Artful Marketing: Visual and Aural Selling Practices in the Suqs (Marketplaces) of Damascus, Syria

My dissertation examines visual and aural marketing practices used by merchants in the suqs (marketplaces) of Damascus, Syria. In the busy and cramped spaces of the city’s large marketplaces, where a range of factors makes for intense economic competition, merchants must enact a kind of romance with their customers, wooing them with dazzling store displays, symbolic decorations, and creative auditory practices. This constellation of distinctively poetic selling practices is what I call ‘artful marketing’ – ways of selling which are artful both in their artistic inclinations and in the cunning ways they draw customers. I look at merchants’ displays of religious imagery and political and familial portraiture; the arrangement of merchandise into artistically patterned displays; and vendors’ street cries and other auditory practices to understand the place of artful marketing in Damascus’ suqs. I argue that these visual and aural realms of marketplace interaction work as ‘evidence’ of the trustworthiness of merchants and their businesses in ways that direct verbal expressions cannot. Because these realms are explained by merchants as decorative and pleasurable, and because they are pointedly not framed as advertising techniques, they become more credible as evidence. Artful practices can perform important work in the selling process because they exist both as decorative backdrop and as distinctive information. Ultimately, these marketing practices are more than a means to an end, for they have the potential to both fuel and reflect larger sociocultural trends in Damascus: the changing religious landscape of the city; the infusion of kinship and politics with work; and debates over the merging of religion and technology. By looking at these local selling techniques, the marketplace is revealed to be a place of meaningful action, rather than merely a site for economic transaction.Ph.D.AnthropologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75854/1/lkmcclel_2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75854/2/lkmcclel_1.pd

Deciphering the Microbiome: Integrating Theory, New Technologies, and Inclusive Science

The diversity and functional significance of microbiomes have become increasingly clear through the extensive sampling of Earth\u27s many habitats and the rapid adoption of new sequencing technologies. However, much remains unknown about what makes a “healthy” microbiome, how to restore a disrupted microbiome, and how microbiomes assemble. In December 2019, we convened a workshop that focused on how to identify potential “rules of life” that govern microbiome structure and function. This collection of mSystems Perspective pieces reflects many of the main challenges and opportunities in the field identified by both in-person and virtual workshop participants. By borrowing conceptual and theoretical approaches from other fields, including economics and philosophy, these pieces suggest new ways to dissect microbiome patterns and processes. The application of conceptual advances, including trait-based theory and community coalescence, is providing new insights on how to predict and manage microbiome diversity and function. Technological and analytical advances, including deep transfer learning, metabolic models, and advances in analytical chemistry, are helping us sift through complex systems to pinpoint mechanisms of microbiome assembly and dynamics. Integration of all of these advancements (theory, concepts, technology) across biological and spatial scales is providing dramatically improved temporal and spatial resolution of microbiome dynamics. This integrative microbiome research is happening in a new moment in science where academic institutions, scientific societies, and funding agencies must act collaboratively to support and train a diverse and inclusive community of microbiome scientists

Les désirs de la fécondité et l'emploi des préservatifs chez les femmes séro-positives au cours d'un programme de la présentation publique de la thérapie antirétrovirale au Zimbabwe.

As access to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) increases in sub-Saharan Africa, fertility and contraception patterns are likely to change. Two hundred HIV-positive women at an ART roll-out site in Zimbabwe responded to a questionnaire on fertility desires and condom use. Ten women (5%) reported planning a pregnancy in the next year, comprising 0% of women not yet eligible for ART, 8.22% of women on the waitlist for ART, and 4.17% of women on ART. Younger age, fewer living children, and higher quality of life were individually associated with intended pregnancy in the next year; however in multivariate analysis only the association with higher quality of life remained significant. Reported ever use of condoms was relatively low (46.5%) and condom use varied by neither ART status nor by fertility desires. In conclusion, our data demonstrates fertility desires among HIV-positive women in Zimbabwe correlate with higher perceived quality of life.Au fur et à mesure que l'accès à la thérapie antirétrovirale (TAR) s'accroî t en Afrique sub-saharéenne, il y a la possibilité que les tendances de la fécondité et de la contraception se modifient. Deux cent femmes séropositives qui se sont présentées dans le lieu de la présentation publique de TAR au Zimbabwe ont répondu à un questionnaire sur les désirs de la fécondité et l'emploi des préservatifs. Dix femmes (5%) ont indiqué quelles désiraient être enceintes dans l'année qui venait, y compris le 0% des femmes qui n'avaient pas encore droit à la TAR, 82% des femmes sur la liste d'attente pour la TAR et 4,17% des femmes qui suivent la TAR. Le plus jeune âge, peu d'enfants vivants et une qualité de vie élevée ont été individuellement associés à la grossesse voulue dans l'année suivante. Néanmoins, dans l'analyse multifactorielle, seule l'association ayant une qualité de vie plus élevée est restée significative. Le nombre des femmes qui ont indiqué n'avoir jamais utilisé les préservatifs était relativement bas (46,5%) et l'emploi des préservatifs n'a varié ni par la TAR ni par les désirs de la fécondité. En conclusion, nos données ont démontré que les désirs pour la fécondité chez les femmes séropsitives au Zimbabwe est en corrélation avec la qualité de vie élevée perçue