Touching, crafting, knowing

Amy Whitehead

doi:10.1558/bar.36491

Touching, crafting, knowing

Body and Religion ◽

10.1558/bar.36491 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 224-244

Author(s):

Amy Whitehead

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

The Senses ◽

Religious Objects

Based on a small ethnographic study at the shrine of the Virgin of Alcala in Andalusia, Spain, this article asserts that 'touch' is not only an intrinsic part of religion, but the principal facilitating medium through which the performances, expressions and relationships with the Virgin, take place. The article uses the relational discourses of animism and the fetish to critically explore the dynamics of touch, focusing primarily on the ways in which powerful religious statues such as the Virgin are creatively forged from raw materials, the gendered ways in which her statue-body is ritually touched, cared for and maintained, and the potentiality of her personhood. Personhood, it is argued, emerges co-creatively between 'persons' (artefact persons and human persons) during moments of active relating that involve touch. It is concluded that 'to fetish' is both to apprehend beloved religious statues with the senses and to be invited into creative religious, relational engagements with so called religious objects. 'To touch' is 'to fetish'.

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Carceral churn: A sensorial ethnography of the bail and remand court

Punishment & Society ◽

10.1177/1462474520967566 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 146247452096756

Author(s):

Emma K Russell ◽

Bree Carlton and ◽

Danielle Tyson

Keyword(s):

Ethnographic Study ◽

The Senses

This article discusses findings from an ethnographic study of a bail and remand court in Victoria, Australia. Through a focus on the sensory dimensions of forced movements within and through the bail court, the article contributes to the burgeoning sub-field of sensory criminology and develops the concept of ‘carceral churn’. The article argues that the bail court’s churn reproduces criminal and carceral subjects and is implicated in a project of carceral buildup. The churn of the bail court involves forms of mobility and exchange via the inter- and intra-carceral spaces that variously dull, distort, deprive or assault the senses with oppressive effects. This includes both ‘new’ and ‘old’ penal technologies such as holding cells, the custody dock, AV links and court-prison transport. The analysis of sensory violence challenges the notion that court ‘efficiency’ can improve justice experiences and outcomes and instead calls for increased attention to the harms and lethality that flow from carceral churn left un-checked.

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Transfiguring Theaters for Disrespectable Leisure: An Ethnography on Black Womxn’s Ratchet Performances in Movie Showings of Girls Trip

Journal of Communication ◽

10.1093/joc/jqab016 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shardé M Davis ◽

Timeka N Tounsel

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Age Groups ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Telephone Interviews ◽

Movie Theater ◽

Verbal Behaviors ◽

The Senses

Abstract This ethnographic study considers how Black womxn audiences collectively negotiated the politics of respectability in the movie theater, anecdotally referred to as cinema etiquette, in showings of the film Girls Trip. Data were collected in two local theaters in a Northeastern city using field interviews, follow-up telephone interviews, and participant observation. Findings revealed that Black womxn audiences (from various age groups) embodied an intersectional resistance discourse of disrespectability (Cooper, 2012, 2017, 2018) through their (non)verbal behaviors and an ecology of the senses (i.e., sight and sound) that were situated at the intersection of ratchetness, playfulness, and informality. In doing so, they created a “homeplace,” making an otherwise uncomfortable and highly regulated public space suitable for their collective spectatorship of the film. We argue that Black womxn’s embodiment of ratchetness is not necessarily a unidimensional endeavor, but rather an ever-evolving, multifaceted resource that enables Black womxn to reach political and pleasurable ends.

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Sensory sociological phenomenology, somatic learning and ‘lived’ temperature in competitive pool swimming

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1177/0038026120915149 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 003802612091514

Author(s):

Gareth McNarry ◽

Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson ◽

Adam B. Evans

Keyword(s):

Aquatic Environment ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Social Actors ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

The Senses ◽

The Rich ◽

Somatic Learning ◽

The Uk ◽

Competitive Swimmers

In this article, we address an existing lacuna in the sociology of the senses, by employing sociological phenomenology to illuminate the under-researched sense of temperature, as lived by a social group for whom water temperature is particularly salient: competitive pool swimmers. The research contributes to a developing ‘sensory sociology’ that highlights the importance of the socio-cultural framing of the senses and ‘sensory work’, but where there remains a dearth of sociological exploration into senses extending beyond the ‘classic five’ sensorium. Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of competitive swimmers in the UK, our analysis explores the rich sensuousities of swimming, and highlights the role of temperature as fundamentally affecting the affordances offered by the aquatic environment. The article contributes original theoretical perspectives to the sociology of the senses and of sport in addressing the ways in which social actors in the aquatic environment interact, both intersubjectively and intercorporeally, as thermal beings.

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Gun and Fire-Steel Flints, Gun Supplies of the 18th C. Annenskaya Fortress on the Lower Don

Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology) ◽

10.24852/pa2021.3.37.200.215 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (37) ◽

pp. 200-215

Author(s):

Alexander V. Kolesnik ◽

◽

Roman P. Elkin ◽

Irina R. Gusach ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Raw Materials ◽

Volga Basin ◽

Significant Part ◽

Upper Volga ◽

Don River ◽

The Right ◽

Religious Objects ◽

Archaeological Excavations

The Annenskaya fortress is a well-preserved star-shaped earthen bastion located on the right bank of the Don river near the Starocherkassk fortress. Near the Annenskaya fortress, there were unfortified Soldatskaya and Dolomanovskaya villages. The Annenskaya fortification mainly functioned from 1733 to 1760, while the pinnacle of its population (the garrison reached 9,000 people) fell at the Russian-Turkish war of 1735–1739. There were no archaeological excavations at the site, the picked-up findings were collected by various authors in 2000, 2003–2006. Among the findings, there are religious objects, military ammunition, household remains. Significant part of inventory amount gun and fire-steel flints, gun supplies (bullets). The analysis of these materials is the main purpose of the paper. The collection of gun flints includes intact samples (50 pcs) and fragments (22 pcs). Some of them (6 pcs) were preserved in lead clips. A significant part of the worn-out gun flints (22 pcs) were reused as tinderbox components to kindle a fire for domestic purposes. The most of gun and fire-steel flints are made of carboniferous flint raw materials (probably geological sources of the Upper Volga basin). The collection is complemented by lead bullets of two main calibers, i.e. of 8, 13–15 и 17–18 mm in diameter.

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Microstructural characterization of laser-melted/roller-quenched dicalcium silicate

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100104972 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 582-583

Author(s):

C. J. Chan ◽

K. R. Venkatachari ◽

W. M. Kriven ◽

J. F. Young

Keyword(s):

Particle Size ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Shape Change ◽

Microstructural Characterization ◽

Particle Size Effect ◽

Dicalcium Silicate ◽

Laser Melting ◽

Uniform Size ◽

Cell Shape Change ◽

Wide Range

Dicalcium silicate (Ca2SiO4) is a major component of Portland cement. It has also been investigated as a potential transformation toughener alternative to zirconia. It has five polymorphs: α, α'H, α'L, β and γ. Of interest is the β-to-γ transformation on cooling at about 490°C. This transformation, accompanied by a 12% volume increase and a 4.6° unit cell shape change, is analogous to the tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation in zirconia. Due to the processing methods used, previous studies into the particle size effect were limited by a wide range of particle size distribution. In an attempt to obtain a more uniform size, a fast quench rate involving a laser-melting/roller-quenching technique was investigated.The laser-melting/roller-quenching experiment used precompacted bars of stoichiometric γ-Ca2SiO4 powder, which were synthesized from AR grade CaCO3 and SiO2xH2O. The raw materials were mixed by conventional ceramic processing techniques, and sintered at 1450°C. The dusted γ-Ca2SiO4 powder was uniaxially pressed into 0.4 cm x 0.4 cm x 4 cm bars under 34 MPa and cold isostatically pressed under 172 MPa. The γ-Ca2SiO4 bars were melted by a 10 KW-CO2 laser.

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Crystallization of barium hexaferrite

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100122216 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 362-363

Author(s):

Chung-kook Lee ◽

Yolande Berta ◽

Robert F. Speyer

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Barium Hexaferrite ◽

Recording Media ◽

Magnetic Recording Media ◽

Promising Candidate ◽

Crystallization Method ◽

Temperature Heat ◽

High Density Magnetic Recording ◽

Temperature Heat Treatment

Barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) is a promising candidate for high density magnetic recording media due to its superior magnetic properties. For particulate recording media, nano-sized single crystalline powders with a narrow size distribution are a primary application requirement. The glass-crystallization method is preferred because of the controllability of crystallization kinetics, hence, particle size and size distribution. A disadvantage of this method is the need to melt raw materials at high temperatures with non-reactive crucibles, e.g. platinum. However, in this work, we have shown that crystal growth of barium hexaferrite occurred during low temperature heat treatment of raw batches.

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