (2021) Samuels, Camille; West, Anna
    Black Americans have long been practicing geographies of self-reliance as a method for procuring food and establishing community in Washington, D.C. Because public policy and public health initiatives fall short, food apartheid often undergirds Black narratives of food access in the nation's capital. As Washington, D.C. continues to transition into a post chocolate-city, Black-led urban agriculture remains a pivotal component of equitable access in the regional food system. Drawing on scholarship within Black geographies, public health, and environmental justice, this thesis leverages Black feminist ecological frameworks as a method of exploring the intersections of race (Blackness), placemaking, and health in the DC metropolitan region. Using a mixed-methods approach, I conducted qualitative interviews with young Black food justice advocates coupled with autoethnographic reflections to examine the importance of Black-led urban farming projects. In this paper I argue that Black-led urban agriculture demonstrates (1) land reclamation as a subversive practice, (2) radical political education as a site for collective resilience, and (3) produce production as a means for health equity. This project highlights the ways in which young Black folks in the DC area are reconnecting with farming, navigating racist food systems, and sustaining Black health and Black futures.
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    Los discursos de autoridad y la construcción de la figura de la comadrona en Guatemala
    (2019) Domenick, Lilian; Huberman, Ariana; West, Anna
    In Guatemala, Maya comadronas (midwives) play an essential role in the provision of maternal and infant health; comadronas attend two thirds of the births in the country and often act as important healthcare providers in rural regions of the country. Despite the scope of this work, health programs implemented in the 1970s to incorporate comadronas into the national health system also restrict and regulate the comadronas’ work. This paper explores the dominant discourses that shape the questioning of comadronas’ authority by examining the language of midwife training manuals and legal documents. I highlight the ways these discourses assert the authority of biomedical knowledge, question the comadronas’ knowledge, and contribute to an essentialized representation of indigeneity. I also examine the discourses that emerge from a comadrona collective’s political activism in order to analyze how these comadronas strategically make claims to rights and resources and discursively establish their own authority.