Penelope’s Subordinated Agency

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-202
Author(s):  
Joel P. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Cultural Discourse ◽  
Internalized Oppression ◽  
Traditional Roles ◽  
The Way

This chapter offers a longer reading of Penelope alone to examine the ways in which her own agency is curbed by the expectations of social roles and varying levels of internalized oppression. It considers how the Homeric depiction of Penelope may be understood as relying on and re-enforcing psychologically damaging discourse about women. Even though Penelope is easily the most complex woman depicted in Homeric poetry, readings that emphasize her complexity tend to overlook the way her “behavior is imposed on her by her impossible role as faithful wife of a man who is absent.” The chapter then argues that Penelope's characterization is limited to traditional roles and hemmed in by cultural discourse about the weakness of the female body. In addition, Penelope's suffering is instrumentalized: the emotional cost of Odysseus's absence increases the value of his homecoming and delimits idealized behavior for a woman separated from her husband.

Images of the Female Body in Émile Zola's Novels

2021 ◽  
pp. 301-317
Author(s):  
Irina David
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Body ◽  
French Society ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
The Social ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
And Behavior

The aim of this chapter is to highlight how the female body and the social practices that it is subject to are depicted in Émile Zola's literary work as indicators of dominating perceptions in 19th century patriarchal French society with regard to social roles in general and women's role in society in particular. Rather than focusing on an anatomic, biological analysis of the body, the discussion will turn to the body as a social construct, as metaphor for the overall treatment of women as beings whose appearance and behavior have to constantly be regulated for them to no longer constitute a threat to the male-centric society they live in.

THE QUEEN WAS ACTUALLY A MAN: ARWĀ BINT AHMAD AND THE POLITICS OF RELIGION

Arabica ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samer Traboulsi
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Special Relations ◽  
Politics Of Religion ◽  
The Way ◽  
Literary Legacy

AbstractArwā bint Ahmad (d. 532/1137) ruled in Yemen for fifty-five years. She played an important political role and at the same time occupied the highest rank in the Ismā'īlī religious hierarchy after that of the imam. Her religious policies, particularly her special relations with the Fatimids, led to the transfer of the Fatimid literary legacy to Yemen, and hence to its preservation following the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate. She likewise organized the new structure of the Yemeni Ismā'īlī da'wa, thus contributing to its survival after the fall of the Sulayhid dynasty. The proposed paper investigates Arwā's career from two different angles: the Fatimid Egyptian and the Yemen Ismā'īlī. The main point will be the way they dealt with the fact that she was a female ruler. The Fatimid caliph-imam al-Mustansir first issued a decree stating that to follow her was a religious duty. He then appointed her to the rank of huğğa, the highest after that of the imam, in order to give her rule a more emphatic legitimacy. The Yemeni Ismā'īlī position is best represented in al-Sultān al-Hattāb's religious tract Gāyat al-mawālīd, where he argues that Arwā's female body was no more than a body envelope covering her original male essence. The fact that Arwā was a woman posed a serious problem for both the Fatimids and the Yemeni Ismā'īlīs. In each case they tried to deal with it in a way that suited their political and religious interests.

scholarly journals The Concept of ‘Home’ in Palestinian Diaspora Fiction: A Critical Study of Randa Jarrar’s Fiction

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Jameel Ahmed Alghaberi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Creative Space ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

The paper discusses the concepts of ‘home’, ‘cultural identity’, and ‘transnationalism’ in Randa Jarrar’s fiction. Being a diasporic Palestinian American, Randa Jarrar in her debut novel A Map of Home presents a particular view of ‘homeland’ and of what ‘historic Palestine’ means to her. The attempt in this paper is to critically analyze her fiction and to highlight the issues that she tackles as a writer of Palestinian origin. The paper also explores the way Randa Jarrar approaches the concept of ‘home’, and an examination of the relationship between Palestinian diasporas and their homeland-Palestine is presented. There is much wandering that Randa Jarrar is experimenting with in rather a creative space, and there is also a counter-narrative ideology embedded in the novel, a way to resist the stereotypes that have fixed the Middle Eastern female body as propagated in Orientalist discourse. 

Gender and The Christian Traditions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dyan Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Middle Ages

Classical and medieval thinkers had much to say about gendered topics, including proper social roles and relationships for men and women, differing physical and psychological make-ups, and behaviors that might cause blurring between characteristics understood to belong to each sex. The theological arguments and pastoral direction of the Middle Ages relied heavily on precedents drawn from early Christianity, making an understanding of the apostolic and patristic periods essential when examining gender issues. This essay, therefore, addresses debates from both early Christianity and the central Middle Ages, concentrating primarily on discussions about the merits of virginity versus celibacy, but also treating discourse on "virile" women and the effects of the rediscovery of Aristotelian thought on ideas about procreation and the female body. Since these discussions often took place as their authors addressed contemporary crises, they offer an opportunity to examine Christian society's shifting, and often competing, values, especially those pertaining women.

scholarly journals A perspective on a period of contact between Khoi and Afrikaans

Literator ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christo Van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
Social Roles ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Border Area ◽  
European Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way

In the search for the roots of Afrikaans, early linguists focused on similarities between Afrikaans and Dutch. The influence of non-European languages received little attention. In the course of time, the focus of this field of study changed. Closer attention was paid to language in contact situations in different regions where non-Dutch speakers, as well as Dutch speakers were involved. Data gained from these studies contributed to a better understanding of the origin and history of Afrikaans, and gave more answers to earlier unsolved questions. Discussed here are the details and importance of the contact and the interchange of languages among groups in the interior border area. Khoi-Afrikaans and stock farmers’ Afrikaans were both spoken in this region and gradually modified between 1700 and 1800. This could easily have been the most important phase in the history of Afrikaans, in which there were fundamental changes in the way the language was spoken. The circumstances under which contact took place and the change in social roles of these two languages are also discussed. Forms that were at first stigmatised as Khoi-Afrikaans, later became part of the general Afrikaans vocabulary and grammar. The central question is: How did this happen? The shifting of the norms regarding the spoken language in the interior border area can be understood when the sociohistorical situation in which these varieties of Afrikaans were used, is studied closely. One of the results of this contact and interchange between languages, and the gradual shifting in norms that followed, is discussed by way of illustration: the Khoi usage of ‘ons’ as subject and its integration into everyday Afrikaans.

When Journalists See Themselves as Villains: The Power of Negative Discourse

2021 ◽  
pp. 107769902098546
Author(s):  
Ruth Moon
Keyword(s):  
Social Roles ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Media Policy ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Way

This article examines the way journalists talk about themselves and negotiate authority with sources, audiences, and media policy in a postconflict, developmental authoritarian state. Grounded in concepts of metajournalistic discourse and authority, the study shows how members of the journalism field in some contexts embrace a narrative that limits autonomy and situates them as untrustworthy social actors. Interviews collected over a 7-month period in Rwanda show that a shared sense of untrustworthiness defines the contemporary boundaries of the Rwandan journalism field. The findings also suggest that consensus-oriented or postconflict social contexts might encourage journalists to adopt less autonomous social roles.

scholarly journals STUNNING DESTINIES OF FAMOUS STUDENTS OF KHARKOV UNIVERSITY

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Great Role ◽  
Moral Beliefs ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Deputy Chairman ◽  
The Way

In the destiny of a woman at all times, a great role was played by love. Is the life of a woman always wonderful when it is governed by love? The article attempts to answer this question by the example of two student-peers of the same department of Kharkov University. One of them is Galina Arturovna Benislavskaya. She was a journalist, literary worker, friend and literary secretary of Sergei Yesenin, who selflessly loved the poet and became for him “mother-servant”. Her destiny allows us to confirm the opposite: on December 3, 1926, she shot herself at the poet's grave. The article contains little-known facts from her personal life and creativity. Another student is Dvora Israilevna Nezer. They both are outstanding personalities, representatives of the generation of women who fought for gender equality. Unlike G. A. Benislavskaya, the destiny of D. I. Netzer was successful, thanks to the fact that she did not divide her life into constituent parts: love, husband, children, career. Little-known facts of her biography are cited. She was happy in marriage, raised two children (daughter, professor Rina Shapiro – winner of the Israel Prize in the field of education), reached unprecedented political heights for the students of the Kharkov University (she became deputy chairman of the Knesset). It is asserted that irrespective of the choice of profession and the way of its realization, acceptance and reassessment of religious and moral beliefs, political views, the adoption of a set of social roles regarding marriage, motherhood, etc., the harmony of personality plays a decisive role in the destiny of women. At the same time, the author does not deny the great role of love in the life of mankind.

scholarly journals ¿Artista educador o Educador artista? El límite difuso del rol social

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josefina Abara
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
Educational Crisis ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Social ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
The Way

Resumen: Este artículo surge de una experiencia y reflexión personal como artista y profesora en formación, que plantea la crisis cultural y educativa en Chile como el contexto donde opera el sistema tanto artístico como educacional, y que ante la emergencia cultural, desde el rol social del artista surge la necesidad de educar como la única solución. A raíz de esto, posteriormente se aborda el límite difuso entre el rol del artista y el rol del educador estableciendo un  paralelo de factores que constituyen una metodología compartida en el modo de operar de ambos roles, que reflexiona en torno al constante diálogo y tránsito entre estos quehaceres. Finalmente se exponen las fortalezas y debilidades de ambas disciplinas que confirman la interdependencia de los roles en virtud de la misión social compartida. Palabras clave: artista, educador, cultura, pedagogía, rol social, metodología compartida. Abstract: This article arises from a personal experience and reflection as an artist and professor in formation, which considers the cultural and educational crisis as the context where artistic and educationalsystemdeploys, and under the cultural emergency, from the social role of the artist appears the necessity to educate as the only solution. Subsequently approaches the unclear boundaries between the artist and educator social roles, settling a parallel of factors which shows a shared methodology in the way both positions acts, reflecting about the constant dialogue and transition between these roles. Finally considers the virtues and weakness of both disciplines confirming the interdependance of the roles towards the social mission they have in common. Keywords:artist, educator, culture, pedagogy, social role, shared methodology.http://dx.doi.org/10.7203/eari.8.9458

Textualization and Archive in Callimachus’ Hymn to Delos

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-315
Author(s):  
Monica Park
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Cultural Discourse ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Way

This article argues for a new way of reading Hellenistic “literary” hymns, one that situates them in contemporary religious and cultural discourse through the notions of “textualization” and the “cultural archive.” I apply this framework to Callimachus’ Hymn to Delos and show how this hymn became an important part of the articulation of Ptolemaic religion in the context of ritual politics in the third-century Aegean, as well as how it had a lasting impact on the way that the ritual geography of the Cyclades was imagined. Specifically, the analysis spotlights how the hymn successfully links historical and contemporary theoric choral activity with the etymologization of the Cyclades; how it textualizes the island of Kos within the ritual nexus of Delos; and, finally, how it becomes an important part of Greek cultural memory about Delos.

Identity and Writing: the Case of Eastern Sephardic Women

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Elisa Martín Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Gender Studies ◽  
Cultural Minority ◽  
Female Writers ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Traditional Roles ◽  
The Way

Access to written culture, which began to be widespread among Sephardic women in the former Ottoman Empire at the end of the nineteenth century, opens a new perspective in gender studies of the Jewish minority in Muslim societies. Writing constitutes one of the main vehicles through which individuals appropriate their own identity and culture. In this sense, female Eastern Sephardic writers represent a fascinating example of how a cultural minority elaborates its consciousness and the awareness of its past. This article deals with this specific issue: the way that both the first Sephardic female writers and those who followed were able to elaborate a new identity through the act of writing and the awareness of its multiple possibilities. The first Sephardic female writers (Reina Hakohén, Rosa Gabay and Laura Papo) show us their contradictions: the identification with the traditional roles of women, the continuous justifications of their work as writers, the redefinition of what means to be a female writer in the context of Eastern Sephardic societies.

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