A Behavioral Test of the Affinity-Seeking Model: Nonverbal Tactics Among Strangers and Acquaintances.

This research examined the Affinity-Seeking model devised by Bell and Daly (1984). Two components of the model were considered: preinteraction expectancies constraining a social encounter and the competency of the individual as an affinity-seeker. It was hypothesized that strangers would approach a friendly target through the reciprocity strategy and an unfriendly target through the compensatory strategy by increasing behavioral cues of immediacy (e.g., eye-gaze, smiling/laughter, verbalizations, and proximity). It was hypothesized, on the other hand, that acquaintances would not increase their behavioral involvement in view of a friendly expectancy while they would compensate for an unfriendly one. The findings revealed that neither strangers nor acquaintances actively sought affinity with their partners. Rather, they adopted passive affinity-seeking strategies (concede control, conversational rule-keeping) as the means to ensure a pleasant and polite encounter. The behavioral components of affinity-seeking competency were addressed

La racialisation des espaces urbains à La Nouvelle-Orléans post-Katrina : étude des représentations fictionnelles dans la série télévisée Treme

This paper investigates the manner in which David Simon and Eric Overmyer’s HBO TV series Treme (2010-2013) represents the process of racialization of urban spaces. First aired on April 11, 2010 as a pilote episode, Treme follows the difficult return of the residents of New Orleans after Katrina, and their struggle to recover their homes, their lives, and their culture. Treated as a drama by its producers, the series does take a documentary approach by giving a realistic representation of the citizens’ rebuilding process of New Orleans after Katrina. Through key dialogues and scenes, this article proposes to analyze the fictional representations of the racialization of urban spaces (streets, the French Quarter, black neighborhoods, housing projects...) presented in the series as identity markers and spaces of racial discrimination, by underlying the manner in which the series articulates the concepts of place, race, and space. It demonstrates how the series' creators reveal a type of territorialism grounded in racialized practices that we have labeled « urban restrictions », « urban visibility/invisibility » and « urban redevelopment »

La racialisation des espaces urbains dans la série américaine Treme

La ville de la Nouvelle-Orléans est souvent décrite comme un lieu de mixité et de ségrégation, d'exceptionnalité et d'assimilation qui se manifeste notamment dans un espace urbain complexe. Julie Hernandez (2008) suggère, par exemple, que la ville est gérée par des modalités particulières d'urbanisme dues à son passé socio-historique, racial et culturel et qui ont perdurées pendant plus de trois cent ans entre noirs, créoles et nord-américains. La répartition géographique de la population de la Nouvelle-Orléans à la veille de l'ouragan Katrina en 2005 laissait apparaître les stigmates d'une société ségréguée (Lewis, 2003). Ce même ouragan a déclenché une nouvelle négociation des espaces urbains, un processus de gentrification (Mann, 2006) et exacerbé les inégalités raciales qui définissent à ce jour la ville de la Nouvelle-Orléans. Lancée en Avril 2010 sur la chaine américaine HBO, la série Treme se réfère à un quartier unique de la Nouvelle Orléans qui est à la fois le berceau du jazz et celui du mouvement pour les droits civiques noirs. Ce quartier mieux connu sous le nom de " Faubourg Tremé " est le quartier noir le plus ancien des Etats Unis. Il est la symbolique d'un passé ancré dans l'esclavage et un système de castes dont les résidents d'aujourd'hui en sont le produit socio-culturel. La série est une fiction qui s'appuie sur un travail de documentarisation hors du commun : elle puise son réalisme dans la vie quotidienne de ses résidents noirs, parmi des personnages réels, des espaces réels et des symboles culturels réels (Dessinges, Gendrin, &Hajjar, 2012). Traitée comme un drame par ses producteurs David Simon et Eric Overmyer, elle reflète un réalisme incontesté du processus social, économique, culturel et politique de reconstruction de la ville après Katrina. Dans ce sens, la série télévisée Treme apporte une perspective médiatique sur la manière dont les lieux et espaces urbains sont négociés au travers des questions de race, de classe, et de culture (Thomas, 2012). Dans cet article, nous proposons une analyse socio-spatiale des espaces urbains (rues, French Quarter, quartiers noirs, housing projects...) représentés dans la série en tant que marqueurs identitaires et lieux de discriminations raciales. Nous montrons ainsi comment est représentée dans la série une certaine forme de territorialisation de l'exclusion qui se manifeste à travers différentes narratives, scènes et dialogues. Nous ferons ainsi émerger le point de vue critique des auteurs de la série sur le processus de racialisation des lieux et espaces urbains de la Nouvelle-Orléans post Katrina

Creole Voices in David Simon's Television Drama Series Treme: A Critical Cultural Analysis of Media Representation of New Orleans Musicians and Mardi Gras Indians

In this communication, we examine the representation of the Creole people of Tremé, its musicians, and Mardi Gras Indians through David Simon' HBO TV series Treme: We base our analysis on series narratives and interviews with members of the Faubourg Tréme, its musicians, and Black Mardi Gras Indian (artist) communities, as well as local experts and historians. The analysis uses a form of what Cornel West has called "demystifactory" or "prophetic" criticism in which artists comment on the artistic and historical representations of their unique subculture of the heterogeneous African Diaspora. In particular, we focus on the work of bell hooks who criticizes the reification of the public performance of race through the media

Race Representation in HBO's Treme: A Critical Cultural Analysis

International audienceThis paper examines race representation in HBO's Treme within the context of the Black Creole culture. Corner's (1998) distinction between textual and contextual analysis provides the theoretical framework for this analysis. Our findings demonstrate the role of the series in representing the diversity of Black experiences through the production process and the portrayals of the Black characters

Fiction and Reality in HBO’s Treme: A Narrative Alchemy at the Service of Political Truth

Author of the television drama The Wire, David Simon with Eric Overmyer launched a new series entitled Treme on the American channel HBO in April, 2010. Located in the heart of New Orleans, Tremé is a neighborhood known for its unique cultural, social, and historical context. It is the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States, the birthplace of the Black civil right movement in the South and the home of Jazz. Categorized as a drama by David Simon, the series is a work of fiction. Yet it also depicts day-to-day life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, referencing real events, real people, real places, and real cultural symbols. Relying on the work of Schaeffer and Esquenazi, this article links fiction to reality with an analysis of historical truths though fictional characters’ narratives. With this methodology, we examine the film-makers’ perspective, and uncover the political intentionality of the series as an act of denunciation against the dysfunctions of the local, state, and federal institutions in responding to the Katrina catastrophe. The political message of the series is also an act of testimony and homage about the daily lives and struggles of New Orleanians in a post-Katrina era

Historicizing the Mardi Gras Indians in HBO's Treme: An Emancipatory Narrative

International audienceThis study examines the process of historicization of the Black Mardi Gras Indians in the HBO drama series Treme produced by David Simonand Eric Overmyer. Grounded in a critical cultural perspective, and relatingfiction to reality through historical truth, we analyze the manner in which the producers recreate this minority's collective narrative as cultural performance of struggle and survival in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We base our analysison series narratives and interviews with members of the Black Mardi Gras Indian(artist) communities. We also rely on local experts and historians using a form of "demystifactory" or "prophetic" criticism in which artists comment on the artisticand historical representations of the Mardi Gras Indians as a unique subculture of the heterogeneous African Diaspora. Our analysis suggests how the Mardi GrasIndians' narrative speaks to the values of resistance and resilience in an otherwiseWhite dominant social order. Further, the characterization of the Mardi GrasIndians reveals an emancipatory and liberative narrative necessary to their culturalsurvival

Race Representation in HBO's Treme: A Critical Cultural Analysis

International audienceThis paper examines race representation in HBO's Treme within the context of the Black Creole culture. Corner's (1998) distinction between textual and contextual analysis provides the theoretical framework for this analysis. Our findings demonstrate the role of the series in representing the diversity of Black experiences through the production process and the portrayals of the Black characters

Fiction and Reality in HBO’s Treme: A Narrative Alchemy at the Service of Political Truth

Author of the television drama The Wire, David Simon with Eric Overmyer launched a new series entitled Treme on the American channel HBO in April, 2010. Located in the heart of New Orleans, Tremé is a neighborhood known for its unique cultural, social, and historical context. It is the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States, the birthplace of the Black civil right movement in the South and the home of Jazz. Categorized as a drama by David Simon, the series is a work of fiction. Yet it also depicts day-to-day life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, referencing real events, real people, real places, and real cultural symbols. Relying on the work of Schaeffer and Esquenazi, this article links fiction to reality with an analysis of historical truths though fictional characters’ narratives. With this methodology, we examine the film-makers’ perspective, and uncover the political intentionality of the series as an act of denunciation against the dysfunctions of the local, state, and federal institutions in responding to the Katrina catastrophe. The political message of the series is also an act of testimony and homage about the daily lives and struggles of New Orleanians in a post-Katrina era.Auteur du drame télévisé The Wire, David Simon a lancé avec Eric Overmyer une nouvelle série intitulée Treme sur la chaîne américaine HBO en avril 2010. Situé au cœur de la Nouvelle Orléans, Tremé est un quartier connu pour son contexte unique sur les plans culturels, social et historique. C’est le quartier afro-américain le plus ancien aux États-Unis, le lieu de naissance du mouvement pour les droits civiques des noirs dans le Sud et le pays du Jazz. Catégorisé comme un drame par David Simon, la série est une œuvre de fiction. Or, elle représente la vie quotidienne dans la Nouvelle Orléans après l’ouragan Katrina, faisant référence à de vrais événements, de vraies personnes, de vrais endroits et de vrais symboles culturels. S’appuyant sur les travaux de Schaeffer et Esquenazi, cet article relie la fiction à la réalité avec une analyse des vérités historiques à travers les récits fictifs des personnages. Avec cette méthodologie, nous examinons la perspective des réalisateurs et dévoilons l’intentionnalité politique de la série comme un acte de dénonciation du dysfonctionnement des institutions municipales, régionales et fédérales en réponse à la catastrophe de Katrina. Le message politique de la série est aussi un acte de témoignage et d’hommage aux vies et aux luttes des habitants de la Nouvelle-Orléans dans l’ère post-Katrina

HBO's Treme and Post-Katrina CatharsisThe Mediated Rebirth of New Orleans

International audienceTen years after Hurricane Katrina, outsiders will have two versions of the Katrina experience. One version will be the images they recall from news coverage of the aftermath. The other will be the intimate portrayal of the determination of New Orleans residents to rebuild and recover their lives. HBO’s Treme offers outsiders an inside look into why New Orleanians refused to abandon a place that many questioned should not be rebuilt after the levees failed. This critically acclaimed series expanded the boundaries of television making in its format, plot, casting, use of music, and realism-in-fictionalized-TV. However, Treme is not just a story for the outside gaze on New Orleans. It was a very local, collaborative experience where the show’s creators sought to enlist the city in a commemorative project. Treme allowed many in the city who worked as principals, extras, and who tuned in as avid viewers to heal from the devastation of the disaster as they experimented with art, imitating life, imitating art. This book examines the impact of HBOs Treme not just as television making, but in the sense in which television provides a window to our worlds. The book pulls together scholarship in media, communications, gender, area studies, political economy, critical studies, African American studies and music to explain why Treme was not just about television