Choli and Kanjari; an anlaysis of a small textile collection

This paper begins an investigation into, the practical, social, spiritual and protective roles of decorated textiles, in the Choli and Kanjari blouses of Gujarat with a detailed analysis of one item to begin to establish a model for the analysis of the items in collection of more than thirty garments and embroidered garment fragments brought from India in the early 1990’s. The discussion focuses on role of stitch and symbol in the garments worn by the women of various peoples of the craft villages around Bhuj, particularly the nomadic Rabari. The investigation of materials and techniques used in the making of a bodice is recorded and the stitches used are analysed. Patterns and methods used in the construction are included. Examples of the different ways stitches are worked add to the understanding of the decoration. This paper provides an insight into way of life that held stitch and stitching in high regard. It demonstrates how the practice of making textiles can form an understanding and communication link between people with very different backgrounds and experience of life. It raises questions about the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years and is it possible to promote a better understanding of the place of stitched textiles in the modern world. Albeit that this last point is a constantly recurring question

Conviviality under the cosmopolitan canopy? Social mixing and friendships in an urban secondary school

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright © Sociological Research Online 2012.Social mix and social mixing are topics of increasing significance to both the policy and academic communities in the UK, and have particular salience in urban multi-ethnic and socially diverse contexts. Enshrined in the comprehensive school ideal, and implicated in the now legal duty to promote 'community cohesion,' (urban) schools play a pivotal role in agendas for social mixing but little is empirically known about how this is lived and experienced by the young people in those schools. This paper begins to develop a theoretical understanding of social mixing drawing on qualitative data on the patterns, discourses, and experiences of associations and friendships collected in a London comprehensive school. We find that while the social mix of the school is celebrated, in official discourse as congenial and 'convivial', by staff and students alike, the extent of actual mixing - of associations and friendships forming between those of different social and ethnic backgrounds - is both constrained and complex. We point to the social and cultural factors which produce this sense of conviviality, and the opportunities for cultural learning it supports. At the same time, we argue that there are limitations. Schools are sites of differentiation, and friendships as exemplars of social mixing, both (re)produce and are (re)produced by existing social hierarchies and inequalities

A time-series study of percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale: premature adoption?

To evaluate the impact of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance in January 2005 and subsequent trial evidence on the adoption of percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale (PCPFO).A retrospective time series study was conducted using the Inpatient Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) England. A total of 3801 patients, aged ≥18 and ≤60 years, who had PCPFO from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2012 in England. Percentage change annualised (PCA) in PCPFO procedure rates between initial NICE guidance and publication of trial results was analysed.Between Quarter 2, 2006 and Quarter 4, 2009, 2163 PCPFO procedures were performed, with an increasing PCA of 48.4%. The procedure rate peaked before the presentation of equivocal results from the first randomised controlled trial (RCT) in late 2010, and declined between Quarter 4, 2009 and Quarter 4, 2011 (PCA=-15.3%). Of more than 2300 patients recruited to three RCTs, only 71 were recruited in English hospitals.PCPFO was rapidly adopted after the publication of initial NICE guidance despite the absence of RCT evidence of efficacy. Very few English patients participated in international RCTs of PCPFO, suggesting that NICE recommendations also failed to encourage the generation of RCT evidence

Social mixing in urban schools: class, race and exchange-value friendships

Based on empirical, qualitative research on ‘social mixing’ in multi-ethnic London schools, this paper argues for a conceptualisation of social mixing as an exchange of the self. Through analysis of three working-class, minority ethnic students who attempt to ‘cross borders’ into White middle-class subcultures, I explore the differing capital value embodied in their raced, classed and gendered identity positions. Friendships across this border are characterised by ‘semi-investments’ on both sides, and promise only partial possibilities for social mobility via social mixing, though limited access to academic capital and embodied Whiteness

Managing foreign direct investment in Poland - Experiences of Finnish multinational companies

Siirretty Doriast