Avoiding Blackness

Author(s):  
Jennifer Roth-Gordon

Chapter 5 explores the “flip side” of boa aparência (or whitening), as middle-class youth and parents seek to secure the investment that they have made in their family’s whiteness by avoiding contact with black people and black spaces. Stronger than the fear of physically “black” bodies, however, is the fear of embodied practices associated with blackness, practices which circulate independent of dark-skinned people while threatening to steal the whiteness of middle-class youth. These fears, and the social imperative to avoid contact with blackness, are presented through the case study of Bola, a moreno (brown-skinned) middle-class youth who boldly disregards established social and racial borders. This chapter also expands on the struggle over prime urban spaces in Rio de Janeiro, showing how the presence of black youth in private, air-conditioned, and exclusive shopping malls inspires increased racial anxiety.

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (20) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
Iurii I. DEREVIANCHENKO ◽  
◽  
Amina S. RUDI ◽  

The study analyzes the regional features of the social-professional characteristics of the middle class and the migration attitudes of the middle-class youth (for example, in the city of Omsk). The empirical basis of the study is the data of a sociological survey conducted at the Department of Sociology of Dostoevsky Omsk State University in 2021.The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It is concluded that the position of the middle class and factors of migration relations are associated with the social-economic conditions for the development of creative environment in the city.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasim Randeree ◽  
Nadeem Ahmed

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine social sustainability effectiveness of eco-cities through the case of Masdar City’s strategy for urban sustainability in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Design/methodology/approach Using a case study approach, the paper is an exploratory, qualitative analysis, which investigates the social, environmental and economic performance of Masdar City, a purported carbon-neutral, zero-waste urban development. Findings Though Masdar City substantively contributes to innovation in sustainable urban development within environmental and economic contexts and has been effective in capital circulation in green technology markets, the impetus as a commercially driven enterprise is most evident. Successful sustainable urban development requires greater consideration for the social imperative. Practical implications Eco-city mega-projects, such as Masdar City, have the potential to fuse achievements in innovation, technology and economic enterprise with the social imperative of functional urban habitats. Originality/value Eco-cities are of increasing interest given the growing need for sustainable, energy-efficient living. This paper contributes through a novel case study, exploring how the concept of the eco-city has been developed and understood in the Masdar City context and discusses successes and deficits in its strategic implementation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Weiner

Film scholars have argued that the British social realist films of the late 1950s and early 1960s reflect the concerns articulated by British cultural studies during the same period. This article looks at how the social realist films of the 1970s and early 1980s similarly reflect the concerns of British cultural studies scholarship produced by the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies during the 1970s. It argues that the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies’ approach to stylised working-class youth subcultures is echoed in the portrayal of youth subcultures in the social realist films Pressure (1976), Bloody Kids (1979), Babylon (1980) and Made in Britain (1982). This article explores the ways in which these films show us both the strengths and weaknesses of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies’ work on subcultures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Franklin Gil Hernández

Resumen: En este artículo se presentan diversasreflexiones sobre las representaciones mediáticas de laspersonas negras de clase media y alta en las páginas sociales.Éstas parecen ser correlatos de la idea propuestapor Fanon (1968): “para el negro, sólo hay un destino.Y ese destino es blanco” (p. 6). Por un lado, el libretofantasioso del éxito negro se concentra en resaltar laexcepcionalidad: el ascenso social y la pertenencia ala clase media y alta no es ‘natural’ de lo ‘negro’, es unaccidente propiciado por la fortuna, la casualidad o unesfuerzo y sacrificios inusuales. Por el otro, el conceptosexualizado de ‘belleza negra’ parece centrarse en laidea de la blanquitud como capital cultural incorporado,refuerza la existencia de la ‘raza’ y muestra la capacidaddel capitalismo para aprovechar la valoración de las diferenciaspropuesta por el multiculturalismo. Finalmente,se analizan las estrategias para crear una Negro society,cuestión que implica neutralizar las críticas al racismo, ofrecerlas pruebas de su inexistencia a través de personajesejemplares y exitosos e insistir en el carácter meritocráticodel resultado de la ubicación en el orden de clase, cuestiónque refuerza la ideología de la democracia racial.Palabras clave: belleza negra, ascenso social, clase,raza, género, personas negras.‘Black Success’ and ‘Black beauty’ in the Social PagesAbstract: This article presents several reflections onthe media representations about black middle class and‘black elites’ in the social press. These representationsare related with the idea proposed by Fanon: “for blackpeople there is only one destination. And that destinationis white” (1968:6). First, the fantasy script of the ‘blacksuccess’ focuses on highlighting the exceptionality of thesocial mobility of the black people, because the socialmobility is an accident favored by the lucky or an unusualeffort and sacrifices. Secondly, the sexualized concept of‘black beauty’ focuses on the idea of whiteness as a culturalcapital embodiment, in the existence of the ‘race’and shows the ability of capitalism to take advantage ofthe value of the differences on the multicultural context.Finally, this paper analyzes the strategies used to createa Black Society, subject that involves neutralizing thecriticism of racism, providing evidence of the absence ofracism in society through exemplary and successful blackpeople in order to show the centrality of merit in placingpeople in the class order, and reinforcing the ideology ofracial democracy.Key words: Black beauty, social mobility, class, race,gender, black people.


Author(s):  
Daria Settineri

In this article, the author, based on concrete factual material, explores the specifics of modern migration processes considered within an urban area localized in Palermo (Sicily). In the context of this complex heterotopic space, resorting to the conceptual apparatus of M. Foucault, this kind of rhizome, if we operate with the concepts of J. Deleuze and F.Guattari, the author analyzes the actions of various actors of power – local and transnational – which dominate in this closed socio-urban environment, outlined by the framework of certain city blocks, – formal and informal, institutionalized and not, state and extra-state, legal and illegal, political, social, ecclesiastical, economic, criminal, the objects of projection and manifestation of which are migrants (primarily illegal) concentrated in these urban areas, who coexist there with the local population. The author also studies reactions of “newcomers” to the factors that affect them, including their ways of understanding and familiarizing with of their new place of residence as a micro- and the macrocosm, in all the diversity and complexity of the social connections that permeate this habitat and the factors that affect it.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Kotus ◽  
Tomasz Sowada ◽  
Michał Rzeszewski ◽  
Patrycja Mańkowska

Abstract The article presents a discussion on the anatomy of place-making within the framework of the communication processes against the background of social order in a post-socialist city. The main aim of the text is to look at the social mechanisms of place-making processes “under the microscope”. The place-making activities are very often associated with planning and urban design. However, behind that planning veil is the social world of urban neighbourhood communities. In the article we propose, the social communication and participation processes are among the key factors responsible for creating urban spaces. We are presenting a place-making case study, using the example of Asnyk Square in Poznań. In this context, we are analysing social attitudes and social communication, which took place in the course of the place-making processes and influenced urban planning activities. The discussed case is complicated and provides no easy solutions.


Target ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Monzó-Nebot

Abstract Remarkable efforts have been made in Translation and Interpreting Studies to test the subservient habitus hypothesis formulated by Simeoni (1998) in his seminal work. In the face of increasing evidence that translators tend to reproduce a given society’s or community’s prevalent norms and contribute to the stability of such norms (Toury 1978), subversive translation practices have been reported (Delabastita 2011; Woods 2012) and indeed promoted as a way of fostering social and cultural change (Levine 1991; Venuti 1992). However, insights into how translators’ subservient or subversive habitus develop and depart from each other are still lacking. In order to shed light on this gray area, this article scrutinizes the contrasts between the habitus of professional legal translators who acquiesce to and who reject the norms governing their positions in the field. Special attention is given to those who decide to abandon the translation field. Their behavior is examined by relating habitus to forms of socialization and studying the implications of their strategies. Based on a case study drawn from interview data, this article focuses on the social practices of resistance and rebellion vis-à-vis subservience, and the impact of both on translation workplaces, work processes, and translators’ futures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-450
Author(s):  
Stella Moss

This article considers the significant increase in wine consumption in Britain in the period 1965–85. It explores the social and cultural meanings attached to wine through a case study analysis of Good Housekeeping, a women's magazine aimed at a mainly middle-class readership. The vast majority of wine consumed in Britain at this time was European, the appeal of which was, for many, rooted in an idealised evocation of continental sophistication. In illuminating the development of new socio-cultural habits, this article reveals the influence of continental tourism is bolstering enthusiasm for wine, as well as the impact of greater availability and affordability in popularising consumption.


Author(s):  
Elena Berrón Ruiz ◽  
María Victoria Régil López

The increasing incorporation of new technologies in the education system demands a deep revision in the management processes of the training centers, improving their presence in social networks. The qualitative research presented in this article presents a case study carried out at the Training Center of Teachers and Educational Innovation of Avila (Spain) and pursues two objectives: the first consists in value the usefulness of different strategies to boost and disseminate the training courses through Twitter, while the second seeks to analyze the impact that such dissemination has been on the participation of teachers. The results show that the innovations introduced in the dynamization have aroused the interest of the teachers, increasing the interactions made in the social network and producing a remarkable rise of their participation in the courses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Steve Nathaniel

Abstract This article describes Virginia Woolf's preoccupation with acoustics and its relationship both to her writing process and to the development of sensibility that she narrativizes in The Waves. It situates Woolf's theoretical and fictional models of listening with respect to the rising science of architectural acoustics and to the social imperative to control sound in urban spaces. It argues that Woolf responds to the psychological and social exigencies of modern sound by integrating textual and architectural listening modes in an acoustic hermeneutic: a listening practice common to the objects of architecture and text, one that accommodates both scientific and aesthetic ends. The acoustic hermeneutic marks the convergence of oft-estranged listening practices—one that apprehends the silent materiality of the text as if it were an audible room and, conversely, one that apprehends architecture with the auditory imagination traditionally exerted toward literature. While the article explores Woolf's particular invocations of auditory science in her formal innovation, it also aims toward a widely applicable critical approach to the inaudibilities of the novel.


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