Upheaval and reinvention in celebrity interviews: Emotional reflexivity and the therapeutic self in late modernity

The disruptions of life in late modernity render self-identity fragile. Consequently, individuals must reflexively manage their emotions and periodically reinvent themselves to maintain a coherent narrative of the self. The rise of psychology as a discursive regime across the 20th century, and its intersections with a plethora of wellness industries, has furnished a new language of selfhood and greater public attention to emotions and personal narratives of suffering. Celebrities, who engage in public identity work to ensure their continued relatability, increasingly provide models for navigating emotional trials. In this article we explore representations of selfhood and identity work in celebrity interviews. We focus on media veterans Nigella Lawson and Ruby Wax, both of whom are skilled in re-storying the self after personal crises. We argue that interpretive capital as a peculiarly late modern resource confers emotional advantages and life chances on individuals as they navigate upheavals, uncertainties, and intimate dilemmas.

Good Boy Gone Bad

This chapter details Zayn’s construction of “post boy band masculinity.” His departure from One Direction instigated an extensive reconfiguration of his public identity, and the bulk of the chapter concerns the creation of discursive distance between his solo persona and his boy band past. The chapter opens with a thorough assessment of the prevailing prejudices that characterize boy bands as innocent, immature, and inauthentic. It is in response to such prejudices, it is argued, that Zayn’s transformation was undertaken in a bid to authenticate his solo persona in both musical and masculine terms. This is achieved in the music video, Pillowtalk (2016), wherein a sonic alignment with rock idioms and the audiovisual construction of a seductive dreamscape largely maintains gender norms and affirm his heterosexual virility. At the same time, Zayn’s openness about mental health issues and his devotion to fashion have spurred descriptions of him as ushering in new ways of being masculine. These contradictory facets of his persona indicate that even seemingly heteronormative expressions of identity may contain potentially subversive aspects, and vice versa.

'Ni Una Menos': A women's social movement contesting gender-based violence in Arequipa, Peru

<p>Ni Una Menos (NUM) is a social movement that since 2015 has spread through Latin America as a response to continuing problems of femicides and gender-based violence. NUM challenges gender power relations embedded in the machista culture, which top-down approaches within mainstream gender and development approaches (GAD) have overlooked. To date, most studies of NUM have focused on the movement in Argentina, and its major public actions. Few studies have sought a holistic understanding of how the movement contests Gender Based Violence (GBV) on a day-to-day basis. This research involved a case study of the NUM movement in Arequipa, Peru. I undertook a mixed methods approach, placing this in context of GAD and social movement theories. I worked with NUM Arequipa activists to understand the movement and its strategies in the local context; and with students to explore their knowledge about, and response to, NUM Arequipa’s strategies. NUM Arequipa practised two forms of activism. The first - ‘traditional’ activism’, raised awareness and challenged machista sociocultural structures through media, public campaigns and education. These strategies complemented international GAD practice by challenging unequal gender relationships and incorporating male participation. The second - ‘quiet’ or ‘everyday’ activism - focused on providing support and advocacy for victims of GBV, and a commitment to empathy, care and justice. For both types of strategies, social media and connections to local organisations were important. However, NUM Arequipa, with its non-feminist public identity and quiet activism, found challenges distinguishing itself from other ‘loud’ feminist NUM groups. This confusion meant that students had limited awareness of NUM Arequipa’s specific activities and achievements. The thesis concludes that grassroots movements like NUM Arequipa, alongside more explicitly feminist and confrontational forms of social movements, are essential to eradicating GBV because they can work through relationships to make short-term change in people’s lives while also challenging patriarchal and machista structures in ways that are sensitive to the sociocultural context.</p>

'Ni Una Menos': A women's social movement contesting gender-based violence in Arequipa, Peru

<p>Ni Una Menos (NUM) is a social movement that since 2015 has spread through Latin America as a response to continuing problems of femicides and gender-based violence. NUM challenges gender power relations embedded in the machista culture, which top-down approaches within mainstream gender and development approaches (GAD) have overlooked. To date, most studies of NUM have focused on the movement in Argentina, and its major public actions. Few studies have sought a holistic understanding of how the movement contests Gender Based Violence (GBV) on a day-to-day basis. This research involved a case study of the NUM movement in Arequipa, Peru. I undertook a mixed methods approach, placing this in context of GAD and social movement theories. I worked with NUM Arequipa activists to understand the movement and its strategies in the local context; and with students to explore their knowledge about, and response to, NUM Arequipa’s strategies. NUM Arequipa practised two forms of activism. The first - ‘traditional’ activism’, raised awareness and challenged machista sociocultural structures through media, public campaigns and education. These strategies complemented international GAD practice by challenging unequal gender relationships and incorporating male participation. The second - ‘quiet’ or ‘everyday’ activism - focused on providing support and advocacy for victims of GBV, and a commitment to empathy, care and justice. For both types of strategies, social media and connections to local organisations were important. However, NUM Arequipa, with its non-feminist public identity and quiet activism, found challenges distinguishing itself from other ‘loud’ feminist NUM groups. This confusion meant that students had limited awareness of NUM Arequipa’s specific activities and achievements. The thesis concludes that grassroots movements like NUM Arequipa, alongside more explicitly feminist and confrontational forms of social movements, are essential to eradicating GBV because they can work through relationships to make short-term change in people’s lives while also challenging patriarchal and machista structures in ways that are sensitive to the sociocultural context.</p>

Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

Who Are the Homeless? Centering Anti-Black Racism and the Consequences of Colorblind Homeless Policies

Since first becoming a major social issue in the 1980s, homelessness has been a racialized problem in the United States. Its disproportionate impact on Black Americans is primarily driven by structural racism and the limited housing and employment opportunities for Black Americans. The first major federal legislation to address the needs of the United States’ homeless population—the Stewart B. McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 omitted the root causes of Black housing instability, thereby proving ineffective at mitigating Black homelessness. As a result, Black Americans remain disproportionately impacted today. In addition to being neglected by the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act, Black men and women experiencing homelessness are more likely to be discriminated against than any other racial group. For example, Black men are more likely to be arrested than anyone else, and Black women are the most likely to experience hyper-surveillance. This paper uses the Public Identity Framework to argue that in the 1980s, advocates and opponents of homeless legislation created two contradictory public personas to shape public discourse and policies for the homeless. A colorblind public persona was used to pass the McKinney–Vento Homeless Act; meanwhile, the public persona of the “underclass” was used to criminalize and shame the homeless. Both personas operated concurrently to create a dual public identity for the homeless that influenced policy and ultimately harmed Black people.

Religious Renewal in the Context of Secularism

When public identity focuses on the convergence between Catholicism and the American way of life, markers of Catholic identity migrate to unique religious practices: popular devotions, sacramental attendance, obedience to disciplinary laws. Episcopal statements and the reflections of clerical and lay leaders note the growing split between religion and daily life. “Secularism” within the Church is identified in the analysis of John Courtney Murray, the Grail Movement, and in the pages of Catholic Action. In response to this “schizoid culture,” significant leaders network with affinity movements throughout the world. International congresses of the laity set the stage for the Council. Movements of Specialized Catholic Action join with the mainstreaming of scripture reading, catechetical reform, participative political processes, and the liturgical movement to foster a reconfiguration of clergy-lay relations. The bishops themselves begin to sponsor both liturgical change and Specialized Catholic Action even before the Council begins.

Epilogue

Immediately after Vatican Council II, Spirit joined with Letter as the people of God, collegiality, access to the Scriptures, the role of the laity, religious freedom, and service to the world entered into Catholic identity. Cold War Catholic identity ceded primacy of place to a new politics of history that shaped the Church’s participative processes, commitment to ecumenism, practices of inculturation, and social vision. “Pastoral” adaptation dominated the initial phase of reception. Trends of internationality yoked to papal geopolitics exponentially increased and made the practices of the domestic Church problematic for other local churches. Within this politics, the post-conciliar world mirrored the debates of the Council itself. Differences of opinions quickly emerged and eventually coalesced into oppositional groups. Flashpoints of discord presaged the culture wars of the 1980s. American Catholicism’s transformation has led to a pluriform public identity that now calls for a new joining of Spirit with Letter.