Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Culture And Co-Morbidity In East And West Berliners, Mary Fechner

Mary Fechner

Following the collapse of socialism, fluctuations in cardiac mortality rates in East Germany and a West-to-East cardiac health gradient became topics of interest. Researchers suggested possible causes for these phenomena, including stress from postsocialism. I proposed that a cultural investigation of heart disease comorbid with depression could inform our understanding of the potential health effects of the postsocialist transition. I conducted ethnographic and survey research. In the study described here, I administered a depression scale (CES-D) and an ethnographically derived measure of cultural stress (Good Life Survey) to over 200 East and West Berliners with cardiovascular disease. Comparison of the …

Vampire Island, Anastasia Tsaliki

Anastasia Tsaliki

Participation in this documentary directed by Julian Thomas and produced by Electric Sky for History Channel International.

"The legend of blood sucking vampires has captured peoples’ imagination for generations. Mysterious tales of the undead rising from their coffins to terrorise the living and drain their blood are the stuff of horror movies and novels. But a crack team of archaeologists and forensic scientists have uncovered hard evidence for the existence of the legend – a legend that continues to haunt communities in the present day…"