TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2003//
TI  - Detained asylum seekers, health care, and questions of human(e)ness
JO  - Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
A1  - Koutroulis, Glenda
SP  - 381
EP  - 384
VL  - 27
IS  - 4
N2  - This paper contains some personal observations of life inside Woomera Detention Centre and certain aspects of the detained asylum seeker experience. This is from my own reference point as a psychiatric nurse who in 2002 undertook a six-week contract at Woomera, and from my subsequent sociological reflections on this experience. I draw attention to the disintegrative effect of detention on the individual and the bleakness of everyday life symbolically expressed in forms of self-harm. Then, through the example of medication administration, I show the vulnerability of those in detention to bureaucratic procedures that become micropolitical sites, providing the machinery for dehumanizing acts. I conclude by calling for sociologists, health care workers, and the public health community in general to take a more active political stance against a Government and its policies that actively erode spirit, the body and, for some, even life.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1326-0200
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -