Tag: Poster 161

Environmental Justice Within the United States Prior to 1980

Presenter(s): Dante Ibarra − Environmental Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Sarah Wald

Poster 161

Research Area: Environmental Justice Movement

My work will include creating a timeline, about the Environmental Justice Movement, that BARK can use as a teaching tool, which will quickly educate new and current members. I am working with a team, to cover the large amount of diverse information that the Environmental Justice Movement has. The other group members’ timelines will further increase the education at BARK as they will help will the understanding of other topics. In order to find out as much information as I can I will read books and journals within society and environment sections of libraries. Once I have a list a few notable events I will have to examine their significances on the rest of time to decide which to include on the timeline. The environmental justice movement was created with the goal of equally distributing environmental benefits and burdens amongst all people regardless of race, color, origin or income. In America the first time civil rights were used to challenge the placement of a waste facility was in 1979, Houston wanted another dump in a primarily African-American neighborhood so the residences protested using their given rights. More communities began to challenge unfair treatment and with no time the government was involved, signing acts such as the Clean Air Act. Without having this type of information easily available it can be lost and with it the meaning.

Medical Technologies in Context: Maternal and Child Healthcare at Ghana’s Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

Presenter(s): Ally Waldron

Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Graboyes

Poster 161

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

This ethnographic thesis explores medical technologies in the context of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in southern Ghana. All too often the transfer and integration of medical technologies to the global south are based on the simplistic assumption that the advantages of foreign technology are self-evident and universal. However, in settings where conditions are harsh, resources limited, and culture dynamic, medical technology develops new meaning and purpose beyond original clinical expectations. To explore this phenomenon, I use ethnographic observations and field notes gathered from clinical shadowing in hospitals in Oregon and Cape Coast to investigate three medical technologies involved in maternal and newborn health. I show how the fetal ultrasound, pulse oximeter, and neonatal incubator change when exported to the Ghanaian context to fit the needs of doctors and patients while also working to change the way people relate to each other and their illnesses. In this process, medical technology becomes both a changeable force and a force for change in this hospital environment. Exploration of these examples of global medical technology transfer demonstrates that context matters in how medical technology operates and is operated within the clinical space. This thesis presents evidence against the idea that medical technology remains a static element of healthcare when transferred globally and also calls for more consideration of cultural, social, and economic institutions when exporting foreign medical technology to a new context.