tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/scandinavia-14501/articles
Scandinavia – The Conversation
2024-01-18T16:38:26Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219620
2024-01-18T16:38:26Z
2024-01-18T16:38:26Z
DNA from stone age chewing gum sheds light on diet and disease in Scandinavia’s ancient hunter-gatherers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570142/original/file-20240118-27-aehxwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C464%2C352&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mold cast of one of the chewed pitch pieces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Verner Alexandersen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some 9,700 years ago on an autumn day, a group of people were camping on the west coast of Scandinavia. They were hunter-gatherers that had been fishing, hunting and collecting resources in the area. </p>
<p>Some teenagers, both boys and girls, were chewing resin to produce glue, just after eating trout, deer and hazelnuts. Due to a severe gum infection (periodontitis), one of the teenagers had problems eating the chewy deer-meat, as well as preparing the resin by chewing it.</p>
<p>This snapshot of the Mesolithic period, just before Europeans started farming, comes from analysis of DNA left in the chewed resin that we have conducted, now <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-48762-6">published in Scientific Reports</a>. </p>
<p>The location is now known as <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/3c1fd58a-9495-4403-ab7d-d22104f2fafb">Huseby Klev</a>, situated north of Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/wet-and-the-wild-followed-by-the-dry-and-the-tame-or-did-they-occur-at-the-same-time-diet-in-mesolithic-neolithic-southern-sweden/D91F7830FE704FD24DFAFB55E551039B">It was excavated</a> by archaeologists in the early 1990s, and yielded some 1,849 flint artefacts and 115 pieces of resin (mastic). The site has been radiocarbon dated to between 10,200 and 9,400 years ago, with one of the pieces of resin dated to 9,700 years ago.</p>
<p>Some of the resin has teeth imprints, indicating that children, actually teenagers, had been chewing them. Masticated lumps, often with imprints of teeth, fingerprints or both, are not uncommon to find in Mesolithic sites. </p>
<p>The pieces of resin we have analysed were made of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13549-9">birch bark pitch</a>, which is known to have been used as an <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-08-neanderthal-tool-making-simpler-previously-thought.html">adhesive substance in stone tool technology</a> from the Middle Palaeolithic onward. However, they were also chewed for recreational or medicinal purposes in traditional societies.</p>
<p>A variety of substances with similar properties, such as resins from coniferous trees, natural bitumen, and other plant gums, are known to have been used in analogous ways in many parts of the world.</p>
<h2>The power of DNA</h2>
<p>In some of the resin, half the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0399-1">DNA extracted</a> was of human origin. This is a lot compared to what we often find in ancient bones and teeth. </p>
<p>It represents some of the oldest human genomes from Scandinavia. It has a particular ancestry profile common among Mesolithic hunter gatherers who once lived there. </p>
<p>Some of the resin contains male human DNA while others have female DNA. We think that teenagers of both sexes were preparing glue for use in tool making, such as attaching a stone axe to a wooden handle.</p>
<p>But what of the other half of the DNA that was of non-human origin? Most of this DNA is from organisms such as bacteria and fungi that have lived in the mastic since it was discarded 9,700 years ago. But some of it was from bacteria living in the human that chewed it, along with material the human had been chewing on before they put the birch bark pitch in their mouths.</p>
<p>Analysing all this DNA is a demanding task and treads new ground. We had to both adapt existing computing tools and also develop some new analytical strategies. As such, this work has become the starting point for developing a new workflow for this kind of analysis. </p>
<p>This includes mining the DNA using different strategies to characterise it, trying to piece together short DNA fragments into longer ones and using machine learning techniques to work out which DNA fragments belong to pathogens (harmful microorganisms). It also involves comparing the data to what we see in the mouths of modern people with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551699/">tooth decay (caries)</a> and periodontitis.</p>
<h2>Higher organisms</h2>
<p>Naturally, we found the kind of bacteria that would be expected in an oral microbiome, the range of naturally occurring microorganisms found in the mouth. We also found traces of bacteria implicated in conditions such as tooth decay or caries (<em>Streptococcus mutans</em>), and systemic diseases such as Hib disease and endocarditis. There were also bacteria that can cause abscesses. </p>
<p>Although these pathogenic microorganisms were present at an elevated frequency, they were not clearly above the level expected for a healthy oral microbiome. There is thus no conclusive evidence that members of the group suffered from diseases these microorganisms are associated with. </p>
<p>What we did find, however, was an abundance of bacteria associated with serious gum disease – <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/periodontitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354473">periodontitis</a>. When we applied a <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/machine-learning">machine learning</a> strategy (in this case, a technique called <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/random-forest">Random Forest modelling</a>) we reached the conclusion that the girl who chewed one of the pieces of resin had probably suffered from periodontitis – with more than a 75% probability.</p>
<p>We also found DNA from larger organisms than just bacteria. We found DNA for red deer, brown trout and hazelnuts. This DNA probably came from material the teenagers had been chewing before they put the birch pitch in their mouths. </p>
<p>However, we need to be a little bit cautious because exactly what we find is also dependent on the comparison data that we have. As genomes from eukaryotic organisms – the group that includes plants and animals – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9846/">are larger and more complex</a> than those from microorganisms, it is more complicated to assemble a eukaryotic genome of high quality. </p>
<p>There are fewer eukaryotic genomes in the samples of resin, and they are of lower quality. This means that our brown trout, for example, may not actually be a brown trout, but we at least feel certain it is from the salmon family.</p>
<p>We also found a lot of fox DNA, but this is harder to interpret. Fox meat may have been a part of the diet, but these teenagers could also have chewed on tendons and fur from foxes for use in textiles. Alternatively, the fox DNA could even be from territorial marking and got into the resin after it was spat out.</p>
<p>However, what we have learned for sure represents a big step in understanding these fascinating records of human culture from the Stone Age. As we analyse more of these, even more surprises could emerge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Götherström receives funding from: the Swedish Research Council (2019-00849_VR), Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (P16-0553:1)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emrah Kırdök does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Genetic analysis reveals one of the teenagers probably had advanced gum disease.
Anders Götherström, Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
Emrah Kırdök, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Mersin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220649
2024-01-10T16:59:43Z
2024-01-10T16:59:43Z
In Sweden, burning Qur'ans threaten to send the country’s history of tolerance up in smoke
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568129/original/file-20231225-19-xykc6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C365%2C2160%2C1529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Danish-Swedish extremist and politician Rasmus Paludan as he burns a Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21, 2023.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmus_Paludan#/media/Fichier:Rasmus_Paludan_burning_the_Koran_2023-01-21_(2).jpg">Tobias Hellsten/Wikipedia </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long known for its multiculturalism, Sweden has recently witnessed unprecedented tensions accompanied by palpable and, alas, justified concerns about the safety of Swedish nationals abroad.</p>
<p>Last summer, demonstrators in <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/28/sweden-quran-nato-iran-iraq-russia/">Ankara, Beirut, Islamabad and Jakarta</a> set fire to the Swedish flag. In <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/religions/article/2023/07/20/swedish-embassy-in-baghdad-stormed-and-set-on-fire-in-protests-over-quran-burning_6060045_63.html">Iraq</a> and <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/molotov-cocktail-thrown-at-swedish-embassy-in-beirut-amid-quran-burning-tensions/">Lebanon</a>, protests also boiled over, with demonstrators alternately throwing cocktail molotovs and storming the country’s embassies. And in Brussels on 17 October, two fans of the Swedish football team who were in the city to watch the Belgium-Sweden match were killed by a man who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67195715">claimed to have been inspired by the Islamic State</a>.</p>
<p>Since last year’s events, the Swedish government has advised its citizens to exert caution while travelling abroad, a shock for a country that has long been identified with relatively generous migration policies and a concern for intercultural dialogue.</p>
<h2>Anti-Islam provocations and threats of violence</h2>
<p>The upsurge in hostility has one cause: burnings of the Qu'ran. Although the sacred text first went up in smoke in <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/04/25/denmark-s-quran-burning-politician-gathering-support-for-election-candidacy">Denmark in 2010</a>, desecrations have since been more frequent in Sweden. The trend’s initiator is a 41-year old Danish-Swedish dual citizen, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/27/burning-of-quran-in-stockholm-funded-by-journalist-with-kremlin-ties-sweden-nato-russia">Rasmus Paludan</a>, trained as a lawyer. The leader of a Danish party called “Hard Line” (<em>Hart Stram</em>), Paludan emerged a few years ago as a critic of the “Islamisation of European societies”. <em>Hart Stram</em> won 1.8% of the vote in the 2019 Danish parliamentary elections, but was excluded for manipulating the lists of signatures required to file candidacies.</p>
<p>In response, Paludan turned to Sweden, where immigration-related issues have increasingly stirred controversy in the past decade. In 2020, he burned <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/29/riots-rock-malmo-after-far-right-swedish-activists-burn-quran">a Qur'an in Rosengården</a>, a district of Malmö, where almost 90% of the inhabitants are of foreign origin. Paludan’s actions sparked an <a href="https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2020/08/620385/riot-sweden-amidst-quran-burning-rally">upsurge in violence</a>. While he was banned from entering the country, as a dual national he was able to continue his activities, and even attracted emulators, such as Iraqi refugee <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/02/swedish-government-condemns-islamophobic-burning-of-a-quran">Salwan Momika</a>. </p>
<p>Together, Paludan, Momika and their imitators target sites with the explicit aim of exacerbating tensions, including places of Muslim worship, neighbourhoods with a high concentration of immigrants and in front of Muslim countries’ embassies. In the spring of 2022, Paludan embarked on a series of desecrations across Sweden that he dubbed an “election tour”. These led to violent clashes in several towns and a deterioration in the country’s image in the Middle East. An umpteenth provocation in the vicinity of the Turkish embassy in January 2023 provoked a virulent reaction from Ankara, to the point of compromising the first item on Sweden’s foreign policy agenda: NATO membership.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Turkish Parliament reacted by calling for Sweden’s application – which had been formalised seven months earlier – <a href="https://www.letemps.ch/monde/adhesion-de-la-suede-a-l-otan-un-coran-brule-a-stockholm-seme-la-zizanie">to be rejected</a>. For several days, Sweden’s official agency for cultural diplomacy counted w interventions per hour on social media in Turkish, denouncing Paludan’s actions without Swedish authorities intervening. </p>
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<p>In June, at the opening of the <a href="https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/qu-est-ce-que-l-aid-el-kebir-la-grande-fete-musulmane-28-06-2023-2526640_23.php"><em>Aid al-Adha</em> festivities</a>, burned a Qur'an in front of Stockholm’s Grand Mosque. It triggered a deluge of protests, with the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation protesting against the intolerable… tolerance of Swedish justice. In Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other Muslim countries, demonstrators called for a boycott of Sweden, or even revenge against the country.</p>
<p>In response, in August the Swedish counter-espionage agency, SÄPO, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/08/18/sweden-raises-terror-alert-level_6097778_4.html">raised the alert threshold for terrorist attacks</a> against the country to level 4 (out of 5). This was a return to the climate of 2016, when the war in Syria triggered a historic surge in the number of refugees.</p>
<h2>Homegrown causes and a new split in the political spectrum</h2>
<p>While the spate of anti-Islam actions is the work of transnational players, it is in Sweden that they manifested themselves most conspicuously. The interethnic tensions that have shaken the country since the migrant crisis of 2015-2016 and the proliferation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/30/how-gang-violence-took-hold-of-sweden-in-five-charts">settling of scores between gangs</a>, have helped to create a fertile ground. According to the Swedish government, Russia has also sought to use its networks to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/russia-using-disinformation-to-imply-sweden-supported-quran-burnings">fan the flames of conflict between long-settled Swedes and newcomers</a>. The Kremlin’s goal is to destabilise a country that has strongly supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, to the point of ending two centuries of neutrality to join NATO.</p>
<p>The controversy comes at a time when domestic policy has been marked by a turning point: the breakthrough in September 2022 of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/17/world/europe/sweden-far-right-election.html">Sweden Democrats</a> (SD), a far-right party with neo-Nazi roots. It succeeded in part by making its stand against immigration – based on the premise of a “war of civilisations” – the focus of its discourse. While liberal-conservative Ulf Kristersson leads the government, the Sweden Democrats give him a majority through their support. This allows them to inject their obsessions into the country’s debates. Their latest proposal is the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/11/27/sweden-pm-condemns-far-right-call-to-tear-down-mosques_6292541_4.html">demolition of many of the country’s existing mosques</a>.</p>
<p>The multiplication of Qur'an burnings has only served to exacerbate the Islamic world’s concern that such acts are becoming commonplace. But Muslim communities are also outraged by the inaction Swedish authorities, which is in stark contrast to neighbouring countries such as <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-ban-quran-burning/">Denmark</a> and <a href="https://yle.fi/a/74-20015426">Finland</a>. How can we explain the stance of Swedish officials in the face of this phenomenon, at a time when the political security situation appears (according to Prime Minister Kristersson’s <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/swedish-pm-delivers-a-grim-christmas-speech/">2022 Christmas speech</a>) to be “the worst since the end of the Second World War”?</p>
<h2>Legal and cultural reasons for governmental action</h2>
<p>The technical reason most often cited to explain the prevalence Qur'an burnings in Sweden is the lack of a legal arsenal to prohibit it. Laws banning blasphemy and the defamation of religion were struck down more than 50 years ago, so the issue of the formally curbing such provocations that the discussion has crystallised.</p>
<p>To date, Sweden’s courts have been reluctant to invoke two relevant articles of country’s criminal code, which punish, respectively, “vexatious behaviour” and “incitement to racial hatred”. The former requires the offensive impact of the gesture to be proven – and not just probable. In the latter case, the current interpretation among judges is that insulting a religion is not the same as discriminating against an ethnic group. At present, administrative courts of appeal have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66310285">overturned police bans</a> on Paludan and Momika’s actions.</p>
<p>Faced with an outcry that unites not only Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Victor Orban but also the United Nations’ <a href="https://unric.org/en/human-rights-council-condemns-the-burning-of-the-quran-as-a-religious-hate-act/">Human Rights Council</a>, the parties in the government coalition oscillate between criticism of the Qur'an burnings and a refusal to “give in to foreign diktats”. Sweden’s Social Democrat party, now in opposition, seems to be leaning toward a readjustment of the legal arsenal. </p>
<p>It should be remembered that while the principle of freedom of expression has been a pillar of Sweden’s national identity since the 18th century, legislation often prompted by political emergencies has restricted its scope. Since 1933, for example, Swedish citizens have been forbidden to wear clothing revealing their political affiliation. In 1996, a man who wore a Swedish flag decorated with mythological figures and the word <em>Valhalla</em> on national day was convicted in court. In 2014, artist Dan Park’s collages – depicting the hanging of three coloured individuals, identified by name, as if after a lynching – <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/154676/sentenced-swedish-artist-dan-park-incited-against-an-ethnic-group/">earned him</a> a heavy fine, six months in prison and the destruction of his works.</p>
<p>The reluctance to change the law today can be explained by the rejection of the idea that the sphere of the sacred can be the object of guardianship or <em>ad hoc</em> bans. Attacking a “symbol” – as the public prosecutor ruled in the Qu'ran burning in front of the Turkish embassy – is never illegal, as long as the demonstration does not target flesh-and-blood believers. </p>
<p>In a polarised political spectrum, the dispute has contributed to a hardening of positions. While the Sweden Democrats perceive an opportunity to set themselves up as defenders of a national virtue – tolerance, extended to extreme expressions, of the right of assembly – the government is engaged in a perilous balancing act: denouncing the exploitation of Islamophobia by foreign powers that are often highly undemocratic, while dissociating itself from repulsive manifestations of xenophobia.
A public enquiry, launched in August to examine revising the standards on freedom of expression, will deliver its conclusions on 1 July 2024. Relying on well-established consensual mechanisms, the government is seeking to break a deadlock that places Sweden in an outlying – and uncomfortable – position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Piero S. Colla ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Anti-Islam activists in Sweden have repeatedly burned Qurans in public, not only earning the country vehement criticism from Muslim countries but also raising the threat of terrorism.
Piero S. Colla, Chargé de cours à l’université de Strasbourg, laboratoire « Mondes germaniques et nord-européens », Université de Strasbourg
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214439
2023-10-12T12:32:48Z
2023-10-12T12:32:48Z
Philadelphia bans supervised injection sites – evidence suggests keeping drug users on the street could do more harm than good
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552844/original/file-20231009-23-6425vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5991%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A registered nurse treats Dominic Rodriguez for a skin injury related to xylazine use in Philadelphia in May 2023. Treatment vans are allowed in the city, but not supervised injection sites. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Drug%20Overdoses%20Animal%20Drug/9c80e074d4e7453380be9404d3bcdd2c?Query=Philadelphia%20drugs&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=592&currentItemNo=21">Matt Rourke/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States remains tightly in the grasp of an ongoing, and escalating, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html">crisis of deaths</a> caused by opioid overdoses. </p>
<p>With a record-high <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm">109,000 people dying in 2022</a>, it is clear that something new needs to be done to reverse this trend. </p>
<p>Philadelphia is near the epicenter of the crisis. Some of the country’s <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9372555/Philadelphias-Skid-Row-Video-shows-citys-homeless-crisis-dozens-camped-trash-bin-fire.html">largest open-air drug markets</a> can be found in the Kensington neighborhood. Heroin, prescription opioids and fentanyl aren’t the only drugs of concern. Xylazine, a powerful non-opioid also known as tranq, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/health/fentanyl-xylazine-drug.html#">an overwhelming presence</a> on the streets.</p>
<p>We are a group of <a href="https://www.med.uio.no/sustainit/english/people/aca/tjsandse/index.html">Scandinavian</a> <a href="https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/people/aca/synovena/index.html">and</a> <a href="https://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/criminology-justice-studies/hyatt-jordan/">American</a> researchers who have studied drug treatment and harm reduction, and we have been watching the situation in Philadelphia from a variety of perspectives.</p>
<h2>A mixed response</h2>
<p>A record 1,413 people died in Philadelphia from <a href="https://www.phila.gov/media/20231002090544/CHARTv8e3.pdf">drug overdoses in 2022</a>. The rate of drug-related deaths for Black residents more than doubled <a href="https://www.phila.gov/2023-10-02-philadelphia-records-more-than-1400-overdose-deaths-in-2022-deaths-among-black-residents-rose-nearly-20/">between 2018 and 2022</a>, mirroring a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01384-6">problematic national trend</a>.</p>
<p>In response, Philadelphia has adopted a multifaceted plan to <a href="https://www.phila.gov/2023-04-26-how-philadelphia-is-responding-to-the-overdose-crisis-in-2023/">stem the tide of overdoses</a>.</p>
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<p>But Philadelphia’s City Council has overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-city-council-passes-near-total-ban-on-future-safe-consumption-overdose-prevention-sites/">supervised injection sites</a> – a potentially impactful, evidence-based tool in this fight. Overriding <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/city-council-overturns-mayors-veto-on-safe-injection-site-ban/3655988/">the mayor’s veto</a> on Sept. 28, 2023, council members have used zoning legislation to essentially prevent the opening of sites where people can take drugs under supervision across most of the city. </p>
<p>In May 2023, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/opioid-heroin-safe-injection-sites-pennsylvania-drugs-3c94134829464b858e02e3799ac3ae2b">Pennsylvania legislature</a> also overwhelmingly voted to ban supervised injection sites in the entire state.</p>
<p>While much of the political discourse surrounding this decision has focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0091450921993821">protecting neighborhoods</a> where drug activity happens in parks and on the streets, ample evidence suggests that banning supervised injection sites may instead jeopardize the people and communities the policy was intended to protect.</p>
<h2>What is harm reduction?</h2>
<p>Supervised injection sites are an example of harm reduction, a general approach to addressing addiction and other public health crises. Ranging from efforts aimed at <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2017/june/20170621_harm_reduction">reducing incidences of HIV</a> to encouraging the <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/harrtlab/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Safer-Use-Alcohol.pdf">safer consumption of alcohol</a>, the concept has become integral to many global public health initiatives. </p>
<p>The goal of <a href="https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/handle/20.500.11937/17446/18961_downloaded_stream_53.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y">harm reduction</a> is to minimize the negative effects associated with drug use and other risky behaviors rather than solely focusing on eliminating the activity. This approach acknowledges the difficulty in breaking addictive behaviors and the fact that some individuals won’t – or can’t – stop regardless of policy and social efforts. </p>
<p>For drug use, harm reduction takes many forms. These include encouraging nonjudgmental approaches toward people who use drugs among social service workers and health care personnel, needle exchange programs, distribution of drugs that reverse overdoses, testing drugs for safety – and, in many parts of the world, supervised injection sites.</p>
<h2>Limitations in the United States</h2>
<p>Supervised injection sites have been a particularly <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/safe-injection-sites-safehouse-philadelphia-20200203.html">controversial approach</a> to harm reduction not just in Philadelphia but across most of the U.S. </p>
<p>Only a few officially sanctioned supervised injection sites have emerged. Two opened in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/nyregion/supervised-injection-sites-nyc.html">Manhattan in 2021</a> with support from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/nyregion/safe-injection-sites-drugs-nyc.html">the government of New York City</a>, where research suggests they could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2019.08.010">save both lives and health care dollars</a>. <a href="https://www.wpri.com/target-12/ri-prepares-to-open-first-safe-injection-site-amid-onslaught-of-overdose-deaths/">Rhode Island plans to open</a> a third in Providence in spring 2024, permitted by state legislation. The legality of even these rare sites in the U.S. remains unclear under federal law, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2006.103747">a 2011 study</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://lira.bc.edu/files/pdf?fileid=f11d3cc8-fb45-4fae-be8c-ee8dcc4e8384">the face of this uncertain legality</a>, scant evidence from the U.S. is available. One unsanctioned site operating in secrecy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.06.010">was studied by academics</a>. They found that 90% of users reported they would otherwise have been injecting in parks, streets or public restrooms, meaning the site averted over 2,300 public injections and safely disposed of at least 1,700 needles over two years.</p>
<p>Beyond this, policymakers have limited research in the U.S. to draw upon – and so it is informative to look abroad.</p>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.12.005">over 100 supervised injection sites</a> are currently operating in 10 countries, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-017-0154-1">Canada</a> and across <a href="https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2734/POD_Drug%20consumption%20rooms.pdf">Europe</a>. Researchers have looked to experiences in Denmark and Norway, in particular, to study drug consumption rooms. Despite clear differences between Scandinavia and Philadelphia, the research and evidence highlight the potential impact of this form of harm reduction.</p>
<h2>The evidence from Norway</h2>
<p>In Norway, as in the U.S., harm-reduction efforts first began with <a href="http://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2535-2512-2019-06-04">opioid substitution therapy</a>, meaning the provision of less dangerous drugs like methadone for opioid users. </p>
<p>When <a href="http://doi.org/10.1159/000346781">overdose rates</a> kept rising, supervised injection sites where people who use drugs could get clean needles and be <a href="https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/attachments/6240/Safe%20consumption%20room%202017%20SIF%20and%20overdose%20Oslo%20-%20Thomas%20Clausen%2C%20Norway.pdf">observed while using drugs</a> were piloted in 2005 and made permanent by 2009.</p>
<p>The Norwegian Institute of Public Health collected data on the impact of the supervised injection site in Oslo. Just over 150 people used the site in 2005, the first year it opened. Two years later, demand had almost quadrupled. After just six months of operation, staff were recording over 900 injections per month, each diverted from the street. People using the facility <a href="https://fhi.brage.unit.no/fhi-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/275861/sirusrap.7.07.pdf?sequence=3">told researchers</a> their sense of human dignity improved.</p>
<p>Staff reported that the site allowed them to directly connect more people to social and health services. Other data shows that the presence of the site has <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2018.1485130">reduced the use of ambulances</a> and related public services, preserving those resources for the community. </p>
<h2>Striking results in Denmark</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/DAT-03-2015-0007/full/html?utm_campaign=Emerald_Health_PPV_Dec22_RoN">first official Danish supervised injection site</a> opened its doors in Copenhagen in 2012, though underground versions had been operating for a few years.</p>
<p>Since then, several studies have shown the Copenhagen sites not only prevented many drug-related deaths, but <a href="https://sum.dk/nyheder/2015/maj/ny-evaluering-stofindtagelsesrum-har-flyttet-fix-vaek-fra-gaden">improved overall health</a> by successfully connecting people to substance abuse treatment and other health care services. </p>
<p>Staff were also successful at educating people about more hygienic injection techniques, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-016-0109-y">thereby reducing infections and other drug-related complications</a> that often lead to hospitalization. After the sites were opened, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7517-11-29">fewer people openly used drugs</a> in Copenhagen’s parks and streets. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13509">Property values</a> near the injection sites were unaffected.</p>
<p>An evaluation by the Danish Ministry of Health found that the number of needles and syringes discarded in the city’s public spaces was reduced <a href="https://sum.dk/nyheder/2015/maj/ny-evaluering-stofindtagelsesrum-har-flyttet-fix-vaek-fra-gaden">by 70% to 80%</a>, and residents in surrounding neighborhoods said <a href="https://psy.au.dk/fileadmin/CRF/STOF/STOF_pdf_er/STOF_nr._30/STOF_NR_30__S._09_-_Stofmiljoeet_paa_Vesterbro_og_politikken_i_forhold_til_det.pdf">their quality of life improved</a>.</p>
<p>Copenhagen’s experience also highlights the essential fact that supervised injection sites alone aren’t a solution; they are only a part of an effective harm-reduction strategy and must be accompanied by social support and other programming. </p>
<p>For example, the Users’ Academy – or <a href="https://brugernesakademi.dk">Brugernes Akademi</a> in Danish – is a national nonprofit led by people who use drugs that offers a wide range of harm-reduction services directly to their peers. They run a needle exchange program through the mail and raise awareness regarding the legal rights of people who use drugs. They also operate a mobile health clinic that seeks to prevent diseases like <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/11/e039724">hepatitis C</a> and reduce barriers to health and social services.</p>
<h2>An opportunity to investigate</h2>
<p>Even in the face of the ongoing <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/14/956428659/in-philadelphia-judges-rule-against-opening-a-medical-site-to-safely-inject-hero">controversy in Philadelphia</a>, new ideas are emerging.</p>
<p>Using the infusion of <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-opioid-settlement-funds-spending-overdose-preventionwrap-around-services-kensington/">funding from national opioid settlements</a>, Philadelphia could explore more politically acceptable approaches to harm reduction while collecting evidence and building support for a permanent supervised injection site. </p>
<p>In some European cities, mobile supervised injection sites have been adopted first. In Copenhagen, <a href="http://fixerum.dk/">Fixelancen</a>, an old ambulance, has been refurnished as a low-cost supervised injection site. It can service different areas of the city as the drug scene rapidly evolves, avoiding the focus and burden on a particular neighborhood. Such an approach could easily complement <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/south-philadelphia-upenn-buprenorphine-van-addiction-treatment-opioid-crisis-20191227.html%5D">other mobile</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.256">harm-reduction efforts</a> already operating in Philadelphia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jannet van der Veen has received income from Brugernes Akademi.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Synøve Nygaard Andersen received funding from The Research Council of Norway (grant #288083).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Hyatt and Tony Joakim Ananiassen Sandset do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A group of academics look at the global evidence to examine the potential impact of supervised injection sites in Philadelphia and the US.
Jordan Hyatt, Associate Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, Drexel University
Jannet van der Veen, Visiting Fellow at the Center for Public Policy, Drexel University
Synøve Nygaard Andersen, Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology, University of Oslo
Tony Joakim Ananiassen Sandset, Researcher Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Education, University of Oslo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213731
2023-10-03T16:34:50Z
2023-10-03T16:34:50Z
Microplastics in the mud: Finnish lake sediments help us get to the bottom of plastic pollution
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551737/original/file-20231003-25-ks87tq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers on the frozen surface of Lake Kallavesi prepare to take a sample of the sediment down below. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Timo Saarinen</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sun is shining, and air feels surprisingly warm when we walk on a 35cm ice that covers a frozen lake in central Finland. The heavy sledges move nicely, because there is not much snow on the ice today. The journey isn’t far either, as we’re by the city of Kuopio, which is surrounded by Finland’s 10th largest lake. Despite the temperature of -10˚, I need to take off my hat – the sun in early March is already warm, or it could be the fact that the heavy sledge is following me obediently.</p>
<p>We’re crossing the icy bay not for sport or holiday activities, nor is it part of a plan to hike to north Pole. Instead, our focus is in research. We are determinedly walking to the middle of the bay to collect a sediment core from its bottom. Mud – or sediments, as geologists call them – are deposited slowly at the bottom of lakes. How quickly mud accumulates varies greatly depending on the body of water, but at this bay in Lake Kallavesi, about 1 centimetre of sediment is deposited annually. Logically, the new sediment is deposited on top of earlier layers, and so sediments are like time machines – the deeper you dig into the older sediments, the further you reach into the past. You can think of sediments like libraries of a lake’s untold stories, and if you can read the words of the sediment core, they can tell amazing stories.</p>
<p>Lake Kallavesi has a specific and rare type of sediments called annually laminated or <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_226">varved sediments</a>. They’re composed of a bright and dark couplets one after the other, just like tree rings, that can be counted backwards. It is possible to check how your birth year looked – or your grandmother’s birth year. Such sediment layers can reach back thousands of years.</p>
<h2>The history of plastic, buried in the mud</h2>
<p>Our historical destination this time is much more recent – we want to investigate the presence of plastic particles within the natural sediment. It’s a continuation of our ongoing research, most recently published in the <em>Journal of Soils and Sediments</em> in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11368-023-03465-3">February 2023</a>. </p>
<p>Widespread use of plastic started about 70 years ago, and since then, 9 billion metric tonnes has been produced. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700782">Only 12% is incinerated</a>, meaning that 7.5 billion metric tonnes are still with us somewhere – recycled and in use; in landfills or dump pits, or in nature, including our waters. The weight of all that plastic is more than that of all the people on the planet – there’s about 1,000 kg of plastic for each of us, mostly in form of waste. What would you do with your share? What would I do?</p>
<p>These are my thoughts when I am drilling a hole in the ice. It would be nice to work on lake on a sunny summer day, but the thick ice serves as a stable platform. It allows us to spread all our corers, saws, sledges, tubes, wires, and hot water pots around us. We use metal rods to push the core tubes down 11 metres to the lake floor and then into the sediment. A few minutes later, we lift the core tube out on the water. It was known that the bay is polluted, but we’re surprised by the strong smell of oil when the core emerges.</p>
<p>Because plastic is very durable material, it works well as a core tube. This benefit is also plastic’s worst aspect: released into the environment, it doesn’t decompose but breaks into ever smaller pieces. <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html">Particles smaller than 5 mm are called microplastics</a>, and they have only been studied since 2004, after Richard Thompson <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1094559">accidently noted their presence</a> in coastal sediments near Plymouth, England. While it’s a relatively new research field, we already know that microplastics are harmful pollutants that endanger animal life – including our own – and that they are found everywhere from the top of the Himalayas to the deepest oceans.</p>
<p>Like natural particles, microplastics are transported to the lakes by rivers, rainfall, and wind. They can float in the surface but finally sink to the bottom. There they will be slowly buried under new layers of sediments. But how much microplastics has increased in the nature since the last 70 years? Let’s go to see what the sediment library can tell us.</p>
<h2>The ABCs of reading sediment layers</h2>
<p>The 2-meter sediment core lies on the metallic table at our laboratory. As we saw open the core, my skin gets goosebumps. It might be the noise or maybe it is just excitement – after all, you never know beforehand what the sediment will look like.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=768&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551740/original/file-20231003-15-ga6eip.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The core of the lake sediment reveals brighter and darker bands that allow us to look back into time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sediments consist of natural materials as well as pollutants. Detrital materials such as clay, silt and sand are washed into the lake by spring floods that follow the melting of snow – this is the bright layer in Lake Kallavesi sediment. The thicker the bright layer is, the more intensive the spring flood and higher the snow was during the winter.</p>
<p>There is also a lot of organic matter in the sediments – not only plants transported by the rivers and pollen flown in from long distances, but also algae. On sunny summer days, they bloom on the lake’s surface and so serve as a buffet for the zooplankton that graze on the surface. When these microscopic organisms die, they too sink to bottom and become part of the mud.</p>
<p>Sediments also bear witness to human activities. Building a bridge or a road involves digging and can increase erosion, and our sediment shows bright layers that can be several centimetres thick. A significant number of pollutants are buried within the sediments – we found trace metals such as mercury, copper, lead and zinc as well as <a href="https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=423&toxid=75">petroleum hydrocarbon fractions</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/PAHs_FactSheet.html">PAH compounds</a> that are ecologically risky and potentially dangerous to health. Many are related to burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this chemical cocktail, the sediments were flavoured by a large amounts of microplastics.</p>
<p>Occasionally I get the feeling that I never went too far from my childhood. Playing with water and mud was the greatest thing I could imagine for the summer holidays, and nowadays I keep on doing very similar activities – collect mud, treat it in different ways, put it in all kinds of cups and machines. I often come home with my clothes splashed with mud. Today, however, I’m planning my playing in more detail, having spent weeks in the laboratory preparing these sediments for analysis.</p>
<h2>Two steps forward, one steps back</h2>
<p>The preliminary results show that the amount of heavy metals and oil fractions have decreased significantly from the peak in the 1970s toward the present day. This is good news, because it tells us that we’ve come to understand the harmfulness of these chemicals and our actions to preserve nature have paid off. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for microplastics – their presence in the sediments is increasing over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up view of microplastic particles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551742/original/file-20231003-21-d0cx0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A magnified view of lake sediments reveals an immense number of microplastic particles. Many are from single-use plastics that find their way into the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The materials most frequently found are polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene, often employed for so-called single-use products such as packaging. In the annual layers we can immediately find the years 2011-2013, when there was significant construction work and dredging in the harbour. During this period, a huge number of microplastics are present with a large diversity of types.</p>
<p>With such detailed information, we start to understand how human activities on the land have a direct influence on the microplastics in the water. In the future, we want to understand how all kinds of pollutants that are already in the nature can be attached to microplastic particles, and what when such particles are eaten by plankton and animals that graze on the bottom of lakes. There is still much we do not understand from microplastics and the risks they pose, but our knowledge increases with every sediment core. It is not piece of cake, but a mud cake.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=158&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310261/original/file-20200115-134768-1tax26b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the Axa Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the Axa Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saija Saarni a reçu des financements de AXA Research Fund. </span></em></p>
Since the 1950s, billions of tons of plastic have been produced and much of it ends up in the environment – even at the bottom of lakes in Finland.
Saija Saarni, Senior research in geology, University of Turku
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213132
2023-09-14T13:36:14Z
2023-09-14T13:36:14Z
South Africa can’t crack the inequality curse. Why, and what can be done
<p><em>South Africa is ranked <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099125303072236903/p1649270c02a1f06b0a3ae02e57eadd7a82">one of the most unequal societies in the world</a>. The Conversation Africa spoke to Imraan Valodia, the Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, about inequality in South Africa.</em></p>
<h2>Has income inequality got worse in the last 20 years?</h2>
<p>According to the most <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099125303072236903/p1649270c02a1f06b0a3ae02e57eadd7a82">recent data</a>, South Africa has the highest income inequality in the world, with a Gini coefficient of around 0.67. The Gini coefficient is a widely used statistical measure of how income is distributed in the population of a country. It takes a value between 0 and 1. A coefficient of 1 indicates perfect inequality – where one individual in a country would earn all the income in that country. Conversely, a coefficient of 0 is an indicator of perfect equality, where the income of the country is distributed perfectly equally among all its citizens. </p>
<p>South Africa’s Gini is exceptionally high. A number of other African countries have high Ginis too. For example, Namibia’s is 0.59, Zambia’s 0.57 and Mozambique’s 0.54. </p>
<p>Countries in Europe, especially Scandinavian countries, have much lower Ginis. They range between 0.24 and 0.27. Among the developed countries, the US has a high level of inequality with a Gini of 0.41. </p>
<p>China’s is 0.38 and India’s is 0.35. Russia’s is similarly relatively low at 0.37. Brazil, like South Africa, has a much higher level of inequality at 0.53. </p>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099125303072236903/p1649270c02a1f06b0a3ae02e57eadd7a82">the evidence</a> suggests that income inequality has risen in the post-apartheid period, though it has fluctuated.</p>
<p>What is clear is that levels of inequality are not decreasing.</p>
<h2>What’s driving the trend?</h2>
<p>There are a number of drivers.</p>
<p>First, the fact that large numbers of South Africans are <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2023.pdf">unemployed</a> and report no or very low incomes. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the rate of unemployment in South Africa, in June 2023, <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2023.pdf">was estimated</a> to be 32.6%. But this doesn’t include people who have given up trying to find work. (The internationally accepted definition of unemployment requires people who are classified as unemployed to be searching for work.) If we include these discouraged workers, the unemployment rate increases to 44.1%. </p>
<p>There are about <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2023.pdf">40.7 million</a> people in South Africa between the ages of 15 and 64 – this is the group that could potentially work. Those who are not able to work, because they’re at school, or ill, or for some other reason, are estimated to number 13.2 million. That leaves 27.5 million people. Of these, only 16.4 million are working. </p>
<p>Of the 16.4 million, only 11.3 million are employed in the formal sector, where income tends to be higher. </p>
<p>These figures make it clear that the economy is just not able to generate sufficient numbers of employment opportunities.</p>
<p>The second driver is that, among those who are employed, many earn very low wages. Of those who do have work, about 3 million people subsist in the informal economy, where incomes are very low. Another 900,000 people work in agriculture and about 1 million as domestic workers, where incomes are very low.</p>
<p>Even in the formal sector, wages, especially for non-unionised workers, tend to be <a href="http://new.nedlac.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/NMW-Report-Draft-CoP-FINAL1.pdf">extremely low</a>. </p>
<p>And third, the incomes at the top end of the income distribution are very high. It’s more difficult to provide reliable statistics on this, because incomes for rich households tend to come from a variety of sources. One way to get a sense of this is to look at household expenditure – a good proxy for incomes. Unfortunately, South Africa’s income and expenditure survey is now quite dated. But what’s available <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-10-19/Report-03-10-192017.pdf">shows</a> that the richest 10% of South African households are responsible for some 52% of all expenditure. The poorest 10% of households contribute only 0.8% of all expenditure.</p>
<h2>Is South Africa an outlier?</h2>
<p>Yes. However, there are probably many countries that have higher levels of inequality – we just don’t have the data for them. So, while people often say South Africa has the highest Gini in the world, it would be more accurate to say that South Africa has the highest Gini among countries that have data on income inequality.</p>
<p>South Africa’s data is generally very good, reliable and independent. </p>
<h2>What steps have been taken? Why didn’t they work?</h2>
<p>The major intervention in post-apartheid South Africa was to address inequality in terms of race. This is, of course, extremely important. Among other steps, government introduced the Employment Equity Act to address race-based discrimination in employment, and various measures to address ownership by race. There is controversy about some of the measures. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that they have been very <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/871137/pdf">successful</a> in changing the patterns of inequality in South Africa.</p>
<p>However, not enough has been done – race-based inequality is still a real problem. In general, high income South African households, irrespective of race, have done well over the last three decades, which is why inequality has remained stubbornly high. </p>
<h2>What steps should be taken now?</h2>
<p>I don’t think there is any one policy that would address the issue. Some focus on the labour market and argue that employment is not growing because of labour protections. But I think this is incorrect and does not deal with the nuance of the country’s political and economic situation.</p>
<p>I think we should rather be thinking about how to direct the benefits of economic growth and redistribution policies to benefit those at the bottom end. This could involve, for example, raising incomes at the bottom, creating new opportunities and employment for those who don’t have them, and ensuring that the benefits of growth do not disproportionately benefit those at the top end of the income distribution.</p>
<h2>What is the difference between income inequality and wealth inequality?</h2>
<p>Income inequality measures only a portion of the real inequality in South Africa. Measuring inequality in wealth gives a more complete picture of how unequal a society is. Income is only one factor that determines wealth. Wealth also includes inheritance, earnings from assets and so on. </p>
<p>The broad picture is that in South Africa wealth inequality is much worse than <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/scis/research-projects/wealth-inequality/working-papers-and-research-output/">income inequality</a>. Some striking statistics are that the top 0.01% of people – just 3,500 individuals – own about 15% of all of the wealth in South Africa. The top 0.1% own 25% of the wealth. The net wealth of the top 1% is R17.8 million (about US$944,000). In contrast, the bottom 50% have a negative wealth position (they have more liabilities than they do assets) of R16,000 (around US$850).</p>
<p><em>This article is part of a media partnership between Wits University’s Southern Centre for Inequality Studies and The Conversation Africa for the Annual Inequality Lecture given by Professor Branko Milanovic, titled “Recent changes in the global income distribution and their political implications”. You can watch him deliver the lecture <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAproYSlaMA">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Imraan Valodia and the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies receive funding from a number of local and international foundations that support academic research. </span></em></p>
Efforts have been made to change the patterns of inequality in South Africa. But not enough has been done. Race-based inequality is still a real problem.
Imraan Valodia, Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality and Director Southern Centre for Inequality Studies., University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209352
2023-07-07T14:29:18Z
2023-07-07T14:29:18Z
The history behind Orkney’s vote to ‘join Norway’
<p>For the third time in half a century, Orkney, UK, has raised the issue of its Nordic origins and an apparent desire to embrace them once more. Earlier this week, Orkney Islands Council voted on a <a href="https://www.orkney.gov.uk/Files/Committees-and-Agendas/Council-Meetings/GM2023/GM04-07-2023/Item%2015%20Notice%20of%20Motion.pdf">motion</a> to begin exploring options of “greater subsidiarity and autonomy”, potentially looking beyond the UK and Scottish borders to build “Nordic connections”.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A July front page of Orkney's newspaper, The Orcadian" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536299/original/file-20230707-23-fswcxe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=700&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The front page of The Orcadian newspaper this week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.orcadian.co.uk/">The Orcadian</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>This decision has made <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-66066448">national</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/03/scotlands-orkney-islands-consider-quitting-the-uk-to-join-norway.html">international</a> headlines. These were centred on the possibility that the island group, located ten miles from the north coast of Scotland, may seek to become a Norwegian territory. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2020/09/09/sic-to-explore-ways-of-achieving-self-determination-after-elected-members-back-motion">similar motion</a> was passed in the neighbouring Shetland Islands in 2020. Could this be the latest constitutional crisis to rock the United Kingdom?</p>
<p>As these news reports typically highlight, Orkney and Shetland were <a href="https://www.shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk/blog/550-years-ago-how-shetland-became-part-of-scotland-part-2">part of the Norwegian and Danish kingdoms</a> until their annexation by Scotland in 1472. Orcadians and Shetlanders do not identify as Norwegians or Danes today, but they retain distinct identities which for some – though not all – include aspects of this Norse heritage. </p>
<p>Orkney’s motion joins a long history of attempts by activists and local politicians to use this distinct identity to draw attention to grievances with central government.</p>
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<h2>Back to Scandinavia</h2>
<p>In August 1967, Orkney’s largest settlements of Kirkwall and Stromness awoke to a poster campaign <a href="https://photos.orkneycommunities.co.uk/picture/number1586.asp">calling</a> for Orkney to return “Back to Denmark”. One poster declared: “Orkney is dying under British rule, reunite with Denmark now.” The campaign produced widespread news coverage, making headlines in Edinburgh, London, Denmark and even as far away as Singapore.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white image of five people drawing protest posters in Orkney." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536300/original/file-20230707-21-t5tnv2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pro-breakaway campaigners in 1967.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mathew Nicolson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The immediate trigger was the government’s policy of centralising police forces and water boards into regional bodies, abolishing Orkney’s local institutions. It was feared that Orkney’s local government would soon follow. There were also grievances concerning the expensive cost of transport and the government’s inadequate response to a shipping strike the previous year.</p>
<p>In an interview with The Observer, one campaign organiser was described as “plainly delighted with the astonishing commotion he has caused”, clearly recognising the potential for this provocative use of Orkney’s distinct identity to draw attention to the islands’ grievances. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.orcadian.co.uk/">The Orcadian</a>, Orkney’s sole newspaper, declared “it was all a joke” that had taken the rest of Britain “for a ride” – before adding: “but it has its serious side”.</p>
<p>Orkney’s Nordic ties were invoked again in 1986. Amid a campaign against a proposed expansion to <a href="https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/shr.2021.0498">Dounreay nuclear power station</a> in Caithness, activists from Orkney and Shetland drew up the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/25/orkney-shetland-people-referendum-edinburgh-london">Declaration of Wyre</a>.</p>
<p>Addressed to the kings of Norway and Denmark, the declaration called on them to “consult on our constitutional status” and to “inquire into the legality in international law of siting a nuclear processing plant … in an area of unresolved constitutional status.” Once again, historical ties to Scandinavia were used to highlight a contemporary and thoroughly modern political concern.</p>
<h2>Political failures</h2>
<p>As in 1967 and 1986, Orkney Islands Council’s motion to explore greater autonomy and Nordic connections is centred on current political issues. The council is frustrated at failures to reach an agreement with the Scottish government to fund the replacement of its ageing inter-island ferries or secure adequate ferry fare subsidies. </p>
<p>There is also anger at the broader trend of centralisation that followed the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.</p>
<p>Invoking the possibility of constitutional change, especially when this draws on the islands’ Norse heritage, is a proven strategy for gaining media and political attention. External actors are often willing to make use of eye-grabbing headlines or gain additional ammunition for national constitutional quarrels. </p>
<p>This is well understood by activists and local politicians. Orkney council leader James Stockan acknowledged that the media response to his motion has been “a remarkable result”.</p>
<p>So is this simply a PR stunt hatched by a council seeking additional funds at a time of increasing crisis within the UK’s public services? Not entirely. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="http://www.scottishgovernmentyearbooks.ed.ac.uk/record/22892">real history</a> of pro-autonomy sentiment to draw on, articulated to its greatest extent in the 1980s by the now defunct <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">Orkney Movement</a>. Most Orcadians (and Shetlanders) would endorse the principle of decentralisation. But more radical visions for autonomy have never gained demonstrable majority support.</p>
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<p>Orkney’s councillors are likely entirely sincere in their desire for decentralisation, if perhaps not to the extent of rejoining Norway or becoming a fully autonomous territory. However, neither Orkney nor Shetland’s autonomy motions passed unanimously. Like any other community, there are political differences which can sometimes be overlooked from outside perspectives.</p>
<p>It is unclear how most Orcadians and Shetlanders feel about their councils’ policies. These developments have not seen any meaningful engagement with or interest from the wider population – or, indeed, any electoral mandate from the islands’ voters.</p>
<p>The Orcadian conducted an online survey <a href="https://www.orcadian.co.uk/in-this-weeks-the-orcadian-170/">this week</a> which found a narrow majority of 51.4% support for the council’s policy, with 37.9% opposed. However, as this survey did not follow scientific polling methods and was also open to non-Orcadians to fill out, it can only provide a rough estimate of people’s views.</p>
<p>In contrast to the 1980s, when mobilised campaign movements pressured the councils into taking further action on autonomy, there is no grassroots momentum for constitutional change in the islands today. But it is possible that continued dissatisfaction with central government could lead to growing interest in the subject.</p>
<p>Orkney is not going to become a Norwegian territory and significant constitutional change is unlikely to appear in the near future. That said, the idea of autonomy will continue to be attractive for some. As long as this remains the case, local activists and politicians will continue to use their islands’ distinct heritages in creative ways to make their voices heard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Nicolson received funding from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.</span></em></p>
Bringing up the subjects of autonomy and Norway has always been an effective way for Orcadians to draw attention to their grievances with central government.
Mathew Nicolson, PhD Candidate in History, The University of Edinburgh
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204507
2023-05-02T11:20:35Z
2023-05-02T11:20:35Z
DNA study sheds light on Scotland’s Picts, and resolves some myths about them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523315/original/file-20230427-20-enm6fg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C21%2C4716%2C3137&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pictish stones feature distinctive symbols.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Cathy MacIver</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The people known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts">the Picts</a> have puzzled archaeologists and historians for centuries. They lived in Scotland during the early medieval period, from around AD300 to AD900, but many aspects of their society remain mysterious.</p>
<p>The Picts’ unique cultural characteristics, such as large stones decorated with distinct symbols, and lack of written records, have led to numerous theories about their origins, way of life, and culture. </p>
<p>This is commonly referred to in archaeology as the “Pictish problem”, a term popularised by the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Problem_of_the_Picts_Edited_by_F_T_W.html?id=EWZEtwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">title of a 1955 edited book</a> by the archaeologist Frederick Threlfall Wainwright.</p>
<p>Our genetic study of human remains from this period challenges several myths about the Picts. These include a proposed origin in eastern Europe, as well as a longstanding idea that the inheritance of wealth passed down the female side of the family.</p>
<p>We attempted to shed light on the Picts’ origins and legacy by sequencing whole genomes – the full complement of DNA in human cells – from skeletons excavated at two cemeteries. </p>
<h2>Stone monuments</h2>
<p>These cemeteries, at Balintore in Easter Ross and Lundin Links in Fife, date to between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. The results of our research have been <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1010360">published in PLOS Genetics</a>.</p>
<p>The Balintore burials are not well understood, but Lundin Links is characterised by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00766097.2017.1296031">exceptional stone monuments</a>. The burials take the form of round or rectangular cairns – where numerous stones are piled up as markers – and long cists. Cists are stone-built “boxes” that hold the remains of the dead. </p>
<p>The cemetery probably housed people of a high-status, but this is still hypothetical due to the limited knowledge of these burials and society more generally during this period. Human remains in general from the Pictish era are relatively scarce and often poorly preserved.</p>
<p>There is no known settlement associated with Lundin Links. This is a common issue in Pictish archaeology, as the extent of their settlements is still largely unknown. Recently, however, excavations led by Professor Gordon Noble at the University of Aberdeen have <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Picts/J1iZEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">discovered several new Pictish sites</a>, frequently hillforts, around Scotland.</p>
<h2>Origin myths</h2>
<p>In our study, we looked at how genetically similar the Pictish genomes were to other ancient genomes from Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and mainland Europe dating to the Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods. Our findings support a prevailing view that the Picts descended from Iron Age groups in Britain and Ireland. </p>
<p>This contrasts with older, often elaborate, myths of exotic origins, such as the one recounted in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical_History_of_the_English_People#:%7E:text=The%20Ecclesiastical%20History%20of%20the,Roman%20Rite%20and%20Celtic%20Christianity.">Ecclesiastical History of the English People</a>, written by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Bede-the-Venerable">Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede</a> in AD731. This claimed that the Picts migrated from Scythia (a historical region around the northern coast of the Black Sea) to northern Britain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="DNA double helix" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523394/original/file-20230428-16-hmppm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The researchers used a method that involves looking at long stretches of DNA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blue-helix-human-dna-structure-1669326868">Billion Photos / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other theories include an origin in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrace">Thrace</a> (a historical region in south-east Europe) and islands to the north of Britain.</p>
<p>We sequenced two genomes to medium or high coverage, meaning that we determined the order of the “letters” in the DNA code multiple times while piecing together the highly fragmented genetic sequence. This allowed us to “zoom in” on the genetic diversity – or variation – in the ancient and modern people from our study, gaining greater analytical resolution.</p>
<p>We were able to look at fine-scale differences among ancient and modern groups across Britain and Ireland. We applied a method that investigates something called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_by_descent">identity-by-descent (IBD)</a>. This involves looking at relatively long stretches of DNA (“chunks” of chromosomes) that are shared by different individuals. </p>
<p>IBD is an indicator of relatedness via shared genetic ancestors. While we all share ancestors, sometimes we share more recent genetic ancestors with some individuals than with others. In this scenario, we would also share more IBD segments of DNA. </p>
<h2>Female inheritance</h2>
<p>The Pictish genomes share more long DNA chunks with present-day people from western Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We interpreted this as a sign of genetic continuity from the Pictish period to the present-day. </p>
<p>But present-day populations in Britain and Ireland also share relatively high amounts of IBD segments with Anglo-Saxon genomes from southern regions, suggesting mixture between populations in a south-to-north direction.</p>
<p>This fascinating insight provides a glimpse into the demographic processes that have shaped genetic diversity and population structure in present-day populations. However, there were also small but significant differences in the genetic similarity between Pictish genomes and other ancient groups, such as Iron Age genomes we compared them with. </p>
<p>This suggests that “Pictish genetic ancestry” was not static or homogenous. Instead, the genetic variation among ancient people reflects dynamic and complex communities.</p>
<p>Lastly, we managed to address an intriguing question. Bede stated that when the Picts stopped off in Ireland before settling in Britain, they were allowed to marry local women on the condition that Pictish succession passed down the female line. </p>
<p>This led to the notion that the Picts followed a tradition of “matrilineal succession”, where the sister’s son inherits the wealth instead of sons on the male line – a system often associated with women marrying locally. Scholars now believe this idea was probably fabricated to boost Pictish identity and validate specific rulers.</p>
<p>We sequenced complete genomes of mitochondria – structures in cells, often described as biological “batteries” – in seven samples from Lundin Links. They all carried unique mutations, meaning that none of the individuals were closely related on the maternal line. </p>
<p>This is more consistent with female exogamy, where women marry outside their social group. This is just one population sample from one location, though, so more research is required to test whether this holds elsewhere.</p>
<p>The study fills gaps in our understanding of the genetic landscape of Britain and Ireland during the early medieval period. It provides a baseline for future studies to investigate the complex genetic ancestry of present-day populations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linus Girdland Link was supported by the school of geoscience, University of Aberdeen. Kate Britton was supported by the Leverhulme Trust during production of this manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeline Morez was supported by ECR strategic support of early career researchers in the faculty of science at LJMU, awarded to Linus Girdland-Flink.</span></em></p>
The genetic study challenges previous theories about the origins and culture of the Picts.
Linus Girdland Flink, Visiting lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, lecturer in biomolecular archaeology, University of Aberdeen
Adeline Morez, Post-doctorate researcher, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, visiting lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197221
2023-01-05T20:33:11Z
2023-01-05T20:33:11Z
DNA reveals large migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503216/original/file-20230105-20-c8gnzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More people moved into Scandinavia in Viking times than at any other time period analysed in the study.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-wooden-viking-snekkja-longship-type-2044280747">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We often think of the Vikings as ultimate explorers, taking their culture with them to far-off lands. But we may not typically think of Viking age Scandinavia as a hub for migration from all over Europe.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01468-4">In a study published in Cell</a>, we show this is exactly what happened. The Viking period (late 8th century to mid 11th century) was the catalyst for an exceptional inflow of people into Scandinavia. These movements were greater than for any other period we analysed.</p>
<p>What’s also striking is that later Scandinavians don’t show the same high levels of non-local ancestry present in their Viking-era counterparts. We don’t completely understand why the migrants’ genetic impact was reduced in later Scandinavians, but there are some possibilities.</p>
<p>We analysed genomes (the full complement of DNA contained in human cells) from around 17,000 Scandinavian individuals, including nearly 300 from ancient burials. We combined <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218308443">existing datasets</a> with new samples. These were analysed together in a dataset spanning 2,000 years.</p>
<p>We used these genomes to explore when people arrived in the region from outside and where they came from. New DNA samples were collected from several iconic Swedish archaeological sites. </p>
<p>These included Sandby borg, which is a “ring fortress” <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/moment-frozen-in-time-evidence-of-a-late-fifthcentury-massacre-at-sandby-borg/5C803B7E77A41439BC3B50D4BF96560E">where a massacre occurred just before 500 AD</a>, and the Vendel cemetery, which features several burials contained in large boats and dating to between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. We also used samples from Viking chamber burials and remains from Kronan, a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1990.tb00276.x">warship that capsized with more than 800 men</a> in 1676.</p>
<p>Two previous studies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218308443">noted extensive migration</a> into Scandinavia <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2688-8">during the Viking age</a>. But in our latest study, we have clarified some of the details about this flow of genes into the region.</p>
<p>We found that movements of people from western Europe impacted all of Scandinavia, while migration from the east was more localised, with peaks in the Lake Mälaren Valley and Gotland. Finally, gene flow from southern Europe largely affected the south of Scandinavia. </p>
<p>Since the study was based on a 2,000-year chronology, it was not only possible to see there was an increase in migration during the Viking era, but also that it starts to fall with the onset of the medieval period.</p>
<p>The non-local ancestry that arrives in the region at this time falls away in later periods. Much of the genetic influence from eastern Europe disappears and the western and southern influence becomes significantly diluted. The best way to explain this is that people who arrived in Scandinavia during Viking times did not have as many children as the people who were already living there.</p>
<p>There are different possible reasons for this. The migrants could have belonged to groups that did not intend to settle down in Scandinavia, instead aiming to return to where they came from. Tradespeople and diplomats are examples in this category. Additionally, the migrants could also have belonged to groups that were not allowed to have families or children, such as slaves and priests.</p>
<p>We also looked at influences that began at earlier periods in time. For example, the DNA of modern Scandinavians <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-021-00899-6">changes gradually as you travel from north to south</a>. This genetic “cline”, or gradient, is due to migrations into the region of people carrying shared genetic similarities known as the Uralic component.</p>
<p>Modern examples of where the Uralic genetic component can be found are among Sami people, people in modern Finland, some Native Americans and some central Asian groups. </p>
<p>In our dataset, we found occasional instances of people with Uralic ancestry – mainly in northern Scandinavia – during the Viking period and medieval times. But the Uralic influence seems to increase after this time, since individuals from our 17th century sample have similar levels of this ancestry to people living today.</p>
<p>There were many other fascinating stories from our study. For example, at the Viking age burial site of Sala, by the river Sagån, we find a woman that seems to be fully British or Irish in her genomic composition. This woman was buried in a prestigious Viking period boat burial. We don’t know exactly what position she held in society, but she would not have been a slave or a priest. </p>
<p>Among the individuals found on the wreck of the Kronan, there were two people who came from what is now Finland and another who has a genetic affinity with people from the Baltic states, such as Lithuania and Latvia (though this identification is not conclusive). At the time of the Kronan incident in 1676, these areas were part of the Swedish Empire, though they are independent today.</p>
<p>The work sheds more light on the historical events that shaped the populations of Scandinavia over time. The Viking age was marked by Scandinavians’ curiosity of the world outside their home region. But, from our results, it also appears that the world outside this region was curious enough about the Vikings to travel to Scandinavia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anders Götherström receives funding from VR, KVA, and EU. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ricardo Rodriguez Varela does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
DNA analysis reveals a large migration of people into Scandinavia during Viking times.
Anders Götherström, Professor in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University
Ricardo Rodriguez Varela, Research in Molecular Archaeology, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195522
2022-12-06T13:34:10Z
2022-12-06T13:34:10Z
How to deal with holiday stress, Danish-style
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498797/original/file-20221204-26-kjoo8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C12%2C4035%2C2702&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With so many competing demands during the holidays, it's easy to take on more than you can handle.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/overwhelmed-santa-royalty-free-image/175392894?phrase=christmas stress&adppopup=true">mphillips007/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holidays often involve jubilant gift exchanges, renewed connections with family and friends, and treasured traditions. </p>
<p>But the love and cheer can also <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Unassigned/APA_Holiday-Stress_PPT-REPORT_November-2021_update.pdf">be accompanied by a host of stressors</a> – chaotic travel, conflicts over COVID-19 preventive measures, difficult dinner conversations with relatives, and worries about affording and finding holiday gifts. </p>
<p>This stress <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.17.1.17">can worsen</a> your mental and physical health. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.0000151424.02045.f7">Research even finds</a> that mortality is higher than normal during the holidays. </p>
<p>How can you best find a balance during the holidays so that you are fulfilled instead of frazzled?</p>
<p>Perhaps you can find balance by taking a few cultural cues from the Danes.</p>
<p>Denmark, despite its winters that can be <a href="https://seasonsyear.com/Denmark">cold and gloomy</a>, is full of people <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/">who consistently rank among the happiest</a> in the world.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://blogs.dickinson.edu/helwegm/">native Dane and a psychologist</a>, I’ll often point to Danish words that can cultivate well-being. These words can be used at any time of the year, but I think a couple are particularly useful for navigating the stress of the holidays.</p>
<h2>Going above and beyond</h2>
<p>Understanding the Danish word “overskud” can help you find more balance during a period of joy and competing commitments.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.thelocal.dk/20220516/danish-word-of-the-day-overskud/">Overskud</a>” is a noun that roughly means “excess.” In an economic context it means profit, but in everyday speech it’s used to refer to having the energy, willingness or resources to tackle a task or a problem. </p>
<p>Having overskud is generally viewed as a good thing – you might go the extra mile at work, plan an elaborate holiday party, find extra thoughtful presents or volunteer at your child’s school. </p>
<p>Danes sometimes combine the noun with other nouns so that you might say that you can make an “overskuds-breakfast” – a fancy breakfast of omelettes, bacon, coffee and french toast. Or you might be an overskuds-dad – the dad who decorates cookies with his kids and their friends. </p>
<p>Although it might seem a bit like bragging to say one has overskud, Danes react to people describing having overskud with authentic applause and support. After all, who wouldn’t want to have extra energy and bandwidth to tackle life?</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://hellebentzen.dk/artikel/kropsterapi/overskud-i-hverdagen/">Danish therapists</a> maintain that having more overskud can lead you to experience more contentment, calm and presence. </p>
<h2>Your energy isn’t boundless</h2>
<p>And yet the holidays can sometimes demand overskud in a number of different areas: Food should be healthy but also fit everyone’s preferences and expectations. Presents should be thoughtful and affordable. Elaborate decorations must come up and go down.</p>
<p>How do you balance it all?</p>
<p>Any psychologist will tell you that maintaining <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/set-boundaries#how-to-define-your-boundaries">healthy boundaries</a> is associated with better mental health. </p>
<p>Importantly, the word overskud is also used to clearly communicate when people cannot tackle an event, task or obligation. </p>
<p>Instead of saying “I’m swamped,” a Dane might say they don’t have enough “overskud” to go to a party or meet for a glass of <a href="https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/christmas-recipes/gloegg">gløgg</a>, a mulled Christmas wine. It’s basically a shorthand way to say, in a nonjudgmental way, that something sounds like fun, and you would love to do it, but you simply don’t have the energy.</p>
<p>Danes also use a verb that’s related to overskud, which is a noun. They will say that they cannot “overskue” something – organizing a family holiday event, planning a trip or deep-cleaning the house.</p>
<p>Often, activities that are meant to be fun and invigorating, like going to a holiday party on a weeknight or buying presents for a fundraiser, still require a fair amount of effort. If your store of energy is empty and you’d rather just stay home in your PJs, you might say “I just cannot overskue doing it.”</p>
<p>Essentially, the Danes use the words overskud and overskue to say, “No,” and there’s an unspoken understanding that it’s nothing personal. Saying “no” to some things will give you the time and energy to say “yes” to others, so you can tackle the holidays with vigor and cheer – and be that overskud party planner, cookie decorator or gift giver, should you wish to do so.</p>
<h2>The importance of ‘pyt’</h2>
<p>People might want their vision for the holidays to go off without a hitch. But reality often smacks people in the face: rude strangers, long lines, decoration disasters, out-of-stock toys, piles of dirty dishes, screaming children and resentful relatives.</p>
<p>You can practice letting go of holiday-related frustrations by simply saying the Danish word “<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-danish-word-the-world-needs-to-combat-stress-pyt-112216">pyt</a>,” <a href="http://schwa.dk/filer/udtaleordbog_danpass/d_002_2_g_non-v_1316.wav">which is pronounced</a> like “pid.”</p>
<p>Pyt is similar to saying “oh, well” or “stuff happens” and is used to let go of minor frustrations, hassles or mistakes. Danes might say about their own behavior “pyt, I didn’t do a great job wrapping that present.” Or they might say “pyt” when they sense someone else’s disappointment: “pyt, those cookies do look a bit funny, but they’re still delicious.” </p>
<p>Pyt is about accepting that things won’t go exactly as planned, and embracing that fact. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Christmas tree bulb in an anvil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498798/original/file-20221204-55824-8jvbis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t let the pressure of a perfect Christmas make you crack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/christmas-under-pressure-royalty-free-image/157646865?phrase=christmas+stress">alacatr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Having very high personal standards is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000036">predictor of</a> poor coping skills and a poor ability to deal with daily stressors. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2017.1393711">stress</a> can be mitigated by accepting imperfection as a healthy and normal part of life. </p>
<p>Another way to get to pyt is to focus on what really counts. Is this long line at the mall really worth ruining your day? Or is it a minor annoyance that will soon be forgotten? </p>
<p>Perhaps you can take a moment while waiting to think about some of the things you’re thankful for or remind yourself that you’re OK. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.190">Research shows</a> that self-reflection and self-compassion together are particularly effective in reducing stress. Moreover, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219853846">self-compassion</a> can lead to acceptance of both your own and other people’s flaws. </p>
<p>One of the benefits of holiday stress – compared to unexpected stress – is that you can anticipate it. </p>
<p>You’ve been here before. If you don’t try to do it all and don’t expect everything to go according to plan, you may just end up having your best holiday yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Helweg-Larsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Denmark, despite its cold and gloomy winters, is full of people who consistently rank among the happiest in the world.
Marie Helweg-Larsen, Professor of Psychology, the Glenn E. & Mary Line Todd Chair in the Social Sciences, Dickinson College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187834
2022-10-07T12:21:32Z
2022-10-07T12:21:32Z
A Pennsylvania prison gets a Scandinavian-style makeover – and shows how the US penal system could become more humane
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488141/original/file-20221004-12568-4r2yo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prisoners and staff share responsibility for taking care of the fish tank at the 'Little Scandinavia' housing unit in a Pennsylvania prison. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://filesource.wostreaming.net/commonwealthofpa/mp4_podcast/20680_DOC_LilScandSCIChester_AG_24.jpg">Commonwealth Media Services</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States has the <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/world_prison_population_list_13th_edition.pdf">largest number of people incarcerated </a> in the world – about 25% of all people imprisoned worldwide are in American prisons and jails. </p>
<p>Overcrowding, <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/conflicts-and-violence-prison">violence</a> and long sentences are common in U.S. prisons, often creating a <a href="https://eji.org/issues/prison-conditions/">climate of hopelessness</a> for incarcerated people, as well as people who work there. </p>
<p>Additionally, correctional officers, often challenged by long shifts, <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/indicators-workplace-violence-2019">worries about their own safety</a> and stressful working conditions, have a <a href="https://nicic.gov/correctional-officer-life-expectancy">life expectancy that is on average a decade less</a> than the general population.</p>
<p>Some advocates have called for <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/diversion.html">diverting people away from prisons</a>, especially low-risk individuals. Others encourage <a href="https://famm.org/our-work/sentencing-reform/">shorter sentences and earlier releases</a>. </p>
<p>But reform efforts could also extend to changing the prison environment itself. </p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=los44hoAAAAJ&hl=en">American</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uk8l5BYAAAAJ&hl=en">Norwegian</a> criminologists. While trying to better understand our countries’ justice systems, we have spent significant time in correctional facilities across Scandinavia and the U.S. There, we often try to identify <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2578983X.2020.1805235">overlooked similarities</a> within these <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_3">very different places</a> – and ways they could learn from each other. </p>
<p>A recent collaboration between correctional services in Pennsylvania and several Scandinavian countries presents an opportunity to test these ideas. One Pennsylvania prison unit we are researching adapts elements from Scandinavian prisons, and offers a window into what drawing from other penal systems might look like in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a green outfit walks past a large mural of a world in an indoor hallway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488131/original/file-20221004-14-hadtq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This remodeled prison unit in Pennsylvania is home to 64 male residents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://filesource.wostreaming.net/commonwealthofpa/mp4_podcast/20680_DOC_LilScandSCIChester_AG_01.jpg">Creative Commonwealth Media</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prisons in Scandinavia</h2>
<p>Correctional systems throughout much of Scandinavia are guided by a general set of philosophical principles. In Sweden, these standards emphasize rehabilitation and encourage meaningful change, so incarcerated people can lead a better life. </p>
<p>In Norway, core values of <a href="https://www.kriminalomsorgen.no/informasjon-paa-engelsk.536003.en.html">safety, transparency and innovation</a> are considered fundamental to the idea of creating normality in prison, the feeling that <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/fsr/article-abstract/31/1/58/110153/Normality-behind-the-WallsExamples-from-Halden">life as part of a community</a> continues, even behind walls and bars. </p>
<p>Adhering to these principles means that, in some cases, incarcerated people can wear their own clothes, work in jobs that prepare them for employment and cook their own meals.</p>
<p>Prisons in Scandinavia are also small, with some housing roughly a dozen people – which is possible, given relatively low incarceration rates in the region.</p>
<p>In most cases, people in prison in Norway have access to <a href="https://justice-trends.press/full-rights-citizens-the-principle-of-normality-in-norwegian-prisons/">many of the same social and educational services</a> and programs as people who are not incarcerated.</p>
<p>Many prisons, especially in Norway, are <a href="https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/designandviolence/halden-prison-erik-moller-architects-hlm-architects/">designed in a fundamentally different way</a> than in the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.032">Proximity to nature</a> is often considered, for example. Cells in Norway are also for a single person – not multiple people, as in most cases in the U.S. Norway, perhaps unsurprisingly, <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/10/31/i-did-it-norway">has attracted</a> <a href="https://magazine.ucsf.edu/norways-humane-approach-prisons-can-work-here-too">many</a> international visitors who come to observe their prison system. </p>
<p>Importantly, correctional officers have at least a two-year, university-level education and are directly involved in rehabilitation and planning for the incarcerated person’s re-entry into the world outside of prison. In the U.S., most officers receive just a few weeks of training, and their work focuses mostly on maintaining safety and security.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting that <a href="https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1680&context=honors_theses">recidivism rates</a> in Scandinavia are low. In Norway, it has been reported that less than half of people released from prison are rearrested after three years. <a href="https://www.cor.pa.gov/About%20Us/Statistics/Documents/Reports/Recidivism%202022%20Report.pdf">In Pennsylvania</a>, that figure is closer to 70%. The implications for correctional systems are profound.</p>
<h2>Norway and the US</h2>
<p>There are, of course, other fundamental differences between the Scandinavian countries and the U.S. </p>
<p>Norway, like the other countries in the region, is <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=NO">much smaller</a> than the U.S., in both population and geography. <a href="https://www.ssb.no/en/sosiale-forhold-og-kriminalitet/kriminalitet-og-rettsvesen/statistikk/anmeldte-lovbrudd-og-ofre">Crime rates are lower</a> there than in the U.S., and <a href="https://www.norden.org/en/information/social-policy-and-welfare">social support systems</a> are more robust. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/670978/number-of-people-killed-by-firearms/">Gun violence</a> is also almost unheard of. </p>
<p>In Norway, the longest prison sentence in most cases is 21 years – with most people serving less than a year. In Pennsylvania, life sentences are not uncommon, and many crimes – including nonviolent ones – can results in <a href="https://pcs.la.psu.edu/guidelines-statutes/sentencing/">decades of imprisonment</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this, the two systems may not be completely incompatible, at least not when the goal is to reform the prison environment. </p>
<h2>The Scandinavian Prison Project</h2>
<p>In State Correctional Institution Chester, known as <a href="https://www.cor.pa.gov/Facilities/StatePrisons/Pages/Chester.aspx">SCI Chester,</a> a medium-security prison located just outside of Philadelphia, a correctional officer-guided team has worked <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/one-of-pas-prison-units-is-about-to-go-scandinavian/">since 2018</a> to incorporate Scandinavian penal <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/crime/coming-from-norway-pennsylvanias-prisons-appear-cruel-and-unusual-20171004.html">principles into its</a> own institution. Based on their direct experiences, the correctional officers and facility leaders sought to reconsider what incarceration could look like at SCI Chester. This initiative has uniquely focused on developing a single housing unit within the prison.</p>
<p><a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/amcrimlr58&div=53&g_sent=1&casa_token=q9LQVEVhZqYAAAAA:OC0KyDCTBh3-NC6SUX3cMlDnRy5hsWwa3Fx6kJ3uO4TCIfTzINZatb9vvkRfTFcN23zeotr4&collection=journals">In 2019</a>, the group, which also included outside researchers and correctional leaders, spent weeks visiting a range of facilities across Scandinavia, and the officers worked in Norwegian prisons alongside peer mentors. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.norwegianamerican.com/little-scandinavia/">March 2020</a>, six men in SCI Chester – each sentenced to life in prison – were selected to participate in the project as mentors. They then moved on to the new housing unit, which had come to be known as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTC1KI0STIY">Little Scandinavia</a>.” </p>
<p>In early 2022, the researchers and correctional leaders returned for a follow-up visit to several prisons in Sweden. Though delayed by the pandemic, 29 more residents of SCI Chester were selected from the prison’s general population to join the Scandinavian-inspired housing unit that May. </p>
<p>With single cells, a communal kitchen, Nordic-like furnishings and a landscaped, outdoor green space, <a href="https://www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/little-scandinavia-chester-reform-prison-unit">Little Scandinavia looks unlike any other</a> U.S. prison. Plants grow throughout the common areas. A large fish tank, maintained by staff and residents, is the centerpiece of an area designed to encourage people to gather.</p>
<p>A grocery program allows all of the residents to purchase fresh foods – a rarity in prison – and work directly with staff to send orders to a <a href="https://www.shoprite.com/sm/pickup/rsid/3000/about-shoprite">local store</a>. </p>
<p>Each day, residents are expected to go to work, treatment or school, all within the prison. </p>
<p>Importantly, the correctional officers overseeing Little Scandinavia have received <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/forensic-files/202201/how-psychology-reduces-recidivism-0">a range of training</a> to facilitate communication with their assigned residents. </p>
<p>Drawing from <a href="https://www.kriminalomsorgen.no/informasjon-paa-engelsk.536003.no.html">Norway’s model</a>, there is also a uniquely low ratio of trained staff to incarcerated men – one officer for eight residents, compared with the typical average of one staff member for 128 residents. </p>
<p>Although the community is still evolving, there have been no acts of violence, as some speculated would happen – even with access to kitchen equipment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An overhead shot shows an open looking common room with some people in green prison uniforms sitting and standing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488135/original/file-20221004-24-h34h1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Little Scandinavia has other features, like couches and a shared kitchen, that are designed to give prisoners a sense of autonomy over their space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://filesource.wostreaming.net/commonwealthofpa/mp4_podcast/20680_DOC_LilScandSCIChester_AG_17.jpg">Creative Commonwealth Media</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Learning from Little Scandinavia</h2>
<p>As part of our research, we are examining correctional staff’s first-hand experiences with this international project.</p>
<p>Some analyses have shown that a Scandinavian approach, focused on normality and reintegration, can be potentially good <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2021.2001231">for correctional officers</a>, boosting their morale, independence and well-being.</p>
<p>Incarcerated people have also reported feeling safer and having more positive relationships with staff and other people living in the prisons. They also indicated greater satisfaction with their access to food and the reintegration support available to them. </p>
<p>SCI Chester shows that it is, in fact, possible to adapt Scandinavian-style penal philosophies and incorporate them into a Pennsylvania prison. This effort is a pilot, however, with significant costs, foundational support from <a href="https://mynorthwest.com/152920/this-secretary-of-corrections-takes-his-job-quite-literally/">committed leaders</a>, and in partnership with many <a href="https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/Corrections_details.aspx?newsid=541">outside experts.</a> </p>
<p>It remains to be seen how these efforts will play out in the long term. Data from this project, and rigorous research on <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-02-22/inspired-by-norways-approach-north-dakota-reforms-its-prisons">other efforts</a>, can inform conversations about what the future of prison reform in the U.S. could look like. </p>
<p>After all, as they say in Norway, a prison is responsible for enabling the people who are incarcerated to return to society as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48885846">good neighbors</a> – a fact that, in most cases, is as true in Philadelphia as it is in Stockholm or Oslo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan M. Hyatt and Synøve N. Andersen have received funding from Arnold Ventures, The Scandinavian-American Foundation, and the Nordic Research Council for Criminology (NsFK).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Synøve Nygaard Andersen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A pilot project at a Pennsylvania prison is trying out lessons from Scandinavia that could offer some ideas for reforming US prisons.
Jordan Hyatt, Associate Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, Drexel University
Synøve Nygaard Andersen, Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology, University of Oslo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183277
2022-05-17T19:41:37Z
2022-05-17T19:41:37Z
Why Turkey isn’t on board with Finland, Sweden joining NATO – and why that matters
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463686/original/file-20220517-25-ezc7ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C5472%2C3604&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Room for any more at NATO? Not according to Turkey's president.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/turkeys-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-attends-the-nato-news-photo/1233447431?adppopup=true">Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After decades of neutrality, the two Nordic states that have to date remained out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/world/europe/sweden-finland-nato.html">declaring an intention to join</a> the American-led alliance. But there is a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-stockholm-sweden-finland-f7328801f699fbb2f28826c0f14d4ef6">major obstacle in their way</a>: Turkey.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/16/how-erdogans-anti-democratic-government-made-turkey-ripe-for-unrest/">increasingly autocratic and anti-democratic</a> president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said he will not agree to the entry of these two countries. And as a member of NATO, <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49212.htm">Turkey’s approval is needed</a> for Finland and Sweden to join.</p>
<p>Erdogan is alone among NATO leaders in publicly stating that he is against the two countries’ joining the alliance.</p>
<h2>Harboring terrorists or grudges?</h2>
<p>The Turkish president’s opposition is based on his view that Finland and Sweden support “terrorists.” What Erdogan means is that both countries have given protection and residence to members of the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/turkey_domestic_terrorism.html">Kurdistan Workers’ Party</a>, or PKK – the major armed group mounting resistance to Turkey’s <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/turkey">harsh treatment</a> of its millions of Kurdish citizens. The plight of the country’s Kurds, part of a large but stateless ethnic group in the region, has long been a bone of contention between Turkey and parts of the international community.</p>
<p>Despite the PKK’s being <a href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/">listed by the U.S.</a> <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L:2021:043:FULL&from=en">and EU</a> as a terrorist group, Finland and Sweden have been <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/sweden-finland-reject-turkeys-request-to-extradite-terrorists">reluctant to extradite</a> members of the group to Turkey over human rights concerns. Erdogan <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/16/sweden-announces-nato-membership-bid-one-day-after-finland#:%7E:text=In%20a%20news%20conference%20on,terrorist%20organisations%2C%E2%80%9D%20Erdogan%20said.">has responded</a> by calling Sweden a “hatchery” for terrorism and claiming neither country has “a clear, open attitude” toward terrorist organizations, adding: “How can we trust them?”</p>
<p>Erdoğan’s ire with Finland and Sweden has also been exacerbated by the country hosting followers of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/from-ally-to-scapegoat-fethullah-gulen-the-man-behind-the-myth/a-37055485">Turkish scholar and cleric Fethullah Gulen</a>. These followers are part of an educational and political movement with which Erdogan had been allied, but with which he broke as it grew more powerful. The Turkish president accuses the Gulenists of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61472021">staging a failed coup</a> against his government in 2016.</p>
<h2>All international politics is local</h2>
<p>As if that were not enough, the neutral <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/explainer-why-is-turkey-wary-of-nordic-states-nato-bid/article_d0650bc8-7def-556e-bc3d-2d17643094fa.html">northern Europeans condemned Turkey’s 2019 incursion</a> into Syria. In that operation, the Turks targeted Rojava – a <a href="https://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdish-democracy/rojava-democracy/">socialist, feminist autonomous Kurdish enclave</a> near the Turkish border. Complicating the matter, the Syrians of Rojava were – despite their links to the PKK – allies of the American forces. The Kurds of Rojava played a crucial role beating back the Islamic State group in Syria but were later <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440">abandoned by the Trump administration</a>, which pulled U.S. troops back from the Turkish border, <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/turkey-remains-defiant-to-international-pressure-on-offensive-against-syrian-kurdish-forces-as-us-demands-ceasefire-7511331.html">allowing its NATO ally to launch a military operation</a> against the Kurds.</p>
<p>Foreign policy is almost always intimately tied to domestic concerns. In the case of Turkey’s government, a major fear is the threat to its grip on power posed by the Kurds – and international pressure over Turkey’s record of repressing the group.</p>
<p>Turkey’s Kurdish populations are <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/turkeys-local-elections-were-not-free-or-fair/">not allowed free elections</a> in the eastern Anatolian region, <a href="http://countrystudies.us/turkey/28.htm">where they are the majority</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/in-turkey-repression-of-the-kurdish-language-is-back-with-no-end-in-sight/">education and cultural institutions in the Kurdish language</a> face a de facto ban.</p>
<h2>The path ahead for NATO</h2>
<p>Finland and Sweden are neutral countries not beholden to the strategic compromises that the United States and NATO are forced to make to hold the alliance together. Both countries have to date been free to take a moral position on Turkey’s position on Kurdish rights and have officially protested the repressions of dissidents, academics, journalists and minority groups.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, NATO countries have equivocated before their fellow member, agreeing to label the <a href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/">PKK a terrorist organization</a>.</p>
<p>So where does this all leave Finland and Sweden’s application for NATO membership?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49212.htm">rules for entry into the strategic alliance</a> require unanimity of the current NATO members.</p>
<p>As such, Turkey can effectively veto the entry of Finland and Sweden.</p>
<p>The standoff highlights an underlying problem the alliance is facing. NATO is supposed to be an alliance of democratic countries. Yet several of its members – <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/05/strongmen-die-but-authoritarianism-is-forever/">notably Turkey and Hungary</a> – have moved steadily away from liberal democracy toward ethnonational populist authoritarianism.</p>
<p>Finland and Sweden, on the other hand, fulfill the parameters of NATO membership more clearly than several of the alliance’s current members. As the United States proclaims that the war in Ukraine is a struggle between democracy and autocracy, Turkey’s opposition to the Nordics who have protested its drift to illiberalism are testing the unity and the ideological coherence of NATO.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald Suny does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is against allowing two Nordic countries to join NATO over what he deems their support of ‘terrorists.’ His opposition will test the alliance’s unity.
Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/155809
2021-04-09T12:24:49Z
2021-04-09T12:24:49Z
Viking DNA and the pitfalls of genetic ancestry tests
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391731/original/file-20210325-15-1xdrfl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C8%2C5725%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/viking-woman-hammer-traditional-warrior-clothes-597118544">Selenit/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A middle-aged white man raises his sword to the skies and roars to the gods. The results of his genetic ancestry test have just arrived in his suburban mailbox. His eyes fill with tears as he learns that he is “0.012% Viking”. These are the scenes from a <a href="https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/film/history_channel_1_viking">video advertisement</a> for the TV-series Vikings. </p>
<p>This man is certainly not the only one yearning for a genetic test to confirm his <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-viking-yes-but-so-is-everyone-else-14144">Viking ancestry</a>. A plethora of companies around the world market DNA-tests that promise to provide scientific facts about your identity. These companies often claim to provide a complete view of your ancestry, even though they in reality only compare your DNA with other customers in their database.</p>
<p>According to recent <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/02/11/103446/more-than-26-million-people-have-taken-an-at-home-ancestry-test/">estimates</a>, over 26 million people from across the world have purchased a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dna-tests-make-fun-holiday-gifts-but-beware-of-the-hype-127607">genetic ancestry test</a>. In the wake of this hype, researchers have begun to investigate how the tests affect our perceptions of ourselves. How do people make sense of a test result stating that they are, for instance, “35% Ashkenazi Jewish”, “27% British” or “4% western Asian”?</p>
<p>Some researchers have concluded that such tests make customers believe that humanity can be divided into <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0190272514529439">biological races</a>, and that customers see the tests as a way of discovering <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14636770902901595">their “true” identities</a>. Other researchers have argued that people use their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2016.1105991">test results selectively</a>, “<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/697487">picking and choosing</a>” the genetic data they find compatible with their personal desires and aspirations. From this perspective, taking a genetic ancestry test involves some level of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306312708091929">creative interpretation</a>.</p>
<h2>What it means to have “Viking DNA”</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14636778.2020.1868988">new study</a>, we carried out interviews with people from the US, the UK and Sweden who had purchased genetic ancestry tests to see if they were related to Vikings. Since the test results did not include the term “Viking”, most of them pointed to the category “Scandinavia” in their ethnic charts as proof of having Viking ancestry. </p>
<p>Almost all of the people in our study saw their results as scientific confirmation of either “being related to Vikings” or of actually “being a Viking”. As a man from the US put it, the results “began to confirm or at least lay the basis for the person that I am.” In a similar way, a woman from Sweden said that her test allowed her to “know who I am and what my origins are”.</p>
<p>However, what the tests actually proved was based on creative interpretation. In this sense, several of our interviewees took images of “the Viking” fostered in popular culture and political propaganda, and used them to make sense of their own lives.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KMqn16u6bxw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>For example, people with experiences of violence and abuse used their “Viking genes” as explanation – describing Vikings as warriors and berserkers. “Knowing that I am descended from Vikings,” a man from the US said, “has made it clearer to me why there might be a genetic preponderance of violence and explosive anger in my family.” </p>
<p>In a similar way, interviewees who considered themselves to be restless described the Vikings as explorers and naval engineers. A woman from the US said, “I have to see new lands,” adding that it was due to “the Viking” in her.</p>
<p>It seems then that the use of genetic ancestry tests can facilitate a kind of “<a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0021860">genetic determinism</a>”, in which a person’s life is the natural result of their genome. From this perspective, humans appear to not have much control over their lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Vikings warriors on the attack." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391729/original/file-20210325-23-nspv9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One popular image of the Viking is that of the violent berserker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mad-vikings-warriors-attack-running-along-503301562">Nejron Photo/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Genetics and race</h2>
<p>The impact of genetic ancestry tests is not just limited to people purchasing the tests. By activating concepts like “Viking”, “British” or “Jewish”, such tests also play into a wider <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dna-ancestry-testing-can-change-our-ideas-of-who-we-are-114428">politics of race and ethnicity</a>. </p>
<p>Vikings have been used as a common sign for a demographic which has historically been affiliated to <a href="https://time.com/5569399/viking-history-white-nationalists/">notions of whiteness</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3005690-decolonizing-the-viking-age">Nordic nationalism</a>. While purporting to have Viking ancestry does not make a person a racist or a proponent of white supremacy, it should be remembered that the figure of the Viking, which served as a <a href="https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1113&context=irj">prominent symbol</a> in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/677091.The_Oxford_Illustrated_History_of_the_Vikings">European fascist movements</a> during the 20th century, is far from innocuous. </p>
<p>By dividing people into racial or national categories, genetic ancestry tests might be used to trigger tensions between different groups. Even if a person’s “Viking DNA” only amounts to a small amount, it can still provide an allegedly scientific basis for racial division. In an era marked by increasing xenophobia and ethnic chauvinism, it is important to be aware of the interplay between <a href="https://www.eurozine.com/0-01/">genetics and ideas of race</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Källén receives funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant number P17-0574:1. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Strand receives funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant number P17-0574:1.</span></em></p>
Genetic ancestry tests may sound like a bit of fun, but in an era marked by increasing xenophobia, it’s important to be aware of the interplay between genetics and ideas of race.
Anna Källén, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Researcher in Heritage Studies, Stockholm University
Daniel Strand, Ph.D. in History of Ideas at Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism, Uppsala University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/153941
2021-02-08T14:31:17Z
2021-02-08T14:31:17Z
Reindeer: ancient migration routes disrupted by roads, dams – and now wind farms
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383023/original/file-20210208-13-o197mv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C630%2C4343%2C2620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ilona Kater</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reindeer, or caribou as they’re known in North America, are impressive travellers. Herds made up of many thousands of animals can cover 5,000km each year in the far north of Europe, Siberia and Canada. This is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51884-5">one of the longest</a> land migrations on Earth – but an ongoing transformation of the Arctic landscape threatens to break it up.</p>
<p>Roads, railways, mines, dams and tourist activities, such as snowmobile and husky trails, have disrupted the well-worn routes that reindeer follow each year, particularly across northern Europe. In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000632070300048X">one study</a>, researchers found that reindeer in Norway lost 70% of undisturbed habitat during the 20th century. In Finland and Sweden, the figure is thought to be similar.</p>
<p>Even developments that might seem environmentally benign, or even beneficial, are now contributing to the problem. The number of wind turbines in Norway has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/18/sami-reindeer-herders-file-lawsuit-against-oyfjellet-norway-windfarm-project">quadrupled</a> over the last decade, and reindeer herders recently filed a lawsuit against developers hoping to build what would be one of the country’s largest onshore wind farms.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A snowy road traversed by a lorry and van with a wind turbine in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382231/original/file-20210203-13-zs086g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roads and industries present barriers to reindeer movements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ilona Kater</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a relatively small amount of time, reindeer have lost access to large grazing areas and many indigenous Sámi reindeer herders are now forced to buy feed to help the animals survive. In the rush to build a green economy that can tackle the warming that <a href="https://theconversation.com/arctic-breakdown-what-climate-change-in-the-far-north-means-for-the-rest-of-us-123309">threatens the Arctic</a>, industries risk reinforcing processes that harm the people and wildlife living there.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mass-starvation-of-reindeer-linked-to-climate-change-and-habitat-loss-121452">Mass starvation of reindeer linked to climate change and habitat loss</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A changing landscape</h2>
<p>Food can be scarce in the Arctic winter, so reindeer must keep moving to find enough. In spring, pregnant reindeer congregate for weeks in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259567859_A_conceptual_model_for_migratory_tundra_caribou_to_explain_and_predict_why_shifts_in_spatial_fidelity_of_breeding_cows_to_their_calving_grounds_are_infrequent">calving grounds</a> to give birth and nurture their newborn. When summer arrives and the snow melts, mosquitoes and bot flies swarm in huge numbers. The insects burrow into the skin of reindeer and agitate them, forcing <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18686511/">them to move</a> into the mountains or to the coast where the air is cooler and the winds stronger.</p>
<p>The indigenous people of northern Europe, the Sámi, first tracked and hunted reindeer thousands of years ago, and have been herding them <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08003839608580448">since at least the 17th century</a>. In northern Finland, Finns also take part in reindeer herding. The reindeer instinctively follow their traditional migrations, but they’re occasionally gathered together or ushered onwards by the herders – previously on skis, but more recently on snowmobiles and quad bikes.</p>
<p>For a long time, reindeer herders have organised themselves into groups called <em>siidas</em>. Each siida has an area of land in which their reindeer can roam, and herders make sure the animals stay within their own patch and don’t graze the land of other siidas. This system of managing reindeer and grazing provisions has worked well for centuries, with the Sámi treating northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia as one landmass.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A map depicting the different seasonal grazing grounds for reindeer in Scandinavia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381328/original/file-20210129-13-1ipsau6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reindeer seasonal grazing grounds in Northern Fenno-Scandia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314239597_Reindeer_husbandry_under_global_change_in_the_tundra_region_of_Northern_Fennoscandia">Käyhkö & Horstkotte (2017)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in 1751 and 1826, the borders between these states were closed and the movement of reindeer between them <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/adapting-to-climate-change/adapting-to-climate-change-in-sami-reindeer-herding-the-nationstate-as-problem-and-solution/3AC68EADDCEE0FA7F580038368FDDA92">stopped</a>. Reindeer and herders were moved from border regions, preventing reindeer from following their traditional migrations and halting trade and exchange that had sustained herders and the settled population for centuries. </p>
<p>With the advent of trains and cars, roads and railways were built across the north, slicing through some of the remaining migration routes and forcing animals to cross and risk a collision that could kill them and the driver. On larger roads and motorways, fences are built to avoid these accidents, but they can prevent the reindeer from being able to cross at all. The alternative for herders is to load reindeer into trucks and drive them across these potentially lethal barriers, which is as costly and arduous as it sounds. </p>
<h2>A difficult balance</h2>
<p>Green energy projects, which benefit life in the Arctic in the long run, can also act as a threat. Reservoirs for hydroelectric dams were built in large numbers over the 20th century – 15 of them along the Luleälven River and its tributaries in Sweden. This <a href="https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/72/">flooded</a> many Sámi villages and sacred sites, and wiped out vast grazing areas.</p>
<p>Now onshore windfarms are at the forefront of green energy development in northern Europe. While wind turbines don’t take up too much space, their noise and movement <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.4476">scares reindeer away</a>, preventing them from grazing nearby.</p>
<p>Research is underway to determine how developments can protect reindeer herding. In forestry, experts have studied how to schedule <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273998826_Participatory_GIS_to_mitigate_conflicts_between_reindeer_husbandry_and_forestry_in_Vilhelmina_Model_Forest_Sweden">tree felling</a> so that reindeer have protected routes where there is less noise and patches of undisturbed vegetation <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303669331_Combining_Spatiotemporal_Corridor_Design_for_Reindeer_Migration_with_Harvest_Scheduling_in_Northern_Sweden">they can eat</a> as they travel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man navigates a herd of reindeer with a fence in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383027/original/file-20210208-21-175eyjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Sámi reindeer herder in Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Reindeer_herding.jpg">Mats Andersson/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/sweden-to-build-bridges-for-reindeer-to-safely-cross-roads-and-railways">Wildlife corridors</a> are another potential solution. These are bridges built over roads and rail lines that allow reindeer and other species to cross. It’s hoped that these could reconnect reindeer to their traditional migration routes, without having to be diverted or forced to navigate traffic.</p>
<p>Predators can spend a lot of time at these crossings, either to get across themselves or to ambush prey who must pass through a bottleneck. This <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.00099-085.x">can deter prey species</a> such as reindeer from using them. How well these crossings match with migration routes, the local topography and the amount of human activity surrounding the bridge can all have a notable impact on whether they’re used. These are factors which aren’t always obvious before construction. </p>
<p>If the effort to tackle climate change with renewable energy is to gain support in the region, it must also preserve the unique culture and ecology of the Arctic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilona Kater receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Baxter receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and The Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Abram receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>
The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to climate change, but efforts to tackle it risk alienating the people who live there.
Ilona Kater, PhD Candidate in Arctic Ecology, Durham University
Robert Baxter, Associate Professor of Plant Ecology, Durham University
Simone Abram, Professor in the Dept of Anthropology, Co-Director of Durham Energy Institute, Durham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/152722
2021-01-07T17:32:48Z
2021-01-07T17:32:48Z
Why do people have more children in the north of Europe than in the south?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377217/original/file-20210105-13-1iqo9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C297%2C6016%2C3710&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fertility is generally high in Northern Europe and low in Southern Europe. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/fr-fr/photo/amour-amusement-bonheur-couple-2253879/">Emma Bauso/Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Europe, each woman gives birth to an <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/data/database">average of 1.6 children</a>. However, this average conceals considerable variations from one country to another. Women in Spain, who have 1.26 children, are among the least fertile in Europe, while women in France, with 1.84 children, are at the <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">top end of the spectrum</a>. But how does fertility vary within Europe, and what explains these differences from one country to another?</p>
<h2>High fertility in Northern Europe, low fertility in the south</h2>
<p>Fertility is generally high in Northern Europe and low in the south (Figure 1). This north-south divide was already visible 30 years ago (figure 2), suggesting that deep-rooted mechanisms are at play rather than cyclical economic factors.</p>
<p>One of the first mechanisms is family policy, which all European countries have. These policies aim to help families with children and enable parents (particularly mothers) to work, be it through allowances, parental leave after childbirth, and <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/19116/pesa448.en.pdf">care services for young children</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377218/original/file-20210105-17-vtz56j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Variations in total fertility rate across Europe (2018).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">Figure taken from Gilles Pison, 2020</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Figure taken from G. Pison, 2020" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377219/original/file-20210105-15-1p13h02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. Total fertility rates of the 28 countries of the European Union in 2000 and 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">Taken from G. Pison, 2020</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Investment in services and financing varies between countries, however, representing around 1.5% of total GDP in 2015 in the countries of southern Europe and more than twice as much in those of the north, <a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm">around 3.5%</a>.</p>
<p>The expenses associated with parental leave are much higher in the countries of the north – not so much because of the length of parental leave, which can be long in southern countries, but because of the amount of pay, which is significantly lower in the south than in the north. The childcare offer is also much more developed in the north, and the proportion of young children taken care of by formal childcare services, i.e. other than by the family or relatives, <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00657603/document">is much greater</a>.</p>
<h2>Would the Nordic countries be natalist?</h2>
<p>Does the significant support given to families by the countries of the north mean that they are birth-prone? The family policy in their case is not intended to increase the number of births, but rather to <a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_POPSOC_512_0001%20--%20family-policy-in-france-and-europe.htm">enable parents to balance work and family</a>.</p>
<p>These countries seek in particular to promote the work of women. Women’s labour-force participation rates there may be the highest in Europe, if not the world, but they are still lower than men’s. And state policy aims to reduce these gaps and ultimately achieve gender equality in the labour market.</p>
<p>The idea was widespread a few decades ago that for more births to occur, women had to stay at home. Actually, it is in the countries where women work the most that they have the most children. The female employment rates are the highest in Northern Europe and the lowest in Southern Europe, and it is in the north that women have the most children, and not the other way around.</p>
<h2>Inequalities between men and women: less marked in the north than in the south</h2>
<p>More generally, what seems to matter is the status of women in relation to men. It is more unfavorable in the south: inequalities between men and women are more marked both at work and in the private sphere. For example, <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00657603/document">task-sharing among couples is lower</a>.</p>
<p>Without day-long childcare, it is often challenging for both parents to hold a job, and one of the parents may have to stop working. Men do not plan to take care of their newborn baby beyond a few days, and women do not want a stay-at-home mom life like their mothers or grandmothers; moreover, couples need to maintain two incomes to maintain their standard of living.</p>
<p>This is true both in Europe and in <a href="https://wol.iza.org/articles/female-labor-force-participation-and-development/long">many countries elsewhere</a>. Couples therefore delay the arrival of a child if it is not possible for them to reconcile work and family. By postponing childbirth, some couples ultimately give up on it.</p>
<p>Family policies in Northern European countries do not aim to support fertility, as mentioned above. Rather, their relatively high fertility is one of the indirect consequences, not necessarily intended initially, of policies aimed at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25434736?seq=1">promoting equality between women and men</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Total fertility rate since 2000 in selected European countries and the United States." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1116&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377220/original/file-20210105-19-yq6ltq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Total fertility rate since 2000 in selected European countries and the United States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">Figure taken from Gilles Pison, 2020</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The 2007–2008 financial crisis and the subsequent decline in fertility</h2>
<p>Fertility has remained relatively high in Northern European countries throughout the past three decades, but the fertility rate has fluctuated. It was on the rise in the early 2000s, then the trend reversed and the indicator fell sharply after 2008 (figure 3). This reversal is linked to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.</p>
<p>The economic recession and the rise in unemployment resulting from the crisis indeed made the future more uncertain. Some couples postponed their plans to have children in the hope that better days will come. </p>
<p>The decrease in the <a href="https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/videos/animation-measuring-fertility/">total fertility rate (TFR)</a> in recent years has varied according to the country. In the United States, between the start of the crisis in 2007 and 2018, the TFR fell by 23%, from 2.12 children per woman to just 1.73 (figure 3). In the United Kingdom, it fell from 1.96 in 2008 to 1.68 in 2018, a drop of 17%. While France is no exception, the <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">decrease has been smaller</a> – less than 8% between 2008 and 2018 – and began later as the effects of the economic recession hit the country more slowly. The shock of the crisis and the effects of unemployment were probably dampened by generous social and family policies in France.</p>
<p>The Covid-19 health crisis will be an opportunity to once again verify the cushioning role of family policy. The pandemic and the resulting economic crisis may indeed lead to a decline in births and the TFR. If so, will the decline be uniform in Europe, or more pronounced in countries with already the lowest fertility? The answer will come in a few months, when the children conceived during the crisis are born.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This text is adapted from an article published by the author in Population & Societies, no. 575, <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/30029/575.population.societies.march2020.fertility.france.europe.en.pdf">“France: the highest fertility in Europe”</a>, March 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilles Pison has received funding from the French National Research Agency and the US National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>
Fertility is higher in Northern Europe than in Southern Europe. To understand, let’s take a look at family policies, equality between women and men and the economic context.
Gilles Pison, Anthropologue et démographe, professeur au Muséum national d'histoire naturelle et chercheur associé à l'INED, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/137275
2020-04-29T13:26:23Z
2020-04-29T13:26:23Z
Coronavirus: survey reveals what Swedish people really think of country’s relaxed approach
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330671/original/file-20200427-145513-119cwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=106%2C6%2C4063%2C2769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Anders Wiklund</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sweden’s approach to managing the coronavirus outbreak has received considerable attention. In contrast to other countries, Sweden has relied on recommendations about social distancing rather than restricting people’s movements, trusting citizens to follow the official advice.</p>
<p>While other countries have closed businesses, much remains up and running in Sweden, including cafes and bars. People are advised to limit their movements but not required to stay at home. </p>
<p>Within Sweden, the strategy has spurred a heated debate in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sweden-under-fire-for-relaxed-coronavirus-approach-heres-the-science-behind-it-134926">scientific community</a> and drawn scepticism for being high risk. </p>
<p>Critics say making social distancing optional preserves the freedom of the young at the expense of the old, who are more seriously affected by COVID-19. But <a href="https://www.eeassoc.org/doc/upload/The_welfare_effect_on_households_of_social_isolation20200426205511.pdf">our new study</a> shows that older people are more supportive of the approach taken by the government than their younger counterparts. </p>
<p>In a survey of more than 1,600 Swedes, opinions were certainly divided, with 31% of respondents rating the nation’s response to the outbreak as not forceful enough. Another 18% were neutral and the remaining 51% considered the response forceful enough. But, despite the argument that the strategy comes at the expense of the old, actually increased with age. Those aged 50 and above – those with elevated risk for severe complications from an infection – are most supportive of the Swedish response. While 40% of 15-29 year olds state that the Swedish response has been sufficient, the corresponding figure is 61% for those above 70. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330775/original/file-20200427-145508-97egs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erik Wengström</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The age gap in the approval rate of the Swedish strategy persists even after accounting for a range of other background variables – including income and education – that could potentially explain the observed pattern. Importantly, the higher approval rating among the elderly is not a mere reflection of higher trust in the government among this group. So, the striking generational divide does indeed seem to be real and reflect age differences in the perception of the government’s coronavirus strategy.</p>
<p>Another concern raised about the relaxed approach in Sweden is that it puts the economy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/19/anger-in-sweden-as-elderly-pay-price-for-coronavirus-strategy">ahead of the health of citizens</a>. </p>
<p>It’s perhaps therefore not surprising that people who worry about the virus outbreak’s effects on the economy are more satisfied with the Swedish response than those who worry about the impact on the public health system.</p>
<p>This also suggests that even though many experts now reject the idea that a forceful response must be seen as a trade-off between economic and health concerns, the pattern clearly lives on in the <a href="https://review.chicagobooth.edu/economics/2020/article/don-t-fall-false-trade-offs-covid-19-policy">minds of the public</a>.</p>
<p>Another critical driver of the perception is a person’s own taste for taking health risks. Respondents with high health-risk tolerance are more likely to approve of Sweden’s response to the pandemic. This indicates that those who can tolerate the risks are more likely to be satisfied with the current – comparatively soft – policy adopted in Sweden.</p>
<h2>An international example?</h2>
<p>As countries scale down or consider scaling down restrictions, a natural question to ask is how governments should proceed and whether Sweden’s strategy provides a way forward. But there is an important matter to consider here. Trust stands out as a fundamental driver when it comes to whether people approve of the Swedish response. And since Sweden has among the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/trust">highest levels of trust</a> in the world, the strong relationship between trust and approval of the strategy might suggest its approach would be less successful elsewhere. </p>
<p>To measure trust, respondents had to state to what degree they agreed to the statement: “I assume that people have only the best intentions.” Among those with the lowest level of trust, only around 30% feel that the Swedish reaction has been sufficient. But for those with the highest level of trust, the corresponding figure is above 70%.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330777/original/file-20200427-145518-17a7h0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High levels of trust mean high levels of support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erik Wengström</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a clear risk that in countries characterised by lower levels of trust, the perception of a more voluntary-based approach will be less favourable. In addition, a crucial part of Sweden’s policy is to get people to voluntarily follow recommendations from authorities. And if people do not trust others to comply, they are less likely to comply themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article based on research conducted with Ola Andersson (Uppsala University and the Research Institute of Industrial Economics), Pol Campos-Mercade (University of Copenhagen), Fredrik Carlsson (University of Gothenburg), Armando Meier (University of Basel) and Florian Schneider (University of Zurich).
Erik Wengström receives funding from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. </span></em></p>
Critics say older people are being put at risk by the relaxed approach to social distancing. But they seem to be the most in favour of it, according to a new survey.
Erik Wengström, Professor, Department of Economics, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135234
2020-04-03T15:35:42Z
2020-04-03T15:35:42Z
Five of the best crime dramas to be banged up with under lockdown – from a screenwriter
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325058/original/file-20200402-74895-1knos2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C1197%2C901&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mikael Birkkjær as Ulrik Strange and Sofie Grabol as Sarah Lund in The Killing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What to watch during a global health crisis that keeps you shut in your home? Stare terrified at pandemic dramas and zombie shows? Or maybe you’ll want to go to the other extreme with heartwarming dramas – anything from The Golden Girls to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/jane-the-virgin-is-not-a-guilty-pleasure">Jane the Virgin</a>. </p>
<p>Personally, I’m turning to crime. There’s a reason cop shows are so successful – done well they grip you from the get-go, keep the suspense going to the final chase, and the real world disappears. Crime dramas may not bear much resemblance to reality (certainly a <a href="http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/408/1/Colbran_Watching%20The%20Cops.pdf">lot of coppers think this</a>), but they are how a lot of people <a href="https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/4264/1/2012%20-%20Oxford%20Handbook%20-%20Mediated%20Mayhem.pdf">get their views about law enforcement</a>. I’m homing in on the recent flowering of euro-crime, which is where some of the best work has been done in recent years.</p>
<h2>Taggart</h2>
<p>Tartan Noir is a <a href="https://murder-mayhem.com/tartan-noir-books">leader in the field</a>. So, where else could I possibly start but with Taggart – given that I used to write it.</p>
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<p>More than 100 episodes, 26 years’ worth of grit and groove backdropped by Glasgow at its funkiest in every sense. Taggart is unique in the genre as it’s about a cop family. It offers a choice of three father figures (the original Taggart, Jardine, and Burke – the officers who succeeded the original Taggart), big sister Sergeant Reid (Blythe Duff – always the best thing about the show), wayward brother Robbie Ross and the Peter Pan-like Fraser. </p>
<p>The series has always been as much about their relationships as about the crimes they solve together. A trailblazer in the genre, try one of the early seasons to see ye olde Glasgow – or watch series 19-24 (ok – full disclosure: when I was one of the writers…)</p>
<h2>Spiral</h2>
<p>I only picked up on the <em>très chic</em> Spiral on series four, and series seven ended here in the UK a couple of months back, so there’s a bit of back catalogue to catch up on. Captain Laure Berthaud polices the rougher areas of Paris. Her personal life is a car crash, those of her lieutenants, Gilou and Tintin are not much better. And their professional lives are, if anything, more disastrous.</p>
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<p>Spiral has the feel of an updated NYDP Blue – it’s as much about the failings of the police as the evil-doings of the baddies. And there’s an extra, classy, courtroom drama element.</p>
<p>It’s hardly a weekend break round the Champs-Élysées and the Louvre, yet it still manages to be exotic. Dark and twisted it is, and completely realistic – yet somehow still alluring. While we’re in lockdown, this whiff of Parisian life is a strange kind of tonic. And there are still three whole series I’ve yet to view.</p>
<h2>Money Heist</h2>
<p>Over the border to Spain, and Money Heist is up there with Killing Eve as one of the most compelling and stylish series of recent years. A wildly ambitious robbery of the Spanish royal mint, under the guidance of a flawed genius known only as The Professor, it all starts to go wrong quickly.</p>
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<p>Part suspense-movie, part soap opera, Money Heist is politically sophisticated, fast-moving, multi-charactered – and utterly moreish.</p>
<p>Each of the gangsters has a code name (“Tokyo”, “Nairobi”, etc) and a compelling back story of what brought them to this point. As do each of the hostages they take.</p>
<p><em>Casa de Papel</em>, to give it the original Spanish name, has been an unexpected hit internationally. Lots of stories, great music, Salvador Dali masks, tapas. But there is a serious, radical underbelly to this show. More than just entertainment, it’s got a point to make. About what money is, what it does, who’s got it, who hasn’t and who wants it. Series four starts this month – so do catch up quickly.</p>
<h2>Criminal</h2>
<p>A round-Europe tour. Who needs a rail card? Or freedom of movement. Criminal is an anthology of four mini cop-series, three episodes each for the UK, Spain, France, and Germany – enough to keep you going.</p>
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<p>Each episode is standalone and what they all share is that the action seldom moves out of the interrogation room. If anyone is old enough to remember Robbie Coltrane in the superb 1990s series Cracker, it’s the same idea. Investigators finally get the truth out of a suspect and break him or her. If you think that’s limiting, it really isn’t.</p>
<p>Start with David Tenant in the British episodes – dark and surprising. Personally, I liked the German ones best of the others, but they’re all tight, taut and brilliantly acted. Intense, relentless scrutiny, but witty, too. It’s the best of both worlds, each episode building to its own finale, but within a box-set series.</p>
<h2>The Killing</h2>
<p>It would be a crime to talk about Euro Noir and not mention the original, and still the greatest of them all. Amazingly it’s more than ten years old. I can still remember everyone talking about this new Danish series and finally catching up with it. Series one has 20 episodes, which I watched on the trot, with just the odd break for the loo or to have a snooze. One murder, one investigation, led by DI Sarah Lund. Moody and gripping, it still feels fresh and totally authentic.</p>
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<p>Series two and three are outstanding, too – but that first series is television history. Don’t worry about the subtitles, you’ll soon be in so deep you won’t notice. I’ve never watched the American remake, which has had mixed reviews.
Lockdown might be the perfect time to give it a try but only after treating myself to watching all of the original Danish episodes over again. </p>
<p>There’s something hypnotic in its pace, the washed-out colours of on-screen Copenhagen, Sofie Grabol’s absorbing performance. The first, and still the best, of the Scandi-noirs.</p>
<p>And there are so many other great Euro-crime series: Norway’s Wisting, the Swedish/Danish The Bridge, Scotland’s fantastic Shetland. Who’s your favourite? Laure Berthaud, Sara or Saga, Raquel in Madrid? Or Taggart in Glasgow?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Dolan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Go on – you know you love a police procedural. Here are some of the best on offer.
Chris Dolan, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Glasgow Caledonian University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128910
2019-12-23T11:22:44Z
2019-12-23T11:22:44Z
Vikings didn’t just murder monks and pillage monasteries – they helped spread Christianity too
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306978/original/file-20191215-85386-18zit86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christians?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shot-advancing-army-viking-warriors-medieval-1104021251?src=80de4dc0-e0c7-490a-9c78-be757f1022c2-1-9&studio=1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vikings are often seen as heathen marauders mercilessly targeting Christian churches and killing defenceless monks. But this is only part of their story. The Vikings played a key role in spreading Christianity, too.</p>
<p>Norse mythology has long captured the popular imagination and many today have heard stories about the pagan gods, particularly Odin, Thor and Loki, recently reimagined in <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/thor-thor-odinson">Marvel’s comic books and movies</a>. Some now even follow reconstructed versions of these beliefs, known as <a href="https://icelandmag.is/article/11-things-know-about-present-day-practice-asatru-ancient-religion-vikings">Ásatrú</a> (the religion of the Aesir).</p>
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<p>Our main source for this mythology, the <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/index.htm">Prose Edda</a>, was written by a 13th-century Christian, the Icelandic politician Snorri Sturluson. Scandinavia converted to Christianity later than many parts of Europe, but this process is still an important part of the Vikings’ real story. Indeed, there are fascinating works of Norse literature with a Christian theme, including sagas of bishops and saints.</p>
<p>It would be wrong to minimise Viking violence, but raiding – hit and run attacks for plunder – in the medieval period was not confined to these Scandinavian seafarers. The Irish annals, such as the <a href="https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100001A/index.html">Annals of Ulster</a>, record far more attacks by Irishmen on other Irishmen, including the raiding and burning of churches, than attacks by Scandinavians.</p>
<p>An ideological clash is one suggested cause of the <a href="https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/">“Viking Age”</a>. This line of thinking suggests that pagan Scandinavians sought to avenge Christian attacks, such as the Frankish emperor Charlemagne’s invasion of Saxony from 772AD to 804AD. This 30-year conflict involved forced mass baptism, the death penalty for “heathen practices” and included the execution of 4,500 Saxon rebels at <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2014/02/was-charlemagne-a-mass-murderer/">Verden in 782AD</a>.</p>
<p>It seems more likely, however, that Christian monasteries were initially targeted because they were poorly defended and contained portable wealth in the form of metalwork and people. Settling in richer Christian lands also offered better prospects for some than remaining in resource-poor Scandinavia.</p>
<h2>The rise of Christianity</h2>
<p>The conversion of Scandinavia was gradual with Christian missionaries preaching intermittently in Scandinavia from the eighth century. While there was some resistance, Christianity and Norse paganism were not always fundamentally opposed. A 10th-century soapstone <a href="https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/christianity-comes-to-denmark/">mould</a> from Trendgården in Jutland, Denmark, allowed the casting of metal Thor’s hammer amulets alongside crosses. The same craftsman clearly catered for both pagans and Christians.</p>
<p>The first Scandinavian king to be converted was the Danish exile <a href="https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/the-transition-to-christianity/">Harald Klak</a>. He was baptised in 826AD with the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious as his sponsor, in exchange for imperial support for an (albeit unsuccessful) attempt to regain his throne.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guthrum">Guthrum</a>, a king from the Viking Great Army which attacked England in the ninth century, was also baptised as part of his agreement following defeat by the West Saxon king Alfred “the Great” in 878AD. Indeed, coming into contact with Christian kingdoms which were more politically centralised arguably led to greater unification of the Scandinavian realms.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/viking-homes-were-stranger-than-fiction-portals-to-the-dead-magical-artefacts-and-slaves-112548">Viking homes were stranger than fiction: portals to the dead, magical artefacts and 'slaves'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One of the most significant turning points in the Christianisation of Scandinavia was the conversion of the Danish king <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harald-I-king-of-Denmark">Harald Bluetooth</a> in the 960s. <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/bluetooth-why-modern-tech-named-after-powerful-king-denmark-and-norway-007398">Bluetooth technology</a> is named after Harald because he united disparate parts of Denmark, while the technology unites communication devices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306980/original/file-20191215-85391-1yridz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uh oh!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/vikings-ships-on-horizon-stormy-ocean-1090110953">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Harald proudly proclaimed on the now iconic <a href="https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-monuments-at-jelling/the-jelling-stone/">Jelling stone</a>, an impressive monument with a runic inscription, that he “made the Danes Christian”. And this connection between kingship and Christianity continued.</p>
<p>Norway was converted largely due to two of its kings: Olaf Tryggvason and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olaf-II-Haraldsson">Olaf Haraldsson</a>. The latter was canonised shortly after his death in battle in 1030AD, becoming Scandinavia’s first native saint.</p>
<p>Future Norwegian kings benefited from their association with Olaf Haraldsson, who became Norway’s patron saint. Other royal Scandinavian saints would follow, notably Erik of Sweden and Knud the Holy of Denmark. The Norse earldom of Orkney also produced a martyr from its ruling family: St Magnus, who was killed in around 1116 in a dynastic squabble.</p>
<p>The 2018 Danish Eurovision entry (Rasmussen’s song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeraDSzu0nw">Higher Ground</a>) portrays Magnus as a pacifist viking refusing to fight. <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/is3/is303.htm">Saga sources</a> do suggest that Magnus refused on one occasion to raid with the Norwegian king and fled from the fleet, but his career was not without violence.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XeraDSzu0nw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Scandinavians who settled abroad in Christian lands were also converted to the dominant religion. While Scandinavian settlers initially buried their dead in traditional pagan ways, they soon adopted the customs of those living around them. And their settlements became part of the political and cultural makeup of their host societies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/viking-migration-left-a-lasting-legacy-on-irelands-population-122148">Viking migration left a lasting legacy on Ireland's population</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some of the most celebrated pieces of medieval Irish ecclesiastical art were likely made by Hiberno-Scandinavian craftsmen from Viking-founded towns like Dublin. These objects also feature stylistic elements which had spread from the Scandinavian homelands.</p>
<p>For example, the 11th-century <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/463147">Clonmacnoise crozier</a> is decorated in the Scandinavian art style of Ringerike, with snake-like animals in figure-of-eight patterns. Clonmacnoise in County Offaly, associated with the sixth-century St Ciaran, is one of Ireland’s oldest and most important ecclesiastical sites. And the ancestors of these craftsmen might have been the very raiders who had attacked Irish churches.</p>
<h2>Soldiers of God</h2>
<p>Even Scandinavian settlers in the remote islands of the North Atlantic joined the European mainstream with some enthusiasm. Partly due to pressure from Norway, Iceland officially converted to Christianity in <a href="https://journal.fi/scripta/article/view/67178">the year 1000</a>. Following consultation at their national assembly (the Alþing) it was decided that the country would convert but that some pagan practices would still be tolerated.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/11/why-did-greenland-s-vikings-disappear">settlements on Greenland</a> eventually failed in the 14th and 15th centuries, but even when the inhabitants were starving they still devoted precious resources to importing luxury goods for the church, including wine and vestments. </p>
<p>Scandinavians also joined the Crusades; now they were the Christians attacking the so-called heathens. The Norwegian king <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigurd-I-Magnusson">Sigurd “Jerusalem-farer”</a> – named for his visit to the Holy Land – was, in fact, the first European king to participate in the Crusades personally, making a journey from 1108 to 1111, a short while after the First Crusade culminated in the Christian reoccupation of Jerusalem in 1099.</p>
<p>Crusading was, after all, not so different from Viking raiding, but this time the killing and looting had Christian backing. Instead of an afterlife of feasting in Valhalla as a reward for dying in battle, those who died on Crusade would go straight to Heaven.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Viking world was as much populated by missionary kings, bishops and saints as it was by raiders, gods and giants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlin Ellis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Viking world was as much populated by missionary kings, bishops and saints as it was by raiders, gods and giants.
Caitlin Ellis, Stipendiary Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122193
2019-08-22T00:59:30Z
2019-08-22T00:59:30Z
Greenland isn’t Denmark’s to sell: some essential reading for Trump on colonialism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288866/original/file-20190821-170910-1vqx4y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The coast of Greenland is not for sale.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1163961882945970176"}"></div></p>
<p>Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ice, Greenland is culturally connected to Europe – but physiographically it is a part of the continent of North America.</p>
<p>The USA has purchased from the icy northern territories before. In 1867, they <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/alaska.html">bought Alaska for US$7.2 million</a> from Russia, who established settlements there in the late eighteenth century. </p>
<p>Then (as now) no local Indigenous people were consulted in the transaction. </p>
<h2>A long history of American colonialism</h2>
<p>The history of settler colonialism in North America includes numerous land purchases, including with Indigenous peoples, such as the <a href="https://www.accessible-archives.com/2013/09/walking-purchase-pennsylvania/">1737 Walking Purchase</a> which tricked the Delaware Indians out of more than double the amount of land than they expected, purchased only for “<a href="http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1681-1776/walking-purchase.html">goods</a>”. </p>
<p>America has successfully purchased land from other European countries, including over two million square kilometres of North America from France in 1803 in the <a href="https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/louisiana-lewis-clark/the-louisiana-purchase/">Louisiana Purchase</a> for US$15 million. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288875/original/file-20190821-170906-1bquu4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This map from 1903 shows the extent of the Louisiana Purchase.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Showing_Extent_of_Louisiana_Purchase_-_History_of_Iowa.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The United States has also purchased Danish colonies before. In 1917, Denmark <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/107293.htm">sold the Danish West Indies</a> (US$25 million) to the United States, which the Americans promptly renamed the United States Virgin Islands. This isn’t even the first time a US president has tried to buy Greenland – President Harry Truman offered to buy it from Denmark in 1946 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-wants-to-buy-greenland-would-be-really-expensive-2019-8?r=US&IR=T">for $US100 million</a>.</p>
<p>America has also gained territory by force of arms, such as when Spain ceded the Philippines to the USA after the Spanish-American War with the signing of the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/treaty-of-paris">Treaty of Paris</a> in December 1898. And they have opportunistically annexed territories after they suffered internal political turmoil, such as in the case of the <a href="https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/jan-17-1893-hawaiian-monarchy-overthrown-by-america-backed-businessmen/">annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893</a> in the years after Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288874/original/file-20190821-170941-9na5ft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, photographed around 1891.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A Dano-Norwegian colony</h2>
<p>Trump believes he can simply purchase Greenland from Denmark. Put bluntly, this is impossible, although the mistake is perhaps an easy one to make for someone with a colonial era mindset and only a passing familiarity with the region.</p>
<p>For the last two centuries, Greenland has predominately been a Danish colony, and, as the example of Alaska demonstrates, colonies were often sold and exchanged by imperial powers. Truman’s offer in 1946 was when Greenland was a Danish colony. </p>
<p>Leaving aside its Viking past, the colonial period for Greenland began in 1721, when the Danish-Norwegian missionary <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Egede">Hans Egede</a> established a mission and began trading near present-day Nuuk, placing Greenland under joint control of the Dano-Norwegian monarchy. At the end of the <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/CN500044">Napoleonic Wars</a> in 1815, Greenland became a sole colony under Denmark.</p>
<p>It remained a Danish colony until 1953, after a <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Denmark_1953.pdf?lang=en">referendum</a> sparked by Danish discomfort with the United Nations’ oversight of the relationship between Denmark and Greenlanders. Greenland was formally incorporated into the Danish Realm as an autonomous territory without consultation with Greenlanders. </p>
<p>The reality was that Greenland was still a colony in all but name. </p>
<h2>Striving for recognition</h2>
<p>Greenlanders continued striving for political recognition and autonomy from their former colonisers. The <a href="http://www.stm.dk/_p_12712.html">Greenland Home Rule Act</a> in 1979 in was a step towards this autonomy, establishing Greenland’s own parliament and further sovereignty. </p>
<p>In 2008, the country hosted a referendum to support or oppose the Greenland Self-Government Act. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/26/greenland-denmark-referendum">Passing with 75% of the vote</a>, it declared Greenlanders are a distinct people within the Danish Realm. </p>
<p>Politically, this placed the Greenlandic parliament on an equal basis with the Danish parliament – although this relationship is not always an easy one. Some aspects of Greenland’s politics are still under Danish control, such as foreign policy, security and international agreements. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288879/original/file-20190821-170956-1usmfnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Greenlandic and Danish flags flying together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pixabay</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But under the current laws, Greenlanders have the right to self-determination, and any agreement to purchase Greenland – no matter who made it – would have to be agreed upon by Greenlanders. </p>
<h2>‘Greenland is Greenlandic’</h2>
<p>Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has dismissed Trump’s claims that Denmark essentially owns Greenland, stating that “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/20/trump-greenland-denmark-mette-frederiksen">Greenland is Greenlandic</a>.” </p>
<p>Unlike in the Alaskan purchase of the nineteenth century, the agreement of Greenlanders would be essential for any <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/08/19/trump-claims-hes-mulling-a-large-real-estate-deal-to-buy-greenland-even-though-its-not-for-sale/">“large real estate deal” </a>that stripped them of their land and sovereignty. </p>
<p>Kim Kilesen, the Prime Minister of Greenland, has emphatically stated that <a href="https://beta.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/greenland-leader-again-rejects-trump-buying-idea/2019/08/20/e1b187cc-c34b-11e9-8bf7-cde2d9e09055_story.html?noredirect=on">Greenland is not for sale</a>. And if it was, he would be the one to ask – not Denmark. </p>
<p>Greenland is not Denmark’s to sell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felicity Jensz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The USA has a long colonial history – as does Denmark. The USA has even tried to buy Greenland before. But this time, Greenland isn’t Denmark’s to sell.
Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112957
2019-07-08T20:11:32Z
2019-07-08T20:11:32Z
Look up north. Here’s how Aussie kids can move more at school, Nordic style
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282816/original/file-20190705-51292-1qhjgxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some Nordic school kids are doing an average of two to three hours of physical activity a week. Does Australia need to lift its game?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sangudo/8088867674/in/photolist-djMyxL-oeTL4z-qbazGv-djMun8-8CMreq-66zzhS-8CJm9a-arHjKQ-ax2nuJ-2d9o4Zr-SoGh2U-6x9huE-oeYDuT-arHjG3-9W4NFv-mMHvuy-qjHLjq-2vU5z-UTSLHm-ayXUFy-cvMyz9-c3y76j-9sraaP-HvLJoH-pXPps9-jxUaWV-aV4ouX-THnUKg-5Qv7UW-djMhFU-oeQHiZ-RgPTe7-REvPxt-REwNAM-quqVdd-REvKbT-2eyyxnY-5GXEAS-RvjAiK-5GXFg3-dYewrF-8Hpynr-REwc9V-q5s4oL-2aw1Xx2-ek1kTK-242GJKt-5GTjsP-72dVtw-ax2Byo">CAHPER/Sangudo/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inactivity in school children has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/just-how-healthy-are-aussie-pre-teens/11281164">in the news again</a> with the release of a study into the health of Australian 11-12 year olds from around the country.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/Suppl_3/1">1,800 person study</a> found most children were healthy. But there was room for improvement in areas including physical activity and weight.</p>
<p>It’s a different story for Finnish children and their other Nordic counterparts. They outperform most other highly developed nations when it comes to childrens’ <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/full/10.1123/jpah.2018-0472">physical activity levels</a> and <a href="http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/nutrition/publications/2018/childhood-obesity-surveillance-initiative-cosi-factsheet.-highlights-2015-17-2018">obesity rates</a>.</p>
<p>So what can Australia’s school system learn from the Nordic approach to physical education?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-believe-in-teachers-and-in-education-for-all-why-finlands-kids-often-top-league-tables-32223">They believe in teachers and in education for all: why Finland's kids often top league tables</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Active kids do well, wherever they are</h2>
<p>Throughout the world, physical education <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671520701809817">is recognised</a> for its contribution to education itself (teaching movement skills), development of personal and social skills (including learning rules, strategy and cooperation with others) and of course children’s physical health. </p>
<p>More research is also suggesting physical activity (which in school, is achieved through physical education and active play during break periods) is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244016000554">positively associated with educational attainment</a>, particularly in maths. In other words, active kids tend to do better at school.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/move-it-move-it-how-physical-activity-at-school-helps-the-mind-as-well-as-the-body-100175">Move it, move it: how physical activity at school helps the mind (as well as the body)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Does the curriculum need to be more specific?</h2>
<p>The Australian national curriculum combines <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/health-and-physical-education/?strand=Personal,+Social+and+Community+Health&strand=Movement+and+Physical+Activity&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&elaborations=true">health and physical education as one learning area</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282818/original/file-20190705-51262-b1vwly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Physical activity at school sets children up for a lifetime of being active.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.defense.gov%2F2019%2FJun%2F19%2F2002147179%2F-1%2F-1%2F0%2F190610-Z-FC129-011.JPG&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wv.ng.mil%2FNews%2FArticle%2F1880737%2Fstarbase-west-virginia-summer-camps-provide-stem-learning-for-military-kids%2F&docid=dTHGAHqAUYGZMM&tbnid=g0LHs-N5CUSvzM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwj5uMLM-JzjAhWOaCsKHSB1ALoQMwiIASgdMB0..i&w=2752&h=4128&hl=en&bih=1001&biw=1876&q=kids%20physical%20education%20&ved=0ahUKEwj5uMLM-JzjAhWOaCsKHSB1ALoQMwiIASgdMB0&iact=mrc&uact=8">Edwin Wriston/West Virginia National Guard</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The health component sets out to teach children about many aspects of health, including alcohol, nutrition, relationships and sexuality. The physical education component offers children the chance to take part in games, adventure activities, fundamental movement skills, sports and rhythmic movement activities such as dance.</p>
<p>The curriculum says children should engage in “regular movement-based learning experiences”. However <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/health-and-physical-education/aims/">how regular this needs to be and how long for is not specified or even recommended</a>.</p>
<p>This contrasts with the Nordic countries which enforce weekly minimums for physical education in schools. For example, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/31/2/480/1750644">Denmark</a> has a <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/full/10.1123/jpah.2018-0509">mandatory 60-90 minutes of physical education a week</a>.</p>
<p>In Finland, physical activity classes are also mandatory. Data suggests primary and secondary schools provide an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00336297.2014.948688">average two hours a week</a>. The Norwegians provide an <a href="http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-3d12a050-c7d7-465c-bbaa-6094db35fefd?q=643dd351-28ed-4ce7-80e8-c55996684711$1&qt=IN_PAGE">average two to three hours a week</a>.</p>
<h2>How about specialist teachers?</h2>
<p>Delivering effective physical education classes requires a varied skill set, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>motivating children</li>
<li>developing skills</li>
<li>managing behaviour</li>
<li>engaging children, particularly ones with lesser skills, and</li>
<li>modifying activities to challenge children with different needs and abilities.</li>
</ul>
<p>Classroom teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JOER.101.2.99-112?casa_token=Lt4dtwvOTX4AAAAA:8oUarxTKbDjVyMjYCMlSsWnptUhKLNv0I3Ydi--DgZs4VfhDCmMhOPERmXCvBj_VSfVOYGXGpvxZ">often report</a> they are not fully equipped to plan, implement and assess physical education lessons. </p>
<p>So Nordic countries are aiming to <a href="https://www.ucviden.dk/portal/en/publications/status-paa-idraetsfaget-2011-spif11(357113ec-00ef-4df0-addb-8bfd21225b84).html">only use specialist physical education teachers</a>.</p>
<p>Specialist physical education teachers <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1356336X11402266">are also better at</a> motivating students to engage in physical education and physical activity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-grassroots-to-gold-the-role-of-school-sport-in-olympic-success-8849">From grassroots to gold: the role of school sport in Olympic success</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/">Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance</a> <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/full/10.1123/jpah.2018-0472">recommends</a> all physical activity classes be delivered by specialist, tertiary-qualified physical education teachers. </p>
<p>However, a recent review by <a href="https://www.activehealthykidsaustralia.com.au/">Active Healthy Kids Australia</a> found <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.12751">no Australian states or territories</a> are meeting this recommendation.</p>
<h2>On the right track, but could do better</h2>
<p>The Australian national curriculum is on the right track in many ways. Gone are the harrowing days of waiting to be picked for a team, being made to run for punishment, and measuring children’s weight or skinfolds in front of the class.</p>
<p>The national curriculum emphasises enjoyment and participation in movement-based activities, positive challenges, leading to personal and social outcomes, intended to set children up for lifelong activity. </p>
<p>However, by failing to mandate physical education time each week, we risk physical education being “pushed to the periphery” and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1356336x07085708">losing out</a> to other priorities.</p>
<p>Australia could learn from the Nords by:</p>
<ul>
<li>introducing nationwide mandatory physical education policy that ensures every school in Australia schedules weekly classes as part of the core curriculum;</li>
<li>mandating every school in Australia delivers high-quality physical education through tertiary-trained physical education teachers for all students.</li>
</ul>
<p>Without these mandates, great things are happening in some schools. However, other schools are slipping through the cracks. It’s time to learn from the Nordic countries to ensure high-quality physical education for all. Because the right physical education can lay the foundations for an active lifestyle, for life.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-diets-and-screen-time-to-set-up-good-habits-make-healthy-choices-the-default-at-home-114827">Kids' diets and screen time: to set up good habits, make healthy choices the default at home</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Maher receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Pawlowski and Katja Siefken do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Specialist teachers and hours of compulsory physical education a week are keeping Nordic school children moving. When it comes to physical activity, Australia could do better.
Katja Siefken, Lecturer, University of South Australia
Carol Maher, Associate Professor, NHMRC Career Development Fellow, University of South Australia
Charlotte Pawlowski, Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/118459
2019-06-25T20:24:05Z
2019-06-25T20:24:05Z
How English-speaking countries upended the trade-off between babies and jobs, without even trying
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281315/original/file-20190626-76726-1im2p5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=680%2C196%2C1431%2C636&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">OECD data now shows a positive correlation between higher female labour participation and higher fertility rates</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The traditional understanding of women’s economic empowerment is that, as participation in paid employment increases, fertility decreases. </p>
<p>This was certainly true in industrialised nations up to the early 1980s. </p>
<p>But then <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001480100078">things began to change</a>. OECD data now shows a positive correlation between higher female labour participation and higher fertility rates.</p>
<p>This fact may not be widely known, but it has been well-documented. Why it has occurred, though, is more of a mystery – and the focus of our research.</p>
<p>Scandinavian nations have been at the forefront of the reversal – but that’s not surprising. Countries like Sweden and Denmark have strong state support for working mothers and high cultural acceptance of gender equality. It’s easy to see how they have made it easier for women to reconcile family and career. </p>
<p>The puzzle is that English-speaking nations aren’t too far behind the Scandinavian countries, despite high childcare costs and relatively little policy to support working mothers.</p>
<p>Our research points to a set of factors in Anglophone economies not typically identified as tools for women’s empowerment: in particular, flexible labour markets. </p>
<p>Understanding all the factors that contribute to a positive relationship between paid employment and fertility is profoundly important for policy makers the world over. It may help countries such as Japan, which is grappling with the consequences of birth rates falling below population replacement level. It can also help countries such as India, where female economic participation rates <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.ACTI.ZS?locations=IN">remain stubbornly low</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conspicuous-absence-of-women-in-indias-labour-force-109744">The conspicuous absence of women in India’s labour force</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reversing the trend</h2>
<p>The following graph shows the situation in nine industrialised nations, exemplifying different varieties of capitalism, government policy and cultural clusters, in 1970: the trend line indicates higher female labour force participation is associated with a lower fertility rate.</p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="EWH1v" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EWH1v/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>This relationship began to change in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s001480100078">the mid-1980s</a>. Now, across the developed world, greater female participation in paid work is associated with a higher national fertility rate. </p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="yZpYM" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yZpYM/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>This shows having babies and having careers need not be mutually exclusive – that it is possible, in economic terms, for a nation to produce and reproduce. </p>
<p>Leading the way have been Sweden and Denmark. Their welfare systems provide generous conditions such as parental leave and subsidies for childcare. Sweden’s public expenditure on childcare is <a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/PF3_1_Public_spending_on_childcare_and_early_education.pdf">1.1% of total national income</a> – the highest in the world. </p>
<p>These nations are also characterised by a relatively high degree of <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/last-mile-longest-gender-nordic-countries-brief.pdf">gender equality within households</a>. Men are more likely to share the responsibilities of looking after children, for example, making it easier for their partners to pursue careers.</p>
<h2>Flexibility is a key</h2>
<p>So what about developed English-speaking economies? These nations have relatively <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40060158?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">limited support for working parents</a>, especially when compared with social democratic nations like Denmark or Sweden. </p>
<p>Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the United States are among the most expensive in the world for childcare, according to <a href="https://data.oecd.org/benwage/net-childcare-costs.htm">2018 data from the OECD</a>. On average, in these countries couples spend about third of their combined income on childcare costs. This compares to the OECD average of 13%, and 4% in Sweden. </p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="RbfRp" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RbfRp/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>So why do these countries trail the Scandinavian countries only slightly, combining relatively high female employment rates with relatively high fertility?</p>
<p>We suggest the answer may lie in the structure of their economies. </p>
<p>Their manufacturing sectors – traditional bastions of male employment – have declined. But their services sectors have expanded relatively more. In the United States, for example, 80% of all employment is in the services sector, compared with <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS?locations=US-DK-DE-IT-ES-AU-JP">70% in Germany and 68% in Italy</a>. </p>
<p>One advantage of the services sector is that, on average, it is more tolerant of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sp/article-abstract/12/2/180/1685509">employment interruption</a>. This makes it friendlier to the need of mothers. In the US, the sector employs <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.FE.ZS?locations=US">91% of women</a>, compared with <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.MA.ZS?locations=US">68.5% of men</a>. </p>
<p>The sector also provides more opportunities for workers with “general skills”. Teachers, for example, have skills that can be transferred across schools, and are likely to remain valuable despite interruptions from the labour market. </p>
<h2>Traditional jobs, traditional attitudes</h2>
<p>The economies of Germany and Japan have maintained their manufacturing bases – but perhaps at the cost of lower fertility. Manufacturing jobs tend to favour continuous and uninterrupted <a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Eiversen/PDFfiles/IversenRosenbluthMs2008.pdf">employment</a>, and therefore better suit men, not women trying to juggle paid work and family. </p>
<p>Countries like Spain and Italy, meanwhile, have low childcare costs but also tend to retain more traditional attitudes towards gender roles. Less support from men in the home to sharing responsibilities traditionally done by mothers seems, counter-intuitively, to suppress both female labour force participation and the birth rate. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-humans-tomorrow-the-united-nations-revises-its-projections-118938">How many humans tomorrow? The United Nations revises its projections</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The lesson from Scandinavian nations is that generous childcare and other parental benefits can help boost female employment and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958928711412221">women’s ability to have children</a>. </p>
<p>The lesson from English-speaking nations is not everything is down to government. The structure of the labour market is also crucial for women to balance employment and family commitments, and to be free to choose what suits them best.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Dinale receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marian Baird receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
Scandinavian welfare states have made it easier for women to reconcile family and career. What’s odd is that Anglophone nations aren’t far behind.
Daniel Dinale, PhD Candidate, University of Sydney
Marian Baird, Professor of Employment Relations, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117272
2019-05-21T13:05:03Z
2019-05-21T13:05:03Z
DNA from 10,000 year old chewing gum reveals the secrets of Stone Age Scandinavians
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275686/original/file-20190521-23814-3i9ecy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-hand-removing-sticky-chewing-gum-1086001733?src=ctz-ttQ74PBjgFQwmDeeyQ-1-9">iMoved Studio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chewing gum may seem like a modern habit but that’s apparently not quite the case. Scientists have recovered DNA that is nearly 10,000 years old from gum that was chewed by people in Scandinavia during the Mesolithic – or Stone Age – period. </p>
<p>This gum was used as glue to make tools – the chewing is believed to have helped make it more pliable and sticky. They may not have chewed it for pleasure, but recreational chewing of resin and gum has been <a href="https://rdcu.be/bCqmQ">known of since ancient times</a>. The gum itself was found at Huseby Klev, a Mesolithic site in western Sweden. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to find DNA from ancient specimens because it is so often degraded. Most samples of ancient DNA are obtained from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14558">bones</a> or <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nprot.2007.247">teeth</a>. Such remains are rare and precious, so grinding them into powder to extract DNA is rarely encouraged. Material that is meant to be chewed but not swallowed has been found in many sites, but is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0047248472900747">often disregarded</a> during excavations.</p>
<p>The knowledge that human DNA can be obtained from bits of old chewing gum is a breakthrough that offers fascinating possibilities for future work. Through this seemingly inconsequential scrap of ancient detritus come several fascinating insights into life 9,800 years ago.</p>
<h2>Diverse and resourceful</h2>
<p>The researchers sequenced the entire genomes of three individuals who had chewed gum and made tools on the site and compared them with contemporary genomes from 10 other sites, spread across Europe from Samara in Russia to La Brana in Spain.</p>
<p>Their stone tools largely consisted of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/jfa.2001.28.3-4.253?needAccess=true">small flakes of flint</a>, called microliths, carefully shaped and glued into wooden or bone hafts. Harpoon points made of bone with small barbs of flint glued in have also been found and arrowheads made of flint that have been carefully shaped by the technique of <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6004/659">pressure flaking</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275660/original/file-20190521-23814-o5aujq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rock carvings from Mesolithic-era Sweden. Note the hunter with bow top left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haljesta.jpg">Olof Ekström/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists had assumed these <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003703#sec002">Scandinavian hunter gatherers</a> had mostly arrived in western Sweden from Eastern Europe, as the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-archaeology/article/crafting-bone-tools-in-mesolithic-norway-a-regional-easternrelated-knowhow/8A0F2912B13EF66AEDF7489F3826FBE2">tools almost entirely originated from there</a>. However, the genetic evidence suggests they were more diverse.</p>
<p>These prehistoric people were genetically Scandinavian but more closely related to people from further west and south than to eastern populations, even though they favoured a style of tool-making prevalent in the East. This shows it’s not always safe to make assumptions about where ancient people come from based on their culture.</p>
<h2>Fluid gender roles</h2>
<p>Two of the three individuals whose genomes were successfully sequenced were female. There has been a perception among some archaeologists that females in prehistory were relegated to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618217313034">purely domestic role</a> and had little to do with “masculine” tasks such as making tools. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=699&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275663/original/file-20190521-23817-1fafqe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ancient Swedish flake axe made from flint microliths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skivyxa,_Nordisk_familjebok.jpg">Nordisk familjebok/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These findings suggest that gender roles were rather more fluid, clearly supporting the idea that <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30638181/Genderlithics.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1558006489&Signature=Sq1MdR5n83QrEv5dfnru7W3jPSw%253D&response-content-disposition=inline%253B%2520filename%253DGenderlithics_womens_roles_in_stone_tool.pdf">females were involved in the prehistoric tool industry</a>. The fact that some of the eight samples of mastic that were found had impressions of milk teeth in them also suggests that some of those chewing the mastic were between five and 18 years of age.</p>
<p>It would be unthinkable in modern times to allow a child of five loose with these sharp and dangerous hunting tools. In perspective though, <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/80105/1/541602659.pdf">life expectancy</a> was around 30 years, so a teenager would not only be considered fully adult but probably have a family of their own.</p>
<h2>Familiar environment</h2>
<p>The gum that was chewed by the tool makers at Husebey Kelv was birch pitch, a dark, sticky substance, similar to tar, that is <a href="https://www.primitiveways.com/birch_bark_tar.html">distilled from birch bark</a> by heating it to around 420°C without letting air get to it. Because it’s very viscous (it is solid and rubbery at ambient temperature) it can be used to waterproof objects and as a glue. It also tells us something about the environment in which the people lived – birch woods rather than pine forest.</p>
<p>This suggests the people lived in an environment similar to parts of Scotland today, where birch woodland is prevalent. Agriculture had started elsewhere, but there’s nothing to say that these people were practising it. The presence of bones and tools place them as hunter gatherers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275618/original/file-20190521-23838-5ggg0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Swedish birch forests acted as a material inventory for these prehistoric Scandinavians.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/birch-forest-sunlight-morning-108101294?src=ScNFKCURE8G5hiUkZfuBxg-1-8">JanBussan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The harpoons suggest that <a href="https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/3c1fd58a-9495-4403-ab7d-d22104f2fafb%E2%80%8B">life at Huleseby Klev</a> revolved around hunting marine mammals and fish. One can imagine that the birch pitch would be good for waterproofing boats made from animal hide, or even birch bark canoes.</p>
<p>This research gives us a greater insight into the lives and origins of our recent ancestors. Like all good research, this opens up a whole raft of new questions. </p>
<p>If females were making tools, were they also using them to hunt? What was the life of a Mesolithic child in Scandinavia like? Did Mesolithic people chew gum for recreational, hygienic and medicinal reasons, as other cultures did? Why did Scandinavian populations continue to use the Eastern European technologies rather than a mixture of Eastern and Western? Some of these questions will never have answers, but every new finding sheds a tiny beam of light onto the distant past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Hoole does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
DNA found in chewing gum from 10,000 years ago is helping scientists learn about prehistoric humans.
Jan Hoole, Lecturer in Biology, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106958
2018-11-18T15:31:44Z
2018-11-18T15:31:44Z
In defence of Statistics Canada’s request for financial data
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245886/original/file-20181115-194494-1bvaas1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canadians are up in arms about Statistics Canada's push for their financial data. They shouldn't be.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Statistics Canada’s proposal to collect a range of detailed financial data from 500,000 Canadians has certainly touched a nerve.</p>
<p>Many commentators argue this <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4612037/conservatives-blast-trudeau-government-over-statscan-collection-of-personal-financial-data/">invades privacy</a> and is overreach, while only a few brave pundits <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-statscan-should-have-access-to-our-banking-data/">defend the plan</a>. The tide of public opinion <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canadians-strongly-oppose-statscans-plan-to-obtain-the-banking/">has turned</a> and our system of <a href="https://www.stat.ee/what-are-official-statistics-and-how-are-they-produced">official statistics</a> is under serious threat.</p>
<p>Three questions need answering. </p>
<p>First, why does Statistics Canada need financial transactions data? </p>
<p>Second, how does direct access to financial records make official statistics more reliable and efficient? </p>
<p>Third, are the financial data that Statistics Canada wishes to access all that different from the information already shared by the financial industry?</p>
<h2>The origins of the census</h2>
<p>To answer the first question, let’s go back to before Confederation. <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/dominion-bureau-of-statistics--the-products-9780773516601.php">Legislation</a> passed in 1847 specified the need for population counts and the collection of criminal statistics. It directed the government (at that time the <a href="http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00925">Province of Canada</a>) to complete a census of population and to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…institute inquiries and collect useful facts and statistics relating to the Agricultural, Mechanical and Manufacturing interests of the Province…to promote improvements in the Province and to encourage immigration from other Countries.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The present-day <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/S-19/page-1.html#h-2">Statistics Act</a> closely reflects the sentiments of this initial legislation.</p>
<p>Official statistics, comprising the census and other “useful facts and statistics,” serve both public and private purposes. </p>
<p>Public purposes include diverse activities like allocating government grants for arts and sports, calibration tax revenue models, planning major infrastructure and calculating key economic indicators such as the unemployment rate and consumer price index. </p>
<p>Private uses include special extracts from the census to target postal codes to locate boomers <a href="https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/pages/dm/whitepaper.page">or millennials</a> in direct mail campaigns. Population projections are basic to business planning. <a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/october-2018/the-role-of-statistics-canada-in-a-post-truth-world/">Elsewhere</a>, I have argued that reliable and valid official statistics are essential to combating fake news in our post-truth society.</p>
<p>In other words, official statistics are a public good serving Canadian society.</p>
<h2>‘Methodological innovations’</h2>
<p>Second, to understand why it’s important to have direct access to financial data, we need some context on the many methodological innovations that have maintained our official statistics as population grew and Canada expanded.</p>
<p>One notable innovation directly related to the current controversy was the Corporation and Labour Unions Returns Act of 1964 (<a href="http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getMainChange&Id=3210">CALURA</a>) that replaced business surveys with direct access to corporate tax returns. </p>
<p>In addition to eliminating response burden, such direct access to tax data improved response rates, accuracy and timeliness of reporting.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245891/original/file-20181115-194509-1ehx3ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scandinavians share lots of data, including financial information, and it’s replacing census surveys. Here’s the Danish Danske Bank, the largest in northern Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Direct access to administrative data is the future for official statistics, including the census, as the Scandinavian countries <a href="http://www.scb.se/BE0101-en#_Moreinformation">have demonstrated</a>. In those countries, administrative data such as tax files, health records and school enrolments are replacing census surveys — they are faster and more accurate.</p>
<p>Finally, what’s so special about accessing financial transactions? </p>
<p>Let’s be clear, arms dealers and drug cartels do not use credit unions. What Statistics Canada wants is the humdrum of everyday existence. Payments for groceries, rent, utilities and online shopping and other routine financial transactions data will supplement and perhaps eventually replace the Survey of Household Spending (SHS), an expenditure diary maintained by a small random sample of Canadians. </p>
<p>Market researchers have long experienced falling response rates in their private surveys, but now official surveys are encountering it, and policy-makers <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2018/05/24/plunging-response-rates-to-household-surveys-worry-policymakers">are worried</a>.</p>
<p>The household survey underpins the consumer price index, a core economic indicator needed to set interest rates and to index many types of public and private payments. Household expenditure data also forms a basis for the proposed market basket measure of poverty. Quite simply, these are data we need to get right to support public policy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-promise-and-problems-of-including-big-data-in-official-government-statistics-106440">The promise and problems of including 'big data' in official government statistics</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Banks routinely share customer data. Those zippy ads showing millennials using an app to check their credit scores fail to mention that these scores rely on financial institutions sharing customer information with Equifax and other clearing houses. </p>
<p>Statistics Canada also collects our income data directly from Canada Revenue Agency for the census and without our <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/98-304/chap5-eng.cfm#a1">prior consent.</a></p>
<h2>Why all the turmoil?</h2>
<p>So why the turmoil over this latest proposal? Three reasons appear plausible.</p>
<p>First, in the face of regular data lapses like the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/the-latest-what-you-need-to-know-after-the-equifax-security-breach/article36323162/">Equifax breach</a> of 2017 and the recent massive <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-security-breach-50-million-accounts/">cyber-attack</a> on Facebook, Canadians are justifiably skeptical about any promise their data are secure within any system.</p>
<p>Second, management at Statistics Canada, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4624369/statistics-canada-financial-data-scooping/">despite claims</a> of extensive consultations with the financial industry and the privacy commissioner, seems to have forgotten what sales people call the “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueproposition.asp">value proposition</a>.” </p>
<p>Why does Statistics Canada need such access? Who will benefit? This has not been made clear even in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4644041/statistics-canada-failed-to-disclose-key-info-about-project-to-harvest-bank-data/">the request</a> StatsCan sent to banks.</p>
<p>Finally, the initiative appears to be driven by government, creating for some <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/statcan-s-plan-to-harvest-canadians-private-banking-info-on-hold-1.4169020">ominous Big Brother overtones</a>.</p>
<p>So where do we go from here?</p>
<p>First, Statistics Canada needs to press “pause” and develop a more fulsome rationale for accessing this information. It is politically tone-deaf to point to recent changes to the Statistics Act that allows Statistics Canada to compel such access.</p>
<p>With the banks now threatening legal action, continued doubling down threatens public trust in our official statistics. Most Canadians do not understand how Statistics Canada supports public policy or private business. </p>
<h2>Benefits need to be explained</h2>
<p>Specifically, it needs to show why accessing financial transactions data will improve the reliability and timeliness of its information and what benefits will result from such access. It also needs to go beyond assertion and demonstrate the highest level of data security.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245893/original/file-20181115-194516-d80m9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Statistics Canada reports to Navdeep Bains, a government minister. Instead, it should report to Parliament.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This issue is now partisan, partly because Statistics Canada is an agency of government. The chief statistician reports to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. </p>
<p>If the chief statistician were to report to Parliament in the same way as the auditor general, then such requests could have broader political support. </p>
<p>Both policy lobbyists and industry benefit from a robust system of official statistics, and it’s Parliament that offers a superior oversight capacity from a less partisan vantage.</p>
<p>Official statistics are a public good, benefiting all sectors of society. Their most important role is grounding intelligent public policy with facts. </p>
<p>Statistics Canada needs to be able maintain the pace of innovation in collecting and publishing data by accessing timely information on Canadian society. However, this must rest on clear and effective policies to manage privacy and secure data. Having StatsCan report to Parliament and not a government minister may help. </p>
<p>Hopefully, Statistics Canada can salvage this proposal quickly without further damage being done to our system of official statistics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory C Mason receives funding from Thorlackson Foundation for research into telemedicine and electronic medical records. Eight years ago, he served as a consultant to the Alberta government to review its official population list and revise its Municipal Census Manual.</span></em></p>
Statistics Canada has been tone-deaf in its push for the financial data of Canadians from banks, but that data is essential to forming good public policy.
Gregory C Mason, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106386
2018-11-12T22:06:27Z
2018-11-12T22:06:27Z
Education does not always equal social mobility
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244012/original/file-20181105-74783-1h7gtbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C455%2C5070%2C2261&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some countries seem to provide more equitable opportunities in schools and society in general. Others have work to do if they want to advance the adage that hard work and education afford success regardless of one's existing social status. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/income-inequality-distribution-276410669?src=ZuHwG833Ir3iGSxCfuZcTg-1-56">www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Educators around the world, particularly those in secondary schools, often default to a compelling story when they are trying to motivate their students: Work hard, achieve well and you will secure a successful future with attractive job prospects. </p>
<p>This is currently the conventional wisdom across much of the Western world, with strong links drawn between education, meritocracy and upward social mobility. </p>
<p>But what does the research suggest about intergenerational mobility? Do children from poorer backgrounds have the same potential to realize their dreams if they achieve high standards in their education systems? </p>
<p>In fact, education is important but not enough to change inequities around the world. Intergenerational mobility, referring to changes in social status for different generations in the same family, is far from normal. </p>
<h2>The American dream in Denmark</h2>
<p>Public health researchers <a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argued</a> outcomes in social mobility and education are significantly worse in rich countries with more inequality, that is, with populations that show larger gaps between the wealthy and the poor. For example, the United States and United Kingdom have close associations between fathers’ and sons’ incomes, compared to countries such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. </p>
<p>Wilkson went so far as to jokingly comment in a TED talk “if Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ndh58GGCTQo?wmode=transparent&start=42" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Richard Wilkinson says income means something very important within our societies.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Great mobility?</h2>
<p>The relationship between national levels of income inequality and lower levels of intergenerational mobility is known as the Great Gatsby Curve. The Great Gatsby is the hero of the same-titled F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, who first appears as the enigmatic host of roaring parties in his waterfront mansion. Later, he is revealed as the son of poor farmers. The curve thus seeks to measure how much a person can move up in social class in a given society. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sov075">2015 study</a> used cross-national comparable data from <a href="http://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/">the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)</a> to shed new light on the role of education in relation to this curve: the study examined the relationships between a person’s education, their parents’ education and labour-market outcomes such as income.</p>
<p>In countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, the results suggested that parental education had little additional impact on a child’s income; it was the child’s level of education that mattered.</p>
<p>But in France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, the impact of parents’ education on their offspring was substantial. In these countries, the children whose parents came from a low education group earned 20 per cent less than children whose parents had higher levels of education, even though these individuals held the same level of qualification in the same subject area.</p>
<p>Collectively, this research suggests that a range of social mobility exists across different countries in relation to how much education a person gets. Equal education does not always mean equal opportunity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-do-grammar-schools-boost-social-mobility-28121">Hard Evidence: do grammar schools boost social mobility?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Benchmark measures</h2>
<p>In a globalized economy, reliance on patronage and nepotism has little use. Rather, the global economy requires countries to maximize their human resources, regardless of the social status of particular individuals or groups, to remain competitive.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, governments are increasingly concerned with addressing socioeconomic disadvantages within school systems so that they are able to maximize their nations’ human capital and promote intergenerational mobility. </p>
<p>Indeed, policymakers around the world have shown an affinity for the results of international benchmark measures such as PIAAC and <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">the Programme in International Student Assessment (PISA)</a>. They often rely on such measures to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-PISA-Effect-on-Global-Educational-Governance/Volante/p/book/9781138217416">assess the performance gaps</a> that exist among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. </p>
<p>Ideally, countries strive for high performance and small achievement gaps, since the latter is a sign of an effective education system. Not surprisingly, some countries seem to be doing a better job at promoting better educational outcomes for students coming from lower socioeconomic groups. </p>
<p>For example, PISA 2015 results indicated that more than 30 per cent of economically disadvantaged students in Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Slovenia were considered “academically resilient.” This means <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/66e037e8-en.pdf?expires=1541085901&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=10424661411DE01E7C99F68CAFF21A63">they performed at high levels despite coming from the bottom quarter of the socioeconomic status classification system</a>.</p>
<p>While the apparently better-performing countries may take pride in their outcomes, it is worth noting that a high global ranking does not necessarily capture how inequities manifest nationally. For example, Canada has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-so-few-indigenous-graduates-at-convocation-96782">noticeable gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education outcomes</a>.</p>
<h2>Policy for equality</h2>
<p>When one considers the capacity of education to influence social mobility around the world the results appear to be mixed. We need more research to understand exactly how some countries seem to provide more equitable opportunities in schools and society, and for whom. </p>
<p>Where there are disparities, governments need to consider more policy options across multiple sectors — to create a situation where equal abilities and qualifications translate to equal prospects and outcomes. Failure to do so casts doubt on our cherished notion of meritocracy. </p>
<p>In other words, in many countries education will only equal social mobility with further government intervention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louis Volante receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Jerrim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Conventional wisdom across much of the Western world says there’s a strong link between education and upward social mobility. Really?
Louis Volante, Professor of Education, Brock University
John Jerrim, Lecturer in Economics and Social Statistics, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103107
2018-09-26T16:21:21Z
2018-09-26T16:21:21Z
A pop-up newsroom to fight fake news: a view from Swedish elections
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236638/original/file-20180917-158246-1mubjpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=88%2C55%2C7260%2C4847&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pop-up newsroom debunking facts and proposing real time fact-checking can change how media publish stories during specific events such as elections.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UCZF1sXcejo">stefan stefancik/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A group of Swedish journalism students, Finnish fact-checkers, British and US media entrepreneurs, Swedish and Indian media scholars and journalism teachers gathered in a co-working space recently in the old dockyard of Hammarby in central Stockholm.</p>
<p>This diverse group’s mission, funded by Google News Lab, was to monitor the spread of mis-information and dis-information during the Swedish national elections. The concept has travelled from the elections in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Mexico to the Nordic country.</p>
<p>Understanding misinformation, falsehood, and the willfull peddling of lies has become an endeavour spilling across disciplines.</p>
<p>“In the Swedish election mis-information is something that can lead to dis-information if there is something completely false going on and it spins in the direction that is harmful for the public”, says Mikko Salo from <a href="https://faktabaari.fi/">Faktabaari</a>, a Finnish fact-checker. Launched during the European election debate in 2014, Faktabaari corrects the factual mistakes to support a fact-based and informed public debate. It runs by the Open Society association in Finland.</p>
<p>The Swedish elections of 2018 are exceedingly important not only within the country but across <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/02/the-guardian-view-on-the-swedish-elections-danger-ahead">Europe</a> and the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236623/original/file-20180917-158240-5k05ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mikko Salo from the Faktabaari initiative.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://faktabaari.fi/in-english/">Faktabaari</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Elections: a tussle for Sweden’s image</h2>
<p>In Sweden, these elections are perceived as a tussle to retain the country’s character, and image, as an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/world/europe/sweden-elections.html">open society</a> For Europe, these results could influence the nature and direction of the intensive debate across the continent on immigration. And globally, the interest stems from Sweden being widely seen as one of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/world/europe/sweden-election-populism.html">last bastions of social welfare</a> in an era of aggressive neo-liberalism.</p>
<p>All through the focus of attention has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/swedes-vote-as-establishment-faces-down-far-right-challenge-1536474109">hovered around the Sweden Democrats</a>, with roots in the country’s Far-Right and Neo-Nazi movement. The existence of a polarised political landscape of Sweden surprises many all around the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/sweden-democratic-party-has-far-right-roots-but-has-it-changed/10238482">globe</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xIrPSOdsM6U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A Vice documentary on rising anti-immigrants feelings in Sweden.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>False content</h2>
<p>Since the last US election, there has been a growing worry worldwide about mis/dis information, trolls and bots. This concern has travelled across and up the Atlantic to Sweden. <a href="http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2018/09/Hedman-et-al-2018.pdf">Recent research</a> shows Sweden leads Europe in the sharing of misleading and false news on social media. This trend has particularly risen in the run-up toward the 2018 national elections with thanks to <a href="https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2018-09-06/svenskarna-delar-flest-opalitliga-nyheter">websites which intentionally create and actively circulate such false content</a>. Emma Nilsson, journalism student at Lund University and a second time voter, felt “extremism is growing because we have the ability to hide behind our screens”.</p>
<p>Journalistic endeavours have strived for ways to monitor unverified and fake reportage, as also more general trends of mis- and dis- information online. This is most commonly seen in the rapid emergence of fact-checking websites, such as <a href="http://politifact.com/">Politifact</a> in the US, <a href="http://faktiskt.se/">Faktiskt</a> in Sweden, <a href="http://faktabaari.fi/">Faktabaari</a> in neighbouring Finland, or <a href="https://www.altnews.in/">Altnews</a> and <a href="http://factchecker.in/">Fact Checker</a> in distant India.</p>
<p>Their monitoring of news outlets and social media have served as a public barometer, and external corrector, on the fast expanding market of false news.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236624/original/file-20180917-158222-on9bo5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot from Alt news debunking what goes viral on Indian (and international) social network.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.altnews.in/no-barack-obama-has-not-taken-up-a-private-job-as-claimed-on-social-media/">Alt News</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Real-time fact-checking</h2>
<p>The significant innovation, however, is in ensuring fact-checking becomes real-time. This could impart the much needed contra-circulation, so as to safeguard the market for truth in the digital world. A real-time fact-checking endeavour would effectively become a newsroom.</p>
<p>During the Swedish elections an international initiative set out to do exactly this: create a “pop-up’ newsroom to track the sources of mis and dis-information outside the mainstream media, and publish a <a href="https://medium.com/popupnews/announcing-pop-up-newsroom-riksdagsvalet-2018-cc219b6f6464">daily newsletter</a> addressed to Swedish and international news organisations.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_oNSfWLLyCo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The international pop-up newsroom in Sweden, September 2018.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The workflows and processes (monitoring, investigation, and publishing) in this pop-up newsroom were designed by the participants who were, most significantly, students from journalism programmes at three prestigious Swedish universities, Södertörn University, Stockholm University and Lund University.</p>
<p>Learning to use generic and customised digital tools such as <a href="https://meedan.com/en/check/">Check</a>, a collaborative verification platform, <a href="https://krzana.com/">Krzana</a> a real-time search engine, Slack and TweetDeck, they became the engine of the pop-up newsroom. Combining their professional aspirations, news values, and digital capabilities these students found pathways to productively deal with journalistic challenges in a real-time environment at an important political moment in Sweden.</p>
<p>This initiative represents an innovation simultaneously in media literacy and journalism pedagogy. Their successful <a href="http://riksdagsvalet18.popup.news/2018/09/09/claims-of-ballots-missing-from-huddinge-polling-station/">debunking of social media rumours</a> could get amplified by partnering large, trusted news outlets. "I see that we maybe could approach smaller and more local media outlets who are not working with these kinds of tools. There is probably room for collaborations”, says Linus Svensson, journalism student at Södertörn University, and also a second time voter.</p>
<p>At the same time, a more rounded approach to media governance could be achieved by additionally monitoring mis- and dis- information by mainstream news outlets. Big-ticket elections next year in the European Union and India offer a fertile terrain to hone such innovations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103107/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Mattsson participated in this intiative with support from the Sweden–South Asia Studies Network and The Journalist Fund in Sweden. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vibodh Parthasarathi participated in this initiative at Stockholm with support from the Sweden–South Asia Studies Network. </span></em></p>
Monitoring the spread of mis-information and dis-information during the Swedish national elections by a group of scholars and journalist could set a precedent elsewhere.
Andreas Mattsson, Lecturer in Journalism, Lund University
Vibodh Parthasarathi, Associate Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97194
2018-05-25T11:56:14Z
2018-05-25T11:56:14Z
Why Sweden’s ‘prepare for war’ leaflet is a waste of paper
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220448/original/file-20180525-51141-14b7c5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C7%2C1033%2C463&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Swedish government</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Swedish government is sending a booklet called “<a href="https://www.dinsakerhet.se/siteassets/dinsakerhet.se/broschyren-om-krisen-eller-kriget-kommer/om-krisen-eller-kriget-kommer---engelska.pdf">Om krisen eller kriget kommer</a>” (If Crisis or War Comes) to households all over the country, advising them on how to prepare for war. The 20-page document includes advice on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack, and how to prepare food and shelter in the event of conflict.</p>
<p>The introduction reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although Sweden is safer than many other countries, there are still threats to our security and independence. Peace, freedom and democracy are values that
we must protect and reinforce on a daily basis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is even a clear message that Sweden would not surrender to attack. “If Sweden is attacked by another country,” the leaflet reads, “we will never give up. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220449/original/file-20180525-51130-lcjh4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Never surrender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Swedish government</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not, in fact, the first time this leaflet has been sent to homes in Sweden, but some key differences between print runs reflect the changing times – and also reveal what a pointless exercise this leaflet is. </p>
<p>Karl Marx famously compared emperor Napoleon with his nephew Louis Bonaparte by saying: “History repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”</p>
<p>When the leaflet was first produced in 1943, Nazi Germany had occupied Norway and Denmark, and Finland was at war with the Soviet Union. Sweden was neutral and not at war but there was certainly tragedy in Europe. World War II was raging and the booklet stood up to the occasion. Its content appealed to the population at the time. Many saw themselves as patriots, and a substantial proportion of the men had served in the armed forces. </p>
<p>The booklet was updated and distributed to the citizens twice more, the last time in the year 1961. At that time, the military position of Sweden was safe. Its military defence was strong. The patriotic atmosphere from the World War II period continued, reflected in school curricula and in a plethora of active civic organisations, including the Red Cross, the <a href="http://finlander.genealogia.fi/sfhswiki/index.php/The_Lotta_Sv%C3%A4rd_Movement">Lotta female paramilitary corps</a>, the Home Guard, Scouts, and the Shooters’ organisation.</p>
<p>Sweden retained comparatively strong armed forces until the end of the Cold War. But in the early 21st century, the country disarmed. For all practical purposes the so-called “civilförsvaret” – civil defence – was dismantled. In 2010, mandatory military service was abolished. By that time, most of the peacetime regiments had been disbanded.</p>
<p>Mandatory military service was reintroduced in Sweden in 2018. One of the regiments, the <a href="https://www.svd.se/nytt-steg-for-gotlands-forsvar">P18 in Gotland</a>, was resurrected. And now, the leaflet is being distributed to all households. </p>
<p>But today, politics in some countries in <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/europe-823">Europe</a> are reminiscent of a black farce. The same judgement must, unfortunately, be made concerning “Om krisen eller kriget kommer”.</p>
<h2>Reprinting for changing times</h2>
<p>The first iteration of this leaflet was called “If War Comes” – “Om kriget kommer”. This was a handbook on how to behave, offering advice on being alert to potential spies. It described how to store food and water and hide in a shelter. Now, citizens are being told how to prepare for “crisis”. The leaflet includes advice on how to deal with propaganda and asks them to think about whether they’d be able to cope if the internet and cash machines stopped working. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220450/original/file-20180525-117628-9824zq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crisis? What crisis?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Swedish government</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The title change is important to note. The dilution of “War” into “Crisis or War” makes the booklet sound harmless. “Crisis” is very hard to define. The concept covers a variety of situations. And the word “or” makes the leaflet seem to be a discussion paper and not an appeal. </p>
<p>The leaflet is also addressed to “The population of Sweden”, when the original was addressed to “The citizens”. It has been translated into the official minority languages of Sweden – Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli (a local language spoken at the Finnish border), Romani Chib and <a href="https://www.omniglot.com/writing/saami.htm">North-, South-, and Lule-Sami</a> – the latter three are for some reason labelled “dialects” although they are mutually unintelligible. </p>
<p>The booklet is also translated into six other languages: Arabic, Dari, English, French, Persian and Russian, the speakers of which in some cases are much more numerous than those speaking Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib or Sami.</p>
<p>Now the booklet aims to remind not just citizens of Sweden but all who happen to live on its territory that “everyone who lives in Sweden shares a collective responsibility for our country’s security and safety”.</p>
<p>The appeal to “the population” instead of to “citizens” makes the leaflet unoperative. In 1943 and in 1961, Swedish citizens were a coherent group, a historical actor. Today, the habitants of Sweden are not addressed as citizens by the Swedish government. They live under the spell of identity politics. It is certainly nice to believe that they “share a collective responsibility for our country’s security and safety”. But this cannot be taken for granted. Today’s population of Sweden comprise people who do not identify with the state, much more so than in the 1940s and 1960s.</p>
<p>The profound challenge for contemporary Sweden is integration, to make the “population” into committed citizens who identify with the country. A leaflet won’t achieve that goal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristian Gerner is affiliated with Kungliga Svenska Krigsvetenskapsakademien, Kungliga Örlogsmannasällskapet, Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Lund, Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund, Finska Vetenskapssocieteten. He does not receive any funding from them..</span></em></p>
All households have received a leaflet advising them to prepare for crisis or war. But it’s not really clear why.
Kristian Gerner, Professor Emeritus of History, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.