scholarly journals Gender and Migrant Roles in Italian Neorealist and New Migrant Films: Cinema as an Apparatus of Reconfiguration of National Identity and ‘Otherness’

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Marianna Charitonidou

The article examines an ensemble of gender and migrant roles in post-war Neorealist and New Migrant Italian films. Its main objective is to analyze gender and placemaking practices in an ensemble of films, addressing these practices on a symbolic level. The main argument of the article is that the way gender and migrant roles were conceived in the Italian Neorealist and New Migrant Cinema was based on the intention to challenge certain stereotypes characterizing the understanding of national identity and ‘otherness’. The article presents how the roles of borgatari and women function as devices of reconceptualization of Italy’s identity, providing a fertile terrain for problematizing the relationship between migration studies, urban studies and gender studies. Special attention is paid to how migrants are related to the reconceptualization of Italy’s national narrations. The Neorealist model is understood here as a precursor of the narrative strategies that one encounters in numerous films belonging to the New Migrant cinema in Italy. The article also explores how certain aspects of more contemporary studies of migrant cinema in Italy could illuminate our understanding of Neorealist cinema and its relation to national narratives. To connect gender representation and migrant roles in Italian cinema, the article focuses on the analysis of the status of certain roles of women, paying particular attention to Anna Magnagi’s roles.

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Mary Varghese ◽  
Kamila Ghazali

Abstract This article seeks to contribute to the existing body of knowledge about the relationship between political discourse and national identity. 1Malaysia, introduced in 2009 by Malaysia’s then newly appointed 6th Prime Minister Najib Razak, was greeted with expectation and concern by various segments of the Malaysian population. For some, it signalled a new inclusiveness that was to change the discourse on belonging. For others, it raised concerns about changes to the status quo of ethnic issues. Given the varying responses of society to the concept of 1Malaysia, an examination of different texts through the critical paradigm of CDA provide useful insights into how the public sphere has attempted to construct this notion. Therefore, this paper critically examines the Prime Minister’s early speeches as well as relevant chapters of the socioeconomic agenda, the 10th Malaysia Plan, to identify the referential and predicational strategies employed in characterising 1Malaysia. The findings suggest a notion of unity that appears to address varying issues.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iiris Ruoho ◽  
Sinikka Torkkola

Abstract In this article, we raise some methodological questions regarding the study of journalism and gender. We start with the idea that in many studies, researchers tend to think that the relationship between gender and journalism is external, that is, gender and journalism are considered essentially separate phenomena. In such a scenario, journalism appears to be gender neutral. Instead of theoretically keeping journalism and gender apart, we suggest that it is worth studying journalism as a gendered institution with its own history, culture, and social roles. We ask how the understanding of the relationship between journalism and gender may change if different social, cultural, and conventional dimensions of journalism are examined. Our main argument is that journalism and its relationship to gender can be investigated systematically as a multidimensional object that highlights various aspects of both concepts, depending on the specific research focus. Based on our former study, we aim to develop a model for examining these diverse facets of journalism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Dina Afrianty

AbstractIndonesian women were at the forefront of activism during the turbulent period prior to reformasi and were a part of the leadership that demanded democratic change. Two decades after Indonesia embarked on democratic reforms, the country continues to face challenges on socio-religious and political fronts. Both the rise of political Islam and the increased presence of religion and faith in the public sphere are among the key features of Indonesia's consolidating democracy. This development has reinvigorated the discourse on citizenship and rights and also the historical debate over the relationship between religion and the state. Bearing this in mind, this paper looks at the narrative of women's rights and women's status in the public domain and public policy in Indonesia. It is evident, especially in the past decade, that much of the public conversation within the religious framework is increasingly centred on women's traditional social roles. This fact has motivated this study. Several norms and ideas that are relied on are based on cultural and faith-based interpretations - of gender. Therefore, this paper specifically examines examples of the ways in which social, legal, and political trends in this context affect progress with respect to gender equality and gender policy. I argue that these trends are attempts to subject women to conservative religious doctrines and to confine them to traditional gender roles. The article discusses how these developments should be seen in the context of the democratic transition in Indonesia.


Author(s):  
Z. B Abylkhozhin ◽  
◽  
I. Krupko ◽  

This article explores some visual narratives of the architectural landscape of Alma-Ata city (modern Almaty). Historical narratives produced or studied by historians in the text are no less vividly and distinctly manifested in the visual sphere. In many ways, this can be attributed to the design of urban space and its architecture. Architecture not only directly depends on the socio-political, ideological, and symbolic regime, but often creates it. Being a product of the era, a zone of perception and reflection of its impulses, the architectural landscape of the city creates a socio-cultural space, which in turn forms the mental background for the inhabitants of this city. Knowledge about cities is a special subject field for comparative urban studies, including a culturalanthropological and ethnographic basis. The article attempts to describe the two main architectural narratives of the city of Almaty (Stalinist Empire style and Soviet modernism) and their projections in the space of historical memory, as well as the relationship of these narratives with the corresponding ideologies (imperial geopolitical ambitions of the USSR in the post-war period and the ideology of modernism of the 60-80s biennium). The problem of updating the cultural heritage of Soviet architecture in the historical memory of the Kazakh society is also posed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Simina Pîrvu

In a series of lectures in 1994, Nadine Gordimer remarks the different status of Africa which is no longer at the edge of the empire, but on the contrary, in the center of it. In this respect, post-apartheid Africa has rebuilt its national identity on the background of global events that write universal history, offering citizens the chance to escape their country's constraints and bring important key elements in the globalization process. Thus, replacing apartheid themes in a new country is an extreme task by the applicant. Some of the favourite subjects of the "old guard" are the following: the importance of multiculturalism in post-apartheid South Africa, the writer's status, vulgarisation of violence due to mass-media, reconciliation with a violent past and their economic and cultural implications, the fight against AIDS, sexual emancipation, globalization and loss of cultural and national identity, uprooting, migration and economic exile which replaced major pre-existing concerns about violence, racial and gender discrimination, the relationship between literature and politics, or the role of ethics in literature. The same situation can be applied to eastern countries. Even though they were not "postcolonial" in the classical sense of the term, applicable to the former British, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch colonies, the "post-communist transition" through which they passed included the disarmament of a certain political and economic "occupation". People had to adapt to the new order, to the new reality, which was a complex process, a difficult one, that implied, many times, exile. Therefore, the purpose of my argument is to present what consequences can occur at the psychological level because of the attempt of adaptation of the characters to the new social and political order, by imitation, postcolonial and post-communist context. And here comes the question: does imitation facilitate adaptation? Although the logical answer would be yes, we will notice, by discussing the two texts, exactly the opposite.


On its surface, technology does not appear to be a topic that is gendered. Both men and women use technology, and it must, therefore, be shaped by those who use it. However, both technology and gender are dependent on cultural, social, and historical contexts. These contexts shape how technologies are designed and used and how technologies and gender is understood. Currently, information technologies are associated with masculinity. In a similar manner, librarianship is gendered. Not only is the demographic makeup of the profession female-intensive, with approximately 80% of all LIS professionals being women, but some have argued that its core professional values, specifically access to information and service, are feminine in nature – as are its traditional activities, specifically cataloguing and children’s librarianship. This chapter closely examines a feminist critique of librarianship by Harris (1992) that argues librarians are embracing technology in an effort to improve the perception of librarianship and make it more masculine. The status of male librarians is examined in light of Harris’s argument, alongside an examination of Library 2.0 and how technology is used as part of its service philosophy. This chapter argues that the relationship between gender and technology is more complex than Harris argues.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 824-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parinita Bhattacharjee ◽  
Linda Campbell ◽  
Raghavendra Thalinja ◽  
Sapna Nair ◽  
Mahesh Doddamane ◽  
...  

While traditional HIV prevention programs with female sex workers (FSWs) in Karnataka, India, have focused on reducing HIV transmission between FSWs and clients through increased condom use, these programs have not fully addressed the transmission risk between FSWs and their nonpaying intimate partners (IPs). Condom use is infrequent and violence is recurrent in these relationships: Furthermore, there is little evidence on the precise nature of FSW–IP relationships. Our study addresses this knowledge gap to inform HIV programs targeted at FSWs. A series of workshops, using participatory tools, was held to explore FSW-IP relationships; 31 FSWs and 37 IPs participated. Three aspects of FSW–IP relationships were examined: how FSWs and IPs understand and interpret their relationships, factors influencing condom use, and the role of violence and its consequences. FSWs wish to be perceived as their IPs’ wives, while IPs expect their FSW partners to accept their dominance in the relationship. Nonuse of condoms signals fidelity and elevates the status of the relationship almost to that of marriage, which helps FSWs enter the category of “good” (married) women. Tolerating and accepting violence in these relationships is normative, as in other marital relationships; IPs justify violence as necessary to establish and maintain their power within the relationship. Both FSWs and IPs value their relationships despite the high degree of risk posed by low condom use and high levels of violence. Implications for program design include addressing current norms around masculinity and gender roles, and improving communication within relationships.


1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Savage

In this paper I offer an introductory survey of Walter Benjamin's writings on cities and urbanism in order to explore the potential value of his insights for urban studies, I address the following issues: the complexity and variety of Benjamin's urban writings; the status of Benjamin's theory of modern urban experience in his thought; the distinct textual strategics developed in his urban writings; and the relationship between memory, the built environment, and historical processes. I argue that Benjamin's concept of ‘aura’ can be used to place his interest in cities and urbanisim in context, I conclude with the suggestion that these notions can usefully inform current writings in urban studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Strange

Abstract In May 2018, voters in the Republic of Ireland passed a referendum proposal to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, lifting the Irish state’s near-total ban on abortion. Scholars have argued that Ireland’s abortion ban has historically played a key role in the construction of Irish national identity along Catholic, traditional, and heteronormative lines, meaning the lead-up to the vote allowed for key insights into the discursive construction of national identity and gender in Ireland. Drawing on theoretical discussions in both the nationalism and Linguistic Landscape (LL) literature and adopting a qualitative, multimodal approach to analyse the referendum campaign’s LL, I argue that there was a dominant understanding of the relationship between women and Irish national identity, predicated on a positive stance towards Irish identity, while any dissenting voices which questioned whether advancing gender equality was compatible with nationalist ideology were confined to the margins of the debate.


2018 ◽  
pp. 54-69
Author(s):  
Ásta

A conferralist interpretation of the status of sex and gender on the post-Beauvoirean feminist picture is offered as well as an interpretation and critique of Judith Butler’s accounts of gender and sex. On the post-Beauvoirean picture sex is biologically given and gender is the cultural meaning of it. Butler offers a reorientation of the relationship between gender and sex, where what counts as sex and a sexed body is determined by gender practices. Male and female are regulative ideals masquerading as biological givens that justify gender practices. The author makes use of the notion of a game, Austinean exercitives, Hegel’s account of subjectification and objectification, and Kant’s Copernican revolution to flesh out the details of her interpretation of Butler before offering her critique of the position, which will set up her own account, offered in the subsequent chapter.


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