I do love the wisdom that this list brings together! I need to ask for your
advice and knowledge.

I've been asked to supervise a graduate reading course on global and
multicultural ethics, and I'm not as up to speed on current literature as I
want to be.  What do you think are the best classic and new readings to
include, and can you suggest people I should contact for further
information? We also would appreciate any suggestions to help students
prepare for health-related field work, with significant health ethics
components, in Uganda. (refinement of course focus below)

Please respond to
        [log in to unmask]  (my research assistant, Mer Phaneuf)
                or
        [log in to unmask]  (me)
instead of the list. We'll compile the suggestions and other goodies for the
reading course, and then post it to the listservs FYI.  Thank you all so
much for your help!


Goal of the course:
Once we are aware of the fact of deep moral disagreement and how
culture-bound our approaches or assumptions might be, how does a reflective
bioethicist/health care professional go about working across cultures
appropriately? Students will come primarily from non-philosophy backgrounds
who are heading overseas for their thesis research, although some deeply
theoretical works would also be appreciated.

Elements of syllabus:

A)  THEORY: Is a global/universal ethic possible? Are there any good
candidates for the foundation of such an ethic? What are the most important
critiques of these candidates?
        - Human Rights (esp. J. Mann, UN and int'l covenants)
        - Nussbaum's "capacities" approach
        - Feminist / social justice / non-oppression approaches (esp. new
materials)
        - Pluralistic approaches
        - ???

B) PRACTICE:  Is there any good advice for a bioethicist/researcher/
activist/health care professional/educator who will be working in multiple
countries and/or across multiple local cultures (e.g., with immigrant
populations)?  What sorts of insights, methods, activities, risks, etc. are
important?
        - phenomenological approaches (any insight about how one might actually
enter the life-world of someone from a very different cultural/epistemic
background?)
        - how to avoid appropriating minority voices when dominant-culture
professionals are trying to understand and increase visibility of them,
clarify what appropriate actually means or entails (not just admonition to
avoid doing it).
        - insights for finding common ground underneath cross-cultural moral
disagreements; fair critique across cultures
        - ???

We ARE looking for authors and perspectives on these questions from all
parts of the world. Beyond seeking specific materials that will help the
students on their way to Uganda, though, we are NOT looking for examples of
different regional/national/cultural perspectives on specific topics in
bioethis per se, as we have a pretty good collection available already.
We're really hoping to get to the theoretical and practical issues that
underlie these different voices: is it possible to work across cultures
without falling into either some form of imperialism, or giving up to some
form of relativism?

We are NOT looking for material on global economics/technology, trade
agreements, specific political issues, etc.

thanks again so much for sharing your insights!
all the best,
Laura

********************************************
Laura Shanner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre
  & Dept. Public Health Sciences
University of Alberta

email:  [log in to unmask]
Ph: (780)492-6584     Fax:(780)492-0673
mail:
John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre
5-16 University Extension Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton  AB  T6G 2T4  Canada
********************************************