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The Commodification of Sexuality and Gender: A Brazilian Case Study
Get PDFThis paper explores the commodification of sexuality and gender through a Brazilian case study and bibliographical review, examining its intersectional implications and the detrimental effects on women, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds. By analysing marriage as a commodified institution, the research highlights how patriarchal power structures perpetuate gender-based oppression. Men from wealthier nations seeking submissive partners in Brazil illustrate the global nature of this commodification. The analysis extends to how these effects are magnified for Black and trans women, who face overlapping systems of oppression. The study contends that the commodification of gender is a deep-rooted issue, intertwined with economic inequality and cultural biases, as noted by Sacramento (2019) and Olivar and Garcia (2017). This article does not claim to offer a definitive solution but seeks to ignite debate. It challenges the normalisation of neoliberal economic agendas that reinforce gender-based oppression, advocating for a holistic approach to social liberation
Reforming Education and Reforming Subjects: Education reform and students’ aspirations in a senior high school in Ghana
No full textThis thesis examines senior high school students’ career aspirations in the contexts of both free education and youth unemployment in Ghana. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a boy’s school, it examines what factors have influenced students’ aspirations, including being members of an elite school. The school also seeks to reform students into particular kinds of educated and moral persons. The thesis draws on Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural and social capital to analyse how these forms of capital are intrinsic to the reproduction of inequality and to the functioning of the elite school in which the research was conducted. It argues for the importance of considering the role of missionary history in shaping the education system in contemporary Ghana, particularly ideals in relation to masculinity and how these intersect with the influence of neoliberal values within the education system in Ghana. This thesis also explores the changing landscape of elite mission schools in Ghana including the impact of a specific educational reform. It considers how students are reforming themselves in order to work towards their aspirations and the strategies they employ to enhance their chances of future success. It employs the concept of hope to analyse the ways in which students seek to bring their aspirations into being. This research taps into debates surrounding the relationship between education and social reproduction, mission schools and masculinities in Ghana, as well as anthropological work on youth, aspiration, hope, and future-making
The Digital IRL: Influence as Resistance in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka
Get PDFThis study is based on 18 months of fieldwork with Sri Lankans who use social media for resistance. On the one hand, the monograph considers the ethnographic tensions that emerge in the encounter between being a highly visible Sri Lankan activist on social media in a media sphere notorious for its restriction of media freedoms, the proliferation of disinformation, and state-sponsored violence against dissenters. On the other hand, it probes the lure and demands of widespread influencer culture on social media and how the accumulation and exchange of influence affects and contributes to how activists politically participate. The term ‘information influencer’ is introduced to bridge these tensions and make a departure from the overused and ambiguous concept of digital activist. In addition, the monograph offers a conceptual way of seeing social media influence through the prism of ‘digital capital’. By advancing Bourdieu’s notion of capital and rewiring it for the digital era, digital capital is defined as the highly visible datafication of social media users’ follower count and is shown to be the primary affordance of social media activity. The information influencers studied have amassed considerable stockpiles of digital capital which has conflicting consequences, attracting surveillance, hackers and trolls on social media, plus fame and opportunities in real life (IRL). The study is also a demonstration of the methodological challenge of doing ethnography through a pandemic and devising novel solutions to unprecedented problems. The outcome, 'augmented ethnography', is a patchwork approach combining datafied, digital and in person modalities for a deeper understanding of the complexity of a social world organised by data, presented through a screen, and experienced in the body. The 4 commonplace distinction made between the online and offline worlds is contested through the augmented approach and the six chapters that comprise the independent dimensions of the study: 1) media, 2) people, 3) data, 4) platforms, 5) place, and 6) practice. Presented under the titular The Digital IRL, the monograph emphasises the collapse of the faux binary between online practice and place, and life offline
Salama binti Rubeya : Memories from the Swahili Littoral
No full textThis book is a reconstruction of the life of Salama binti Rubeya who lived in Kilwa and Zanzibar along the west of the Indian Ocean between 1910's and 1960's. It offers the lived experience of an unassuming woman, often excluded from traditional historical narratives. The book builds on recordings of Salama binti Rubeya done in the 1990's where she voices the impact of historical forces on her life. She internalises a culture that is cosmopolitan and fluid- Swahili. She is a young child during World War One and a mature lady during the Zanzibar revolution in 1964. The voice within this book is a rare, insider primary source that should be read by anyone interested in the history of the Swahili coast
On the Final Days of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī: A Study, Edition and Translation of an Anonymous Obituary
Get PDFThis article presents a study, edition and translation of a hitherto unpublished and overlooked source, shedding new light on the final days and death of the celebrated Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210). An anonymous obituary, the text was composed by one of his students and is known to have survived in a single manuscript copy housed at the Library of the Prophet’s Mosque, MS Medina, al-Masjid al-Nabawī 30/900. The article critically examines the obituary’s authorship and biographical content, drawing on further historical, biographical, and geographical data to reconstruct the last two years of al-Rāzī’s life against a turbulent background of factional conflict. It disproves the widely-accepted report that he was buried in secret and verifies his burial site
Warfare in Southeast Asia, 1448-1851
No full textThe mid-fifteenth century saw the slow emergence of new states across mainland and island South-East Asia after a period of substantial political decentralisation and fragmentation, on the one hand, and the withdrawal or ejection of Chinese armies, on the other. The new or reinvigorated states of the region – including Ava (Upper Burma), Pegu (Lower Burma), Ayudhya (today Thailand), and Dai Viet (today Vietnam) – stimulated a new period of martial vigour from the 1450s as they expanded at the expense of their neighbours. In successful campaigns in the 1450s and in 1471, Dai Viet conquered Champa on its southern frontier twice, leaving the Vietnamese state as the permanent hegemon over mainland South-East Asia’s eastern littoral, relegating Champa to a mere tributary shadow of its former self. (See Map 14.) Ava and Pegu waged a bitter war for decades for dominance over the Irrawaddy valley, a contest that spilled over into Arakan, on the Bay of Bengal, mainland South-East Asia’s thin, western littoral. Ayudhya, in the central mainland, made itself the dominant political and military power in the Chao Phraya river valley
Neo-colonialist, perennial underdog, or smart influencer: India in The Gambia and Ghana
Get PDFSince the mid-2000s, India has substantially increased its presence in Africa and is now active right across the continent. Despite this expansion, India still lives in the shadow of China and the west in Africa. Equally, the presence and influence of India in specific case studies in Africa is under-researched. This article takes evidence from fieldwork in The Gambia and Ghana and finds that India is regarded by some as just another neo-colonialist and by others as under-resourced with poor capacity and limited public relations. Others, however, saw India and its various manifestations as a smart actor which uses the resources and attributes it has – including a common language, Bollywood, and various nuances of its presence – sometimes to good effect, allowing India to punch above its weight. The article thus considers India’s influence in The Gambia and Ghana, in particular in comparison to China
Le massacre de Marikana en 2012, ou la transformation politique manquée
No full textMalgré des années de travail en Afrique du Sud, je me sentais gêné de n’avoir jamais visité le musée de l’Apartheid de Johannesbourg. Aussi, un après-midi de la fin de l’année 2016, sur un coup de tête, quittais-je l’autoroute alors que je rentrais en ville depuis Soweto pour m’y rendre. L’institution a pour objectif de guider le public à travers l’histoire de l’apartheid et lui permettre d’appréhender l’expérience du système de classification raciale qui régnait alors dans le pays. En y pénétrant, chacun se voit attribuer une « race » (population blanche ou non blanche) au hasard et le parcours dans la première partie est déterminé en fonction de cette désignation. Il ne s’agit pas seulement de comprendre la logique odieuse de l’apartheid, mais aussi de la ressentir, même si les visiteurs achèvent leur déambulation par une touche d’espoir, puisqu’ils quittent l’exposition principale en sortant dans un jardin, émergeant ainsi dans la lumière. La partie surélevée de ce dernier offre une vue imprenable sur la ville, qui témoigne de son histoire minière. D’un côté du musée se trouve Gold Reef City, un lieu de loisirs regroupant un parc d’attractions et un casino, dont le nom évoque l’exploitation violente de la main-d’œuvre qui caractérise l’industrie minière johannesbourgeoise. Au-delà du casino se dressent les immeubles et les tours du centre-ville, des bâtiments qui témoignent de la place de Johannesbourg en tant que centre de capitaux obtenue notamment par les fortunes amassées pendant l’apogée de l’exploitation minière de la ville
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