Paper short abstract:

This paper considers the lives of young adult drinkers in Melbourne as moral assemblages, demonstrating the significance of the interplay between health, morality, subjectivity, and alcohol use in negotiating the enactment of desired life trajectories amidst the competing demands of everyday life.

Paper long abstract:

Orienting citizens towards living safe, meaningful and healthy lives through the management of alcohol consumption has long been a priority for Australian alcohol policy. In this context, young adults in particular are produced as vulnerable not only to immediate, acute alcohol-related harms, but as also jeopardising their proper biological, social and moral development, and their futures, by engaging in risky alcohol use. In this presentation, I argue that this framework poses anthropological questions regarding the relationship between morality, subjectivity, health, and alcohol consumption that warrant critical attention.

In response, I adopt a moral assemblage approach, informed by Jarrett Zigon, which encourages an understanding of morality as a mode of living emerging from the exigencies of everyday life. In employing this framework, I examine the moral complexities of negotiating a desired life trajectory while meeting the demands of neo-liberal policy, by analysing ethnographic data collected amongst a network of young adults in Melbourne.

I argue these participants characterise their lives as relational, made up of various coalescing forces, and contextualised in a complex world. In this sense, I suggest, following Zigon, that they might be better understood as moral assemblages, produced in part through the complex interplay between work, family, health, and alcohol use. This theorisation not only carries potential policy implications, as it complicates the extent to which neo-liberal alcohol policy can be said to motivate and orient the lives of young adults, but also contributes to the ongoing anthropological theorisation of the relationship between morality, subjectivity and health.

Paper short abstract:

Anti-HIV material in Papua and West Papua tends to present this disease-syndrome as a threat to the pan-Papuan collective. How does this social marketing constitute a discourse of hope for a future envisioned as socially good and ethically desirable?

Paper long abstract:

Anti-HIV advertisement and brochures in Papua and West Papua tend to present this disease-syndrome as a threat to the pan-Papuan collective. Framing HIV as a shared problem to be contained for the sake of everyone's wellbeing and future relies on growing sympathy for an imagined Papuan unity in the service of sexual behaviour modification. This message also taps social anxieties and for some, fears that Papuans are the target of myriad forms of a slow genocide at the hands of Indonesian migrants and the state. Yet how, I ask in this paper, might these promotional materials constitute a discourse of hope? Hope, a thought and feeling that animates and at times motivates actions to bring about a world that is morally sound, is an experience which enables us to extend themes of sex, politics and fear in public health materials to inquire into pro-social desires and optimisms in this western part of Melanesia. In this paper I consider how the future, and its affective counterpart in hope, is a territory opened and sustained by discursive efforts to reduce rates of HIV.

Paper short abstract:

Moral hurdles present to prevent attendance at the highly regulated,moral and social space of the clinic.Based on ethnographic research in Jakarta,the paper discusses alternative spaces where ED medication is marketed and traded,and how this may contribute to goodness and disease in post- Reformasi Indonesia.

Paper long abstract:

Definitions of good, right and ethically sound erections are dependent on the moral horizons of the land in which they occur. In Indonesia, extra marital sex is often relegated as a dangerous and immoral pursuit of youth, or sex workers, which diverts attention from arguably more common extra marital sexual practices. An erection in marriage sustains a strong relationship between husband and wife, thereby reinforcing social order. On the flip side, extra marital erections that result in infidelity arguably compromise social order and local values. Where erectile dysfunction occurs, a visit to the family doctor or local hospital is one option to remedy marital relations, which will in turn reinforce existing social and moral structures. In this situation, a regulated medicine such as Viagra may be prescribed. Where men aim to prolong an extra marital erection, even when they can afford to visit a clinic, regulation and fear of being found out and/ or judged may act as hurdles to attend these highly regulated, moral and social spaces. In this case, like extra marital pregnancy, extra marital sex, and abortions, the business of prolonging an erection is pushed into a marginal space, which demonstrates as much circumnavigation of structure as it does present risk. Based on ethnographic research in Jakarta, Indonesia, this paper discusses alternative spaces where erectile dysfunction medication is marketed and traded, and how the understandings of erections that underpin the practices of both purveyors and purchasers, contribute to goodness and disease in post- Reformasi Indonesia.

Paper short abstract:

Drawing on case study material from Papua New Guinea, I examine the asceticism advocated by Pentecostal Christians and how these converge with discourses of public health, emphasizing that people should be responsible for their own health and well-being.

Paper long abstract:

Neoliberalism applies the classical liberal rationale of the free market to individual human lives, thus promoting a creed of individual self interest and individual morality. Through their emphasis on self-responsibility and self-governance, evangelical forms of Christianity converge with aspects of neoliberal forms of Governmentality. Drawing on case study material from Papua New Guinea, I examine the asceticism advocated by Pentecostal Christians and how these converge with discourses of public health, emphasizing that people should be responsible for their own health and well-being. Much as a good Christian is required to follow particular rules of conduct, being a good citizen also requires a person to adopt particular behaviors defined as "good" by health authorities.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the recent emergence of Germany’s ‘grandchildren of WWII’. It discusses the construction, exploration and performance of their newly-found identity as sufferers of transmitted war trauma in the context of the debate around Western ‘therapy culture’.

Paper long abstract:

For decades talking about the wartime suffering of the German population was felt to be a moral taboo. Out of shame about the inconceivable crimes Germans had committed under the Nazi regime, suffering remained excluded from public discourses and psychotherapeutic practices. Recently, however, the topic has moved into public focus, and questions about the long-term psychological impact of WWII on the eyewitness generation and their families are being raised.

This paper focuses on the generation of the 'Kriegsenkel' - the 'grandchildren of WWII'. Born between 1955-75 the Kriegsenkel feel that through processes of transgenerational transmission, war experiences were passed on to them by their families and are responsible for many of their emotional problems; from depression, anxiety and burnout to relationship break-ups and career problems. Kriegsenkel now meet across the country in self-help groups, workshops and Internet fora, sharing personal stories and discussing ways to overcome their emotional inheritance.

Drawing 80+ biographical interviews undertaken in 2012/13 in Berlin for my PhD, my paper shows that this new identity is constructed, explored and performed entirely within the framework of Western 'therapy culture' (Furedi 2004). Sociologists have critiqued therapy culture as cultivating vulnerability and victimhood and as promoting political disengagement and narcissistic self-concern. Looking from the subjective experiences of 'consumers' of therapy and self-help culture, I argue that a more nuanced view is needed. Therapeutic discourses also create meaning for emotional problems, help break through social isolation and offer therapeutic interventions, often seen as the only hope for a better and healthier future.

Paper short abstract:

The paper describes the experiences of leprosy-affected people as the recipients of charity and assistance.

Paper long abstract:

Although leprosy is now curable and no longer a major public health problem, in Vietnam the disease is still widely perceived as one of the most 'miserable' (khổ) ones. Communities of people affected by leprosy therefore attract a remarkable amount of charity donation and aid from the state, from different organisations, groups and individuals.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in a leprosy village of Vietnam, the paper describes the experiences of leprosy-affected people as the recipients of charity and assistance. Placing the leprosy-affected recipients and their donors in the moral landscape that informs and lubricates their interaction, the paper sheds light on the dynamics of charity giving and receiving. It examines residents' agentive practices of uniting and enterprising as a community as well as strategising at the individual and household level to attract charities and maximise assistance. To that end, people affected by leprosy strategically select certain self-presentations that show off themselves, their bodies and their lives in ways that most effectively encourage donations and aid. Analysing the deployment of 'leprosy capital' for strategic goals, the paper also sheds light on leprosy as a valued asset and on the possession of leprosy as a desirable, contested status.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the debates occurring around the high levels of tuberculosis (TB) infection in Papua New Guinea. On the one hand there are questions about what makes a ‘good’ patient. On the other hand, some analyses squarely target broader social issues as the reason for high rates of TB.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the debates occurring around the high levels of tuberculosis (TB) infection in Papua New Guinea through the lens of what is understood to be good and appropriate practice. Current research suggests that PNG has one of the highest rates of TB infection in the world, where it is one of the leading causes of hospital admission and mortality. This has sparked new efforts at control through donor funding, new management protocols, and infrastructural spending. In the current context Australia is providing ongoing and increasing support to the TB control program, particularly in the border Provinces of Western and Gulf Province. As part of these efforts, various agents are debating the key causes and concerns in the field of TB control. On the one hand there are questions about what makes a 'good' patient: individual patients are categorised often as 'non-compliant' or 'defaulters' by Papua New Guinean medical personnel when they do not adhere to treatment protocols. 'Cultural beliefs' have also been raised within PNG as a barrier to effective treatment and individual patient compliance. On the other hand, some analyses squarely target broader social issues as the reason for high rates of TB , such as poverty, vulnerable people and weakened health systems. In light of these analyses, PNG is being cast as a 'dangerous' neighbour—both the movement of people across the PNG border into Australia, and the poor PNG health system are being characterised as 'threats' to Australia; raising questions about the ethics of treating PNG citizens in Australia or further supporting their TB control program.

Paper short abstract:

Peer outreach draws local politics and forms of sociality further into HIV services. This paper examines peer outreach by and for Papuans and considers some of the moral, cultural, religious and political dynamics of NGO-based HIV services in Tanah Papua.

Paper long abstract:

Health care workers are said to possess powers of life or death over people living with HIV because they control access to life-saving treatments. In Tanah Papua, Papuan-led NGOs are increasingly in demand to connect indigenous Papuans to clinics for HIV counseling, testing or treatment via intermediaries who may be also kin, neighbours, or friends. It is hoped that indigeneity and local forms of sociality will bridge gaps in an otherwise Indonesian-dominated field of services. So what might be said about the powers of these community members who interpret HIV for those less knowledgeable, reach out and bring people back for HIV services, or deliver medication and other supports? Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with NGO workers and HIV positive Papuans, this paper examines some of the moral, cultural, religious and political dynamics of NGO-based HIV responses in Tanah Papua. How do NGO workers understand what they are doing and how do workers and clients negotiate social relations around HIV services? Peer outreach is an example of growing insidious and intimate inequalities amongst Papuans illuminated in differential access to knowledge and services, but Papuan NGO workers are also struggling to define and enact 'good' care in local terms against technocratic norms and Indonesian political dominance. The political, moral and social life of HIV services may be shifted by peer outreach, but with contradictory results for clients who want to maintain privacy and anonymity, and who prefer discreet forms of social support to political advocacy.