47 research outputs found
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Mothers behaving badly: chaotic hedonism and the crisis of neoliberal social reproduction
This article focuses on the significance of the plethora of representations of mothers âbehaving badlyâ in contemporary anglophone media texts, including the films Bad Moms, Fun Mom Dinner and Bad Momâs Christmas, the book and online cartoons Hurrah for Gin and the recent TV comedy dramas Motherland, The Let Down and Catastrophe. All these media texts include representations of, first, mothers in the midst of highly chaotic everyday spaces where any smooth routine of domesticity is conspicuous by its absence; and second, mothers behaving hedonistically, usually through drinking and partying, behaviour that is more conventionally associated with men or women without children. After identifying the social type of the mother behaving badly (MBB), the article locates and analyses it in relation to several different social and cultural contexts. These contexts are: a neoliberal crisis in social reproduction marked by inequality and overwork; the continual if contested role of women as âfoundation parentsâ; and the negotiation of longer-term discourses of female hedonism. The title gestures towards a popular British sitcom of the 1990s, Men Behaving Badly, which popularized the idea of the ânew ladâ; and this article suggests that the new ladâs counterpart, the ladette, is mutating into the mother behaving badly, or the âlad momâ. Asking what work this figure does now, in a later neoliberal context, it argues that the mother behaving badly is simultaneously indicative of a widening and liberating range of maternal subject positions and symptomatic of a profound contemporary crisis in social reproduction. By focusing on the classed and racialised dynamics of the MBB â by examining who exactly is permitted to be hedonistic, and how â and by considering the MBBâs limited and partial imagining of progressive social change, the article concludes by emphasizing the urgency of creating more connections between such discourses and âparents behaving politicallyâ
Schuldig landschap. Over de toeristische aantrekkingskracht van Baantjer, Wallander en Inspector Morse
De opnamelokaties van tv-detectives genieten een toenemende populariteit onder toeristen. In dit artikel wordt, op basis van een tekstuele analyse van âBaantjerâ, âInspector Morseâ en âWallanderâ, onderzocht welke inhoudelijke kenmerken van deze tv-detectives mogelijk als âtriggerâ fungeren. Uit de analyse blijkt dat plaats en beweging een centrale rol vervullen binnen de narratieve structuur van dit genre. Door zelf de lokaties te bezoeken, kunnen toeristen het spoor nalopen van hun geliefde detective om aldaar, vanuit een veilige positie, tijdelijk op te gaan in het schemergebied tussen fictie en werkelijkheid
Tenure, gender and household structure
Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford
Pratos e mais pratos: louças domésticas, divisÔes culturais e limites sociais no Rio de Janeiro, século XIX
Reply to ten comments on a paper published in the last issue of this journal. The discussion follows along six main lines: History museums, identity, ideology and the category of nation; the need of material collections and their modalities: patrimonial, operational, virtual; theater versus laboratory; visitors and their ambiguities; Public History: the museum and the academy.Resposta aos comentĂĄrios de dez especialistas que contribuĂram no debate de texto publicado no Ășltimo nĂșmero desta revista. A discussĂŁo orientou-se segundo seis tĂłpicos principais: museus histĂłricos, identidade, ideologia e a categoria de nação; a necessidade de acervos materiais e suas modalidades: acervo patrimonial, operacional, virtual; teatro versus laboratĂłrio; o pĂșblico e suas ambigĂŒidades; HistĂłria PĂșblica: o museu e a Academia
Childhood in crisis? Tracing the contours of âcrisisâ and its impact upon contemporary parenting practices
At the beginning of the twenty-first century media commentary and public discourses on childhood commonly invoke a notion of âcrisisâ. This paper poses the question, what is new about the current invocation of crisis and how does it manifest itself? Specifically, the paper explores the ways in which media texts, cultural commentary and policy documents/initiatives collectively produce a dominant discourse of childhood in crisis. I aim to trace the anatomy of this so-called âcrisisâ in childhood, to examine how far it exists and what the main features of such a crisis may look like from different perspectives. In doing so I consider and comment upon the relationship between the past and the present and the ways in which a historical perspective can be instructive in understanding how concerns about childhood are conceptualised and given meaning. Based on an analysis of cultural texts that promote or collude in the normative idea of a crisis in childhood, the paper provides alternative ways of conceptualising prevailing ideas and assumptions of crisis and calamity. The paper draws upon a textual analysis of pregnancy magazines to examine the ways in which parents may be responding to the idea of a crisis in childhood and the impact this has on their parenting practices. Finally, the paper argues that contemporary meanings of childhood are shaped by the links between the past and present, to be found in residual notions of childhood in the popular imagination and contemporary accounts of risk and crisis. In the context of contemporary childrearing, cultural texts and residual meanings cohere to produce a reconfigured version of childhood that can be seen as a generative mixture of romantic, late modern and scientific identifications