Battyboy must die! Dancehall, class and religion in Jamaican homophobia

2020 ◽  
pp. 136754942095157
Author(s):  
Winsome Marcia Chunnu

Homophobia is ingrained in Jamaica, and homophobic violence is rampant. This study, developed from 30 interviews with gay Jamaicans, unravels the nation’s complex ideological issues surrounding political and social discrimination. Few empirical researchers have explored homophobia in Jamaica. This study is the first that includes interviews exclusively from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and asexual communities. These interviews, combined with an examination of media reporting and cultural phenomena, reveal the deep interconnections between three predictors of homophobic sentiment: dancehall music, gender and religiosity. Since dancehall culture so thoroughly implicates the other predictive factors, I use it as the primary object of analysis in this essay. Furthermore, since all three predictive factors – religiosity, dancehall music and even masculine identity – are cultural phenomena articulated through social conventions and texts, this essay examines them through a cultural studies lens.

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
pp. 199-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karena Shaw

We find ourselves amidst an explosion of literature about how our worlds are being fundamentally changed (or not) through processes that have come to be clumped under the vague title of ‘globalisation’. As we wander our way through this literature, we might find ourselves – with others – feeling perplexed and anxious about the loss of a clear sense of what politics is, where it happens, what it is about, and what we need to know to understand and engage in it. This in turn leads many of us to contribute to a slightly smaller literature, such as this Special Issue, seeking to theorise how the space and character of politics might be changing, and how we might adapt our research strategies to accommodate these changes and maintain the confidence that we, and the disciplines we contribute to, still have relevant things to say about international politics. While this is not a difficult thing to claim, and it is not difficult to find others to reassure us that it is true, I want to suggest here that it is worth lingering a little longer in our anxiety than might be comfortable. I suggest this because it seems to me that there is, or at least should be, more on the table than we're yet grappling with. In particular, I argue here that any attempt to theorise the political today needs to take into account not only that the character and space of politics are changing, but that the way we study or theorise it – not only the subjects of our study but the very kind of knowledge we produce, and for whom – may need to change as well. As many others have argued, the project of progressive politics these days is not especially clear. It no longer seems safe to assume, for example, that the capture of the state or the establishment of benign forms of global governance should be our primary object. However, just as the project of progressive politics is in question, so is the role of knowledge, and knowledge production, under contemporary circumstances. I think there are possibilities embedded in explicitly engaging these questions together that are far from realisation. There are also serious dangers in trying to separate them, or assume the one while engaging the other, however ‘obvious’ the answers to one or the other may appear to be. Simultaneous with theorising the political ‘out there’ in the international must be an engagement with the politics of theorising ‘in here,’ in academic contexts. My project here is to explore how this challenge might be taken up in the contemporary study of politics, particularly in relation to emerging forms of political practice, such as those developed by activists in a variety of contexts. My argument is for an approach to theorising the political that shifts the disciplinary assumptions about for what purpose and for whom we should we produce knowledge in contemporary times, through an emphasis on the strategic knowledges produced through political practice. Such an approach would potentially provide us with understandings of contemporary political institutions and practices that are both more incisive and more enabling than can be produced through more familiarly disciplined approaches.


Author(s):  
Sequeira Alexandre

ResumoO presente artigo busca analisar, a partir do conceito de ruína em Walter Benjamin, a relação entre a finitude de uma casa e sua transposição em valores humanos pela perda do sentido de proteção e resistência de quem por ela é acolhido. Para além de convenções sociais, interessa-nos analisar os estreitos vínculos entre abrigo e abrigado e o quanto o processo de ruína de um, implica em movimentos de superação do outro. Em que medida a concretude de salas e corredores, que numa relação simbiótica definem condutas dos corpos que ali se abrigaram, são capazes de operar por ocasião de sua falência, paradoxalmente, enquanto potência de libertação.AbstractBased on the concept of ruin formulated by Water Benjamin, this article analyses relations between the finitude of a house and its transposition into human values by the loss of protection and resistance of those who are sheltered. Beyond social conventions, the article analyses connections between shelter and sheltered and how much the process of ruin implies overcome attitudes of the other. How does the concreteness of rooms and corridors that, in a symbiotic relationship, defines bodily behaviors, manage to operate at the time of its bankruptcy, paradoxically, as a liberating power for the sheltered being?


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 270-280
Author(s):  
David E. S. Beek

Abstract Faulkner’s The Reivers exemplifies the Quixotic Picaresque-a conflation of the narrative modes exhibited in Lazarillo de Tormes and Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote. This essay explores the correlation between Spain’s transition from feudalism to a modern mercantile society and the United States’ transition from an agrarian society based on slavery to a modern industrial nation within the cultural contexts of these novels. In each of these works, a series of trickster figures undertake performative acts of deception, particularly the masking tradition of Carnival, in order to endure the hardships of modernity. However, whereas most tricksters tend to be solely focused on pragmatic individual objectives, quixotic pícaros maintain a sense of idealism that leads them to consider the Other and thus act in the name of communal prosperity. These selfless tricksters meta-theatrically parody the generic social conventions in which they reside in order to subvert the hegemony that seeks to oppress and marginalise them and fellow members of their communities. In performing an array of identities and social roles, these quixotic pícaros contribute to the opacity of modern multicultural nation-states, and thus, disrupt all social hierarchies leading to the regeneration of the public body, mobility, and a more utopian world.


Antichthon ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 35-57
Author(s):  
Christopher Ransom

AbstractThis paper considers the figure of the realised or hypothetical effeminised male in Homer's Iliad, and discusses the impact of effeminacy upon idealised masculine identity in the epic. The idea of effeminacy in the Iliad is explored alongside several related but distinct concepts, such as cowardice, childishness, dress, physical appearance and battle-field rebukes and insults. The second half of this paper addresses more specifically the figure of Paris and the comparisons drawn between Paris and his brother Hektor. I argue that actualised or hypothetical effeminacy is constructed in the Iliad in order to define, by contrast, a ‘proper’ masculinity, founded on concepts of martial fortitude and civic responsibility, thoroughly antithetical to the ‘other’ which the effeminised male symbolises.


1901 ◽  
Vol 67 (435-441) ◽  
pp. 245-250 ◽  

The primary object of the investigations described in the paper was the determination of the energy required to produce a gaseous ion when X rays pass through a gas, and to deduce from the result the amount of energy radiated out into the gas by uranium, thorium, and the other radio-active substances. In order to determine this “ionic energy” it has been necessary to accurately measure the heating effect of X rays and the absorption Röntgen radiation in passing through a gas.


1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Carl Salzman

Anthropologists have devoted a good deal of attention recently to what they call ‘complex society’. This rather vague concept developed in contrast with ‘primitive’ or ‘simple’ society, the small-scale, isolated, local-oriented, non- literate grouping of like social parts which anthropologists made, or fancied, their primary object of study. This is Tonnies’ gemeinschaft, held together by Durkheim's ‘mechanical solidarity.’ ‘Complex society’ on the other hand, is more similar to Tonnies’ gesellschaft, bases to some degree upon Durkheim's ‘organic solidarity’; it has many differentiated parts, ingeniously interwoven into elaborate structures, with specializations and rankings and overlappings and other imaginative complications. More and more anthropologists found themselves, whatever their original intentions, involved in studies that were manifestly of ‘complex society.’ This was the result of two developments: One was the encapsulation of most ‘simple’ societies by colonial or national societies, and the concomitant engagement with government, economic markets, and development (or under development). This encapsulation was not something completely new that happened during the course of anthropological investigation, but something which had been going on and which anthropologists ‘discovered’ and began to devote attention to. The other development was the carrying of anthropological research to the areas of the ‘great civilizations’ in East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. In these areas, long-recorded histories, literate traditions, great states and empires, and sophisticated technologies belied the notion of ‘simple’ society, and raised embarrassing questions about classical anthropological methodology, ‘participant observation’ in a constricted area for one or two years.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Khaled Hussein ◽  
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi ◽  
Mohammad Nusr Mohammad Al-Subaihi

This is a thematic study of Harry Potter (1997-2007) concerning the theme of alienation. Joanne Rowling is a British novelist famous for writing her best-known fantasy book series, Harry Potter (1997-2007). This study argues that Rowling employs fantastical elements in Harry Potter to present symbolic and real-life themes that summon the postcolonial discourse of alienation. In addition, the study aims to raise the role of fantasy in serving Humanity and the dignity of people and understanding the conflicts among the members of society. Moreover, this study investigates how racial discrimination and postcolonialism work against the Humanity of heroes and their companions in their community. Therefore, that relationship causes a realistic commentary on real-life situations. The theoretical platform deployed in this study is a postcolonial perspective that purports to grasp the striking overlaps between the theme of alienation and the insights of the racial and social postcolonial discourse. The findings achieved in this paper prove the juxtaposition between alienation on the one hand and racial and social discrimination on the other hand. The researcher seeks to demonstrate that Harry Potter reflects the suffering and alienation of characters.


QOF ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73
Author(s):  
Cholid - Ma'arif

This article talk about maqāṣid al-Qur’ān on exegesis worked by Syaikh Ihsan Jampes, aspecially toward some verses at book of Sirāj aṭ-Ṭālibῑn vol. II. For that, there are three question should be answer; about the type of Quranic-exegesis, the operational process of Maqasid Alquran, and finally the main theme of Maqasid Alquran on the book of Sirāj aṭ-Ṭālibῑn vol. II. So, by using study of  library-research and descriptive-analysis writing, otomatically the researcher make those verses as object of material and the book as primary-object soon the other books as secondary, such as book of  Jawāhir al-Qur’ān worked by al-Ghazali. The results of this research are; firstly, the book of  Sirāj al-Ṭālibῑn use type of tafsir isyari just to explain the majority exegesis of those verses within. Secondly, by modelling of maqāṣid al-Qur’ān arranged by al-Ghazali, the researcher find at least 80 main-verses on the book of Sirāj al-Ṭālibῑn, which is talking about knowing of Allah and the prophectic-wisdom are more dominate themes than about life of mankind. Thirdly, the implication of those, there are two big groups of  maqāṣid following maqāṣid al-Qur’ān of al-Ghazali; monotheism-escatology, and wellnes during other themes such as morality, wisdom, islamology, and properiousity of mankind. Four of these big themes bring to some understanding that the main maqāṣid al-Qur’ān on the book of Sirāj aṭ-Ṭālibῑn is the wellness (kemaslahatan) on the world and hereafter for all mankind.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 1922-1922
Author(s):  
Koji Sasaki ◽  
Elias Jabbour ◽  
Naveen Pemmaraju ◽  
Naval G. Daver ◽  
Tapan M. Kadia ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: The outcomes of patients with MDS after HMA failure are poor without effective therapy. The aim of this study is to evaluate predictive factors for response and survival after HMA failure. Methods: We reviewed 149 patients who received 2nd-line therapy after HMA failure at our tertiary care center between 1/2010 and 5/2014. Patients were assigned to receive either decitabine (DAC) or azacitidine (AZA) in equal numbers before this study in the context of a prospective clinical trial. Of 149 patients, 23 patients proceeded to allogeneic stem cell transplant, 15 patients had progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at HMA failure, and 18 patients were not evaluable. The remaining 93 patients are the focus of this analysis. Response data were collected according to IWG 2006 criteria. Patients were divided into two categories: PriRes or SecRes. PriRes was defined as lack of any response to HMA therapy, and SecRes was defined as loss of response. There were 4 groups of 2nd-line treatment: the other HMA (AZA or DAC), cytarabine, clofarabine, and investigational agents. Overall survival (OS) was defined as time from the date of first 2nd-line treatment to the date of last follow-up or censorship date. Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the time from the date of first 2nd-line treatment to the date of progression to AML. Univariate (UVA) and multivariate analysis (MVA) were performed to analyze the response to second-line therapies and survival. Results: Ninety-three patients were evaluable; 30 (32%) had PriRes and 63 (68%) had SecRes. Thirty-four (37%) received AZA, and 59 (63%) received DAC as the first HMA. Median follow-up was 16 months, and median age was 65 years (20-85). Baseline patient characteristics did not differ significantly between groups. Median duration of AZA and DAC were 5.6 months (0.2-49.2) and 7.2 months (0-38.4), respectively (p= 0.1). Primary resistance was observed in 14 patients (41%) receiving AZA and 16 patients (27%) receiving DAC (p= 0.163). Median duration of HMA therapy in the PriRes and SecRes groups were 1.1 months (0-5.8) and 10.5 months (0.2-49.2), respectively (p< 0.001). Of 63 patients in SecRes, 43 (68%) achieved CR after HMA, 10 (16%) CRp, 4 (6%) PR, and 6 (10%) HI. Complex karyotype was observed in 3 patients (10%) in PriRes and 19 (30%) in SecRes (p= 0.032). RAS mutation was observed in 4 patients (13%) in PriRes and 4 (6%) in SecRes. One patient (3%) in PriRes had FLT3-D835 mutation. No FLT3-ITD, NPM1, or JAK2 mutations were detected in this study. Of the 30 patients in PriRes, 2 (7%) received the other type of HMA, 5 (17%) cytarabine, 6 (20%) clofarabine, and 17 (57%) other treatments. Of the 63 patients in SecRes, 9 (14%) received the other HMA, 11 (17%) cytarabine, 19 (30%) clofarabine, and 20 (32%) others. Of 30 patients in PriRes, OIR was achieved in 9 (29%), CR in 1(3%), CRp in 2 (7%), HI in 5 (17%), and SD/PD in 18 (60%). Of 63 patients in SecRes, OIR was observed in 18 (29%), CR in 11 (18%), CRp in 2 (3), PR in 2 (3%), HI in 3 (5%), and SD/PD in 36 (57%). The response rate did not differ significantly between groups (p= 0.739). By UVA for response, only transition to the other HMA was a better prognostic factor for response (p= 0.019; hazard ratio [HR], 0.201, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.053-0.764). Both patients in PriRes that switched to the other HMA (1 patient, AZA to DAC; 1 patient, DAC to AZA) had HI. Of 9 patients receiving the other HMA in SecRes (4 patients, AZA to DAC; 5 patients, DAC to AZA), in the DAC to AZA group, 1 (25%) achieved CR, 2 (50%) SD, and 1 (25%) died, and in the AZA to DAC group, 4 (80%) achieved CR and 1 (20%) had unknown outcome. Median PFS from date of first 2nd-line treatment in PriRes and SecRes were 5.8 months and 1.8 months (p=0.178), respectively. Median OS from date of first 2nd-line treatment in PriRes and SecRes were 10.4 months and 9.8 months (p =0.995), respectively. By MVA for survival, absence of response after 2nd-line therapy [p= 0.001; HR, 3.076; 95%CI, 1.610-5.877], presence of complex karyotype [p=0.046; HR, 1.849; 95%CI, 1.012-3.378], and 2nd-line therapy with clofarabine [p=0.025; HR, 1.894; 95%CI, 1.085-3.304] were poor prognostic factors. Conclusion: Outcome of patients after HMA failure is generally poor. Patients who were previously refractory to HMAs seem to respond to 2nd-line therapies and had similar survival. This finding needs to be confirmed by other prospective studies. Disclosures Kadia: ARIAD: Honoraria; GSK: Research Funding; ARIAD: Honoraria. Borthakur:Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Kantarjian:ARIAD, Pfizer, Amgen: Research Funding.


Crisis ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Corcoran ◽  
Ella Arensman ◽  
Desmond O'Mahony

There are two sets of annual mortality statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland, one based on deaths registered in the particular year and the other based on the deaths that occurred in that year. We compared the registration and occurrence figures for suicide and for other deaths by an external cause for the years 1987-2003. The occurrence figures were, on average, 6% higher than the registration figures. There was evidence that the extent of the discrepancy increased over the study period, reaching almost 20% in recent years. The findings suggest that caution needs to be taken in the media reporting of registration figures for suicide and other external causes of death in Ireland and in the interpretation of these figures by health professionals.


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