The Social Reference Frame: Cultural Practices We Call “Law”

2016 ◽  
pp. 121-153
Keyword(s):  
Reference Frame ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Reference

scholarly journals “Redha tu Ikhlas”: The Social–Textual Significance of Islamic Virtue in Malay Forced Marriage Narratives

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 310
Author(s):  
Alicia Izharuddin
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
Marital Relations ◽  
Love Stories ◽  
God's Will ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mediated Discourse ◽  
Marital Success ◽  
Do So

What accounts for the endurance of forced marriage (kahwin paksa) narratives in Malaysian public culture? How does one explain the ways popular fascination with forced marriage relate to assumptions about heteronormative institutions and practices? In a society where most who enter into marriages do so based on individual choice, the enduring popularity of forced marriage as a melodramatic trope in fictional love stories suggests an ambivalence about modernity and egalitarianism. This ambivalence is further excavated by illuminating the intertextual engagement by readers, publishers and booksellers of Malay romantic fiction with a mediated discourse on intimacy and cultural practices. This article finds that forced marriage in the intimate publics of Malay romance is delivered as a kind of melodramatic mode, a storytelling strategy to solve practical problems of experience. Intertextual narratives of pain and struggle cast light on ‘redha’ (submission to God’s will) and ‘sabar’ (patience), emotional virtues that are mobilised during personal hardship and the challenge of maintaining successful marital relations. I argue that ‘redha’ and ‘sabar’ serve as important linchpins for the reproduction of heteronormative institutions and wifely obedience (taat). This article also demonstrates the ways texts are interwoven in the narratives about gender roles, intimacy, and marital success (or lack thereof) and how they relate to the modes of romantic melodrama.

Dream-Sharing and Human Self-Domestication

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Blagrove ◽  
Julia Lockheart
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Dream Sharing ◽  
Experimental Findings

There are many theories of the function of dreams, such as memory consolidation, emotion processing, threat simulation and social simulation. In general, such theories hold that the function of dreams occurs within sleep; occurs for unrecalled dreams as well as for dream that are recalled on awakening; and that conscious recall of dreams is not necessary for their function to occur. In contrast, we propose that dreams have an effect of enhancing empathy and group bonding when dreams are shared and discussed with others. We propose also that this effect would have occurred in history and pre-history and, as it would have enhanced the cohesiveness and mutual understanding of group members, the fictional and engaging characteristics of dream content would have been selected for during human social evolution, interacting with cultural practices of dream-sharing. Such dream-sharing may have taken advantage of the long REM periods that occur for biological reasons near the end of the night. Dream-production and dream-sharing may have developed alongside story-telling, utilising common neural mechanisms. Dream-sharing hence would have contributed to Human Self-Domestication, held by many researchers to be the primary driver of the evolution of human prosociality, tolerance and reduced intragroup emotional reactivity. We note that within-sleep theories of dream function rely on correlational rather than experimental findings, and have as yet untested and speculative mechanisms, whereas post-sleep effects of dream-sharing are easily testable and have mechanisms congruent with the social processes proposed by the theory of Human Self-Domestication.

scholarly journals The Spaces of Nostalgia(s) and the Politics of Belonging in Contemporary Chernivtsi, Western Ukraine

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 218-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Koziura
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Second World War ◽  
City Center ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
The Social ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World

This article is part of the special cluster titled Bukovina and Bukovinians after the Second World War: (Re)shaping and (re)thinking a region after genocide and ‘ethnic unmixing’, guest edited by Gaëlle Fisher and Maren Röger. This article explores ways in which Habsburg nostalgia has become an important factor in contemporary place-making strategies in the city of Chernivtsi, Western Ukraine. Through the analysis of diasporic homecomings, city center revitalization, and nationalist rhetoric surrounding the politics of monuments, I explore hybrid and diverse ways in which Habsburg nostalgia operates in a given setting. Rather than a static and homogenous form of place attachment, in Chernivtsi different cultural practices associated with Habsburg nostalgia coexist with each other and depending on the political context as well as the social position of the “nostalgic agents” manifest themselves differently. Drawing from my long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that in order to fully understand individuals’ attachment to space, it is necessary to grasp both the subtle emotional ways in which the city is experienced by individuals as well as problematize the role of the built environment in the visualization of collective memory and emotions of particular groups. The focus on changing manifestations of the Habsburg nostalgia can bring then a better understanding of the range and scope of the city’s symbolic resources that might be mobilized for various purposes.

The dress: Theme and self-presentation in online Australian wedding planning fora

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
Brenda Laskey ◽  
Lesley Stirling
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
New Media ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Cultural Object ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
The Social

This investigation of the discourse of Australian women in the ‘new media’ context of online special interest advice fora contributes to theory about the ways in which language encodes cultural practices and mediates the social construction of identity. The linguistic self-presentation of participants in 588 asynchronous written posts to wedding planning fora was analysed. Prevalent themes were identified inductively and the degree to which each identified theme was evident in the data was measured. The study uncovered ways in which group membership criteria were expressed and found that traditional ideals of feminine perfection were reinforced. A focus of the investigation was the ways in which the participants spoke about the wedding dress. At times, it was referred to using personification as though it were a proxy for a lover. On other occasions, it appeared to function as a representation of the writer’s idealized bridal self. It emerged as a highly significant cultural object which conferred a special but temporary identity.

scholarly journals A Field Guide for Teaching Evolution in the Social Sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristine Legare ◽  
John Opfer ◽  
Justin Busch ◽  
Andrew Shtulman
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Field Guide ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
The Social ◽  
Evolution Understanding

The theory of evolution by natural selection has begun to revolutionize our understanding of perception, cognition, language, social behavior, and cultural practices. Despite the centrality of evolutionary theory to the social sciences, many students, teachers, and even scientists struggle to understand how natural selection works. Our goal is to provide a field guide for social scientists on teaching evolution, based on research in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and education. We synthesize what is known about the psychological obstacles to understanding evolution, methods for assessing evolution understanding, and pedagogical strategies for improving evolution understanding. We review what is known about teaching evolution about nonhuman species and then explore implications of these findings for the teaching of evolution about humans. By leveraging our knowledge of how to teach evolution in general, we hope to motivate and equip social scientists to begin teaching evolution in the context of their own field.

scholarly journals Intercultural practicum: Perceptual learning through video in the pandemic context

Teachers Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1and2) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Dawn Joseph ◽  
Richard Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
International Student ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Other ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Travel Restrictions

In our work with Australian initial teacher education (ITE) students our emphasis is on encouraging students to understand different cultural practices. Drawing on narrative reflection, we discuss intercultural and pedagogical concerns in which ITE students undertake international practicums. We recognise these students have a predominantly Western lens when undertaking practicums in Asian countries. To address this issue a video A Day in the Life… of Tamil School Children (https://youtu.be/vPdiogRR-Ig) in India was produced to change, improve and help students learn about the social and cultural environment of the ‘international student’. Students who took part in previous international practicums agreed that the video was an effective tool for cultural familiarisation. During this time of COVID-19 with travel restrictions abroad, the video resource serves as an effective visual pedagogy to build cultural understanding, embrace diversity, enable perceptual learning and empowering students to cultivate intercultural understandings of ‘the other’.

scholarly journals The Psychological Deterioration of Characters and Elements of Myth in Girish Karnad’s Play Yayati

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 4479-4484
Author(s):  
Mousoomi Aslam. A , Dr. V.S. Bindhu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Common People ◽  
Realistic Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Human Psyche

This paper attempts to study the psychological degeneration of characters and the presence of mythical elements in the play Yayati. Karnad traverses through unfathomable depths of old Indian mythology to make the social and cultural problems that reflects the traditional Indian society. He portrays a modern context of characters by the amalgamation of symbols. His plays are usually found very close to common people with a very realistic approach towards the issues of humans. He used not only myths to frame the plot but also to pinpoint the human psyche and cultural practices in the society. He took mythical elements from the Mahabharatha with an intention to examine the ludicrousness of life with all its fundamental passions and crisis. The play focuses on man’s eternal struggle to achieve perfection, dreams and desires.

scholarly journals Χορευτική-μουσική ταυτότητα και ετερότητα

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Χρήστος Παπακώστας
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Positive Perspective ◽  
The Times ◽  
Dynamic Quality

The present dissertation aims at studying dancing and music and the relationship between these two forms of culture in the construction of the cultural identity of the Roma in Heracleia of the Prefecture of Serres. Nowadays, Heracleia is a town with 4,000 residents. Its population has a mixed ethnological composition: Vlachs, natives (Greek speakers, and Slavic speakers), refugees, Sarakachans, Roma and Gypsies. In the past Heracleia was known as Tzumaya and was flourishing both financially and culturally thanks to its geographical position in the times of the Ottoman Empire and thanks to its famous bazaar. Thus, for a more complete understanding of the changes and transitions that took place it is significant to embody history as a new fundamental framework of interpretation. An important research tool for the accentuation of the principal arguments of thedissertation is the space. In this specific experiential paradigm the construction of identities and the distinction between the ethnic groups is also reflected on the organization of space. The neighborhood, the space of the Roma(sedentary gypsies), is juxtaposed to the respective neighborhood of the Vlachs, the market. Thus, the space is not only examined a “geography” but as a historical and dynamic category connected and interacting with culture. The dynamic quality of dancing and music, the ethnic mosaic and the history of Heracleia and the neighboring area as well as the continuous mobility of the Roma musicians invites us to investigate if there is actually a total isomorphism of space and culture. Music and dancing are not seen as static and fixed cultural phenomena but as historical, dynamic and fluid categories that are the object of negotiation of collective identities and variants. Dancing and music are simultaneously products and processes and do not merely reflect the social structures but are closely related to the cultural identity of a group. For the transgression of the dichotomy structure/action we adopt the theory of practice (Bourdieu 1977). In this way, dancing and music become cultural practices, by which the Roma of Heracleia handle their cultural identity in any historical conditions. Especially in the case of the Roma, this approach is even more helpful, because, as a social group with a low social status, within music and dancing they are given the chance to re-determine their identity in relation to the others. That is to say that by applying various practices of resistance, acquiescence, conflict and acceptance, they attempt to give a positive perspective to their cultural identity. In the framework of this dissertation the dancing phenomenon in the neighbourhood of the Roma and the music, as a prominent form of their professional activity, are examined.

scholarly journals First occupants: the erosion of indigenous sovereignty through legal narratives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Court System ◽  
Land Claim ◽  
Indigenous Nations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Narratives ◽  
History Of ◽  
Indigenous Sovereignty

Land claim cases within Canada have yielded mostly small wins for Indigenous nations. While certain cases represent success in reinstating rights to cultural practices, granting certain levels of autonomy, and acknowledging rights to land use for culturally relevant activities, overriding sovereignty rests with Canada. Even land claim cases deemed successful are still adjudicated within the Canadian court system, and it is the nation-state of Canada that determines the validity of Indigenous claims to traditional territories. In this paper, I explore the discursive and narrative devices utilized within judicial rulings that uphold Crown sovereignty and deny Indigenous sovereignty. I argue that Indigenous sovereignty is undermined in legal discourse through the use of concealed narrative acts, which serve to sterilize racialized legal doctrines and distort the social and political history of relations between Indigenous nations and the Crown.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Siobhán Hearne
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Custodial Care ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Economic Landscape

This chapter maps prostitution onto the shifting social, political, and economic landscape of modernizing Russia. It outlines the system for the regulation of prostitution in the Russian Empire and pays attention to the significant expansion of the system during late nineteenth-century industrialization and urbanization. The chronological setting of the study is analysed as a period of flux, in which social identities, cultural practices, and traditional gender roles were destabilized. Amid this fluctuation, the imperial authorities attempted to tighten their grip over the Empire’s vast lower class population, using emerging technologies (such as photography, fingerprinting, and statistical analysis) to ‘know’ and monitor those at the social margins. Women who sold sex were certainly one key focus of this attention, as local police forces attempted to compile accurate records of their names, ages, addresses, social classes, and ethnicities. Thereafter, the chapter explores how the Russian imperial state attempted to enforce a paternalistic relationship between those in authority and their subjects. Official approaches to the Empire’s lower classes combined strict discipline with custodial care and supervision. This paternalism was at the heart of the state regulation of prostitution, under which officialdom monitored the bodies and behaviour of registered prostitutes, and to a certain extent, their clients and managers.

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