Staging a ‘real’ masculinity in a ‘fake’ world: creativity, (in)authenticity, and the gendering of musical labour

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered,transformed, or built upon in any way.A distinction between creativity and commerce as opposing forces is central to discourses surrounding popular music, and this distinction facilitates a gendered hierarchy of valued and devalued forms of musical labour. The practice of singing has typically been coded as feminine and has held a lower status than the masculinized practices of playing an instrument or composing. Accordingly, male pop singers tend to be assessed as inauthentic – and, by extension, insufficiently masculine – by some critics and audiences. In this article, I investigate how entwined notions of creativity and authenticity might shape contemporary pop artists’ representations of masculinity. Through a case study of Justin Timberlake’s music video Say Something (2018), I demonstrate how the showcasing of particular forms of musical labour can function to authenticate constructions of masculinity in accordance with artistic and creative ideals with roots in the Romantic era. My approach to audiovisual analysis merges perspectives from critical musicology and cultural studies, in order to investigate the processes by which ‘real’ masculinities are articulated on multiple levelspublishedVersio

The Earth is Sick: Environmentalism and the Politics of Age and Gender in Children's Musical Culture

The published work is protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Anthropogenic climate change is among the most widely debated topics of our time, and recent years have seen the growing impact of children’s involvement in environmental issues. While Greta Thunberg and the School Strike for Climate movement are key examples in this regard, there is another tendency deserving of attention that involves the increased prominence of environmentalism in children’s music and culture. This article investigates the song and music video Kloden er syk (“The Earth is Sick”) by Anna & Emma, which won the 2019 edition of the Norwegian music competition Melodi Grand Prix Junior. I explore how the audiovisual aesthetics of Kloden er syk encourage solidarity for environmentalist causes, and also discuss disparaging responses to the song and video in order to explicate how age and gender are politicized for the purpose of discrediting young activists and musicians. Ultimately, the article aims to shed light on the distinctly musical (and sociopolitical) ways in which children and young people are implicated in environmental debates.publishedVersio

Saturation Season: Inclusivity, Queerness, and Esthetics in the New Media Practices of Brockhampton

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.Following the self-release of their Saturation album trilogy in 2017, American hip-hop group Brockhampton broke through to an international audience. The period of the trilogy’s release – known as “Saturation Season” – is notable for the large body of creative content the group produced and released online. In this article, the authors demonstrate how the group’s new media practices query the boundaries that separate amateurs and professionals, consumers and producers, and fans and artists, raising a range of questions concerning digitalization, (social) inclusion, and the democratization of culture. Emphasis is placed on exploring the contradictory effects of the digital turn in popular music.publishedVersio

Hardly that kind of girl? : on female representations in mainstream pop music videos

Music video is a particularly powerful medium for showcasing pop artists, offering up a site where images and sounds come together to shape alluring representations. This thesis explores a selection of mainstream pop videos from a poststructuralist perspective, linking the representations of selected female artists to notions of gendered identity, sexuality, and ethnicity. As technological advancements open up new representational opportunities, current trends seem to showcase the female pop artist through hyperembodiment and appropriations of the post-human. The study focuses on four overarching questions: 1) How does pop music contribute to the ways we perceive and understand gendered identity, sexuality, and ethnicity? 2) How does the negotiation between mainstream culture and pornography materialize in both musical and visual aesthetics of current female pop artists? 3) What is at stake in female articulations of the robotic/monstrous/post-human? 4) What relevance does hyperembodiment have for female representations in music videos through technology? These questions are approached from the interdisciplinary field of popular musicology, which involves addressing theories from fields of research such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and media studies. Notably, the study does not attempt to provide definite answers to the key questions. Rather, the purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the dynamics of female representations in contemporary pop videos, illuminating processes of construction from a range of perspectives

Sangfoni: Magisk realisme, leken læring og identitetsutforsking i barns audiovisuelle musikkultur

Dette er en Open Access artikkel opprinnelig publisert i Studia Musicologica Norvegica. Artikkelen kan finnes på utgivers nettsider: idunn.no.This article investigates the children’s TV programme Sangfoni, with a focus on its intersecting aesthetic, pedagogical and sociocultural dimensions. Combining theories and methods from the fields of music education, critical musicology, and popular music studies, the author’s approach is interdisciplinary, and places a particular emphasis on interpretation and audiovisual analysis. As a contribution to the burgeoning field of research into children’s audiovisual culture, the article attempts to clarify how the augmented reality that is presented in Sangfoni functions as a catalyst both for an aesthetic learning process and the exploration of identity. The significance of children’s audiovisual music experiences as a foundation for identity work is central. The audiovisual construction of gendered identity receives particular attention, and the author argues that Sangfoni presents young viewers with a repertoire of symbolic expressions that can be incorporated in their own exploration of identity.publishedVersio

Mapping the music of migration: Emergent themes and challenges

This article adds to existing scholarship on music and migration by presenting and reflecting on the work undertaken in the project ‘Mapping the Music of Migration’ (2019–2021, www.mamumi.eu), which comprised partners from seven European countries and focused on storytelling about music and its potential to enable intercultural exchange and counter negative stereotypes. The key activities of the project involved the collection of migrants’ ‘Song Stories’ – personal stories about music – which were made publicly available through an interactive app. The article outlines the background and findings of the project and presents critical reflections on the various circumstances that shaped our process and results. The main objective is to give readers an insight into the key challenges and outcomes of the project, thereby calling attention to a range of themes and tensions that are of relevance to future studies of music and migration

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Genome-wide analyses identify a role for SLC17A4 and AADAT in thyroid hormone regulation.

Thyroid dysfunction is an important public health problem, which affects 10% of the general population and increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Many aspects of thyroid hormone regulation have only partly been elucidated, including its transport, metabolism, and genetic determinants. Here we report a large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for thyroid function and dysfunction, testing 8 million genetic variants in up to 72,167 individuals. One-hundred-and-nine independent genetic variants are associated with these traits. A genetic risk score, calculated to assess their combined effects on clinical end points, shows significant associations with increased risk of both overt (Graves' disease) and subclinical thyroid disease, as well as clinical complications. By functional follow-up on selected signals, we identify a novel thyroid hormone transporter (SLC17A4) and a metabolizing enzyme (AADAT). Together, these results provide new knowledge about thyroid hormone physiology and disease, opening new possibilities for therapeutic targets

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis