The Role of Ethnicity in Body Image among Oslo Youth

Ethnicity has been shown to be an important factor in the development of body image, which in turn has consequences for our health and well-being. Several nonwestern cultures traditionally have a heavier body ideal than the current western thin body ideal, although there is now evidence of a globalization of the current western slim and fit body ideal. Data from Longitudinal Young in Oslo (LUNO) was used to explore whether there is a difference in body image between ethnic groups, if these can be attributed to culture, and the relationship between indicators of acculturation and body image. Participants were 2328 9th graders in Oslo, a quarter of which were nonwestern. Several ethnic differences in body image emerged for girls that may be attributed to culture. Specifically, nonwestern girls were found to be less invested in their appearance and less influenced by media ideals than western girls. Girls with stronger Norwegian identity were more satisfied with their appearance. Norwegian born students were more invested in their appearance and more influenced by media body ideals. And Muslim girls were found to be less invested in their appearance and less influenced by media ideals than all other girls. There were no significant ethnicity-based differences for boys. These differences were small but significant, and support earlier findings of cultural differences in body ideals. The results were inconclusive in finding changes in body image due to acculturation. Some results are consistent with a globalization of the current western body ideal

A revelation: Addressing feminist agency in Norwegian film history

© 2022 Intellect Ltd. Dette er den aksepterte versjonen av en artikkel publisert i Journal of Scandinavian Cinema. Den blir tilgjengelig fra og med 01.07.2023 etter en embargoperiode på 12 måneder. Du finner den publiserte artikkelen her: https://doi.org/10.1386/jsca_00068_1 / This is the postprint version of the article published in Journal of Scandinavian Cinem. It will be available 01.07.2023 after an embargo period of 12 months. You can find the published article here: https://doi.org/10.1386/jsca_00068_1This article examines how gender balance in the Norwegian film sector has been narrativized, and as such is a historiographical challenge to a tendency to delineate the presence of women film directors at key dates as markers of equality. To suggest alternative trajectories, this article adopts a methodology of constellation, putting into dialogue the little-known women’s film and television network Women’s Film Forum (1982–89) and Women in Film and Television Norway (2005–present) as well as the production practices of director-writers Vibeke Løkkeberg, whose career began in the 1970s, and Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, whose first feature film premiered in 2021. Through these constellations, we explore ways to acknowledge the strategies and agencies of individual filmmakers and grassroots organizations that have addressed gender inequalities in the film and TV sectors for more than four decades and to re-frame the present moment beyond official film policies.acceptedVersio

Tamm Review: On the nature of the nitrogen limitation to plant growth in Fennoscandian boreal forests

The supply of nitrogen commonly limits plant production in boreal forests and also affects species composition and ecosystem functions other than plant growth. These interrelations vary across the landscapes, with the highest N availability, plant growth and plant species richness in ground-water discharge areas (GDAs), typically in toe-slope positions, which receive solutes leaching from the much larger groundwater recharge areas (GRAs) uphill. Plant N sources include not only inorganic N, but, as heightened more recently, also organic N species. In general, also the ratio inorganic N over organic N sources increase down hillslopes. Here, we review recent evidence about the nature of the N limitation and its variations in Fennoscandian boreal forests and discuss its implications for forest ecology and management. The rate of litter decomposition has traditionally been seen as the determinant of the rate of N supply. However, while N-rich litter decomposes faster than N-poor litter initially, N-rich litter then decomposes more slowly, which means that the relation between N % of litter and its decomposability is complex. Moreover, in the lower part of the mor-layer, where the most superficial mycorrhizal roots first appear, and N availability matters for plants, the ratio of microbial N over total soil N is remarkably constant over the wide range in litter and soil C/N ratios of between 15 and 40 for N-rich and N-poor sites, respectively. Nitrogen-rich and -poor sites thus differ in the sizes of the total N pool and the microbial N pool, but not in the ratio between them. A more important difference is that the soil microbial N pool turns over faster in N-rich systems because the microbes are more limited by C, while microbes in N-poor systems are a stronger sink for available N. Furthermore, litter decomposition in the most superficial soil horizon (as studied by the so-called litter-bag method) is associated with a dominance of saprotrophic fungi, and absence of mycorrhizal fungi. The focal zone in the context of plant N supply in N-limited forests is further down the soil profile, where ectomycorrhizal (ECM) roots become abundant. Molecular evidence and stable isotope data indicate that in the typical N-poor boreal forests, nitrogen is retained in saprotrophic fungi, likely until they run out of energy (available C-compounds). Then, as heightened by recent research, ECM fungi, which are supplied by photosynthate from the trees, become the superior competitors for N. In N-poor boreal soils strong N retention by microorganisms keeps levels of available N very low. This is exacerbated by an increase in tree C allocation to mycorrhizal fungi (TCAM) relative to net primary production (NPP) with decreasing soil N supply, which causes ECM fungi to retain much of the available soil N for their own growth and transfer little to their tree hosts. The transfer of N through the ECM fungi, and not the rate of litter decomposition, is likely limiting the rate of tree N supply under such conditions. All but a few stress-tolerant less N-demanding plant species, like the ECM trees themselves and ericaceous dwarf shrubs, are excluded. With increasing N supply, a weakening of ECM symbiosis caused by the relative decline in TCAM contributes to shifts in soil microbial community composition from fungal dominance to bacterial dominance. Thus, bacteria, which are less C-demanding, but more likely to release N than fungi, take over. This, and the relatively high pH in GDA, allow autotrophic nitrifying bacteria to compete successfully for the NH4+ released by C-limited organisms and causes the N cycle to open up with leaching of nitrate (NO3−) and gaseous N losses through denitrification. These N-rich conditions allow species-rich communities of N-demanding plant species. Meanwhile, ECM fungi have a smaller biomass, are supplied with N in excess of their demand and will export more N to their host trees. Hence, the gradient from low to high N supply is characterized by profound variations in plant and soil microbial physiologies, especially their relations to the C-to-N supply ratio. We propose how interactions among functional groups can be understood and modelled (the plant-microbe carbon-nitrogen model). With regard to forest management these perspectives explain why the creation of larger tree-free gaps favors the regeneration of tree seedlings under N-limited conditions through reduced belowground competition for N, and why such gaps are less important under high N supply (but when light might be limiting). We also discuss perspectives on the relations between N supply, biodiversity, and eutrophication of boreal forests from N deposition or forest fertilization