Feeling at Home: Gender and Creative Agency at Red House

This article lays some of the groundwork for an approach to religion and labour in the Roman Empire that focuses on micropractices and their regulation as a way to recover the experiences of individuals and groups whose labour and religious practices have often been overlooked or undervalued both in antiquity and in modern scholarship. Drawing on practice-oriented scholarship from religious studies and the social sciences in tandem with the Lived Ancient Religion approach, it proposes analysing the intersections of religion and labour as situated linkages of religious micropractices (broadly, human activities involving gods and spirits) with labour practices, including productive labour as well as overlapping types of coerced, familial, reproductive, intimate, emotional/affective/byproductive, and aesthetic labour. Such a focus on linkages primes analysts to recognise the creative, improvised, and tactical agency of individuals and groups as they kindled suprahuman beings to affect their labour. It also calls attention to different forms of legal and discursive regulation that constrained workers agency at these sites of linkage.

1890 – Creative agency: the autobiography of mental illness: an exploratory review of practice of writing as a tool during mental illness

The silent Brazilian film Miss Right Now (1927), produced by and starring Eva Nil, who also worked as a camera and laboratory assistant on the film, stands out as a powerful and rare example of a woman's creative agency in early Brazilian cinema. The plight of this film also provides a means to consider the conditions of women's on- and offscreen work, dominant models for female screen protagonists in 1920s Brazil, and negotiations between modern and traditional values within an emergent Brazilian star system.

Women's marginalization in the British feature film industry is well documented: gender discrimination, and sometimes overt segregation, shut most women out of senior creative roles after the introduction of sound. What has received less critical attention is their participation in nonfiction filmmaking, which offered women greater employment opportunities, especially in the decades after World War II as Britain rebuilt its economy. This article provides the first historical mapping of women's involvement in sponsored nonfiction filmmaking in Britain in the period between 1945 and 1970, using newly available statistical data from Britain's film trade union, the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT). It also draws on oral histories, extant films, and specialist trade publications to outline two case studies, one featuring three editors, and the other a director (Sarah Erulkar) who between them produced, directed and edited more than two hundred shorts on topics ranging from mineshaft sinking to French cookery. It argues that evidence of women's creative agency in this sector offers new ways of thinking about film history.

Beginning in the mid-1990s and continuing through the 2000s, Italy’s population of semi-permanent or sub-employed workers doubled, while its safeguarded workforce was halved, a trend particularly salient in Northern Italy. In historical tandem with this immense socio-economic transformation, outstanding public attention, originating in the field of occupational psychology, has been focused on a form of workplace harassment called mobbing ( il mobbing ). Mobbing, I show, both as praxis and site of public discourse, articulates the inchoate threats and ravages of intra- and inter-class solidarities which have become the affective trademarks of post-Fordism. It is but one example of everyday labor practices which signal a far deeper proximity between the detached and atomized workers of a market-oriented labor regime and the Fordist ideals of material stability, valorized toil, and, crucially, affective ties. Italy’s working populations confront Fordist ruins not only as intangible and nostalgic remnants but as a labor force deprived of solidarity between workers even though workers’ affective investment in their labor has intensified. I interrogate how the eerie presence of capitalism’s affective past is reincarnated in mobbing discourse, redeployed to signal at once the solidarity-stripping capacity of post-Fordism and the affinity-affirming spirit of Fordism.

In 2016, Anomaly and its newly formed product development team embarked on a digital asset management initiative with the intention of fuelling a larger technology vision that would provide its clients with deeper insights into the work they were creating. To accomplish this, a digital asset management platform was needed to extract as much relevant and meaningful metadata about the company’s creative assets as possible and make that information available as an independent data source. From an advertising industry perspective, this involved a new innovative architecture, custom integrations and an unconventional way of thinking about the practice of digital asset management. This paper details Anomaly’s focus on the metadata, the value brought by said data and how the company was eventually able to provide a deeper level of consumer insights by analysing metadata in combination with other real-world data sources.

‘A Placement for Everyone’ outlines an emergent project in which staff and students collaborate to envision a transformation in their university/art school. Rather than convey pre-existing knowledge and expertise from tutor to students, we are working together as equal but different participants in a reflexive experiment with the institutional conditions and social purpose of learning.
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\nA primary influence has been the Artist Placement Group (APG), which from 1966—1979 negotiated for artists to be placed in business, industry and governmental organizations. These placements were not framed as commissions or contracts between the artist and the host, but were developed around the APG concept of ‘the open brief’, with no prescriptions, and no outcomes agreed in advance. 
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\nIn December 2012, I designated my academic post at University of the Arts London (UAL) as an artist’s placement, with a remit to promote creative engagement with the ecological and social-economic crisis. I aimed to connect artistic research with pedagogy, by involving staff and students in aligning our university’s operations with its stated values.

This chapter focuses on choreographic labor, highlighting the perspectives of game choreographers. These creative workers function as cultural intermediaries between the game industry and various dance cultures; their embodied and affective labor position them as representatives of “real dance.” The technical constraints imposed by motion-capture and animation processes impact the nature of creative labor in dance game production. Choreographers have pushed against those constraints to assert their own creative agency and affirm particular dance values. This chapter also addresses issues of ownership—in terms of choreographic copyright, cultural heritage, and cultural appropriation—and shows how dance games reflect choreographers’ experiences as teachers, students, competitors, and producers of creative content in an era of precarious labor.

This study explores labor relations within the creative industry, focusing on a creative agency in Bandung, Indonesia. Using Robert E. Stake’s multiple case study approach and qualitative methods through semi-structured interviews, the study examines how organizational values and work culture are shaped, socialized, and negotiated in daily practices. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, the analysis demonstrates how symbolic consensus and managerial language operate as persuasive rather than coercive forms of power. This study examines how organizational values are disseminated and internalized, how the structure of work shapes worker consciousness and behavior, and how workers respond to symbolic domination embedded in daily work practices. Employing a qualitative approach and multiple case study method, the research involves semi-structured interviews with creative workers. The findings reveal that workplace hegemony operates not only through coercion but also through persuasion, by normalizing ideals such as passion, loyalty, and flexibility. However, various forms of resistance emerge through micro-practices, meaning negotiation, and emotional distancing from corporate values. This research contributes to critical perspectives on hidden power relations in the seemingly free and fun culture of creative labor.

People move inside and between states as part of globalisation in the twenty-first century, looking for jobs, a family, and an education, fleeing violence, persecution, terrorism, and human rights violations, and coping with climate change, economic hardship, and natural disasters.1 This increased global migration has been a significant milestone in South Africa's post-apartheid transition. The opening of borders has led to an increase in women migrating across Africa, changing historically male-dominated immigration patterns. Muslim women now account for a fraction of the global migration flux. However, few studies have focused on Malawian women's migration experiences, highlighting the need for more research on women in post-apartheid South Africa. This study focuses on Malawian immigrants in post-apartheid South Africa, specifically Chewa and Yawo women. It examines their migration reasons, challenges, and assimilation of Muslim identities. The study highlights opportunities, socio-economic, and cultural obstacles faced by these women, providing a nuanced gendered history. Participants were chosen using snowball and purposive sampling. The study utilised gender, social history, oral history, and transnationalism theory to investigate thirty women's lived experiences and migration patterns. It found that gender dynamics significantly impact migration patterns and experiences in host societies. Women from Chewa and Yawo tribes were found to be more prone to abuse and exploitation than men. International migration often leads to social isolation and abusive relationships for women, highlighting power imbalances. Male immigrants earn higher wages than females, while female migrants send more money home. Chewa and Yawo Muslim women can use their strength to flee and show agency in their host country, potentially causing envy among conventional hosts. This usually leads to xenophobic attacks on foreigners. Hence, the study explores women's agency in migration, highlighting their struggles and aiming to shape their lives. It contributes to the historiography of migration in Africa and South Africa, and the scholarship on the "feminisation of migration." It is also a study about resilience, Africa in Islam, longitudinal experiences of communities, Pan-Africanist worlds, the persistence of memories, and the fluidity of culture, the regional history of Durban and first-generation migrants and labour practices. This dissertation is a trans-disciplinary study with history as the fulcrum. This study is crucial for understanding gender, memory, and African oral history, particularly for women immigrants. It highlights women's active participation in migration, coping strategies, and absorption into host societies. This dissertation covers essential aspects of post-Apartheid South Africa's immigration history. Iqoqa Abantu baphansi phezulu behla benyuka phakathi kwamazwe njengendlela kaqoqazwe ekhulwini leminyaka namashumi amabili nanye, bethungatha imisebenzi, imindeni kanye nemfundo, bebalekela udlame, ukunqunywa, ubunqolobi kanye nokunyathelwa kwamalungelo, ukushintsha kwesimo sezulu, ubunzima bezomnotho kanye nezinhlekelele zemvelo. Ukwanda kokufuduka ngobuqoqazwe kube yigxathu elibalulekile eNingizimu Afrikha emuva koguquko kwahamba ingcindezelo. Ukuvulwa kwemingcele kuholele ekwandeni kofuduko kwabantu besifazane a-Afrikha yonkana, kwashintsha umlando wofuduko obugcwele amadoda. Abesifazane bamaSulumane nabo bayabalwa kuqoqazwe wokufuduka. Nokho, izifundo ezimbalwa esezenziwe zigxile kubafazi baseMalawi mayela nesendlalelo sokufuduka, kugqamisa isidingo solunye ucwaningo ngabantu besifazane emva kwegcindezelo eNingizimu Afrikha. Impokophelo yalesisifundo imayelana nofuduko lwabaseMalawi emuva kwengcidezelo eNingizimu Afrikha ikakhulukazi abafazi bamaChewa nabamaYawo. Ihlola izizathu zokufuduka, izinselelo kanye nokulutha ubuzwe. Lesi sifundo siqhakambisa amathuba, ezomnotho kanye nemigoqwano yamasiko abhekene nabesifazane, kunikezwa izincazelo ezahlukene ngomlando wobulili. Ababamba iqhaza bakhethwa ngokuba kusetshenziswe isampula ye-snowball kanye nesampula ehlosiwe. Ucwaningo lwasebenzisa ubulili, umlando ngokwenhlalo, umlando ngobuciko bomlomo kanye nenjulalwazi ye-transnationlism ukuphenya izendlalelo zabantu besifazane abanga-30 kanye nokhondolo lokufuduka. Ithole ukuthi ubulili ngokwehlukana kuba nesisindo ngokubalulekile okhondolweni lokufuduka kanye nesendlalelo emiphakathini esingethe. Abesifazana ohlangeni lwamaChewa kanye namaYawo kwatholakala ukuhlukumezeka okuningi kanye nokuxhashazwa kunamadoda. Ufuduko ngokwezizwe luvamise ukuholela ezimweni zenhlalo ezikhishwa inyumbazana kanye nobudlelwane obunodlame kubantu besifazane, obugqamisa ukungalingani kwamandla. Abesilisa abazifiki baholelwa kangcono kunabesifazane, ngalowomzuzu abesifazane abangabafuduki bathumela imali eningi emakhaya. Ababesifazane abangamalungu enkolo yamaSulumani bangawasebenzisa amandla abo ukubaleka ukuze batshengise inhlangano esingethe kulelozwe, lokhu kunamathuba okudala ukungaphathi kwabasingethe. Lokhu kuholela esimweni sodlame ngokuhlasela abahambi. Ucwaningo luhlola izinhlangano zabesifazana zokufuduka, ezigqamisa owazo umzabalazo ohlose ukulolonga izimpilo zabo. Ifaka isandla kumlando wokufuduka kwabantu e-Afrikha naseNingizimu Afrikha, kanye nomfundaze "wokufuduka kwabantu besifazane." Kubuye kube isifundo ngokuzimisela, i-Afrikha kumaSulumani, isendlalelo eside ngemiphakathi, egxile kubu-Afrikha emhlabeni, izinkumbulo eziqhubekayo kanye nokuthamba kwamasiko, umlando wesifunda saseThekwini kanye nesizukulwane sokuqala sabafuduki nokukwenziwa okuthinta abasebenzi. Lolu cwaningo luyisifundo esinemixhantela olusekelwe umlando. Lolucwaningo lubalulekile ukuqonda ubulili, inkumbulo kanye nomlando wase-Afrikha ngomlomo, ikakhulukazi abesifazane abangabafuduki. Kugqamisa ukubamba iqhaza kwabesifazane odabeni lokufuduka, baqhamuke namaqhinga kanye nokugwinywa imiphakathi ebasingethe. Lomqulu ufaka izingxenye ezibalulekile ngomlando waseNingizimu Afrikha ngokufuduka emva kwengcindezelo.

Reviewed by: Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society Amber Gazso Roberta Hamilton , Gendering the Vertical Mosaic: Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Society. 2nd edition. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005, 248 pp. Many scholars often experience some confusion upon being first introduced to feminist theorizing on the hierarchies that characterize women's and men's structural positions and agency in historical and contemporary Canadian society. This confusion tends to centre on the absence of one specific feminist lens to view the social world. Instead, the uninitiated is immediately exposed to a multitude of perspectives, centred on understanding gender inequality through different key assumptions. In this second edition, Roberta Hamilton revisits the intent of her first edition of Gendering the Vertical Mosaic published in 1996, [End Page 376] to introduce readers to these different feminist viewpoints and understandings of Canadian society. Continuing in the same vein in this edition, Hamilton effortlessly unravels and differentiates among several feminist theoretical understandings, thereby smoothing out confusion and revealing for readers how Canadian society is a "vertical mosaic" that is not just class-stratified but racialized and gendered too. Many readers will find her revisions culminate in an updated text containing recent events and scholarly work and appreciate the new chapter on feminist understandings of globalization and the restructuring of the Canadian state as a welcome and necessary addition. What makes the text immediately refreshing and appealing as an introductory text or a text for the more sophisticated reader is Hamilton's willingness to state her feminist assumptions and definitional standpoints that guided her writing of the text in the introductory chapter. Hamilton briefly reviews John Porter's ungendered Vertical Mosaic as a main impetus to her own exploration of class-based, racialized and gendered hierarchies in Canadian society. Her gendering of the vertical mosaic is influenced by a process-based understanding of gender; the fluidity and ongoing construction of gender means its manifestation in multiple forms subjected to multiple understandings. Readers are encouraged to be an 'active' audience, to make their own connections amongst each of the feminist approaches and substantive areas covered within the chapters despite her dividing up "the indivisible so that we may proceed in some sort of systematic fashion" (7). Hamilton begins Chapter 1 by first stressing the importance of theory to any understanding of the social world before delineating how its use as tool to is taken up differently by feminist theorists. Using the classic argument posed by Karl Marx to frame the discussion, that individuals are born into particular experiences that shape their lives, she shows how particular feminist thinkers have differently theorized women's agency and their making of history as shaped by the conditions they have been situated within, thus giving rise to the multitude of feminist theoretical perspectives. It is through this more in-depth discussion of these perspectives (socialist feminism, radical feminism, anti-racism feminism and feminist psychoanalysis and poststructural theory) that readers meet important first wave feminist thinkers (i.e. Mary Wollstonecraft as a key figure of liberal feminism) and the assumptions of each perspective. Feminist theoretical perspectives are shown to be potential mechanisms of social change — they challenge the gendered order — but, in turn, are challenged by taken-for-granted assumptions about physical differences between women and men that are upheld by structural and ideological forces. The 'women's movement' and its containment of the specific challenges second wave feminists made to these structural and ideological forces in Canadian society is the subject matter of Chapter 2. Hamilton traces the gradual rise of the women's movement, noting the increasing participation of women [End Page 377] in the labour force and its affinity with other social movements in the 1960s as its main catalysts. She reviews how particular feminist perspectives gave rise to feminist agendas that have been and are forwarded by specific action (the 1970 Royal Commission, lobbying, conscious raising, the development of women's centres and caucuses, business and cultural initiatives and efforts within the academy) to bring about change and also points to the diversified and multifaceted character of the women's movements in Canada. Special attention is given to feminist identification of the family as a sight...

In this article I analyse the structural and cultural conditions of low-caste women's political agency in urban north India. Whereas in Western feminist political theory, the sexual division of labour is considered to be a key constraint for women's political participation, I show how this has a secondary relevance in the context analysed. I argue that issues concerning the division of labour are intertwined with and subject to those of male consent and support for women's activities. I illustrate how it is often the supposedly ‘oppressive’ household boundaries rather than alternative outer spaces that, under a series of enabling circumstances, initiate women's political activities. Against this backdrop, I show how Indian women activists’ political agency is shaped by men's role, and how agency's relational nature is embedded in women's lifecycles, everyday practices and cultural expectations; in essence, in overall gendered agency. Comparative analyses between Western and non-Western models of political participation and discourse have only just begun. In this respect, I contribute to this nascent field in the following directions: not only do the arguments I present in this article challenge the individualistic Western subject of political action, but they also complicate the idea of the resulting empowerment as a culturally constructed process whose understanding arises from the dialectics between insider and outsider values.

Women displaced by conflict are often exposed to many factors associated with a risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) such as high levels of community violence and the breakdown of social support systems. Previous research found that Colombian women perceived IPV to increase after displacement. This study explored how the experience of displacement altered gendered roles in ways that influenced the risk of IPV. Thirty-three qualitative interviews were conducted with displaced partnered Colombian women. Women disclosed that couples often held patriarchal gender norms; however, the roles of each partner necessitated by conditions of displacement were often in conflict with these norms. Men's underemployment and women's employment outside the home were viewed as gender transgressive within some partnerships and increased relationship conflict. Economic resources intended to empower displaced women, notably women's earnings and home ownership, had unintended negative consequences for women's agency. These consequences included a corresponding decrease in partner financial contributions and reduced mobility. Women's ability to obtain support or leave violent relationships was hindered by interpersonal, social and structural barriers. For women to have agency to leave violent relationships, power relationships at all levels from the interpersonal to societal must be recognised and addressed.

This article examines how migrant women from Afghanistan who arrived in Germany in or after 2015—including asylum seekers, refugees, and those with rejected cases—experience and contest the everyday challenges within the liminal and precarious confines of camps and camp‐like structures, including asylum reception and collective accommodation centres. It contributes critically to camp and refugee studies by centring the gendered experiences, liminality, intersectional vulnerabilities, and agency of women in these settings. The article argues that camps and camp‐like spaces are contested gendered spaces where female migrants navigate and challenge multiple inequalities by exercising agency through diverse strategies. Afghan migrant women provide a compelling case, justified by their intersecting origins and the limited research on their experiences. In‐depth interviews, participant observation, and a review of the literature are utilised to collect data using a qualitative design that implements an engaged narrative inquiry. Two interconnected themes emerge from the research. The first analyses how participants categorise their living arrangements as camps and heims , while addressing the spatial inequalities, gendered vulnerabilities, and liminal experiences they encounter. The second examines women's agency and the various strategies they exercise to navigate and contest these inequalities. Specifically, three forms of agency are highlighted: creative space‐making, resilient navigation, and solidarity through faith and sisterhood.

Pervasive feminism is a component located in emotionality—feminist emotion—and contains women's primary agency. Because affect and emotions are elusive, an interpretive conceptual tool is necessary and is key to making use of their potential for feminist politics aimed at women's empowerment and well‐being and to build gender equality. This essay builds on contemporary feminist theory and affect theory and draws from multidisciplinary research. It presents a new theoretical framework anchored in hermeneutics and phenomenology to pin down the affective component of women's multifaceted, intersectional emotional experiences of gender. A case study also illustrates how the theoretical premises around the concept offeminist emotionare compatible with and useful for feministpraxis.