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Talking Gender: La costruzione con-testuale delle Identità di Genere
Get PDFThe topic of the following research is focused on discursive positioning amongst social actors, whose gender falls somewhere between or outside of the sexual dualism, and contexts, characterised by a dominant heteronormative imprint. The edges of agency have been investigated, according to which a person, who passes amongst genders, claims a self representation, with regard to the peculiar symbolical and normative structure of specific contexts of interaction.
In order to isolate the processes, throughout which develops a self-representation as gender, the rank of agency has been analysed, according to practices of positioning within three contexts: prison reality, workplaces and family environment.
The study, therefore, aims to understand how transgender reproduce certain genderized Ideal-types, with regard to the symbolical coordinates of the context, the situativity of everyday interaction, as well as the linguistic meta-artefacts, circumscribing zones of meanings, which move in a feminine or masculine direction.
The representations of self and others, within a socio-constructive perspective, are articulated along discursive productions in relation to everyday interactions and cultural and normative superstructures.
Discourse, according to this approach, could be considered as a mediation artefact, which generates social meanings.
The corpus of data, therefore, consists in gathering discursive material within the following contexts:
- six semistructured interviews with staff members of the Sollicciano prison near Florence - five in-depth interviews with transprisoners detained in the same institute - seven in-depth interviews with transgender in private and work contexts - three diaries, written by transgender, contacted by socio-political associations in north and central Italy.
These textual datas have been studied according to two methodological perspectives:
Critical Analysis of the ideological matrix of discourse, with regard to the production of implicit meanings. The symbolic repertoires have been associated to conceptual macro-categories, adopting the software Transana for computer assisted discourse analysis
Quali-quantitative analysis of semantic content and lexical organisation with the program for textual data analysis Alceste
Results show that the constitutive elements of discursive production (lexicon, semantics, semiotics) generate narrative repertoires, with similar structure and affine representations of self and others. These units of meanings constitute the research goals of this study, focused on positioning between gender and (con)text. There emerged a sequential intersectionaliy amongst the following variables: Gender dualism ➔ Asymmetry of power ➔ Inequalities ➔ Discrimination ➔ Reified representation of gender
From this process emerged different normative, structural as well as interactive practices, which, throughout universes of sense and systems of actions, socially recognised, culturally legitimised and discursively institutionalised, produce genderized Ideal-types and meanings, embedded within temporal horizons, relational sceneries and contextual limelights.
With regard to prison context the edges of positioning are relegated within the institutional parameters of the penitentiary system. Language, especially, assumes a reifying function, by the moment, that semantic categories define normative links between self and context. Gender identity, actually, is circumscribed by precise discursive borders.
With regard to family and workplaces, self-representation as transgender changes, according to situated symbolic coordinates. Normative superstructures influences discourse mainly on an implicit level. Agency within processes of gender identity affirmation depend from specific contexts and different modalities of positioning amongst self and other
Effects of agency on gender identity: discursive construction of gender violence within italian prisons
No full textThe migrant’s case: From a multicultural paradigm to intercultural discourse processes.
No full textThe research aims to analyse the development of cultural and social identities according to general changes in the family structure of Italians who migrated to the United States. Important was the generational gap within the family structure. Therefore, the interests of this study are mainly focused on interactions and discourses according to generational factors. 20 hours of video-audio recordings have been collected, interviewing family members of Italian origin, migrated to Memphis and Philadelphia (USA). The recordings contain both face-to-face dialogues (traditional interviews) and interactions among various participants during a conversation (talking practices). Qualitative analysis of the textual data made emerge a processual positioning of “doing culture”, with regard to three levels of interaction: 1. Interaction with artefacts (language) – 2. Interaction within everyday contexts – 3. Interaction with normative coordinates and hierarchies of power. The results show a general change of cultural representation among the first migrant generation and following ones. The first generation who moved to the USA seemed to conserve a quite “monolithic” idea of one’s original culture: multi-cultural paradigm. The following generations, already born in the new context, claim a much more permeable perception of culture: intercultural paradigm
Textos generizados em contextos afetivos: Experiências e relações podem prevenir a violência de gênero na prisão?
No full textThe following paper has been realized with regard to the (con)textual con- struction of violence and power in total institutions. Furthermore the affec- tive role of relations has been investigated in order to understand how con- cepts, such as power and violence, are situated within the relational frame of everyday interactions. The topic of the research has been focused on transgender prisoners, detained in a special section of the female ward of the prison of Florence-Sollicciano. Interviewees with prison‟s staff and MtF transgender inmates have been gathered, concerning to the way how gender identity claims in a highly institutionalized context. Qualitative analysis, adopting the software Transana, has been used in order to study the implicit sense of ideological, historical and relational meanings within discursive production. Results show that everyday interactions, such as between trans- prisoners themselves and amongst them and the penitentiary guards, in- crease the affective value of communication and consequently of interper- sonal relations. The affective variable, therefore, becomes an important as- pect, according to which interaction can be considered pragmatic and situ- ated actions. Empowering the pragmatical and strategical value of situated relations improves not only the difficult condition of detention, but also the hard and challenging tasks a those staff-members, who work in prison every day
Does Love Really Make Mothers Blind? A Large Transcontinental Study on Mothers' Awareness About Their Children's Weight
Get PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to assess maternal misperception rates (perception as normal or underweight of a child with overweight or obesity) and their role in affecting the chance of implementing actions to change children’s weight.
Methods: Obesogeneicity of Gadgets Marketed with Snacks (OBEY-AD) is an international study investigating factors promoting childhood overweight and obesity in 10 countries, in which 2,720 child-mother dyads have been enrolled. Mothers’ perception of their children’s weight was assessed using a projective test. Children’s weight status was measured according to the anthropometric standards established by the World Health Organization.
Results: Mothers classified 89% of children with overweight and 52% of children with obesity as normal weight. The odds ratio of mothers’ misperception was significantly higher for higher parental BMI, higher children’s International Brand Awareness Inventory score, and high family socioeconomic status. Children with overweight and/or obesity who were perceived as normal weight by their mothers were less likely to be referred to specific health care services.
Conclusions: Most children with overweight and/or obesity were perceived as normal weight by their mothers. Such lack of concern regarding a severe disease might interfere with the effectiveness of prevention programs. Considering the contextual factors that frame the etiological causes of a disease may
help in finding effective and enduring solutions to target childhood obesity
Talking gender: How (con)text shapes gender – The discursive positioning of transgender people in prison, work and private settings
No full textThe present study aims to shed light on how trans people discursively reproduce gendered habitus with regard to semantic means, following from the masculine or feminine designation in Roman
languages. For this purpose, 11 interviews were conducted with trans women in prison, work, and private settings in Italy. In addition, three trans people who preferred not to be interviewed shared
their diaries. By critically investigating the collected data, the discursive, relational, and symbolic processes, which define the (con)textual structure of gender, were accessed, and the qualiquantitative
ALCESTE software was adopted for lexicometric analysis. The results show that the sexualized, dualistic coordinates of the Italian language, on one hand, promote an outward identity
conforming to a heteronormative representation of gender, whereas interactions within the private sphere, on the other hand, empower trans people’s agency in claiming a peculiar and authentic sense
of self. Trans people actually are talking and, consequently, doing gender through the gendered semantics of Italian in everyday life and are undoing gender through the emotional bonds in intimate
situations. Coping strategies, based on positive affectivity, should be implemented therefore in all social, institutional, and clinical policies that are devoted to promoting assistance and support for
trans people who suffer stigmatization, marginalization, and physical and institutional violence
Managing, surveying and assisting transgender people in prison: A comparative analysis of staff-members’ positioning toward transgender inmates among different correctional facilities in Italy
No full textBackground
The present study intends to shed light on the (inter)subjective and professional modalities through which prison workers manage to cope with the presence of incarcerated transgender people in Italy.
Method
Fourteen semi structured interviews were undertaken with prison-workers in three Italian jails. The transcribed interviews were processed through text-mining-analysis, and an in-depth investigation of these discursive sources was performed to access the sociocultural representation of prison-workers concerning transgender related issues.
Results
Findings showed different discursive positionings, which vary significantly according to the professional role and gender identity of the interviewees. Although specialized training aimed at improving knowledge on transgender issues and interpersonal skills had been previously provided to all prison-workers, non-transgender affirming behaviors and attitudes continue to be observed. However, they may be the product of the persistence of cultural biases belonging to the more general societal context.
Conclusions
Specific training programs addressed to prison-workers are certainly necessary, but their real effectiveness should be constantly monitored and verified. At the same time, it seems that an effective improvement of the condition of transgender people within correctional facilities may only be obtained through paradigmatic changes concerning representations about gender nonconformity within the more general Italian culture and society
Cross-Regional Analysis of Multiple Factors Associated with Childhood Obesity in India: A National or Local Challenge?
No full textOBJECTIVE:
To investigate obesogenic co-causing factors, promoting rise of weight in children, associated to local differences in India.
METHODS:
Overall 1,680 children, aged 3-11 and balanced by gender, were recruited in school contexts distributed in seven major Indian cities. All children were weighted and measured in order to calculate their BMI. A validated cultural specific questionnaire was administered to children's parents for assessing socio-demographic data, eating habits, physical activity, etc. Furthermore children's brand awareness scores were computed in order to analyze their affiliation towards food-based advertisement. Descriptive statistics of frequencies, duration and intensity of the various factors were performed. Chi-square tests or Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for evaluating significance of differences in factors distribution across Indian cities.
RESULTS:
Four factors, promoting rise of children's weight, were individuated as associated to urban differences, namely meal times consumed in the family, parents' BMI, brand awareness and physical activity. These aspects exercised a significant impact on children's body size in Kolkata and Chennai. Hyderabad and Mumbai, instead, were the cities where religion played some role in influencing children's weight gain.
CONCLUSIONS:
Such findings underline the need to frame obesity as a situated phenomenon rather than a national problem. Health policies, implemented in treating and preventing obesity, should be therefore specifically focused on locally situated peculiarities
Physical Activity Patterns Among School Children in India
No full textOBJECTIVE:
To assess the prevalence of physical activity and its relation with socio-demographic variables and eating habits among school-aged children in India.
METHODS:
The study incorporated secondary analysis of anthropometric measurements and questionnaires on lifestyle and dietary habits of 1,680 school children aged between 3 and 11 y, obtained while carrying out the OBEY-AD project. The inventory contained questions about several variables concerning to physical activity, educational background, lifestyles and eating habits for both children and parents. Questions were organized along specific contents, which could be informative topics, picture choices and multiple answers choices.
RESULTS:
Prevalence of inactivity was 21% and exhibited significant variations between cities. Physical activity was significantly associated to socio-economic status and consumption of fruits and vegetables. No association could be revealed with children's BMI.
CONCLUSIONS:
Health-promotion interventions aimed at improving healthy lifestyles in Indian children should focus on population strata with low socio-economic status
Food advertising on TV and energy intake in children: Results from the OBEY-AD Mexico
No full textFood advertising on TV is a common marketing practice, and it is suspected of promoting obesogenic behaviours. The study aimed at evaluating if gadgets (toys) packaged with food increase food consumption, and if contemporary exposure to TV and/or advertising is a further promoting factor. Onehundred and twenty children (balanced according to gender and age groups, 3-6 and 7-10 years old) were randomised in an experimental setting designed as a 2x5 full factorial ad libitum eating study. The first factor was represented by the exposure to gadgets, organized on two levels, "food with gadget" (TOY) and "food alone" (NoTOY). The second one consisted in the exposure to TV and advertising along five levels (no exposure to TV, exposure to TV without advertising, exposure to TV and 1, 2, or 3 advertsements). Our results showed no significant differences when considering the groups even after taking into account the dependent variables. The medium spot group showed the lowest energy intake, but the difference between the other groups was not significant. TV advertising and the presence of gadgets (toys) do not influence caloric intake in children
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