‘Trans-skin’: Analyzing the practice of skin bleaching among middle-class women in Dar es Salaam

Ethnicities ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 749-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Fritsch
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
The Other ◽  
Skin Bleaching ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
A Site ◽  
Empirical Material

This essay analyses skin bleaching among middle-class Tanzanian women as performative practice. It draws on empirical material from interviews with middle-class Tanzanian women as well as from advertisements in Dar es Salaam. Skin bleaching is situated at a ‘site of ambivalence’ (Butler), revolving around ‘light beauty’ as postcolonial regulatory ideal. Thus on the one hand, skin bleaching is analyzed as a practice of ‘passing for light(-skinned), embodying urban ‘modern’ forms of subjectivation. On the other hand, the decolonizing potential of skin bleaching becomes apparent as the interviewed women’s forms of embodiment renegotiate postcolonial Blackness putting forward notions of ‘browning’ (Tate). However, ‘light beauty’ then also appears as norm, according to which forms of embodiment can only ‘fail’. In this regard, skin bleaching challenges essentialized notions of Blackness, embodied in the color of one’s skin, while it also illustrates the performativity of racialized embodiment and its intersections with other structural categories.

scholarly journals Nation, Ethnicity, Milieus, and Multiple “We’s”. The Case of Kenya

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Dieter Neubert
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
The One

The title of the volume “Future Africa—beyond the nation?” has several implications. Nation is presented as an entity relevant to identification and identity; and in the combination with “future”, nation implies a political vision. It is not hard to find good examples in respect of these implications. However, there are other entities important for to political identification. Often, they do not go beyond the nation but refer to smaller collective identities, such as ethnicity. The revived debate on “the middle class” implies that particular social groupings, such as class, may play a role, too. The question is how relevant are the nation and other collective political identities in Africa, and are they exclusive? Looking at the case of Kenya, we see on the one hand that collective (political) identities, such as ethnicity, are mobilized especially during elections. On the other hand, these collective identities are less dominant in everyday life and give way to different conducts of life (conceptualized as “milieus”) that are less politicized. We see people maneuvering between multiple “we’s”. Strong political identities are mobilized only in particular conflict-loaded situations that restructure identities in simple binary oppositions of “we” and “they”.

scholarly journals Salafi’s Da’wah and the Phenomenon of Religious Piety among Hijrah Artists

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-249
Author(s):  
Ahmad Zaenuri ◽  
Habibie Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
The Other ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Common Term ◽  
Religious Piety ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One

In the last decade, along with the huge social media, religious piety among national celebrities has increased dramatically. This trend is characterized by the emergence of a number of artists with traditional Islamic-Salafi fashion community. Trousers above the ankle, bushy beards, thin mustaches, women's veils and the common term of akhi and ukhti, as well as many other anomalies. Salafi da’wa is, on the one hand, a condensed way of da’wa (not much by fiqh logic). His opinions concentrated more on the actual understanding of the Quran and the Sunnah. But, on the other hand, a lot of artists who are typically middle-class, educated and rationalist suit the community. This article seeks to address the question of why the phenomenon of religious piety of artists is more in line with the trend of the Salafi communities? Phenomenological descriptive methodology is the analysis tool used. To address the above question, the author presents the paradigm of Benford and Snow da’wa. The results of this study reveal that the Salaf da’wa was able to frame its da'wah concepts in accordance with reason, Islamic, modern standards, and to respond to the demands of the Ummah in such a way that many artists followed.

Race Man or Race Menace?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Moore
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
The Other ◽  
Black Middle Class ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Sporting Culture ◽  
The One

Black fighters’ construction of manhood straddled the line between Victorian respectability and sporting manhood. In other words, many tried to emulate their middle-class brothers. Despite spending their leisure time in the sporting culture, when they had a chance most black prizefighters publicly placed themselves as economically responsible patriarchs. They wanted to prove that their manhood went beyond their physicality, on the one hand, and was not solely rooted in the disreputable sporting culture, on the other hand. As part of the black-middle class’s strategy to prove their equality, race men grounded their manhood in thrift and patriarchy. If the pugilist could avoid the perils of the sporting world, he could properly represent the aspirations of the black middle class.

Topologies of practice

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mat Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Topological Space ◽  
Human Geography ◽  
The Other ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
A Site

Allen’s (2011) provocative argument on the difference between topographic and topologic ontologies in human geography offers human geographers an important opportunity to re-engage with other similarly spirited arguments about the limitations of the topographic. For example, debate over Marston et al.’s (2005) argument for a ‘site ontology’ has tended to sidestep the question of topological space and has instead dwelled on whether or not their representation of human geography research on scale is accurate. However, if Allen’s research gives human geographers another opportunity to take up the question of sociospatial practice as contingent, site-specific, and self-structuring, it also poses at least two problems. On the one hand, Allen characterizes the topographic and topologic according to a too neat calendar of sociospatial relations. On the other hand, Allen overlooks a long-standing appreciation for the topologic in human geography by drawing a strong distinction between past and newer intellectual approaches to power and space.

scholarly journals Enfrentando la transnacionalización del cuidado: abuelas cuidadoras en un contexto de alta migración

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisela M. Bianchi Pernasilici ◽  
Yolanda González-Rábago ◽  
Gioia Piras
Keyword(s):  
High Mobility ◽  
The Other ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
The One ◽  
Empirical Material

Introducción: En la actualidad la realización de las tareas de cuidado desempeña un papel significativo en el desarrollo de los proyectos migratorios. Así, el objetivo de este artículo es analizar el rol de las abuelas cuidadoras en los países de origen de la migración, que se quedan a cargo de sus nietos y nietas tras la emigración de los progenitores a España, haciendo hincapié en las estrategias de afrontamiento emocional y operativo de la transnacionalización del cuidado.Método: A través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas se analizan las percepciones que las abuelas tienen sobre su situación actual para detectar cuáles son las posibles consecuencias de la transnacionalización de los cuidados en los países de origen de la migración.Resultados: Por una parte se evidencia el papel significativo que juegan las abuelas en la reorganización del cuidado a causa de la emigración y, por otra, se ponen de manifiesto los aspectos subjetivos, experimentados por las entrevistadas, relativos a las transformaciones de las tareas y responsabilidades del cuidado en el seno de sus hogares tras la emigración de uno de sus miembros a España.Discusión o Conclusión: Se destaca, por una parte, el protagonismo de las mujeres en general, y en este caso de las abuelas, en la responsabilidad del cuidado de las personas dependientes y, por otra, la aparición de sentimientos y valoraciones ambivalentes sobre sus propias situaciones. Introduction: In nowadays global context, the care work plays an important role to understand migrations flows. The aim of this article is to analyse the role of grandmothers in a high mobility context, who are taking care for their grandchildren, after their parents´ emigration to Spain. Our focus will be on the strategies developed by them in order to face emotionally and functionally to the transnationalization of caring.Method: We analyzed the grandmothers´ perception of their own situation through semi-structured interviews, and we detected some consequences of the transnationalization of care in the migration’s origin countries.Results: The empirical material shows, on the one hand, the important role of grandmothers within the reorganization of care after the emigration and, on the other hand, the subjective aspects, experienced by interviewees, concerning the transformations of tasks and responsibilities of care in their homes because of the emigration of one of its members to Spain.Discussion or Conclusion: In this article we highlight, first, the role of women in general, and in this case of grandmothers, regarding care responsibilities and, second, the appearance of ambivalent feelings about their own situations.

scholarly journals Deontological Feeling: The Tranquil, the Familiar and the Body

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Nörenberg
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Existential Feelings ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Theoretical Claim ◽  
The One ◽  
Empirical Material ◽  
The Way

This paper contributes to filling a lacuna in recent research on common normative backgrounds. On the one hand, discussions of common normative backgrounds tend to underexpose the role the feeling body plays in relation to the agent’s recognition of deontic powers (obligations, compelling reasons or rights). On the other hand, discussions of bodily background orientations and their role in the agent’s sensitivity to practical significance tend to underexpose the recognition of deontic power. In this paper, I argue that bodily background orientations can contribute to an agent’s sensitivity to deontic power. Developing further on Ratcliffe’s conceptualization of existential feelings, I propose that a person’s bodily background orientation implies responsiveness to an ethically significant kind of affordance. In order to flesh out this theoretical claim, I draw on empirical material concerning a specific existential orientation labelled as “quietism.” Reconstructing its central patterns, I explicate the bodily dimension involved in the quietist orientation as well as the way in which it shapes the responsiveness to felt demands in terms of preserving tranquillity and protecting the familiar. Finally, I discuss the broader theoretical implications of my claim and suggest to categorize ethically relevant bodily background orientations such as the one implicated in the quietist orientation as deontological feelings.

“Getting Out of Your Box” versus “Preserving a Culture”: Two Opposed Ways of “Appreciating Cultural Diversity”

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Eliasoph
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Period ◽  
Single Culture ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
The One

This chapter explains that multiculturalism means safety and protection for people who consider themselves minorities, and that they are protecting a tradition by staying apart from the mainstream. For people who feel “mainstream”—usually white, middle-class—on the other hand, multiculturalism means exploring and mixing with other cultures, not staying apart from them. The chapter illustrates the tensions between these two categories of people as they represent nearly opposite objectives: on the one hand, there are the “mixers,” who aim at experiencing lots of cultures but do not engage in any of them for a significant period of time; on the other, there are the “protectors” who prefer to separate themselves from the mainstream and devote themselves to learning the details of a single culture.

scholarly journals Kontestasi atas Otoritas Teks Suci Islam di Era Disrupsi: Bagaimana Kelas Menengah Muslim Indonesia Memperlakukan Hadis melalui Media Baru

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-35
Author(s):  
Rizqa Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
New Media ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Halal Food ◽  
The One

This paper was written to become a preliminary record of the hadith debate as one of the sacred texts of Islam in the disruption era. An era marked by the rise of new media, namely alternative media, which in its development has become a new field of religious discourse debate. The debate about Hadith also found its momentum increasingly dynamic. For instance, Muslims in Indonesia use new media to access and make hadith as a lifestyle reference. The emerging of terms such as halal food, syar'i heads carves, halal tourism, ojek syar'i, prophet-style healing, and so on are some examples of them. Unfortunately the existence of this new media indirectly shifts the authority of the Ulama as a reference in understanding the sacred texts, including hadith. This shift emerges to fabrication and distortion of understanding. The contestation of the Hadits authority still revolves around the two main camps: textualism-fundamentalism on the one hand and moderate contextualist- on the other hand. Outside of the two mainstream, the Inkar Sunah group also colored the contestation of hadith authority in new media by middle-class Muslims. Although its voice was not as massive as the two previous groups.

La première lecture heideggérienne de l'Éternel Retour

Dialogue ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-52
Author(s):  
Golfo Maggini
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Eternal Recurrence ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Double Function ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis paper focuses on Heidegger's 1937 lecture course on the Nietzschean doctrine of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same. Heidegger interprets the motive of recurrence in Nietzsche as the Moment (Augenblick) of the Eternal Recurrence. Through this key motive of the moment, we try then to examine the double function of the doctrine which, on the one hand, refers us back to some essential themes of the existential analytics, whereas, on the other hand, it paves the way for the new confrontation with metaphysics in the Beiträge zur Philosophie. We hold that the turning away from the existential conception of the moment toward its “aletheiological” understanding in terms of a “site of the Moment” (die Augenblicksstätte) takes place in the context of this very lecture course. This transition is even more critical as it constitutes the very heart of Heidegger's critique of subjectivity in the new perspective opened by the history of Being: Nietzsche's doctrine of time provides the basis for this questioning.

Stories and the Self

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Krause ◽  
Markus Appel
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lower Degree ◽  
Contrast Effects ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

Abstract. Two experiments examined the influence of stories on recipients’ self-perceptions. Extending prior theory and research, our focus was on assimilation effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in line with a protagonist’s traits) as well as on contrast effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in contrast to a protagonist’s traits). In Experiment 1 ( N = 113), implicit and explicit conscientiousness were assessed after participants read a story about either a diligent or a negligent student. Moderation analyses showed that highly transported participants and participants with lower counterarguing scores assimilate the depicted traits of a story protagonist, as indicated by explicit, self-reported conscientiousness ratings. Participants, who were more critical toward a story (i.e., higher counterarguing) and with a lower degree of transportation, showed contrast effects. In Experiment 2 ( N = 103), we manipulated transportation and counterarguing, but we could not identify an effect on participants’ self-ascribed level of conscientiousness. A mini meta-analysis across both experiments revealed significant positive overall associations between transportation and counterarguing on the one hand and story-consistent self-reported conscientiousness on the other hand.

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