Sacred Music, Sacred Journeys : What Makes an Event Postcolonial?

Fanon, Senghor, and Ela took a radical stance in criticising the structures and mechanisms of power in hegemonic situations and relations between colonial subjects and colonial masters. They aimed to liberate African societies by decolonising the mind, culture and religion of colonial subjects. In this respect, we are concerned with the continuities and ruptures of the colonial encounter and its unequal relationships. Switzerland does not have an official colonial history and yet, Swiss companies and migrants were and are part of the world's colonies. In our contribution, we question what makes an event postcolonial : in other words, how are postcolonial relations negotiated in Switzerland? We discuss this question by analysing two annual sacred journeys in Switzerland that have been invented for and by African Christians (clerics and laity) together with the leaders of the Swiss Catholic church : one to the relics of African saints in St. Maurice, canton Valais and the other to the Black Madonna, the Virgin Mary of Einsiedeln, in the canton Schwyz. These events are empowered by the performance of African choirs - their music, dance, and costumes - but to which end and in which way?

La construcción social de las emociones en las sociedades occidentales: el amor materno en la Catalunya del siglo XXI

El objetivo principal de esta investigación es analizar la forma cómo se construye socialmente el amor materno en el marco de las sociedades occidentales, y para ello partiremos del estudio del caso de las maternidades en la Catalunya actual. El amor materno, como emoción, aparece como una codificación cultural que responde a la canalización de la vida que cada cultura establece. En las sociedades occidentales el amor materno se revela como uno de los ejes vertebradores y legitimadores de la esfera reproductiva y del papel de la mujer dentro de ésta, definiéndose en consonancia y dando coherencia al resto de aspectos del sistema social. Dada su importancia los discursos hegemónicos de la sociedad que lo define tienden a naturalizar esta emoción en favor del mantenimiento y el no cuestionamiento del orden social dado, a pesar de que abundante evidencia empírica en ciencias sociales demuestra que se trata de una construcción social que responde a las necesidades del sistema social en cuestión. Actualmente los discursos tradicionales que contenían y definían la concepción de amor materno en Occidente se han ampliado y diversificado debido a cambios sociales como el ingreso de la mujer en la esfera pública; el logro de igualdad jurídica entre géneros; cambios en los modelos familiares; nuevas situaciones en torno a la infancia y la juventud; la intensificación de los flujos migratorios; la creciente urbanización; la expansión de los servicios públicos (escuela y salud); el alargamiento de la esperanza de vida, los métodos anticonceptivos modernos..., de manera tal que muchos de ellos entran en contraposición con las definiciones tradicionales. Es decir, nuevos y viejos discursos alrededor de la maternidad se encuentran enfrentados en su redefinición a otros que lo cuestionan, y a prácticas y cambios en ciertas instituciones que llevan en otra dirección la construcción de esta emoción. Esta nueva situación, aún en fase de conformación, reclama una explicación que pasa por conocer las causas, las formas y la definición del amor materno, en nuestro actual contexto.

"I'll look it up on the Web first": barriers and overcoming barriers to consult for sexual dysfunction among young men.

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: Our aim was to identify the barriers young men face to consult a health professional when they encounter sexual dysfunctions and where they turn to, if so, for answers. METHODS: We conducted an exploratory qualitative research including 12 young men aged 16-20 years old seen in two focus groups. Discussions were triggered through vignettes about sexual dysfunction. RESULTS: Young men preferred not to talk about sexual dysfunction problems with anyone and to solve them alone as it is considered an intimate and embarrassing subject which can negatively impact their masculinity. Confidentiality appeared to be the most important criterion in disclosing an intimate subject to a health professional. Participants raised the problem of males' accessibility to services and lack of reason to consult. Two criteria to address the problem were if it was long-lasting or considered as physical. The Internet was unanimously considered as an initial solution to solve a problem, which could guide them to a face-to-face consultation if necessary. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that Internet-based tools should be developed to become an easy access door to sexual health services for young men. Wherever they consult and for whatever problem, sexual health must be on the agenda.

Gènere i bilingüisme: connectant experiències i teories. Introductory paper in Santaemilia, José, Patricia Bou, Sergio Maruenda i Gora Zaragoza International Perspectives on Gender and Language

Peer-reviewed

Doing Intersectionality: Repertoires of Feminist Practices in France and Canada

Intersectionality has been adopted as the preferred term to refer to and to analyze multiple axes of oppression in feminist theory. However, less research examines if this term, and the political analyses it carries, has been adopted by women's rights organizations in various contexts and to what effect. Drawing on interviews with activists working in a variety of women's rights organizations in France and Canada, I show that intersectionality is only one of the repertoires that a women's rights organization might use to analyze the social experience and the political interests of women situated at the intersection of several axes of domination. I propose a typology of four repertoires that activists use to reflect on intersectionality and inclusiveness. Drawing on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the interview data, I show that hegemonic repertoires about racial or religious identity in one national context shape the way activists and organizations understand intersectionality and its challenges. The identity of organizations, as well as their main function (advocacy or providing service), also shape their understanding of intersectional issues.

Kaupungin ja maaseudun vuorovaikutus alueellisessa kehittämispolitiikassa

In Finland, European Union membership and economic globalisation have changed the position of regions from closed territorial systems to nodes of open international networks. The increasing complexity of cities as globalised knowledge centres and functionally specialised and diversified rural areas, and on the other hand growing disparities between prosperous urban cores and lagging peripheral areas are also essential features in contemporary regional development. These trends have produced new needs to promote mutual dialogue between cities and the countryside in western market economies. Urban-rural interaction is an idea which was developed in the late 1990s within regional policy to pull together these new challenges to regional development and handle cities and the countryside as a whole. The aim of my study is to conceptualise the idea of urban-rural interaction, explain the phenomenon theoretically, clarify past and present urban and rural development and analyse regional policies from the interaction angle. The ultimate purpose is to illustrate the existence and nature of particular interaction policy in a globalising society. The general method is discourse analysis, which I use in three cases: Central Finland, South-Ostrobothnia and South-West Finland. Theoretically I have a two-dimensional approach. On the first hand I use World-System theory to explain how the global economy is moulding urban and rural structures at the regional level. On the other hand I use regime theory to explain local political actions and practises between cities and the countryside under the overlapping pressures deriving from reformulated regional structures and policies.

Adaptation to globalisation in Finland has been carried out by strengthening urban centres. The stress in regional policy has been in urban development. The development of the countryside has mostly been implemented by a separate rural policy. At the end of the 1990s and early 2000s Finnish cities have actually shown themselves to be competitive in global markets. The drawbacks of the new growth centre policy have been the sparse network of prosperous cities and their weak spreading effects, which have hindered comprehensive regional development. Tensions between urban and rural areas have also deepened. In this situation the interaction policy is used as a way of balancing development and moderate conflicts within the regions. From this point of view urban-rural interaction can be seen as a way of tackling the challenges of globalisation.

On the other hand the results emphasise that actors involved in regional development still believe, although the hegemonic discourse is on urban policy, that there are opportunities to stimulate progress in the countryside as well. In the situation where regional authorities control development resources, rural development can be successful only if rural actors manage to establish fruitful relationships with their urban partners. This is also the weakness of the programme-based regional policy. If rural municipalities or other actors are for any reason incapable of building development regimes with cities, the offers of interaction policy will be useless.

The problem of the interaction policy is that the focus and methods of it have so far been rather underdeveloped. In order to improve the efficiency of the interaction policy, further research should concentrate on the social processes which define the position of cities and the countryside as partners of interaction, and practises which promote or prohibit the possibilities of developing the interaction policy. The efforts to define different contents of urban-rural interaction or promote interaction projects should not have such an important role in the future as they have had so far. Instead, the focus of interaction policy should be on questions such as how to manage the political tensions between town and country and how to create a positive atmosphere for regional policy where the needs of urban and rural development are promoted equally.

Violence as a research object and intervention in the health field: an analysis from the production of the Research Group on Gender, Health and Nursingi

The study aimed to describe how violence is revealed in the production of the Research Group on Gender, Health and Nursing. This is a historical research of qualitative approach, which evaluated the production of the Research Group, through content analysis. The results show gender as a central category in determining violence and health practices. This aspect determines limitations on professional practices of coping, such as the invisibility of the problem. The female autonomy, the use of alcohol and drugs and social vulnerability play an important relation with the phenomenon and the bond is revealed as potentiality of health practices to address the problem. Conclusion: The gender perspective in nursing research is an innovative field and counter-hegemonic, a possibility to assume a meaning of praxis by transforming potential of understanding and modes of intervention in the phenomenon of gender violence.

Les collectifs d'hommes autour de la condition masculine en Suisse: état des lieux

Depuis le début des années 70 en Suisse, suite aux changements de configuration entre les sexes, certains hommes se réunissent autour de problématiques en lien avec la masculinité. Qu'ils se posent en soutien, en opposition ou dans le prolongement de débats initiés par le féminisme, ils contribuent à redéfinir et à diffuser de nouveaux modèles de masculinité dans la société.Since the 70's, men in Switzerland have gathered in response to status changes and to social discourses and actions held by feminists. Either as a challenge or as a support of feminist ideas, men's movements have contributed to redefine, create and spread a wide range of representations regarding masculinity.

Reescrituras de la masculinidad

Este libro que presentamos reúne varias de las contribuciones que se hicieron en el Seminario Internacional "Hombres escritos por mujeres; Reescrituras de la masculinidad de la Universidad de Barcelona en marzo de 1999, y que constituyó asimismo la primera reunión de la Red Temática "Dones i cultures/Mujeres y culturas. Esta Res, reconocida en 1998 por el "Pla de recerca de Catalunya", coordina a varios grupos de investigación de Universidades españolas y extranjeras (Francia, Marruecos y Estados Unidos están representados en ella) que se dedican a los estudios de mujeres y en torno al género, desde perspectivas interdisciplinares que incluyen la filosofía, la antropología, la historia, la crítica literaria y, de modo más general, los llamados estudios culturales...

Reescrituras de la masculinidad

Este libro que presentamos reúne varias de las contribuciones que se hicieron en el Seminario Internacional "Hombres escritos por mujeres; Reescrituras de la masculinidad de la Universidad de Barcelona en marzo de 1999, y que constituyó asimismo la primera reunión de la Red Temática "Dones i cultures/Mujeres y culturas. Esta Res, reconocida en 1998 por el "Pla de recerca de Catalunya", coordina a varios grupos de investigación de Universidades españolas y extranjeras (Francia, Marruecos y Estados Unidos están representados en ella) que se dedican a los estudios de mujeres y en torno al género, desde perspectivas interdisciplinares que incluyen la filosofía, la antropología, la historia, la crítica literaria y, de modo más general, los llamados estudios culturales...

Prólogo: La masculinidad a debate

El debate sobre los varones y la masculinidad está de actualidad. Temas como qué significa ser hombre hoy en día, qué esperan las mujeres de los hombres, los cambios en las relaciones de género en el espacio laboral y en el doméstico, las nuevas paternidades, el amor entre varones, el nuevo énfasis en la estética y el cuidado del cuerpo masculino, etc. son objeto de reflexión frecuente por parte de hombres y mujeres. Pero, a pesar de ello, la masculinidad carece de una historia "de verdad" porque, hasta hace poco, no se había analizado como una construcción social, profundamente injusta para las mujeres y, paradójicamente, también para los varones. Este es el objetivo del presente volumen, que intenta contribuir al análisis de la masculinidad aportando las opiniones de reconocidos especialistas internacionales provinientes de campos tan diversos como la sociología, la psicología, la antropología, la teoría fílmica y la literaria, los estudios de raza y sexualidad y también de la biología evolucionista feminista. Cuestiones tan preocupantes como la creciente violencia contra las mujeres evidencian la necesidad de mostrar, y repensar, la configuración patriarcal de la masculinidad como requisito indispensable para alcanzar la plena equidad entre hombres y mujeres. Si el feminismo fue la gran revolución del siglo XX, el cambio del varón podría ser, como indica la psicóloga Victòria Sau, la revolución social más importante del siglo que iniciamos.

Prólogo: La masculinidad a debate

El debate sobre los varones y la masculinidad está de actualidad. Temas como qué significa ser hombre hoy en día, qué esperan las mujeres de los hombres, los cambios en las relaciones de género en el espacio laboral y en el doméstico, las nuevas paternidades, el amor entre varones, el nuevo énfasis en la estética y el cuidado del cuerpo masculino, etc. son objeto de reflexión frecuente por parte de hombres y mujeres. Pero, a pesar de ello, la masculinidad carece de una historia "de verdad" porque, hasta hace poco, no se había analizado como una construcción social, profundamente injusta para las mujeres y, paradójicamente, también para los varones. Este es el objetivo del presente volumen, que intenta contribuir al análisis de la masculinidad aportando las opiniones de reconocidos especialistas internacionales provinientes de campos tan diversos como la sociología, la psicología, la antropología, la teoría fílmica y la literaria, los estudios de raza y sexualidad y también de la biología evolucionista feminista. Cuestiones tan preocupantes como la creciente violencia contra las mujeres evidencian la necesidad de mostrar, y repensar, la configuración patriarcal de la masculinidad como requisito indispensable para alcanzar la plena equidad entre hombres y mujeres. Si el feminismo fue la gran revolución del siglo XX, el cambio del varón podría ser, como indica la psicóloga Victòria Sau, la revolución social más importante del siglo que iniciamos.

Reescrituras de la masculinidad

Este libro que presentamos reúne varias de las contribuciones que se hicieron en el Seminario Internacional "Hombres escritos por mujeres; Reescrituras de la masculinidad de la Universidad de Barcelona en marzo de 1999, y que constituyó asimismo la primera reunión de la Red Temática "Dones i cultures/Mujeres y culturas. Esta Res, reconocida en 1998 por el "Pla de recerca de Catalunya", coordina a varios grupos de investigación de Universidades españolas y extranjeras (Francia, Marruecos y Estados Unidos están representados en ella) que se dedican a los estudios de mujeres y en torno al género, desde perspectivas interdisciplinares que incluyen la filosofía, la antropología, la historia, la crítica literaria y, de modo más general, los llamados estudios culturales...

Patriarchal Hauntings: Re-reading Villainy and Gender in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca

Criticism of Daphne du Maurier’s popular classic Rebecca (1938) can be divided into two mainstream interpretations. On the one hand, it was traditionally marketed as a gothic romance where the hero and the heroine conquered the evil women that separated them. On the other, certain feminist critics have recently provided a very diff erent view of the story, aligning it with gothic narratives that deal with the dangers women suff er under the patriarchal control of their husbands. Th is would imply that du Maurier’s novel should not be read as a traditional romance that promotes patriarchy, as the former interpretation suggested. In this article, I propose, through a Gothic Studies and a Gender Studies reading, that villainy in this novel is not exclusively linked to gender and, therefore, the victim and abuser statuses cannot be equated to femininity and masculinity, respectively. Instead, I argue that villainy in the novel is inextricably connected to being in a powerful position within patriarchy, and that it is the desire to maintain this position and perpetuate the patriarchal system that leads the main characters (men and women) to commit acts of villainy.