The tattoo as a document

an article by Kristina Sundberg and Ulrika Kjellman (ALM, Uppsala, Sweden) published in Journal of Documentation Volume 74 Issue 1 (2018)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how tattoos can be considered documents of an individual’s identity, experiences, status and actions in a given context, relating to ideas stating that archival records/documents can be of many types and have different functions. The paper also wants to discuss how tattoos serve as a bank of memories and evidence on a living body; in this respect, the tattooed body can be viewed as an archive, which immortalises and symbolises the events and relationships an individual has experienced in his or her life, and this in relation to a specific social and cultural context.

Design/methodology/approach
To discuss these issues, the authors take the point of departure in the tattoo practice of Russian/Soviet prisoners. The tattoo material referred to is from the “Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive”. The archive is created by FUEL Design and Publishing that holds the meanings of the tattoos as explained in Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I-III. The authors exemplify this practice with two photographs of Soviet/Russian prisoners and their tattoos. By using a semiotic analysis that contextualises these images primarily through literature studies, the authors try to say something about what meaning these tattoos might carry.

Findings
The paper argues that it is possible to view the tattoo as a document, bound to an individual, reflecting his/her life and a given social and cultural context. As documents, they provide the individual with the essential evidence of his or her endeavours in a criminal environment. They also function as an individual’s memory of events and relationships (hardships and comradeships). Subsequently, the tattoos help create and sustain an identity. Finally, the tattoo presents itself as a document that may represent a critique of a dominant society or simply the voice of the alienated.

Originality/value
By showing how tattoos can be seen as documents and memory records, this paper brings a new kind of item into information and archival studies. It also uses theories and concepts from information and archival studies to put new light on the functions of tattoos.

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Careers work in England’s schools: politics, practices and prospects

an article by Deirdre Hughes (University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research, Coventry, UK) published in British Journal of Guidance & Counselling Volume 45 Issue 4 (2017)

Abstract

This article provides a five-year historical synopsis of how central government policies are impacting on careers work in England’s secondary schools. It shows attempts to reshape and re-engineer careers provision for young people, through an evolving careers experiment.

The extent to which such exogenous arrangements are facilitating and/or impeding progress to secure independent and impartial careers guidance for young people is considered.

Some brief comparisons are made to other national careers policy developments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

A blame culture and evidence-based rhetoric has crept into England’s policy discourse. The career development profession has largely been left on the periphery of the careers experiment and this article seeks explanations of this oversight.

There are tensions yet to be resolved when it comes to a quasi-market experiment in careers work and the role of government.

Key lessons learned are outlined for consideration by policy-makers, academic and practitioners both within and outside of the UK.

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The false narrative about personal budgets in England: smoke and mirrors?

an article by Colin Slasberg (independent consultant, Harlow, UK) and Peter Beresford (University of Essex, Colchester and Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK) published in Disability & Society

Abstract

Successive governments have supported ‘personal budgets’ as the route to transforming social care.

However, this article outlines how the evidence has been constructed in a way that creates a narrative about personal budgets which is misleading. It is a narrative that continues to dominate the national strategy.

The consequence is that the care system remains set in a dysfunctional, two-tier state. For the bottom tier, comprising over 90%, we argue there has not been, nor will there be under the current strategy, any transformation.

Full text (HTML)

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Evidence-based dialectics

an article by Kevin Morrell (University of Warwick) published in Organization Volume 19 Number 4 (July 2012)

Abstract

‘Evidence-based policy’ and ‘evidence-based management’ are increasingly popular ways of describing the relationship between research and practice. The majority discussing the evidence-based approach have tended to be in favour: here, ‘believers’.

Yet this approach has also attracted critics: ‘heretics’.

Understanding of such a division can be enhanced by dialectics: a process which tries to destabilize, reconcile or transcend apparent opposites.

This divide is not simply a consequence of differences relating to epistemology, but also aesthetics: a set of reactions to the world seen as art. So, to analyse this divide requires a correspondingly rich model of dialectic. Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy offers this in its account of Apolline and Dionysian responses to the world.

Dialectics supports a move beyond synchronous critique, and allows speculation as to the future development of the evidence-based approach.

Hazel’s comment:
This article does not appear to deal with the “policy-based evidence” issue which is experienced by consultants and researchers discovering that if their studies do not produce the expected result then they are ignored.
Been there, seen that one from both sides of the fence, but I do not have to like it.

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