scholarly journals The Effects of Transfer of Learning and Literacy: An Analysis of Graffiti and Sgraffitiin the City of Johannesburg

Author(s):  
Farai Chinangure ◽  
Lawrence Mapaire

The study examined the social effects of graffiti as pieces of writing or drawings scribbled, scratched or sprayed on surfaces of public toilets or bus termini. The study followed a qualitative exploratory design in which the researchers observed the messages expressed in the graffiti and conducted a discourse analysis on their effects on the moral fabric of society. Themes and perceptions towards some societal ills emerged from the analysis. The main aim of the study was thus to unravel the possible social issues expressed through this art of graffiti and sgraffitti. A purposive total sample size of 10 public toilets and bus termini was used for the study. Among the major findings of this study was the view that the messages conveyed through the graffiti and sgraffitti expressed a disapproval and distaste of such anti-social acts as promiscuity, prostitution and crime that are prevalent in the city of Johannesburg and its environs. In addition, gender based violence, stereotypes prejudices and stigmas against women, homosexuality and HIV/AIDS were among the dominant graffiti and sgrafitto messages. The study concluded that although graffiti and sgraffitti artists tend to deform and deface some public utilities, their call for normative social behaviour in society shows that there is a need to deconstruct a number of societal biases such as gender biases, sex, sexual orientation, stigmas, stereotypes and other prejudices associated with the diverse nature of the human species. The recommendation made by this study is that there is a dire need for advocacy by social workers, the city fathers, the metro police division and other human rights organisations to deconstruct and demystify certain human practices, acts and mind sets.

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-18
Author(s):  
Magdalena Pfalzgraf

Valerie Tagwira’s debut novel The Uncertainty of Hope, set in Harare in 2005, depicts the city on the brink of collapse, characterized by the effects of economic crisis and political violence against the urban poor. Political marginalization of the working classes and gender-based violence intersect and diminish the prospects for the social and spatial mobility of the urban poor. In this article I apply the lens of flânerie to the pedestrian movements of Tagwira’s protagonist Onai Moyo, an impoverished woman who makes a living by selling vegetables on Harare’s streets. In order to make a case for Onai’s ‘flânerie against all odds’, I revisit Walter Benjamin’s theorization as well as recent scholarly engagements with flânerie in non-European settings. By giving her protagonist a gaze traditionally associated with a European middle-class urbanity of the 19th century, Tagwira expands a tradition of city writing/walking and, like other contemporary engagements with flânerie, also breathes new life into a concept often pronounced inappropriate or unproductive for readings of non-European literature. 


Matatu ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 444-455
Author(s):  
Hugh Ellis

Abstract The practice of performance or ‘spoken word’ poetry has gained a significant foothold among the youth in urban Namibia in the last two decades. While this poetry has been put to many socio-political uses, one of the main ones has been a protest against patriarchal elements in Namibian society and culture, and an outcry against Namibia’s high rates of gender-based violence. Patriarchal aspects of Namibia’s national culture are often explicitly linked to violence and to the intersectional nature of oppression. Spoken word poetry has also often given LGBT+ women a space to speak out against their oppression and to normalise their existence. This article shows how women performers have used and modified the conventions of poetry and song to get this challenging—in the Namibian context often radical—message across. The paper argues that poetry in this context has the potential to approximate a localised ‘public sphere’ where inclusive discourse can be held around social issues—bearing mind that people are not excluded from this discourse because of arbitrary reasons such as gender or sexuality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-334
Author(s):  
Mauro Machado do Prado ◽  
Ana Paula de Castro Neves ◽  
Nathália Machado Cardoso Dardeau de Albuquerque

O presente trabalho consiste em um estudo qualitativo das representações sociais de imigrantes venezuelanas na América do Sul no período de 2016 a 2019, a partir de manchetes de notícias divulgadas em jornais digitais brasileiros. O objetivo é verificar a ocorrência ou não de veiculações que constituam de forma explícita ou implícita uma violação à dignidade e aos direitos dessas mulheres, ao fomentar ou incitar a xenofobia e a violência de gênero na sociedade através de palavras, frases ou expressões capazes de provocar um aniquilamento simbólico. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo bibliográfico e documental acerca das vulnerabilidades sociais presentes nos processos imigratórios contemporâneos, que foi consubstanciado com a análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 2009), em abordagem qualitativa, de manchetes publicadas em jornais digitais brasileiros. A partir da análise realizada, foi possível inferir que estes veículos de comunicação vêm frequentemente descrevendo a migração venezuelana como um problema, mas em conotação negativa, sem o cuidado de descrição do contexto de forma mais clara e abrangente da questão a ser noticiada.   Xenofobia y violencia de género: un análisis de los titulares de las mujeres venezolanas en el periodismo web brasileño El presente trabajo consiste en un estudio cualitativo de las representaciones sociales de los inmigrantes venezolanos en América del Sur en el período de 2016 a 2019, a partir de titulares de noticias publicados en periódicos digitales brasileños. El objetivo es verificar la ocurrencia o no de colocaciones que constituyan explícita o implícitamente una violación a la dignidad y derechos de estas mujeres, al promover o incitar la xenofobia y la violencia de género en la sociedad a través de palabras, frases o expresiones capaces de provocar una aniquilación simbólica. Para ello, se realizó un estudio bibliográfico y documental sobre las vulnerabilidades sociales presentes en los procesos migratorios contemporáneos, el cual fue fundamentado con análisis de contenido (BARDIN, 2009), en un enfoque cualitativo, de titulares publicados en diarios digitales brasileños. Del análisis realizado, se pudo inferir que estos medios de comunicación han venido describiendo muchas veces la migración venezolana como un problema, pero en una connotación negativa, sin preocuparse por describir de manera más clara y completa el contexto del tema a reportar. Palabras clave: Derechos humanos de la mujer. La violencia de género. Xenofobia. Periodismo web.   Xenophobia and gender violence: an analysis of headings broadcasted in brazilian webjornalism on venezuelan women The present work consists of a qualitative study of the social representations of Venezuelan immigrants in South America in the period from 2016 to 2019, based on news headlines published in Brazilian digital newspapers. The objective is to verify the occurrence or not of placements that explicitly or implicitly constitute a violation of the dignity and rights of these women, by promoting or inciting xenophobia and gender violence in society through words, phrases or expressions capable of provoking a symbolic annihilation. To this end, a bibliographic and documentary study was carried out on the social vulnerabilities present in contemporary immigration processes, which was substantiated with content analysis (BARDIN, 2009), in a qualitative approach, of headlines published in Brazilian digital newspapers. From the analysis carried out, it was possible to infer that these media outlets have often been describing Venezuelan migration as a problem, but in a negative connotation, without taking care to describe the context more clearly and comprehensively of the issue to be reported. Keywords: Women’s human rights. Gender-based violence. Xenophobia. Webjournalism.


Author(s):  
Susan Scott Parrish

This chapter considers the mainstream white public's growing dissatisfaction with the particular forms of representation that the flood seemed to produce. On May 29, 1927, the New York Times complained of the flood that “the very sweep of such a tragedy makes it hard to grasp it in its full significance.” A June 15 editorial in The Nation agreed: “people can stand only so much calamity. After a while it begins to pall and finally it has no meaning whatever.” The flood had become unsatisfying news because of both its scale and its duration. What was also unsatisfying was the messy cadaverous muck of human failure. Meanwhile, as the social issues and human practices that had turned cyclical overflow into disaster in the first place began to manifest themselves still more visibly in the disaster's developments, a print practice of exposure and blame emerged.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Isaza-Arias ◽  
Andrés A Agudelo-Suárez ◽  
Cielo J Chicangana ◽  
Julián Alfredo Fernández-Niño

Abstract Background gender-based violence is considered a phenomenon of importance in the field of public health and social sciences. From a social determinants’ perspective, it seems important to study this topic in social groups considered as vulnerable, in order to establish prevention strategies. This study aims to explore the experiences of gender-based violence and its social determinants in a group of undocumented pregnant women in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia.Methods qualitative study based on 15 semi-structured interviews with undocumented pregnant Venezuelans residing in the district of Barranquilla. The interview guide included various dimensions in order to discover the opinions and experiences of each participant related to their migration process, their health during pregnancy, experiences of gender-based violence, individual and institutional responses to violence and, lastly, the health care they have received in Colombia. Narrative contents analysis was carried out by means of emergent categories from the perspective of the interviewed women. Ethical considerations for gender-based violence studies were taking into consideration.Results interviewed women migrated from Venezuela to Barranquilla in Colombia motivated to improve their quality of life and for their families. In the adaptation process, some women reported having been victims of physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence, which can be associated with their vulnerability conditions related to their pregnancy and motherhood, economic dependency, lack of networks of support and insecurity of the sectors in which they resided. This situation affected their physical, mental and psychosocial health.Conclusion immigrant pregnant women in Barranquilla are in an especial situation of social vulnerability considering their experiences about gender-based violence, and its social determinants related to the migratory process and their adaptations to the Colombian territory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-105
Author(s):  
Amy Piedalue ◽  
Amanda Gilbertson ◽  
Kalissa Alexeyeff ◽  
Elise Klein

Changing social norms has become the preferred approach in global efforts to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). In this article, we trace the rise of social norms within GBV-related policy and practice and their transformation from social processes that exist in the world to beliefs that exist in the minds of individuals. The analytic framework that underpins social norms approaches has been subject to ongoing critical revision but continues to have significant issues in its conceptualisation of power and its sidelining of the political economy. These issues are particularly apparent in the use of individualised measures of social norms that cannot demonstrate causation, and conflation of social norms with culture. Recognising that the pressure to measure may be a key factor in reducing the complexity of the social norms approach, we call for the use of mixed methods in documenting the factors and processes that contribute to GBV and the effectiveness of interventions. As social norms approaches are increasingly prioritised over addressing the non-normative contributors to GBV (such as access to and control over productive resources), awareness of the limitations of social norms approaches is vital.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 180-198
Author(s):  
Witold Mandrysz

By introducing the assumptions of social participation into the practice of implementing revitalization projects, we assume that through dialogue, even if sometimes difficult, a compromise and agreement can be reached, which may result in cooperation in the implementation of a given project. The aim of this text is to present a practical application of the idea of dialogue and social participation, the theoretical context of which was de-scribed in the first part of the text in the process of developing and implementing the Local Revitalization Pro-gram of the City of Wojkowice which was reported in the second part of it. Civil dialogue can be understood as a more or less institutionalized form of conducting broad social consultations in the aspect of planning, solving and making decisions on socially important issues in a given group or community. Anna Olech and Tomasz Kaźmierczak (2011), proposed four models of public participa-tion. The basis for their separation and differentiation is the level and scope of their influence on the decision-making process of various social partners. The presented considerations refer to the experience and observations collected during the project titled Wojkowickie Social Revitalisation Laboratory implemented as part of the project entitled Silesian revitalization programs – support for municipalities, financed under the Operational Program Technical Assistance 2014–2020. The Social Work Unit of the Institute of Sociology, US team was involved in the work on the development of the Local Regeneration Program, especially in relation to the social issues of this document. Referring to the models of participation carried out in the revitalization activities referred by Krzysztof Skalski, it can be stated that the activities undertaken in the process of developing the Local Revitalization Pro-gram in the City of Wojkowice are close to the model with the highest degree of participation. Another issue is whether the idea of broad social participation will be maintained in practice at the implementation stage of this program.


Author(s):  
Jyoti Belur ◽  
Priti Parikh ◽  
Nayreen Daruwalla ◽  
Rukaiya Joshi ◽  
Rini Fernandes

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