Cultivating and Disciplining Friendship Letters

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-163
Author(s):  
Kathryn Babayan

Chapter 4 uncovers the archeology of sworn friendships in early modern Isfahan through the medium of epistolary practices. Friendship letters were respectable forms of social exchange collected across anthologies to model and memorialize social networks of voluntary kinship. Categorized by scribes and owners of anthologies as a genre, rasaʾil-i ikhvaniyyat (fraternal letters), they were media by which to maintain social relations. This chapter analyzes the materiality and social dynamics of voluntary kinships as epistolary performances of male friendship; gifts of paintings to friends are read together with their accompanying letters to reflect on how Isfahan’s urban culture transformed the grammar and aesthetics of male friendship. The most commonly assembled letters, in particular, those written by Nasira Hamadani (d. 1620), provide the means to explore the affective language and sentiments of verbal communication between friends in and outside Isfahan.

Author(s):  
Emanuele Mantovani ◽  
Marco André Cadoná

O artigo analisa as dinâmicas sociais que estão presentes na afirmação de trabalhadores enquanto Microempreendedores Individuais (MEIs). Toma-se como referência empírica a experiência de trabalhadores que formalizaram suas ações econômicas a partir da Lei do Microempreendedorismo Individual, criada em 2008 e sancionada em 2009. A análise enfatiza a importância das redes de sociabilidade para a compreensão não só da apropriação da política pública por parte dos trabalhadores, mas também das repercussões da legislação nas práticas dos agentes econômicos, indicando, ao final, que as relações sociais que os indivíduos estabelecem, seja com amigos, familiares, organizações ou poder público, condicionam as possibilidades de integração desses trabalhadores e de promoção da cidadania através da Lei do Microempreendedorismo Individual. Social Networks and the Experience of Formalizing Individual Microentrepreneurs The article analyzes the social dynamics that are present in the affirmation of workers as Individual Microentrepreneurs. Empirical reference is made to the experience of workers who formalized their economic actions based on the Individual Microenterprise Law, created in 2008 and sanctioned in 2009. The analysis emphasizes the importance of networks of sociability for the understanding not only of the appropriation of public policy in the end, that the social relations that individuals establish, whether with friends, family, organizations or public power, condition the possibilities of integration of these workers and promotion of citizenship through the Individual Microentrepreneurship Law. Redes Sociales y la Experiencia de Formalizacion de Microempresarios Individuales El artículo analiza las dinámicas sociales que están presentes en la afirmación de trabajadores como Microemprendedores Individuales (MEI). Se toma como referencia empírica la experiencia de trabajadores que formalizaron sus acciones económicas a partir de la Ley del Microemprendedorismo Individual, creada en 2008 y sancionada en 2009. El análisis enfatiza la importancia de las redes de sociabilidad para la comprensión no sólo de la apropiación de la política pública por parte de los trabajadores, pero también de las repercusiones de la legislación en las prácticas de los agentes económicos, indicando, al final, que las relaciones sociales que los individuos establecen, sea con amigos, familiares, organizaciones o poder público, condicionan las posibilidades de integración de esos trabajadores y de promoción de la ciudadanía a través de la Ley del Microemprendedorismo Individual.


1983 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 820-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean J. Saitta

Braun and Plog's approach to understanding change in “tribal” social networks is critiqued with respect to (1) certain bridging arguments about the social meaning of particular evidential trends, and (2) certain conceptual biases regarding the nature of “tribal” social relations. Aspects of an alternative strategy for making sense of “tribal” social dynamics are discussed.


Author(s):  
Deborah O. Obor ◽  
Emeka E. Okafor

This study focused on social networks and business performance among Igbo businessmen in Ibadan, South-west Nigeria through the exploratory research design. Social exchange, social network and social capital theories were employed as theoretical framework. Twenty-six in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and case studies were conducted with purposively selected respondents in four business locations in Ibadan. The results showed that among the factors that facilitated migration of the Igbo to Ibadan were their interest to learn a trade, their inability to attain higher education, and having a relative in Ibadan. The types of social networks available showed that social network was not location bound, as all the respondents belonged to town progressive unions and mutual benefits/cooperative associations. Social networks played vital roles in business performance, including social support, access to loan, business growth and expansion. The main challenges to maintaining adequate social network in business were distrust, envy, unbridled competition, dishonesty and inability to keep terms of agreement. The study concludes that social networks have positively influenced the business performance of migrant Igbo in Ibadan. There is need for the Igbo to strengthen their social networks through honesty, forthrightness, and transparency in all their dealings.


2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koenraad Brosens ◽  
Klara Alen ◽  
Astrid Slegten ◽  
Fred Truyen

Abstract The essay introduces MapTap, a research project that zooms in on the ever-changing social networks underpinning Flemish tapestry (1620 – 1720). MapTap develops the young and still slightly amorphous field of Formal Art Historical Social Network Research (FAHSNR) and is fueled by Cornelia, a custom-made database. Cornelia’s unique data model allows researchers to organize attribution and relational data from a wide array of sources in such a way that the complex multiplex and multimode networks emerging from the data can be transformed into partial unimode networks that enable proper FAHSNR. A case study revealing the key roles played by women in the tapestry landscape shows how this kind of slow digital art history can further our understanding of early modern creative communities and industries.


2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 729-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janie Cole

AbstractThis study draws on the unpublished correspondence between Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, a Florentine poet and grandnephew of the artist, and the Barberini family, in an attempt to examine the wider concepts of cultural clientelism and brokerage networks in the early modern process of cultural dissemination (in the areas of literature, music, theater, painting, architecture, and science) in Florence and Rome. Reconsidering the definition and role of a Seicento cultural broker added to the traditional model of patron and client, it analyzes Michelangelo the Younger’s activity as broker, patron-broker, and broker-client in connection with such significant figures as Maffeo Barberini (the future Urban VIII), Galileo, and the painter Lodovico Cigoli, exploring the ways in which these roles supported his personal commitment to promote his family’s social status and revealing the fluidity of roles in the patronage system. By obtaining Barberini patronage for his theatrical works and public recognition of the mythology of his illustrious forebear, Buonarroti’s cultural brokerage supported these dynastic ambitions. Spanning nearly half a century, this archival documentation casts new light on a little-known, but significant, area of Italian social relations and suggests directions for further research on other Seicento cultural brokers and new definitions for a broader concept of cultural brokerage in early modern Italy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Zell

This book offers a new perspective on the art of the Dutch Golden Age by exploring the interaction between the gift's symbolic economy of reciprocity and obligation and the artistic culture of early modern Holland. Gifts of art were pervasive in seventeenth-century Europe and many Dutch artists, like their counterparts elsewhere, embraced gift giving to cultivate relations with patrons, art lovers, and other members of their social networks. Rembrandt also created distinctive works to function within a context of gift exchange, and both Rembrandt and Vermeer engaged the ethics of the gift to identify their creative labor as motivated by what contemporaries called a love of art


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (6) ◽  
pp. 2993-2999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roslyn Dakin ◽  
T. Brandt Ryder

The dynamics of social networks can determine the transmission of information, the spread of diseases, and the evolution of behavior. Despite this broad importance, a general framework for predicting social network stability has not been proposed. Here we present longitudinal data on the social dynamics of a cooperative bird species, the wire-tailed manakin, to evaluate the potential causes of temporal network stability. We find that when partners interact less frequently and when social connectedness increases, the network is subsequently less stable. Social connectivity was also negatively associated with the temporal persistence of coalition partnerships on an annual timescale. This negative association between connectivity and stability was surprising, especially given that individual manakins who were more connected also had more stable partnerships. This apparent paradox arises from a within-individual behavioral trade-off between partnership quantity and quality. Crucially, this trade-off is easily masked by behavioral variation among individuals. Using a simulation, we show that these results are explained by a simple model that combines among-individual behavioral heterogeneity and reciprocity within the network. As social networks become more connected, individuals face a trade-off between partnership quantity and maintenance. This model also demonstrates how among-individual behavioral heterogeneity, a ubiquitous feature of natural societies, can improve social stability. Together, these findings provide unifying principles that are expected to govern diverse social systems.


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