Social Markers Research Articles

Reports on the materiality of disability in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic from a damaged land

This article aims to describe changes in the routine of people with disabilities in face of Covid19 pandemic and the ongoing coping measures underway in the state of Alagoas, in northeast Brazil. Data from in-depth interviews with subjects marked by different experiences of visual, hearing, motor and intellectual impairment are analyzed here. Participants are part of an extension project, started in 2019, under the responsibility of the first author of this article. The project changed the routine of the university in face of the presence, circulation and engagement of bodies and minds that escape the conventions of normality in the academic space. The interactions, mediated by a series of applications of digital communication, addressed the following issues: 1) the loss of individual and/or family income resulting from the pandemic, and its impact on their material conditions of existence; 2) the emergence of new demands related to physical and mental health as well as changes in previous therapeutic strategies; 3) the characterization of access to communication technologies, the new possibilities and restrictions for maintaining extra-family bonds, such as contact with friends, participation in social mobilizations and in academic activities. In the analysis, we focused on the mutual dynamics of care, especially the engagement in support and assistance practices from family and friends. The attention to changes in the environment from the different collective demands in face of the pandemic exposes some displacements in the ways of embodying disability as well as the ability to give powerful responses to complex demands for adaptation. The intersection between different social markers of difference, like race, gender and class is also central to the identification of continuities, which involve the pre-existence of physical distance as a reality of disability.

Children and adolescents with disabilities in Brazil: effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The present research aimed to perform data survey and analysis of children and teenagers among 0- to 19-year-olds related to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and COVID-19 in populations with or without disabilities during the year of 2020. The database used for the evaluations was Sivep-Gripe, made available by the Ministry of Health. The database did not present variables regarding the type of disability and a proxy was created by the binary variable of Down syndrome and by qualitative analysis of clinical data of descriptive morbidity. This limitation hindered the consideration of the experience of disability as an interaction between bodily impairments and the environment, as well as the generalization regarding cases in this population. The analysis variables included individual, regional and progression characteristics of the cases, such as the need for hospitalization, admission to the ICU, use of ventilatory supports and evolution of the cases for the recovery or death. 83,491 cases of children up to 19 years old were considered. Of this total, 2,370 (3.27%) were categorized with the disability proxy. The analyzes showed the differences between cases and progressions between children and young people without disabilities and by type of disability, with the highest proportions of COVID-19 cases found in those with physical, intellectual or psychosocial disabilities. Considering the age groups, we found higher frequencies of these cases among children up to 4 years old in general; with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities between 5 and 9 years; and those with physical disabilities between 14 and 19 years. The progression of the children's cases demonstrates the relevance of considering their vulnerability and its effects on hospital establishments, since they are more susceptible to being hospitalized, requiring ICU admissions and respiratory support. Even with the use of these resources for the maintenance of life, the proportion of children with disabilities who evolve to death is equivalent to more than double (in the cases of COVID-19) and triple (SARS) of those without disabilities. Based on these verifications, we emphasize the need to further investigate, plan and execute public policies that target this population, especially in relation to health services in the current context of increasing cases of COVID-19 and its variants across the country. In addition, we seek to contribute to academic discussions that address disability as a relevant social marker that permeates the different layers of inequality and social exclusion, exposed and deepened in the pandemic context.

Making context matter: unraveling functional foods’ constructions by Tunisian consumers

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the socio-cultural meanings of functional foods for Tunisian consumers and to understand how these meanings shape their preferences and practices in the particular context of a Middle-East and North African (MENA) region.Design/methodology/approachA constructivist perspective based on multi-qualitative methods was designed allowing data collection in a natural setting through focus groups interviews, individual in-depth interviews and projective techniques among Tunisian consumers.FindingsFindings show the complexity and importance of conscious and unconscious non-health-related socio-cultural factors in the construction and acceptance of functional foods by the Tunisian consumer. Common sense knowledge, social environment and tradition shape the constructions and practices of functional foods. These factors may act as a shortcut to compensate for unhealthy behaviour and as a social marker to reflect trendiness and identity.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are specific to the Tunisian setting and may be not transferable to other settings.Practical implicationsThe role of information is central in functional food acceptance. Communication on health effects should consider not only the formal nutritional health benefit but also lay knowledge.Social implicationsThe findings of this research contribute in the government’s understanding of Tunisian’s constructions of health and well-being by suggesting that besides health motives, non-health-related factors such as lay knowledge, social influences and conspicuous consumption play an important role in functional foods choice.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to extend functional foods literature by exploring the complex interconnected conscious and unconscious socio-cultural constructions behind functional food choice. It contributes also to the understanding of the food consumer behaviour in the specific cultural context of the Arab-Muslim MENA region, an under investigated setting.

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity Among Medical Students in Copenhagen.

BackgroundHealth care workers are at a higher risk of getting infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) than the general population. Knowledge about medical students’ exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is lacking. Thus, we measured the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a cohort of Danish medical students.MethodsWe invited all medical students at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) to participate. Students underwent venous blood sampling and a questionnaire about work-life behaviors possibly associated with SARS-CoV-2 exposure and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms. Samples were analyzed for total immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, and seropositive samples were screened for IgG, immunoglobulin M, and immunoglobulin A antibodies. We determined associations between seropositivity and clinical and social activities and self-reported symptoms.ResultsBetween October 19 and 26, 1120 students participated in the questionnaire and 1096 were included. Of all included, 379 (34.58%) were seropositive. Seropositivity was associated with attendance at 2 parties at UCPH, on February 29 and March 6, 2020 (odds ratio [OR], 5.96; 95% CI, 4.34–8.24; P < .001). Four hundred sixty-one students (42.06%) worked with COVID-19 patients, which was significantly associated with seropositivity (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.03–1.85; P = .033). The symptom most associated with seropositivity was loss of smell and/or taste (n = 183 of all, 31.35%; OR, 24.48; 95% CI, 15.49–40.60; P < .001). Bachelor’s students were significantly more likely to be seropositive than Master’s students (42.28% vs 16.87%; P < .001).ConclusionsMedical students have the highest reported seropositivity in the Danish health care system. In this cohort of students at UCPH, seropositivity was associated with social behavior markers and, to a lesser extent, with self-reported contact with SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.

Flight Attendant Career and Social Class, Gender and Sexuality (Im)Mobilities

Flight attendant careers are genuinely mobile and traditionally feminine, an unusual combination that produces and reproduces gender and sexuality stereotypes. They are also careers that, in the Brazilian context, allow financial rise with a little study, which makes possible the entry of lower-class people. The article discusses the limited freedom experienced by men in a historically female profession based on the hierarchized and gendered space of the airplane. Drawing on qualitative research, oriented by symbolic interactionism, we tell three life stories, using narrative analysis and ethnographic inspirations. The paper aims to analyze the intersections of social class, gender, and sexuality (im)mobilities in the career of these gay male flight attendants. The construction of different mobilities within aviation linked to such inequality social markers and the relationships between the intersections of social, geographical, gender, and sexuality mobility are outstanding contributions.

Do we practice what we preach? What universities do and what they recommend during the covid-19 pandemic

Publicação original: https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/reflections-on-covid19/digital-inequalities-and-education-in-brazil# Brazil is a country marked by intense digital and educational inequalities. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a federal government that stands as an enemy to education, such inequalities are accentuated. In this sense, our proposal is, from the sum of our research experiences on technology and education, to draw lines of analysis that help to understand how the process of migration of basic education and higher education to digital platforms unfolded. The inspiration for this essay comes from our previous research and our involvement with situations - both at the university and in our fields of research, and personal lives - that show how urgent the debate regarding distance education/remote learning is, particularly considering questions of inequality and social markers of difference. We start from a perspective that does not demonize or believe in catastrophic visions of technology, but that proposes to think about its many uses and the many contexts in which it is inserted in order to better understand the challenges that these uses contain.

What Is a Theorem (in Practice)? The Role of Metamathematics in the Making of Mathematics

This article advocates the benefits of a sociological perspective for the philosophy of mathematical practice. Drawing from the literature of the sociology of sciences, it defends a community-centered approach of the study of mathematical practice and assesses the role of the notion of metamathematics in mathematical change and in stabilized mathematical practices. It relies on the case study of the emergence of geometric control theory at the beginning of the 1970s and of the citational practices associated to the community of control theory since the mid-1990s. The case study shows that the introduction of geometric tools in control theory at the end of the 1960s induced a change in the metamathematical views that control theorists had on their objects. It is then demonstrated how membership to the community of control theory shapes the production and the reception of the theorems of Stefan, Sussmann and Nagano. Interpreting the historical development and citational practices of this community through the perspective of metamathematics, this paper concludes by discussing the role of the orbit theorem in control theory, both as a cognitive label and as a social marker of membership to this community.

Researching race‐ethnicity in race‐mute Europe

AbstractIn Germany and continental Europe, more broadly, race and ethnicity are concepts that are not widely used and are increasingly erased from the legislation. Nevertheless, race and ethnicity are still used as social markers and often merely replaced with other terms (e.g., cultural background). The goal of this paper is threefold. First, we point to the danger of treating race and ethnicity as essentialist categories, which is still common in developmental science research. Second, we want to outline specific problems that occur when doing research on ethnicity and race with children and adolescents in the European race‐mute context. Third, we suggest that future research ought to focus more on constructions of Whiteness and reproduction of power differences among ethnic majority populations. In doing so, we draw on examples from our own research on ethnic‐racial identity and ethnic‐racial socialization.

Mitigating racial microaggressions on campus: Documenting targets’ responses

In this qualitative study, the authors examined responses to racial microaggressions among undergraduate Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) (N = 36) at a large Canadian university. To this end, we employed the consensual qualitative research method (CQR; Hill et al., 2005; Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997; Hill, 2012) among seven focus groups. Canadian undergraduate student participants, who self-identified as East Asian (n = 7), South Asian (n = 7), Arab (n = 9), Black (n = 7), and Indigenous (n = 6), expressed four strategic responses to racial microaggressions: using humor to mitigate tension, seeking community and solidarity for support, avoiding or withdrawing for protection and confronting perpetrators and challenging stereotypes. Findings demonstrated the dialectic between avoiding and confronting racial microaggressions, the nuanced role of using humor as a response strategy, and the importance of social support for BIPOC students. Findings are consistent with and extend current proposals of microinterventions. Social identity markers and power dynamics influenced students’ response strategies. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Narrativas (des)construídas como tarefa política da pesquisa participativa decolonial / (Un)constructed narratives as a political task of decolonial participatory research

This article aims to reflect on epistemic-methodological issues in the construction of narratives in participatory research. We place our reflections based on three researches carried out in the doctoral process, of two researchers and one researcher who are part of different Institutions, but participate in the same research group - GEPCOL-UFPE, the same GT-ANPEPP, and developed their studies with a focus on youth narratives. We highlight in these studies that for the execution of participatory research that seeks to build narratives, it is necessary to the emergence of an alternative path to hegemonic models, which requires a change in the researcher's posture, in the sense this considers the social markers that constitute it in the relationship with the participants and in the construction of information. It is also necessary to use methodological epistemic references that make it possible to value the experiences of the subjects, that allow them to speak, to be heard, and to have their voices visible in the texts. We believe that the narrative is political for being shared, for seeking to make visible the situations of oppression and inequality in society, and also for contributing to the construction of decolonial practices and resistance.

Lost in Transition to Adulthood? Illegalized Male Migrants Navigating Temporal Dispossession

The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ has been portrayed as an invasion that threatens Europe and calls its sovereignty into question, prompting exceptional emergency responses. These (re)bordering processes highlight Europe’s uneven, discriminatory, and racialized filtering system. European nation-states sort desired and undesired migrants through sets of precarious administrative statuses that translate into limited access to resources, most notably the formal labor market. European border regimes impose specific spatialities and temporalities on migrants through long-term physical and social deceleration: territorial assignation, enduring unemployment, forced idleness, and protracted periods of waiting. These temporal ruptures interrupt individual biographies and hinder the hopes of a young population seeking a better future. However, some find ways to navigate the socio-spatial deceleration they face. In this paper, I explore how European border regimes affect the trajectory of Sub-Saharan male migrants and how they appropriate such temporal dispossession. I use biographical analysis and participant observations of a squatting organization in a Swiss city to scrutinize the everyday practices and aspirations of a population made illegal and, as a result, denied access to social markers of maturity. I investigate how time intersects with physical, social, and existential im/mobility. I argue that, in navigating spaces of asymmetrical power relationships, impoverished migrants find autonomy in illegality. Neither victimizing nor romanticizing illegalized migrants’ trajectories, this paper offers an ethnographic analysis of the capacities of an impoverished population to challenge European border regimes.

SOCIAL FACTORS AND PASHTO-ENGLISH CODESWITCHING: THE CASE OF ENGLISH AS EMBEDDED LANGUAGE IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Purpose of the Study: The present research investigates the use of English codeswitching about the social factors which influence the use of English in the Pashto language. First, the focus of the study lies on the social factors e.g., style, interlocutors, topic, social distance, social status, and identity, etc., and their influence on English codeswitching in the Pashto language. Methodology of the study: The data was collected with the help of a questionnaire consist of 13th statements. The data collected were further analyzed with the help of quantitative and qualitative methods employing descriptive analysis, SPSS 15, and the percentage method. Main Findings: The dominant pattern of codeswitching was insertion with nouns the most frequent codeswitching item. The study indicates that education is the key factor that influences English codeswitching and it also shows that Pashto is the dominant language of communication and is used as a symbol of solidarity and social marker in the Pashto speech community. Application of the study: The researcher can extend this study of codeswitching to a different contact setting such Pashto-Urdu and Pashto-Punjabi. The density of bilingualism is expected to give different types of codeswitching patterns. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is the pioneer study that focused on the effect of social factors on the selection of language in bilingual settings.

Are Australian Islamic schools elitist?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine whether Australian Islamic schools, by dint of their unique status within Australian private schooling, may be construed as elitist or exclusivist premised on markers such as religious affiliation, school age, history, location, reputation and non-curricular excellences such as affluence and alumni. This issue has not been examined empirically hitherto. This study addresses this absence, as these markers, when used selectively, may make student entry restrictive by virtue of enrolment criteria that is either hyper selective or exclusivist that is often administered through costly tuition fees.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative analysis is used to examine four distinct elitist markers associated with Islamic schools, as they appeal to a market prescribed by faith, preference and demand. Data is sourced from selected government and independent school databases including the index of community socio-educational advantage (ICSEA) database.FindingsThe findings indicate that Islamic schools do not fit any of these markers partly because these schools are positioned predominantly in middle to lower socio-economic communities and areas where the measure of educationally advantaged backgrounds is only marginally above the ICSEA threshold of 1,000. Further, their enrolment criteria are not premised on high fee-based structures nor on exclusivist selection and enrolment practices that would tag them as elitist.Research limitations/implicationsIt is quite possible that parental and community perceptions of Islamic schools using qualitative measures may identify some schools as elitist. This, however, has yet to be tested empirically in further studies relying on surveys, interviews and focus group sessions.Practical implicationsIslamic schools should not market nor portray themselves as elitist or exclusivist for that may undermine the very purpose of their function as faith-based institutions.Social implicationsPerceptions of elitism levelled against some Islamic schools must be weighed against a number of distinct social markers. The examination of four markers in this study does not support such perceptions. Elitist perceptions may abound within communities and amongst parents when vying for student placements in these schools. The basis for such observations, however, is at best anecdotal or outright conjectural in the absence of empirical evidence.Originality/valueThis is the first and only study that examines the issue of elitism amongst Islamic schools in Australia and elsewhere.

The international Perinatal Outcomes in the Pandemic (iPOP) study: protocol

Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant death worldwide, but the causes of preterm birth are largely unknown. During the early COVID-19 lockdowns, dramatic reductions in preterm birth were reported; however, these trends may be offset by increases in stillbirth rates. It is important to study these trends globally as the pandemic continues, and to understand the underlying cause(s). Lockdowns have dramatically impacted maternal workload, access to healthcare, hygiene practices, and air pollution - all of which could impact perinatal outcomes and might affect pregnant women differently in different regions of the world. In the international Perinatal Outcomes in the Pandemic (iPOP) Study, we will seize the unique opportunity offered by the COVID-19 pandemic to answer urgent questions about perinatal health. In the first two study phases, we will use population-based aggregate data and standardized outcome definitions to: 1) Determine rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth and describe changes during lockdowns; and assess if these changes are consistent globally, or differ by region and income setting, 2) Determine if the magnitude of changes in adverse perinatal outcomes during lockdown are modified by regional differences in COVID-19 infection rates, lockdown stringency, adherence to lockdown measures, air quality, or other social and economic markers, obtained from publicly available datasets. We will undertake an interrupted time series analysis covering births from January 2015 through July 2020. The iPOP Study will involve at least 121 researchers in 37 countries, including obstetricians, neonatologists, epidemiologists, public health researchers, environmental scientists, and policymakers. We will leverage the most disruptive and widespread “natural experiment” of our lifetime to make rapid discoveries about preterm birth. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening or unexpectedly improving perinatal outcomes, our research will provide critical new information to shape prenatal care strategies throughout (and well beyond) the pandemic.

Historical Memory of Ainu through Material Culture in Japanese Literary Text: An Analyses of Tsushima Yuko’s Work

This research discusses the elements of material culture in the literary text of Jakka Dofuni Umi no Kioku no Monogatari by Tsushima Yuko in presenting historical memories of the Ainu as one of the indigenous people in Japan. Material culture is a study carried out through objects (artefacts) to see social markers, historical traces, social knowledge, and the identity of a particular nation or society. This research aims to reveal the history and identity of the Ainu as shown through material cultural objects and how the characters in the text interpret these objects. Qualitative approaches and narrative structures as research methods are used to analyze this literary text. Besides, memory theory is also used to reveal collective memories related to Ainu history and identity. The results show that the Jakka Dofuni museum with various artefacts presents historical memory and Ainu identity through the narrator's discussion and figures in narratives text. The spirit consolation monument (ireihi), which was built in the area of the Jakka Dofuni museum, is an object of memory of remembrance for local people from the Ainu and Uilta tribes who were victims of war during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1945). The collection of cultural artefacts and the life history of Gendanu as the owner of the museum with the identity problems he experienced can be interpreted as a form of markers that confirm Ainu's identity.

Review: The Atlas of Boston History

Review: <i>The Atlas of Boston History</i>

CHERNYAKHIV «BULLAS» (METAL AND LEATHER PENDANTS-FOLDING IN THE CHERNYAKHIV—SINTANA-DE-MURES CULTURE’S AREA)

Decorations of the Chernyakhiv—Sintana-de-Mures Culture (ChSM) includes metal and leather pendants which by some morphological features can be considered as derivatives of the roman bulla. Bulla is a small capsule pendant folded from two identical halves. It’s assumed that bulla originated with the Etruscans in the VIIth century BC. The bulla was later borrowed by romans, who originally intended it for boys — the children of aristocrats from the ninth day of birth to 14—16 years, until receiving the status of a Roman citizen. Later the golden bulla lost the meaning of a social marker and became mainly a property feature. Content of bulla were parts of plants, animal bones, pieces of textile, sand etc.&#x0D; Derivatives of the Roman bulla in the ChSM Culture have been found in next burial complexes (Barcea 139, Bila 3, Cherneliv-Rus’kyi 96, Dumaniv 8, Sosnova 245), leather bullas were found once (Legedzine 16). Besides, two pendants-capsules were found on late Scythians Lower Dnieper cemetery Mykolaivka (burial 64, grave 1), which contained ChSM Culture’s graves too.&#x0D; Following observation deserves the attention. The capacity of one pendant from Pannonia is similar by decor to clay knots, which were spread in many cultures, including ChSM Culture. They are interpreted as magic, used for fortune-telling and similar to nasturtium seeds.&#x0D; Contents of Chernyakhiv Culture’s «bullas» are unknown, but combination with another pendants-amulets certainly confirms the magical character of such pendants.&#x0D; Finally, metal bullae, cylindrical and flat cylindrical pendants-capsules continued their existence in the early Middle Ages and as metal folding icons and leather incenses survived in orthodox church to this day.

“Notes and Letters”: Music of the City in Flight / Trans-Migratory Poetry. By Antonio Monte Casablanca. Translated by Crystal Neill, with Amanda Minks and Lila Ellen Gray.

In this essay I draw from memory studies and Latin American cultural studies to reflect on Notas y Letras (Notes and Letters), a collaboration by the Nicaraguan band Nemi Pipali and the poet Adolfo Beteta. I analyze these artistic expressions, music and poetry, at their place of convergence—the city of Managua—making audible some of the mechanisms that combine symbolic universes in Nicaraguan culture. This transdisciplinary reading allows me to propose that 1) music becomes a social marker of performative memory, transmitted by sounds present in hybrid Latin American cities, and 2) the migrant subject is displaced and divided between the center and the periphery. Citation: Monte Casablanca, Antonio. “Notes and Letters”: Music of the City in Flight / Trans-Migratory Poetry. Translated by Crystal Neill, with Amanda Minks and Lila Ellen Gray. Ethnomusicology Translations no. 11. Bloomington, IN: Society for Ethnomusicology, 2021. Originally published in Spanish as “‘Notas y Letras’: Música de la ciudad en fuga / Poesía transmigratoria.” Revista de Historia (Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica) 33/34 (2015): 108-129.

Disability studies in academic production: a cartography of the global arena

What would be the place of disability studies in contemporary scientific practice? To what extent is the circulation of investigations that question ableist ontologies and position disability as a relevant social marker for understanding the different forms of erasure and social oppression? From a mapping of 2,825 documents registered in the Scopus and Web of Science databases between the years 1956 and 2020, this article seeks to describe the general trends in production and the intellectual structure of disability studies over the past seven decades. The intention is to offer an updated map of the leading publication outlets, authors, theoretical repertoires, heuristic approaches and political subjects that compete for visibility in the international scenario of knowledge production regarding disability. This investigation suggests that disability is an analytical and political category that participate in the co-production of different models of interpretation and construction of the lives of people with disabilities.

Dispositivo interacional, interseccionalidade e biopotência: Nath Finanças, entre a autovalorização e a promoção da precariedade

Neste artigo, apresentamos a persona Nath Finanças, um projeto da estudante de administração e educadora financeira Nathália Rodrigues, para produzir conteúdos de educação financeira para pessoas de baixa renda em redes sociais, iniciado em fevereiro de 2019. Entendemos a atuação e presença digital como um dispositivo interacional (BRAGA, 2020) na medida em que ela organiza quadros de sentido e os modos de vida. Esse ano, o projeto Nath Finanças passou por um episódio em que foi vítima de escárnio, protagonizado pelo jornalista Luis Nassif. As críticas, que tiveram apoio de outros internautas anônimos, colocaram em questão o limite entre autovalorização e promover precariedade. Tal questão se tornou o problema central deste artigo. Assim, o desenvolvemos a partir dos conceitos de biopotência (PELBART, 2002) e de interseccionalidade (CRENSHAW, 1989). Concluímos que o ataque apenas reflete uma recusa social à hermenêutica que considera os marcadores sociais de diferenças como cruciais para entender as interações e promover justiça social. Palavras-chave: Biopotência. Interseccionalidade. Dispositivos interacionais.