The genealogy of death: A chronology of U.S. organizations promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In the early 20th century, a political movement to secure access to euthanasia and assisted suicide began in the United States. The multitude of organizations associated with this effort has undergone an array of mergers, splits, and name changes, channeled through two progenitor organizations-the Euthanasia Society of America and the Hemlock Society. A few chronologies mapping the metamorphoses of these organizations are available, but they are not accessible in the medical literature. Moreover, they are not comprehensive, lack consistency, and are not rigorously validated. As debates about the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide continue, it is important to have a common understanding of the history behind these developments, including recognition of the factors driving these adaptations. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive and definitive history to aid those interested in knowing the roots of these organizations and those that are still active today.

Getting from then to now: Sustaining the Lesbian Herstory Archives as a lesbian organization.

This article is a compilation of six narratives written by collective members of the volunteer-run Lesbian Herstory Archives, the oldest and largest collection of lesbian material in the world. Narratives draw on a yearlong series of conversations, which culminated in a panel discussion at the 40th Anniversary celebration. Authors' narratives detail the significance of the Lesbian Herstory Archives as a successful and sustainable lesbian organization. Topics covered span four decades and include: the organization's history and practice, founding and activism, the acquisition of the current space, community engagement, and processing of special collections.

Organizing complexity: the hopeful dreams and harsh realities of interdisciplinary collaboration at the rand corporation in the early cold war.

Historians argue that in the early Cold War an interdisciplinary research culture defined the RAND Corporation. However, a significant epistemological gap divided the members of RAND's Social Science Division (SSD) from the rest of the organization. While the social scientists used qualitative methods, most RAND researchers embraced quantified approaches and derided the social sciences as unscientific. This encouraged RAND's social scientists to develop a political-military simulation that embraced everything-politics, culture, and psychology-that RAND's other analysts largely ignored. Yet the fact that the SSD embraced gaming, a heuristic practiced throughout RAND, suggests that the political simulation was nonetheless inspired by social scientists' engagement with their colleagues. This indicates that the concept of interdisciplinarity should move beyond its implication of collaboration to incorporate instances in which research agendas are defined against but also shaped by colleagues in other disciplines. Such a rethinking of the term may make it possible to trace how varieties of interdisciplinary interaction historically informed knowledge production.

American plastic surgery and global health: a brief history.

Access to essential surgical care in resource-poor settings is gaining recognition as a major component of international public health efforts. As evidence is mounting about the burden of surgically treatable disease in low- and middle-income countries, so too is the evidence for the significant need for plastic surgery treatment of disease rising in these areas. American plastic surgery has a long history with international surgical efforts in resource-poor regions around the world. Early experiences were not formalized until after World War II, when a foundation partnership provided a venue for interested plastic surgeons to volunteer. These efforts progressed and advanced throughout the 1960s-1970s, but were ultimately devastated by the Vietnam War. Subsequent international plastic surgical experiences by American surgeons over the last 40 years have been largely through several nongovernmental organizations. American plastic surgical involvement in global surgery has changed significantly over the last 70 years. Although quality care is being delivered to resource-poor regions around the world, many of the challenges of regionally appropriate, sustainable care persist today.

Environmental protest in New Zealand (1997-2010).

Protest actions are an important indicator of public concern, raising awareness and highlighting perceived failings in administrative practices. With increasing prominence of environmental challenges there has been a move for states to incorporate stakeholders, potentially reducing the need for such confrontational actions. This article uses protest event analysis and case comparison to examine the scale and character of environmental protest actions in New Zealand from 1997-2010. This period was one of relative socio-economic stability, coupled with growing awareness of environmental challenges. The article considers the relative level of action of grassroots groups and more formalized NGOs, asking which issues generated protest actions and which factors contributed to environmental campaign outcomes. The findings suggest that, although protest actions can strengthen campaigns, the outcomes ultimately remain heavily dependent on the priorities of the state.

The disgrace of commodification and shameful convenience: a critical race critique of the NBA.

This essay positions sport as a pedagogical social institution from which people learn about race, gender, power, and privilege. The National Basketball Association is examined closely with a critical race lens with regard to the commodification of Black masculinity. A critical race analysis reveals the sharp contradictions between the league's progressive image as an "industry leader" of racial diversity (Lapchick, Bustamante, & Ruiz, 2007, p.1) and the actualization of league discourse, policy, and practice.

Farm youth and Progressive agricultural reform: Dexter D. Mayne and the Farm Boy Cavaliers of America.

In the early years of the twentieth century, rural America faced a population crisis as young people increasingly left farms for cities. Progressive reformers responded to this crisis with various suggestions meant to more firmly attach youngsters to their rural roots. Among the many solutions advocated were rural youth organizations. The Farm Boy Cavaliers of America, which also enrolled girls, pursued a more innovative path than most, emphasizing not only entertainment and instruction, but also a high degree of economic education and independence for farm children. The program offered an alternative to the Boy Scouts, which Dexter D. Mayne, the organization's founder, believed to be unsatisfactory and inappropriate for farm youth. Ultimately, the organization may have promoted too much freedom for the rural youth, advocating behavior that parents could not approve of or afford in the cash-strapped early days of the century.

Community Health in Rural America During the Mid-20th Century.

The Council on Rural Health (1945-1975) of the American Medical Association (AMA) collaborated with domestic health care organizations in the mid-20th century to improve access to health care in rural areas. This council promoted health and farm safety education, public health measures, insurance plans, and construction of health facilities. It also lobbied state and county medical societies to form rural health committees. AMA archive materials document these activities and demonstrate physicians' involvement and investment in the communities they served.

[History, overview and challenges of the breast cancer movement in Mexico]. / El cáncer de mama en México: evolución, panorama actual y retos de la sociedad civil.

This essay describes the history of the civil society breast cancer movement in Mexico, the role played by breast cancer NGOs and the changes they must undergo for their activities to impact the quality of life of men and women dealing with this disease. The concept of civil society today has been transformed, regaining a degree of autonomy and being at the center of a participatory democracy. Civil society takes a lead role in key issues such as health, civil rights, and public welfare. Breast cancer organizations have the liberty to organize and promote initiatives that will help others' welfare and develop their full potential for the benefit of themselves and their community. These organizations must focus on promoting changes in the system that will result in better services and better quality of life for their constituents.

"Hop to the top with the Iowa Chop": the Iowa Porkettes and cultivating agrarian feminisms in the Midwest, 1964-1992.

Over the course of twenty-eight years, between 1964 and 1991, members of the Iowa Porkettes, the women's auxiliary to the Iowa Pork Producer's Association (IPPA), promoted pork products in order to assert their roles as agricultural producers. For the members of the Porkettes, technological change and the growth of agribusiness provided new opportunities to challenge patriarchal hierarchies in agricultural organizations. Over time, as the overall number of hog farmers declined and the agricultural marketplace increasingly demanded professional expertise, the Porkettes transformed a women's auxiliary into a female-led commodity organization. Initially, members participated in appropriately "feminine" activities including Pork Queen contests, lard-baking contests, consultations with high school home economics instructors, and the distribution of promotional materials. By the late 1970s, however, members began to employ a new rhetoric shaped by their labor on the farm to claim an important stake in the production and marketing of commodities. They took responsibility for large-scale advertising campaigns, managed a growing budget, and became leaders within the IPPA. Their experiences offer insight into broader developments of second wave agrarian feminisms that enabled farm women's organizations to renegotiate gendered divisions of labor, claim new public spaces for women, and demand greater recognition from male agricultural leaders.

Activism and human rights for people with mental disabilities in postcommunist Europe.

Disability activists emerged as an important influence over the first decade of the new millennium in postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe, a particularly critical time for progress in human rights and services for people with mental disabilities in that part of the world. An entrenched custodial institutional infrastructure existed for children and adults with mental disabilities in communist Central and Eastern Europe between the 1940s and the fall of communism in 1989. Activists who emerged in the subsequent postcommunist era faced multiple challenges and important new opportunities in their efforts to address human rights and quality of life for citizens with mental disabilities. Critical to their efforts were new civil society freedoms that allowed for the establishment of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which had previously been prohibited. Those activists and NGOs tended to represent one of two distinct missions: Either a focus on human rights protection with a watch-dog function, or an emphasis on service-provision and community-based support. Across both types of activism and NGO missions, the goal to reduce the imposition of custodial institutional life on people with mental disabilities was a priority. In addition to the history of mental disability activism in postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe, this article addresses the implications for American psychologists involved in cross-cultural and international work in disability issues, and notes the challenges facing psychologists who are engaged in both activism and the profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Calling non-governmental organisations to strengthen primary health care: Lessons following Alma-Ata.

BACKGROUND: The Alma-Ata Declaration's commitment to primary health care (PHC) reaches its 40th anniversary in 2018. Over the last 40 years, the number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in low-income countries (LICs) has rapidly multiplied, and over time, NGOs have both positively and negatively impacted equity, effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of PHC systems in LICs. AIM: The authors aim to demonstrate that at the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration's commitment to PHC, NGOs are particularly poised to strengthen PHC in LICs. METHODS: In this letter, the authors reflect on how NGOs have both positively and negatively impacted equity, effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of PHC systems based on their experience working with NGOs in LICs. RESULTS: NGOs are poised to strengthen PHC in LICs in four distinct ways: assisting with local human resources development, strengthening local information systems, enabling community-based health services and testing innovative service delivery projects. CONCLUSIONS: The authors call for NGOs to commit their expertise and resources to long-term strengthening of PHC in LICs and to critically examine the factors that prevent or assist them in this goal. As the principles of Alma-Ata are renewed, NGOs should be responsibly engaged in strengthening the declaration's goal of 'health for all'.

A Fine doctor.

I met Jonathan Fine for the first time in 2011. He was to travel back to Boston through Mumbai after a stint in Chattisgarh, where he had volunteered with Jan Swasthya Sahayog, the well-known rural hospital near Bilaspur. A friend suggested that since he was a doctor who had done pioneering work by setting up the renowned organisation Physicians for Human Rights, we should arrange a talk by him for medical students. A lecture was thus organised at my alma mater, the GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, where Jonathan spoke on "Why should doctors engage with human rights?" In his characteristic blunt style, rather than talk about his past, he exhorted the audience to visit Chattisgarh and see the severe inequities he had witnessed.

[Process of development of body donation law in Japan].

In the world, throughout history it has been difficult to obtain bodies for cadaveric dissection practice and research. In Japan, the difficulties were enhanced by the unique social culture and understanding surrounding the deceased and family responsibility. Further, from the 1970's onward, there was a large influx of new medical schools. In order to provide such a large number of medical students with anatomical study materials which are not merely obtained from unknowing deceased, but rather willfully donated by the deceased, a means by which to officially donate bodies was necessary. From the mid-1970's anatomy professors and leaders of volunteer body donation organizations realized that there was a need to formulate a procedure for the wholesome development of a body donation law. Together, they proposed this concept to senators and then on to the Ministry of Education. Their efforts bore two fruits: creation (1982) of an Official Certificate of Appreciation from the Ministry of Education (addressed to the deceased and given to the family) and also the Body Donation Law (1983). For society, such a law ensures the cultural acceptance of the concept of body donation, because it proves verification by the government. Also, such a law resolves possible later disputes between family members. Further, this law can facilitate the true wishes of the deceased, not that of the family members. In 1995, the Crown Prince and Princess participated in the Ceremony of the Centenary of the Japanese Association of Anatomists. In his address, the Prince congratulated the Association for their leadership in the development of Japanese modern medicine. He noted that body donation has been a key point to facilitate excellent medical education. As a result of the body donation law, presently there is a sufficient number of donated bodies for student dissection practice at the medical schools throughout Japan. Certainly it is pleasing to all to know that the will of the deceased has been carried out. For the family as well as the schools, this process is undertaken in an official and socially acceptable manner. In this review, we describe the process toward the development of the body donation law and the influences of this law by quoting the official journal of the Japan Union of Voluntary Body Donation, "Tokushi Kentai" (Voluntary Body Donation).

[The challenges of otherness: thoughts on gender and sexuality among activists from a Rio de Janeiro AIDS NGO]. / Os desafios da alteridade: considerações sobre gênero e sexualidade entre militantes de uma ONG/AIDS carioca.

The article analyzes the experiences of a group of activists in the AIDS movement who belonged to an AIDS NGO in Rio de Janeiro between 1989 and 2001. It examines the encounter between the various discourses that guided the action of NGOs in their battles against the advance of the disease and against the discrimination of AIDS victims: gender equity, sexual freedom, and experiences with sexuality, gender, and AIDS recounted by the institute's activists. Interviews were conducted with thirteen activists from the NGO known as Grupo Pela Vidda-RJ, nine of whom were HIV-positive. Interviewees comprised eight women, two male heterosexuals, two male homosexuals, and one male bisexual.