scholarly journals Creativity, Sociability, Solidarity: New-Wave Carnival Krewes’ Responses to COVID-19 in New Orleans

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Radice

New Orleans was one of the first cities in the USA to be severely affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic. This article draws on long-term ethnography and recent remote fieldwork to explore how new-wave carnival krewes in New Orleans responded to the pandemic. New-wave krewes are one of the kinds of social clubs that produce carnival each year. During the first four months of the pandemic, some of them undertook various kinds of projects within their membership and in the broader community. I propose that these projects have three overlapping dimensions: creativity, sociability, and solidarity. My argument is that because they are so enmeshed in the social fabric of New Orleans, new-wave carnival krewes provided a solid foundation for social initiatives that sought to alleviate the existential and material insecurity of the pandemic. I further argue that carnival has emerged as an important way for New Orleanians to make the imaginative connection between the personal and the social that is necessary for grasping the scope of COVID‑19. More broadly, I contribute to what Joel Robbins has called an “anthropology of the good” in social relations.

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-71
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Cash

Research on godparenthood has traditionally emphasized its stabilizing effect on social structure. This article, however, focuses attention on how the practices and discourses associated with marital sponsorship in the Republic of Moldova ascribe value to the risks and uncertainties of social life. Moldova has experienced substantial economic, social, and political upheaval during the past two decades of postsocialism, following a longer period of Soviet-era modernization, secularization, and rural–urban migration. In this context, godparenthood has not contributed to the long-term stability of class structure or social relations, but people continue to seek honor and social respect by taking the social and economic risks involved in sponsoring new marriages.


Author(s):  
Christopher Hamlin

There are many precedents for long-term research in the history of science. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program’s current identity reflects significant change—intended and accidental, both consensual and conflictual—from research concerns that were prevalent in the 1980s. LTER program has pioneered modes of research organization and professional norms that are increasingly prominent in many areas of research and that belong to a significant transformation in the social relations of scientific research. The essays in this volume explore the impact of the LTER program, a generation after its founding, on both the practice of ecological science and the careers of scientists. The authors have applied the agenda of long- term scrutiny to their own careers as LTER researchers. They have recognized the LTER program as distinct, even perhaps unique, both in the ways that it creates knowledge and in the ways that it shapes careers. They have reflected on how they have taught (and were taught) in LTER settings, on how they interact with one another and with the public, and on how research in the LTER program has affected them “as persons.” A rationale for this volume is LTER’s distinctiveness. In many of the chapters, and in other general treatments of the LTER program, beginning with Callahan (1984), one finds a tone of defensiveness. Sometimes the concerns are explicit: authors (e.g., Stafford, Knapp, Lugo, Morris; Chapters 5, 22, 25, 33, respectively) bemoan colleagues who dismiss LTER as mere monitoring instead of serious science or who resent LTER’s independent funding stream. But more broadly, there is concern that various groups, ranging from other bioscientists to the public at large, may not appreciate the importance of long-term, site-specific environmental research. Accordingly, my hope here is to put LTER into several broader contexts. I do so in three ways. First, to mainstream LTER within the history of science, I show that the LTER program is not a new and odd way of doing science but rather exemplifies research agendas that have been recognized at least since the seventeenth century in the biosciences and beyond.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ana Anufrijev ◽  
Goran Dašić

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused global changes that have affected the health sector, the economic sector, the social sector, as well as the sectors of interpersonal and social relations. Although health systems have become at the forefront of defense against the virus, other health sectors that focus on chronic diseases, new diseases, monitoring, rehabilitation, and various other forms of treatment have been put on the agenda. Unfortunately, the same fate befell the health tourism and rehabilitation sector. The problem can also be defined in the fact that the rehabilitation of insured persons who are entitled to it through the National Health Insurance Fund is carried out to a much lesser extent. The spa centers of Serbia were in the red zone of the covid system on two occasions during 2020-2021, which affected the complete absence of rehabilitation. After returning to the basic system of work, due to security measures that primarily have a physical distance, the capacities are significantly reduced. New expectations in tourism will require new standards, and the same will apply to health tourism and rehabilitation as its important sector. Although tourism has often fallen into crisis in recent decades and required the action of crisis management, it was still short-lived about the state of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic will require long-term crisis management. What is the path to recovery, and will we go back to the old way?


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Faruq Ibnul Haqi

Social sustainability and sustainable urban developments are major challenges across the world both developed and developing countries. In general there is a conflict between the approach of sustainable development and social sustainability in the urban context. The concept of sustainability brings a key framework for extensive literature on urban design, architecture and planning. Nevertheless there is a considerable overlap between the social dimensions of sustainability and the theories or notions, for instance the ‘sustainable societies’ that are highlighted in the midst of other aspects: social equity and justice. Such society is widely expected to offer a situation for long-term social relations and activities which are sustainable, inclusive and equitable in a wider perception of the term (environmentally, socially and economically). The method adopted to address this aim involves a content analysis of available academic literature, with focus on the planning sustainable development, built environment, social sustainability, and urban planning fields. The findings demonstrate that in spite of some opposing evidence, many studies have confirmed that there has been displacement of the debate on the term of ‘sustainability’ from ‘ecological and environmental aspects into social and economic aspects’. It is related to how the community feel safe and comfortable living in their own communities, how have they felt of proud of the place where they live. The aim of the paper is to improve our understanding of current theories and practices of planning sustainable development and discuss whether the approach of sustainable development aligns with social sustainability objectives.


Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110091
Author(s):  
Darja Reuschke ◽  
Carol Ekinsmyth

This introduction discusses the objectives and concepts underlying the Special Issue on the new spatialities of work in the city. It highlights the urban impact of both the changing spatiotemporal working patterns and the increased diversity of workspaces that have resulted from post-industrial restructuring, globalisation, labour market flexibilisation and digitisation. Even pre-COVID-19, when the research in this Special Issue was undertaken, this impact on the urban structure and the social fabric of cities was significant, but it had remained underexplored. Here, therefore, we question models of work and commuting that continue to assume the spatially ‘fixed’ workplace, and explore how new understandings of workspace and multi-locality, developed in this Special Issue, can inform future research. This, we argue, is more important than ever as we come to understand the medium- and long-term impacts of pandemic-altered work practices in cities. We further argue that the spatialities of work need to be connected with research on health, job quality and wellbeing in cities – such as, for example, on the risks that COVID-19 has exposed for driving and mobile work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Anna Bræmer Warburg ◽  
Steffen Jensen

This article explores the social and moral implications of Duterte's war on drugs in a poor, urban neighbourhood in Manila, the Philippines. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, surveys, and human rights interventions, the article sheds light on policing practices, social relations, and moral discourses by examining central perspectives of the state police implementing the drug war, of local policing actors engaging with informal policing structures, and of residents dealing with everyday insecurities. It argues that the drug war has produced a climate of ambiguous fear on the ground, which has reconfigured and destabilised social relations between residents and the state as well as among residents. Furthermore, this has led to a number of subordinate moral discourses — centred on social justice, family, and religion — with divergent perceptions on the drug war and the extent to which violence is deemed legitimate.


Author(s):  
Chrysi Kyratsou ◽  
Cathrinea McNulty Burrows ◽  
Hoa Nguyen ◽  
Heather E. Barry ◽  
Lilian Simones

Welcome to this, the first issue of the International Modern Perspectives on Academia and Community Today (IMPACT) Journal. In creating this Journal and producing this first issue we have proven that multidisciplinary working is possible. Moreover, we have shown that as academics, we have the power to challenge the norms and work in innovative ways within the contexts of our institutions. Thinking and working in innovative ways reflects on our practices as we reimagine our work and role in working with the community. Through the creation of a multidisciplinary Journal, we intend to provide a platform that will not only host approaches used in various disciplines but will also act as a merging point by putting forward perspectives from the communities alongside academic work. In doing so, we hope to promote new forms of dialogue, which have the potential to generate new research directions, and help cement the notion that academia and community are intertwined rather than separate entities within the social relations. The purpose of academic practice is to serve the needs of the community as both members of the community and academics who adopt an advocacy standpoint. Therefore, we hope that through the collaborative working practices underpinning this initiative we can achieve our aim to promote community involvement and engagement and meaningful contribution in the short and long term.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Faruq Ibnul Haqi

Social sustainability and sustainable urban developments are major challenges across the world both developed and developing countries. In general there is a conflict between the approach of sustainable development and social sustainability in the urban context. The concept of sustainability brings a key framework for extensive literature on urban design, architecture and planning. Nevertheless there is a considerable overlap between the social dimensions of sustainability and the theories or notions, for instance the ‘sustainable societies’ that are highlighted in the midst of other aspects: social equity and justice. Such society is widely expected to offer a situation for long-term social relations and activities which are sustainable, inclusive and equitable in a wider perception of the term (environmentally, socially and economically). The method adopted to address this aim involves a content analysis of available academic literature, with focus on the planning sustainable development, built environment, social sustainability, and urban planning fields. The findings demonstrate that in spite of some opposing evidence, many studies have confirmed that there has been displacement of the debate on the term of ‘sustainability’ from ‘ecological and environmental aspects into social and economic aspects’. It is related to how the community feel safe and comfortable living in their own communities, how have they felt of proud of the place where they live. The aim of the paper is to improve our understanding of current theories and practices of planning sustainable development and discuss whether the approach of sustainable development aligns with social sustainability objectives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 731-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anett Richter ◽  
Jennifer Hauck ◽  
Reinart Feldmann ◽  
Elisabeth Kühn ◽  
Alexander Harpke ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1058-1073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Mizen

A sociology of street children has emerged defined by its rejection of the dominant narratives of child welfare organisations that identify the street as the root cause of children’s immiseration and improper socialisation. In its place, sociological analysis has undermined the value of conceptualising street children as a coherent group on the street and in a parallel move has looked to conceptually reposition street children away from assumptions of passivity and neglect, towards a foundational insistence that the starting place for analysis is the positioning of street children as active and strategic social agents. It is the adequacy of this latter concern that is the focus of this article. By reintroducing the location of children within the social relations of the informal street economy, this article draws upon extensive and long-term qualitative research examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. The argument here is that sociological notions of strategic action and efficacious agency seem ill-suited to accounting for the dilemmas and difficulties that street children’s quests for paid work inevitably involve. Rather, it is relative good fortune within the radical uncertainty of the social relations of the informal street economy that seems much more appropriate to accounting for how these children are integrated into work.


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