Iranian migrant women’s beauty practices and (un)veiling in Belgium

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32
Author(s):  
Ladan Rahbari
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Feminist Studies ◽  
Iranian Women ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Belgian Society ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract The hijab has been considered a notable factor in increasing women’s tendency to practise beauty in Iran. Experiences of beauty practices by Iranian women in diaspora can shed light on the extent of the influence that the practice of (un)veiling might have on beauty regimes. This study uses semi-structured interviews amongst a group of Iranian women in Belgium to investigate the development of beauty practices after migration. The study draws on feminist studies on beauty practices and ethnic/racial identities to explore whether beauty practices create a sense of normalcy or are forms of self-governance in compliance with the dominant discourses of female embodiment. The findings point to the complex intertwinement of racialisation with gendered embodiment and illustrate the strategies that women develop either to embrace their difference or to eliminate the perceived embodied differences and counter racialised othering. The analysis draws on feminist theory to examine participants’ perceptions of the social construction of women’s imagery as migrants and their self-perceptions as racialised minorities in the Belgian society.

The Denial of Competence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Hatt
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teacher Power ◽  
Student Identities ◽  
Sociocultural Processes ◽  
And Gender

The legacy of the social construction of race, class, and gender within the social construction of smartness and identity in US schools are synthesized utilizing meta-ethnography. The study examines ethnographies of smartness and identity while also exploring what meta-ethnography has to offer for qualitative research. The analyses demonstrate that race, class, and gender are key factors in how student identities of ability or smartness are constructed within schools. The meta-ethnography reveals a better understanding of the daily, sociocultural processes in schools that contribute to the denial of competence to students across race, class, and gender. Major themes include epistemologies of schooling, learning as the production of identity, and teacher power in shaping student identities. The results are significant in that new insights are revealed into how gender, class, and racial identities develop within the daily practices of classrooms about notions of ability.

scholarly journals Communicating for Systemic Change

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Jonathan Oosterman
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Systemic Change ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
The Social ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Shed Light

The climate crisis significantly magnifies the urgency of implementing systemic change. Globally, we have little time remaining in which to bring about the social, political, and economic transformation needed to avoid triggering amplifying feedbacks and runaway climate chaos. In this context, a core challenge is how to mobilise people and inspire widespread action to create this transformation. Understanding current approaches to climate communication is crucial for ensuring that our communication practices play the vital role they will need to in the coming decades. In this article, I do not aim to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines that define effective climate communication. My primary aim is to understand current communication practices. To achieve this, I take a movement-centred activist-scholarship approach to research on climate communication decision-making via in-depth semi-structured interviews with 14 members of the New Zealand climate movement. My intent is to synthesise the perspectives and experiences of New Zealand climate movement participants. Through this, I hope to offer a useful analysis of significant dynamics in climate communication and shed light on dynamics in systemic change communication more broadly.  

scholarly journals Energy and Culture, The Social Construction of the Myanmar-China Pipelines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeremy Todd
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Resource Ownership ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
Shed Light

<p>Transnational oil and gas pipelines have a troublesome history of disagreements and disputes that in many cases have led to a cessation of supply. While geopolitics and weak international institutions are often pointed to as explanations, considering pipelines as social as well as material constructs can also shed light on why disputes emerge. This paper will consider the social construction of the Myanmar-China pipelines. In China, the pipelines are seen as the solution to China’s ‘Malacca dilemma’. In Myanmar, the changing political situation has allowed new actors to contest the military junta’s narrative of economic development and the pipelines have become a lightning rod for national conversations about local resource ownership, social and environmental norms and Chinese exploitation of Myanmar’s energy resources.</p>

scholarly journals Social Construction of Extremism: Case Study of South Punjab

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-305
Author(s):  
Sidra Jamil ◽  
Naeem Ahmed ◽  
Sibghat U. Bajwa ◽  
Nazar Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Sample Population ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Composition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethnographic Observation

South Punjab, the land of Sufi saints, and epitome of peace and love has transformed into the fulcra of militancy in last two decades. The current study draws the connection between society (social-organisation) and social interaction with the construction of individual’s perceptions and behaviours. The study also underscores the flaws lie in the social composition of society of South Punjab that contributes to the construction of violent perceptions and behaviours, and trigger individuals to join militant wings. The research was conducted in Multan- a district of South Punjab.  The qualitative methods: ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews are used in this research. Purpose sampling is used to select sample population encompassing people from diverse social backgrounds. The findings of the research unfold those prime social institutions including religion, education, economic and government are mal-functioning, due to which region became heartland of militancy.

Religion, Race, and Popular Culture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lerone A. Martin ◽  
J. Kameron Carter
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Religious History ◽  
American Religious History ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
The Social

This chapter discusses the intersection of race, religion, and popular culture. Race is posited here not as synonymous with people of color, but rather as an analytic category that examines the social construction and very real reality of racialization: the process of becoming and identifying whiteness, blackness, and so on. Two broad approaches to the study of race, religion, and popular culture are examined: Popular Culture in Religion, and Religion as or in Popular Culture. The chapter then offers a brief overview of how these two approaches have both broadened standard narratives of American religious history as well as illuminated scholarly understandings of how religio-racial identities are constructed, perpetuated, challenged, and queered through the use of popular culture forms such as print, phonograph, radio, televangelism, celebrity, and hip-hop.

WOMEN IN BLOCKCHAIN: DISCOURSE & PRACTICE IN THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Frizzo-Barker
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Value Transfer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Shaping ◽  
Discourse Practice

Blockchain is an emerging technology characterized by peer-to-peer value transfer, decentralization, and democratic ideals of consensus. It also has a stark gender problem, with women representing just 14% of those participating in the space. This paper is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with women who work in blockchain, and participant observation at 17 blockchain meetups and conferences. The gendered discourses and practices surrounding blockchain events provide a productive site for examining the social construction of technologies, and more specifically the gendered social shaping of technologies. I use the theoretical lens of technofeminism, which strikes a balance between technophilia and technophobia, to explore the complex ways in which women’s everyday lives and technological change interrelate in the age of digitization. This co-construction approach challenges the prevailing discourses of technologies like blockchain as neutral and value-free. The goal of my study is not to ask or answer questions such as, “why aren’t there more women in blockchain?” or “how can we attract more women into blockchain?” Rather, I examine the gendered sociotechnical relations surrounding blockchain, as exemplified by discourses and practices at meetups and conferences. For instance, ‘by women, for women’ blockchain meetups serve as important spaces of resistance and support, whereas ‘women in blockchain’ panels at blockchain conferences ring hollow as ‘inclusive’ gestures, instead highlighting the exclusive culture at play. My findings explore how women’s identities and experiences are both enabled and constrained, often simultaneously, through participation in the blockchain space.

Social work, participation, and poverty

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrien Boone ◽  
Griet Roets ◽  
Rudi Roose
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Work Participation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nancy Fraser ◽  
Shed Light

Summary Although participatory social work approaches have been considered as a fruitful strategy, critical questions are raised in relation to the social justice aspirations of participatory social work with people in poverty. Inspired by the work of Nancy Fraser, we provide an in-depth insight in the complexities of supporting participatory parity in ‘Associations where People in Poverty Raise their Voice’. Combining semi-structured interviews and focus groups with practitioners in these organisations, we shed light on the complexities of the ‘how’, the ‘who’, and the ‘what’ of social justice that arise in such participatory practice. Findings Our findings suggest that even in practices that situate the principle of participatory parity at the heart of their fight for social justice, power asymmetries and social inequalities require attention. Exclusionary mechanisms become apparent in how practitioners try to support participatory parity of people in poverty in the different components in the organisation. When practitioners try to overcome these exclusionary effects, a sheer complexity and inescapable power struggles become visible. Moreover, the ambiguity of how practitioners attempt to empower people in poverty and enhance structural change leads to tensions between affirmative and transformative strategies in the fight against poverty. Applications Practitioners should be aware that they will never be able to resolve or escape inherent complexities in their attempts to work on a par with people in poverty. Nevertheless, it remains valuable to make continuous efforts to inform the public debate about the socially unjust nature of poverty and social inequality in our societies.

Strengthening whom?

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Astrid Siegmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Labour Migration ◽  
Stay Behind ◽  
Shed Light

This article investigates the role of international labour migration from Pakistan’s Northwest for the sending communities’ social resilience. It focuses on the implications of male out‐migration for the women who stay behind. This article refers to Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to shed light on the gendered nature of vulnerability and resilience. Contradictions identified between heightened vulnerability at the level of individual women and strengthened resilience of the household underline the social construction of scale in the analysis of resilience. With his emphasis on material as well as symbolic resources determining opportunities and well‐being, Bourdieu provides an analytical key for the identification of such ‘uncomfortable layers of resilience’.

scholarly journals The social construction of technological stasis: The stagnating data structure in OpenStreetMap

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395171879059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Plennert
Keyword(s):  
Data Structure ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Software Engineers ◽  
Shed Light

The article aims for examining the ‘technological stasis’ of the data structure in OpenStreetMap – the successful global collaborative geodata project devoted to ‘create and distribute free geographic data for the world’. Digital structures are strongly influenced by continuing stagnation. This technological stasis – the lack of change in technology – influences data in various ways, as demonstrated by the intensive discussion of the issue by computer scientists and software engineers. However, existing research describing stagnating software is often technic centred and fuzzy, while critical research is barely considering issues of technological stasis in the digital context at all. Therefore, this paper aims for enriching this body of knowledge in order to shed light on aging data structures. I reframe technological stasis with a social-constructivist perspective – using the approach of Social Construction of Technology – especially with the concept of technological frames. Based on the case example of OpenStreetMap, my findings suggest that the data structure – and its stasis – is the outcome of competing understandings and perspectives, shaped by power asymmetries. Although the data structure did not significantly change for more than 10 years, I demonstrate that this is not because of a lack of motivation, nor technological difficulties of carrying out such changes. The technological stasis is rather rooted in the dominant position of few project members who are able to change the software design; it is their perception of the project that defines how data should be stored and what features are dispensable.

The Return of Nature: Feminism, Hegemonic Masculinities, and New Materialisms

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Garlick
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
Men And Masculinities

It has generally been taken for granted within the field of Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities (CSMM) that the object of attention and concern is to be found within “the social” and in opposition to naturalizing claims about gender. Nature is not entirely absent from CSMM, often appearing either as malleable material or as a stable basis for the social construction of bodies. In this article, however, I suggest that the time is ripe to develop new concepts of nature by drawing on new materialist theories that are increasingly influential within feminist theory. This move opens up the possibility of strengthening the connections between materialist traditions in CSMM and contemporary developments in feminist theory. This article proceeds by reviewing different forms of materialism within feminist theory and argues that new materialist theories offer insights that can benefit CSMM. In particular, I argue that the theory of hegemonic masculinity needs to be expanded beyond the framework of patriarchy and recast in relation to the place of nature in the complex ecology of human social relations.

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