KEEPING ABREAST OF THE MAYA: A STUDY OF THE FEMALE BODY IN MAYA ART

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-183
Author(s):  
Andrea J. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Medical Discourse ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Female Breast ◽  
Female Stereotypes ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThis paper discusses the importance of female breasts in gender construction in Maya art and explains artistic conventions and choices in their deployment. The visual analysis focuses on Late Classic pictorial vases and ceramic figurines. Rather than reflecting a natural body, the female breast was filtered through a cultural lens that drove its highly conceptual rendering in Maya art, mirrored in a breast hieroglyph. Through the principle of contrast, including morphology and absence vs. presence of breasts in specific pictorial contexts, Maya artists constructed female personae varying in age, class, supernatural status, and gender ambiguity. In order to flesh out the layered meaning of the breast, the paper turns to ethnographic studies of modern Maya medicine concerning the hot-cold system. It is argued that ethnographic data on women's bodies in medical discourse shed light on how the breast served as an index of age-based female stereotypes.

Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Comparative Literature ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Women's Rights ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

This volume reframes the debate around Islam and women’s rights within a broader comparative literature. It examines the complex and contingent historical relationships between religion, secularism, democracy, law, and gender equality. Part I addresses the nexus of religion, law, gender, and democracy through different disciplinary perspectives (sociology, anthropology, political science, law). Part II localizes the implementation of this nexus between law, gender, and democracy, and provides contextualized responses to questions raised in Part I. The contributors explore the situation of Muslim women’s rights vis-à-vis human rights to shed light on gender politics in the modernization of the nation and to ponder over the role of Islam in gender inequality across different Muslim countries.

scholarly journals Can evolutionary thinking shed light on gender diversity?

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 351-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Wren ◽  
John Launer ◽  
Michael J. Reiss ◽  
Annie Swanepoel ◽  
Graham Music
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
List Type ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Medical Interventions ◽  
The Core ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

SUMMARYIssues of sexual reproduction lie at the core of evolutionary thinking, which often places an emphasis on how individuals attempt to maximise the number of successful offspring that they can produce. At first sight, it may therefore appear that individuals who opt for gender-affirming medical interventions are acting in ways that are evolutionarily disadvantageous. However, there are persuasive hypotheses that might make sense of such choices in evolutionary terms and we explore these here. It is premature to claim knowledge of the extent to which evolutionary arguments can usefully be applied to issues of gender identity, although worth reflecting on the extent to which nature tends towards diversity in matters of sex and gender. The importance of acknowledging and respecting different views in this domain, as well as recognising both the uncertainty and likely multiplicity of causal pathways, has implications for clinicians. We make some suggestions about how clinicians might best respond when faced with requests from patients in this area.LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter reading this article you will be able to:•understand evolutionary arguments about diversity in human gender identity•identify strengths and weaknesses in evolutionary arguments applied to transgender issues•appreciate the range and diversity of gender experience and gender expression among people who present to specialist gender services, as well as the likely complexities of their reasons for requesting medical intervention.

Designing for Trust: Understanding the Role of Agent Gender and Location on User Perceptions of Trust in Home Automation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Damen ◽  
Christine A. Toh
Keyword(s):  
Smart Home ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Home Automation ◽  
Male Voice ◽  
User Perceptions ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Automation Technology ◽  
Shed Light

The potential of smart home devices for improving the comfort, energy efficiency, and security of its residents has been noted by researchers and early adopters of these technologies. Despite these advantages and advances in home automation technology, their adoption has not been as widespread as anticipated by experts. Existing research has shown that the lack of trust in home devices is a significant deterrent to widespread adoption. There is little data on how this perceived trustworthiness of the system might be impacted by the location that the device operates in, and the perceived gender of the automated agent within the device. Therefore, this exploratory study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the role of agent location (office / home) and gender of the agent’s voice (female / male) on perceptions of trustworthiness in a controlled laboratory setting with a simulated smart lock system. Preliminary results following quantitative and qualitative analysis of this pilot study show that users trust stereotype-congruent automated agents (male voice in office, female voice in home) more than stereotype-incongruent automated agents. These results shed light on users’ perceptions of trust with home automation devices, and provide directions for future research and development of trustworthy home automation devices.

scholarly journals Stepping-up: ‘Urban’ and ‘queer’ cultural capital in LGBT and queer communities in Kansai, Japan

Sexualities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 666-682
Author(s):  
Jane Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Sexuality And Gender ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Hierarchical Nature ◽  
Queer Communities ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Successful Transfer

This article argues that the Bourdieusian concepts of field, habitus and cultural capital open up theoretical space in which to analyse the hierarchical nature of LGBT and queer communities living in the Kansai region of Japan. Drawing upon data collected during ethnographic fieldwork, this article will show how ‘urban’ and ‘queer’ forms of LGBT-activist practice acted as a kind of cultural capital (in the form of symbolic capital) within the groups studied. The possession of and ability to engage in specific ways with these cultural capitals determined the respondents’ positions in the field. However, access is not universal, and is determined by context. Furthermore, the processes involved in a renegotiation of an individual’s position in the field can bring multiple habitus into contact, resulting not only in instances of successful transfer, but also tension and rupture. This article provides an original and timely contribution to sexuality and gender studies of Japan, by adding a detailed analysis of the ways in which cultural capital plays out in the field using ethnographic data.

scholarly journals In Ireland We ‘Love Both’? Heteroactivism in Ireland’s Anti-Repeal Ephemera

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kath Browne ◽  
Catherine Jean Nash
Keyword(s):  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Unborn Child ◽  
Main Thrust ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
The Creation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Analytical Category

Resistances to sexual and gender rights are shifting and need new theorisations. This article develops the analytical concept of heteroactivism by exploring its relation to abortion debates in Ireland. Heteroactivism as an analytical category examines resistances to sexual and gender rights that seek to reiterate the place of the heteronormative family (both in terms of gender norms and heterosexuality) through activisms that can stand against new legislative orders. The article investigates three texts to explore how the ‘Vote No’ campaign in Ireland discussed ‘loving both’, but in the main thrust of the poster campaign instead focused on the foetus as an ‘unborn child’. Using textual and visual analysis, we show the creation of Ireland through seeking to ‘love both’ and create a distinction from the dangers, and foreign contagion, of England. The article concludes by arguing that ongoing work is needed to explore heteroactivism and its diverse manifestations, including in abortion debates.

scholarly journals Visual Inquiry: Exploring Embodied Organizational Practices by Collaborative Film-Elicitation

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudrun R. Skjælaaen ◽  
Arne Lindseth Bygdås ◽  
Aina Landsverk Hagen
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Visual Research ◽  
Enactive Approach ◽  
Video Research ◽  
Powerful Means ◽  
Social Conduct ◽  
Collaborative Sensemaking ◽  
Ethnographic Data

Analysis of visual data is underdeveloped in visual research, and this article gives a methodological contribution on how to perform collaborative video research on organizational practices, combining ethnographic methods and intervention through film-elicitation. We provide guidance for how to (a) collect ethnographic data with (and without) camera, (b) make preparations for film-elicitation, and (c) facilitate collaborative sensemaking with participants. Building on an enactive approach, we argue that film-elicitation based on a preliminary visual analysis and categorization conducted by researchers reenacts the immediacy and vitality of lived experience. This is done through enabling organizational members to create communicative constructs of the culturally embedded, inarticulate, and embodied aspects of social conduct. As such, we argue that video research is a powerful means for process-oriented theories concerned with capturing the multiplicity of organizational practices.

Embodying the Web, recoding gender: How feminists are shaping progressive politics in Latin America

First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Cruz Lobato ◽  
Cristiana Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Progressive Politics ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Internet Politics ◽  
Digital Politics ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Many

This work takes the ambiguity of engaging politically in a Web interwoven with power and gender asymmetries as a starting point to emphasize the heterogeneities and multiplicities of digital politics. We engage with the idea that technology intervenes on women’s’ bodies to analyze how digital activism is deeply connected to corporeality (Daniels, 2009), looking at the Brazilian #EleNão campaign on Facebook to emphasize how the embodiment of feminist struggles in commercial platforms unveils deeply embodied misogynistic dispositions in social media, and to latin-american feminist infrastructures as challenging such dispositions. We argue that transgressing gender norms involves both engaging with social networks and creating alternative forms of coding women’s bodies, and that, beyond the dichotomy of enchantment/disenchantment with contemporary Internet politics, it might be useful to simply stay with the trouble, embrace and recognize the complexities of the many possible Web activisms experienced in Latin America.

Representing Women ‘Our Way’: An English Language Teaching Television Programme in Sri Lanka

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-122
Author(s):  
Vivimarie VanderPoorten Medawattegedera
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
School Children ◽  
English Language ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Research On Teaching ◽  
Television Programme ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
And Gender

Research on gender representation in English textbooks reveals that messages about gender roles and gender identity transmitted through texts affect the future behaviour of children as they formulate their own roles in society. There is a limited number of studies on visual analysis of gender in textbooks and a dearth of such research on teaching materials in Sri Lanka. This study analyses a TV programme produced to teach school children English in order to uncover the ideological assumptions related to gender and gender roles embedded in the programme.

Shop sign as monument

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Jia Lou
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Shed Light

Ethnographic studies of linguistic landscape have shed light on the complex processes in which signage is designed, created, perceived, and interpreted. This paper highlights the role of public discourse in such processes by tracing how the neon sign of a restaurant in Hong Kong ironically reached monumental status after its removal. Expanding the geosemiotic framework with the theory of recontexualization, it examines the shifting meanings of the sign as represented in four types of discourse, and suggests that it is their contradiction and divergence that has shaped the shop sign into an urban monument.

scholarly journals Health Beliefs And Medication Taking Behaviour Of Individuals Living With Mild To Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adelaide KL Hui
Keyword(s):  
Health Beliefs ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Medication Regimen ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Take All

The aims of this secondary analysis were to describe medication taking behaviour and health beliefs among people with mild to moderate CKD, examine differences in health beliefs according to age and gender, and examine relationships between health beliefs and medication taking behaviour. The sample consisted of 30 men and 30 women between19 and 72 years old. Forty-two participants reported they did not miss medication doses, but remembering to take all the pills was the most challenging. Women were more likely to believe their kidney function would improve in the future and to believe treatment would keep them from becoming ill. No statistically significant differences were found in health beliefs by age. Perceived barriers were the strongest indicator of medication taking behaviour. Findings from this study shed light on the complexity of the medication regimen in CKD, and could guide health care providers to better support medication taking behaviour.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document