Critical Approaches to Motherhood

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Noel Mack
Keyword(s):  
Social Institution ◽  
Sexual Scripts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Radical Feminist ◽  
Social Scripts ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
Individual Role

Motherhood is not an inconsequential and ideologically neutral individual role in society. Instead, “motherhood” is considered, according to critical and cultural scholars and theorists, to be both a complex set of experiences individuals embody and a symbolic social institution that has been used to regulate human behavior through cultural norms and social scripts that are discursively struggled over across history. The institution of motherhood is imbedded in cultural, economic, and legal systems and is a central consideration in how we come to define the domestic and public spheres. Black feminist, liberal feminist, radical feminist, Marxist, queer, postcolonial, and decolonial theories are mobilized by critics in communication to investigate motherhood as a complex symbolic interlocutor. Critical scholars from these divergent theoretical and political traditions analyze motherhood as an experience, a practice, a performance, and/or an ideology. Because of the importance of the concept of mothering in society, examining discourses about motherhood is a central concern for critical and cultural communication scholars who are interested in the formation of gender and sexual scripts and the maintenance of racial and class-based systems of oppression.

“I Am Because We Are”

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith Wambura Ngunjiri
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Leadership Training ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
African Context ◽  
Depth Interviews

The Problem Although there are women leading in various sectors within African societies and institutions, very little research has been done to explore and explain their experiences within their cultural, economic, social, historical, and political context. To have a deeper understanding of women’s leadership globally, there must be studies of women’s leadership within specific local contexts. The Solution This article explicates women’s leadership under the ubuntu worldview, with implications for application in contemporary organizations beyond the African context. Ubuntu reflects the African understanding of the essence of humanity. Guided by Black feminist theorizing, the study employed portraiture qualitative approach; in-depth interviews with women leaders provided illustrative quotes about spirituality, interdependence, unity, and community building. The Stakeholders The article is aimed at both leadership scholars and leadership training practitioners with a focus on the African context.

Perspectives in popular musicology: music, Lennox, and meaning in 1990s pop

Popular Music ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stan Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Pop Music ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Music Research ◽  
Popular Music Analysis ◽  
Music Study

Scholars of popular music in the 1990s are increasingly aware that traditional musicology has failed to recognise commercial pop music as a legitimate academic area of study. Intransigence on the part of many Western music institutions towards recognising the field of popular music study is attributable to issues that have been heatedly debated and discussed in most disciplines of popular music study. Even withstanding the expansion of critical approaches in the 1970s, which paved the way forward to the emergence of new musicological discourses by the late 1980s, musicologists engaged in popular music research have continued to feel some sense of isolation from the mainstream for obvious reasons. The implications of consumerism, commercialism, trend and hype, with the vigorous endorsement of modernist ideologies, have repeatedly curtailed any serious opportunity for studying popular music in Western music institutions. To start accommodating this area of music within any musicological discourse, scholars active within the field of popular music have had to branch out into new interdisciplinary directions to locate and interpret the ideological strands of meaning that bind pop music to its political, cultural and social context. Musical codes and idiolects are in the first instance culturally derived, with communication processes constructing the cultural norms that determine our cognition and emotional responses to musical sound (Ruud 1986). Any proposal of popular music analysis therefore needs to seek the junctures at which a range of texts interlock with musicology. Similarly, the point at which consumer demand and musical authenticity fuse requires careful consideration; it is the commodification of pop music that continues to problematise the process of its aesthetic evaluation within our Western culture.

scholarly journals Library in the Culture of Information Society

2015 ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
Natalia V. Lopatina
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Implicit Functions ◽  
Institutional Norms ◽  
Traditional Structures

The article deals with the transformations of social institution of library in the information society. High emphasis is placed here on social and humanitarian changes. Formal and informal aspects of social relations as well as the role and status of a librarian are identified. The article considers the compliance between formal legal regulations and informal socio-cultural norms, between actual practices and formal and informal norms. It examines explicit and implicit functions of a library, the conflict between traditional structures and new institutional norms. Roles of a librarian and a reader in the process are revealed.

The Cultural, Economic and Political implications of New Media

2011 ◽  
pp. 90-109
Author(s):  
Fredrick Kang ’ethe
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
Mobile Telephony ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Texting While Driving ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Great Sense ◽  
Indispensable Tool

The findings point out that mobile telephony has become an indispensable tool for most youth providing them with a great sense of control and freedom. However, the technology is also rife with concerns about personal autonomy, dishonesty, breach of cultural norms, personal security and that of others, especially when texting while driving, et cetera.

scholarly journals Spectrum of Domestic Violence against Madheshi Women in Nepal

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 67-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushma Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Social Mechanism ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Systematic Random Sampling ◽  
Women Poor ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
Low Exposure

Madheshi society. For this study 350 currently married women aged 15-49 years were selected from Parsa district by using systematic random sampling. The in Parsa district of Nepal as it is prevailing in other developing countries. Madheshi women face domestic violence from various sources. Violence against women is practiced in Nepali society on the basis of discriminatory social, cultural, economic, religious and political traditions and beliefs. The violence and inhuman treatment such as sexual assault, rape and naked parading serve as a social mechanism to maintain women’s subordinate position in society. They are targeted as a way of humiliating entire Madheshi communities in Nepal. Social exclusion of Madheshi women, poor education, unemployment, low exposure, less autonomy in decision making, weak implementation of legal system etc. largely influence women’s status.Academic Voices Vol.5 2015: 67-72

‘I like the way you move’: Theorizing fat, black and sexy

Sexualities ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 926-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney J Patterson-Faye
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Private Enterprises ◽  
Sexual Script ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Script Theory ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Sexual Script Theory ◽  
Depth Interviews

Moving past conceptualizations of ‘mammy,’ this article discusses fat black female sexuality through experiences of black women in the plus size fashion world. I posit that these women, their clothing, and their bodies’ movement underneath their clothing, subvert previous notions of fatness, blackness and sexuality. By mapping a black feminist lens onto sexual script theory, I analyze in-depth interviews with plus size models, bloggers and designers to show that fat black women and their utilization of clothing both embody and reject mammy, regard sexuality as public and private enterprises of self-reclamation, and subscribe to and complicate cultural norms of fat black (a)sexuality.

scholarly journals Critical Concepts of the State and their Significance for Russian Jurisprudence: Introduction to the Problem

Lex Russica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 122-138
Author(s):  
B. V. Nazmutdinov
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Political Associations

The state is for the most part a key political concept in the minds of lawyers. It is often "devoid" of history: they use the same term to name ancient and modern political associations (Polis, Republic, Empire, national state), without noticing the fundamental difference between them. The paper emphasizes the difference between "universalist" and "critical" approaches to the state. The former seeks to see the birth of the state in the second Millennium BC, trying to link the emergence of law with the emergence of the state. The latter emphasizes the historical contextuality of the emergence of the state — a unique social institution that appeared in Europe during the early Modern period. The state is a modern (modern) social construct, and its reality is determined not only by the presence of a certain idea in the minds of people, but also by stable, typified social practices. In the modern world, law is mediated by the state, and in many cases, it is monopolized by it. In this perspective, the history of the state is often inseparable from the history of law, and the theory of law from the theory of the state. The author of the paper adheres to the second approach and agrees that law is a phenomenon whose existence has not been determined by the state for a long time.The author presumes that for many reasons, the state continues to be a priori political category in the minds of lawyers who observe daily manifestations of power mechanisms. To denounce this "naturalness" of the state, critical approaches to the concept and origin of the state are necessary. The paper presents various critical concepts of the state: from radical political evolutionism to critical conceptual history.

Arranged marriage nelle comunitŕ pakistane e bengalesi britanniche. Tradizione culturale e dimensione socio-religiosa

2009 ◽  
pp. 135-161
Author(s):  
Gennaro Errichiello
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Arranged Marriage ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Religious Perspective ◽  
The Third ◽  
Islamic Religion ◽  
Individual Interpretation

- The issue of ar-ranged marriage, within South-Asian communities in Britain, has been studied considering the different transformations that during the years have happened from one generation to another. This issue has been very debated, in English language many research and studies exist, which analyze it from different perspectives: so-cial, cultural, economic and religious. In fact, the arranged marriage is the ground on which the third generation of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, brought up in Brit-ain, values its independence and emancipation from the traditional socio-cultural norms of the old generation. From a religious perspective, the consanguineous ar-ranged marriage has no one proof into the Quran, which enumerates only the as-cendants and the offspring with whom consanguineous marriage is banned. Thus, who has used the Islamic religion to justify this kind of marriage has tried to im-pose a choice which found, into the religion, its legitimacy. At the present time, the young British Pakistani and Bangladeshi women try to make in move a process which begins from Islam (through a study and an individual interpretation of the Islamic sources) and which finds in Islam its legitimacy, to try to separate the tradi-tional socio-cultural dimension from the religious one.Keywords: mi-gration, South Asia, arranged marriage, endogamy, tradition, islam.

Older Women and Sexuality: Experiences in Marital Relationships across the Life Course

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hurd Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Sexual Scripts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTRates of sexual activity have been found to decline over the life course, as individuals experience marital transitions and the loss of partners, health problems, and decreased sexual interest. This article compares and contrasts earlier- and later-life sexual experiences and examines the changing meanings that older women ascribe to sexuality over the life course. Qualitative data from a study involving 24 women aged 52 to 90 who were remarried after age 50 illuminate a shift, as individuals age, from an emphasis on the importance of sexual intercourse and passion to a greater valuing of companionship, cuddling, affection, and intimacy. Situating the discussion in the context of changing cultural norms and sexual scripts, the article investigates the impact of health conditions on the women's sexual relationships as well as the women's tendency to have later-life sexual experiences more positive than were their earlier sexual experiences.

Gender Mainstreaming and Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Alston
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Radical Feminist ◽  
Transnational Organizations ◽  
The Social

Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change, not because of innate characteristics but as a result of the social structures and cultural norms that shape gender inequalities. Feminist activists and transnational organizations continue to voice their concerns regarding the need for greater attention to gender inequalities in the context of climate change. Gender mainstreaming is a policy process designed to address the gendered consequences of any planned actions—the ultimate aim being to achieve gender equality. Gender mainstreaming emerged in the late 1990s at the Beijing Women’s Conference as a result of the frustrations of feminist activists and international nongovernmental organizations about the lack of attention to gender equality. Yet its implementation has been hampered both by a lack of vision as to its purpose and by ongoing tensions, particularly between those who espouse equality and those who support the mainstream. This has led to resistance to gender mainstreaming within departments and units that are charged with its implementation, and indeed a reluctance of key players to commit to gender equality. Yet there is still strong support for the original feminist intent from activists and researchers addressing the impacts of climate change. The transformational potential of gender mainstreaming is still viewed as a process that could address and challenge gender inequalities in the context of increasing climate challenges. However, there are barriers that must be overcome for the transformational potential of gender mainstreaming to be realized. These include equating climate justice with gender justice, ensuring that the radical feminist intent of gender mainstreaming is not co-opted by the neoliberal agenda of maximizing economic development over gender equality and women’s empowerment, and ensuring that organizations tasked with facilitating gender mainstreaming not only understand its intent but also address gender inequalities within their own organizational structures and practices.

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