Sociocultural Interpretations Research Articles

People with Disabilities and Their Representation in Public Spaces: A Case Study of Post-War Jaffna

People with disabilities have become an important topic for discussion in the post-war Sri Lanka due to many reasons. In Northern Sri Lanka, different age group of the population in war-torn areas are often direct or indirect victims of violence, and witnesses to various issues associated with war disaster. Over three decades of war in Sri Lanka has changed the traditional views of disability and replaced it with a view of disability as a social oppression. This study, therefore, looks to understand the social background of people with disabilities. The main objective of this study is to consider the meaning of disabilities in public spaces in post-war Jaffna[1]. The chosen field was undertaken in Thenmaradchi Divisional Secretariat of Jaffna district. This paper has reported on the experiences of 59 people with disabilities who were disabled during the war period. The primary data were collected from interviews and surveys with predetermined case study, non-direct and participant observation and key informant interviews through purposive sampling. It is in this context; an attempt is made to understand the meaning of people with disabilities through their day-to-day life events, situations, and their experiences. This paper discusses the meaning of disabilities under three factors namely, Religious Discourse, Family Structure and Women Status based on grounded theory method. Moreover, these socio-cultural interpretations of people with disabilities are linked with other important factors such economic and political aspects. The finding of the study was that the people with disabilities depicted there are usually crippled and socially excluded or hidden in the limited public spaces in post-war Jaffna. Since disability issues have become a central part of the development and social work discourse in the post-war Tamil society, the researcher hopes that this research will contribute to policy formation for people with disabilities and the effective implications of the post-war reintegration process and development process. Finally, it is hoped that the study will create social awareness and mobilize people with disabilities and strengthen the disabled in society.

“My evil favoured writing”: Uglyography, Disease, and the Epistolary Networks of George Talbot, Sixth Earl of Shrewsbury

George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, is infamous among historians and paleographers of sixteenth-century England for the thousands of documents he has left in his horrible handwriting, or uglyography. Taking this unanimously bemoaned situation as its point of departure, this study uses a selection of Shrewsbury’s surviving letters to explore what more his handwriting can tell us when considered in conjunction with the letters’ contents and the Elizabethan sociocultural interpretations of poor handwriting and disease. In particular, “gout” (the term Shrewsbury himself uses for his infirmity) is described as a paleopathological condition that had significant implications not only for legibility but also for the management of Shrewsbury’s epistolary networks and the discourse of illness found throughout his correspondence with his second wife, Bess of Hardwick, as well as other period figures, specifically Burghley and Elizabeth I.

In the thick of things: drama as a qualitative methodology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how the drama space is a way of inquiry in its own right and as a complex “way of knowing” has a capacity to be a profitable location from which to artfully thread and critically interrogate the performances of lives-as-lived. Design/methodology/approach – The autoethnographic discussion has an overlay of histography as it brings the “real-life” word to the drama space and builds on naturalistic and experimental research moving the reader through transformational inquiry to what they name as drama as a post-foundational research method. Findings – In using drama as artful practices, intra-reflexivity – interior focused – felt as artistic “process” leads “psyche” to an empathic space for acceptance of the fugitive selves and demonstrates “queerness” through the narratives as monologues. Research limitations/implications – The vignettes presented as monologue attest to the authors’ life histories and their “fugitive” ways of being as gay men. Practical implications – The authors consider how drama as methodological practice can re work the notion of text-to-life or life-to-text, as an expression of a will to knowledge, of the authors working dramatically with their participants and students to find a way to articulate experience and place at the centre of research an agentic voice in relation to psychological, socio-cultural and historical interpretations. Originality/value – Drama, as a methodological approach, has, the authors suggest, the potential to move beyond disembodied and abstract mental processes and to draw out of the closets the interpersonal relationships that have historically been seen as dangerous or disturbing.

Recent Archaeobotanical Findings of the Hallucinogenic Snuff Cojoba (Anadenanthera Peregrin A (L.) Speg.) in Precolonial Puerto Rico

Archaeological starch grains consistent with those produced and stored in modern cojoba (Anadenanthera peregrina) seeds were identified, for the first time in the West Indies, in a coral milling base recovered in a small precolonial habitation site of Eastern Puerto Rico, in a context dated to A.D. 1150-1250. Ethnohistoric, ethnographic, and previous archaeological data on cojoba from the West Indies and South America were surveyed in order to form plausible sociocultural interpretations of the findings. After experimentally assessing some ethnographic protocols that possibly replicate various ancient ways of processing cojoba seeds for producing hallucinogenic powders related to the so-called ritual de la cojoba, this report proposes that cojoba seeds were processed and used here mainly as an hallucinogenic complement to the healer for the divination of illness.

The influence of socio-cultural interpretations of pregnancy threats on health-seeking behavior among pregnant women in urban Accra, Ghana

BackgroundAlthough antenatal care coverage in Ghana is high, there exist gaps in the continued use of maternity care, especially utilization of skilled assistance during delivery. Many pregnant women seek care from different sources aside the formal health sector. This is due to negative perceptions resulting from poor service quality experiences in health facilities. Moreover, the socio-cultural environment plays a major role for this care-seeking behavior. This paper seeks to examine beliefs, knowledge and perceptions about pregnancy and delivery and care-seeking behavior among pregnant women in urban Accra, Ghana.MethodsA qualitative study with 6 focus group discussions and 13 in-depth interviews were conducted at Taifa-Kwabenya and Madina sub-districts, Accra. Participants included mothers who had delivered within the past 12 months, pregnant women, community members, religious and community leaders, orthodox and non-orthodox healthcare providers. Interviews and discussions were audio-taped, transcribed and coded into larger themes and categories.ResultsEvidence showed perceived threats, which are often given socio-cultural interpretations, increased women’s anxieties, driving them to seek multiple sources of care. Crucially, care-seeking behavior among pregnant women indicated sequential or concurrent use of biomedical care and other forms of care including herbalists, traditional birth attendants, and spiritual care. Use of multiple sources of care in some cases disrupted continued use of skilled provider care. Furthermore, use of multiple forms of care is encouraged by a perception that facility-based care is useful only for antenatal services and emergencies. It also highlights the belief among some participants that care from multiple sources are complementary to each other.ConclusionsSocio-cultural interpretations of threats to pregnancy mediate pregnant women’s use of available healthcare services. Efforts to encourage continued use of maternity care, especially skilled birth assistance at delivery, should focus on addressing generally perceived dangers to pregnancy. Also, the attractiveness of facility-based care offers important opportunities for building collaborations between orthodox and alternative care providers with the aim of increasing use of skilled obstetric care. Conventional antenatal care should be packaged to provide psychosocial support that helps women deal with pregnancy-related fear.

Children's working theories: The neglected sibling of Te Whāriki's learning outcomes

What's your about concept of theories? While Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996) has two overall learning outcomes, dispositions and theories, we know far more about former than latter. At a meeting a few years ago, Helen described as the neglected sibling of popular big sister, dispositions, to which Margaret Carr responded bossy big sister! This article attempts to redress this imbalance by providing a work-in-progress definition of construct--our own current working theory about theories. We will discuss theoretical ideas that underpin this definition and provide some examples of children's to illustrate our ideas. Te Whariki is curriculum policy document in Aotearoa New Zealand for children aged from birth to 5 years. Te Whariki's principles emphasise relationships, empowerment, holistic development, and family and community, which are woven with strands of well-being, belonging, contribution, communication and exploration to construct curriculum. While a range of are evident in document, such as developmental, ecological and constructivist, over time sociocultural interpretations of Te Whariki have become emphasised, in keeping with its principles. Te Whariki's two indicative learning outcomes are described as combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes that integrate as dispositions and theories. Te Whariki, however, does not seek to define in any depth, instead providing more of a descriptive statement regarding ways are useful to developing children's of world and might be developed in early childhood settings. Te Whariki states: In early childhood, children are developing more elaborate and useful about themselves and people, places, and things in their lives. These contain a combination of knowledge about world, skills and strategies, attitudes, and expectations. Children develop through observing, listening, doing, participating, discussing, and representing within topics and activities provided in programme. As children gain greater experience, knowledge, and skills, they develop will become more widely applicable and have more connecting links between them. Working become increasingly useful for making sense of world, for giving child control over what happens, for problem-solving, and for further learning. (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 44) The term is also included in one of goals for strand of exploration: [children] develop for making sense of natural, social, physical, and material worlds (p. 82), including theories about social relationships and social concepts, such as friendship, authority, and social rules and understandings and working about living world and how to care for it (p. 90). In 1998, Ministry of Education provided a little further guidance in a publication named Quality in Action by defining as: a unique system of ideas that is based on a person's experience and provides them with a hypothesis for understanding their world, interpreting their experience, and deciding what to think and how to behave. This system is in a constant state of development and change. (p. 88) As noted earlier, in years since Te Whariki was published, notion of dispositions as a learning outcome has been developed extensively, particularly from a sociocultural theoretical perspective (e.g., Carr, 2001; Claxton & Carr, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2004--9). However, counterpart concept of has been less developed by teachers and researchers. Nevertheless, some New Zealand studies have begun this process. Simmons, Schimanski, McGarva, Cullen and Haworth (2005) researched how children's were developed through complex and sustained teaching and learning. …

Writing ourselves in Waikawa: Bitter (sweet) waters

In this paper the authors, three migrant academics, involved in counselling education, use a process of collective biographical memory work (CBMW) to explore the influence of landscape in forming new identies in new lands. Our aim was to extend the investigation of subjectification, transgression and relationship to include the non-human, nature and landscape. Our transitions were made at various ages and stages from the United Kingdom to Aotearoa New Zealand and are caught up in the post-colonial struggle of how to be with Other. The project is based on the premise that people’s relationships with the places of their existence and the ecosystems that surround them matter, and that this is especially so for migrants. However, we note that the influence of place is often subsumed in sociocultural interpretations. In this paper we foreground the human–nature relationship through a collection of shared, embodied, memories of landscapes, in order to explore the influence of the non-human spaces in which we have lived on our re-subjectification. We offer this piece as an example of ‘transient convergence’ [Anderson, J., 2009. Transient convergence and relational sensibility: beyond the modern constitution of nature. Emotion, Space and Society 2, 120–127], reflecting our belief that our lives depend upon building a more respectful relationship with our planet.

Narratives of melancholy: a humanities approach to depression

This paper explores narrative literature as a means of inquiry into the sense of self in depression. Described as a disease, an identity and a way of life, depression is...

The Culture of Narcissism Revisited: Transformations of Narcissism in Contemporary Psychospirituality

In this paper, I trace the debate over narcissism in deinstitutionalized and heavily psychologized spiritualities. First, I summarize how Sigmund Freud’s discussion with Romain Rolland about the “oceanic feeling” established the classical psychoanalytic view of mysticism as a regression to primary narcissism. Second, I review how Heinz Kohut’s radical reconceptualization of narcissism has played a seminal role in socio-cultural interpretations of modern psychologized spirituality. Third, I explore how a contemporary psychospiritual tradition, A.H. Almaas’s Diamond Approach, details the relationship between narcissism and mysticism. Finally, I reflect on the benefits of a dialogical approach between psychoanalysis and spirituality arguing that the types of integrative psychospirituality envisioned by Romain and developed more fully by Almaas have the potential to facilitate the mature transformation of narcissism.

Hvordan analysere sociale differentieringer?

The current Danish reception of the concept of intersectionality has largely been of a poststructuralist bend. However, the history of the concept is not necessarily as tightly related to poststructuralist theory as often assumed. Although the contributions produced by this reception must be recognised, the poststructuralist version of intersectionality is problematic from a specific sociological position. When social categories are presented as something people do, the reality of social differentiation is downplayed. Poststructuralist thinking rests on an inadequate conception of the material, as this form of thought tends to theorize this as another type of discourse or as a consequence of discourse. It furthermore tends to homogenise the logics underlying different forms of social differentiation. These points are illustrated by the works of Bourgeois and Wacquant where socio-cultural interpretations are transformed by changes on a material level.

The Role of Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Cultural Identity

Drawing on data from a three-and-a-half-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the orientations of Gypsy children toward play and the way in which play operates to affirm a separate identity and enforce boundaries. The apparently uncontrolled, and at times destructive, behavior of Gypsy children in a social/play context has been perceived by some observers as a barrier to educational progress. To illustrate and explore some of these themes, a number of vignettes are provided, through which patterns of play behavior are considered in different contexts, structured and unstructured, in home and school settings. Throughout the discussion, there is a search for sociocultural interpretations of play patterns that appear to differ from norms of the mainstream group, and an attempt is made to consider ways in which such patterns might fill a vacuum created by the erosion of traditional identity markers.

Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects (review)

Reviewed by: Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects Ethan E. Cochrane Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects (Proceedings of the International Conference for the 50th anniversary of the First Lapita Excavation, Koné-Nouméa 2002). Christophe Sand, ed. Les Cahiers de l'Archaéologie en Nouvelle Calédonie, vol. 15. Nouméa: Service des Musées et du Patrimonie de Nouvelle-Calédonie, 2003. Cloth, 396 pp. ISBN 2-9519208-1-4. The fiftieth anniversary of the excavation of Site 13 on the Foué Peninsula, New Caledonia, the original Lapita site, was a momentous occasion. Site 13, excavated by Edwin Gifford and Richard Shutler Jr., produced a style of decorated pottery that has inspired a half-century of productive research on ancient Oceania. The papers brought together in this volume are momentous as well and indicate that after fifty years, research on Lapita and other aspects of Oceanic prehistory shows no signs of slowing. Pacific Archaeology is a monumental volume [End Page 407] containing thirty-three chapters presenting new data and interpretations, thoughtful syntheses of existing data, and important new insights from the luminaries of Oceanic archaeology as well as the next generation of scholars. With its well-referenced and well-introduced chapters, I expect Pacific Archaeology to hold a place on many readers' shelves as a sourcebook for Oceanic archaeology, much like Jennings' (1979) Prehistory in Polynesia and Davidson et al.'s (1996) festschrift for Roger Green, Oceanic Culture History. The chapters in Pacific Archaeology are divided into four sections (with introductory chapters by Sand and Shutler): "Old Oceania," "The Austronesian Spread," "Oceanic Diversity," and "The Pacific and Archaeology." The abundance of chapters precludes a detailed review of each author's contribution, so I will summarize the work in each section, pointing out new, interesting, and perhaps controversial findings. Three chapters are included in the section on Old Oceania. A chapter by Chazine reports on the relatively unknown archaeology of Borneo, while chapters by O'Connor and Chappell and by Allen present some different (and divergent) ideas about the timing of original human presence in Greater Australia and Island Melanesia. The second section, "The Austronesian Spread," contains overview chapters on Oceanic colonization from the perspective of human genetics by Oppenheimer and sailing technology by Anderson, as well as a chapter on the colonization of Palau written by G. Clark and Wright. Most of the other chapters in this section are substantive presentations of new data on Lapita-associated archaeology from various areas and include chapters on Wantom Island by Specht, Bedford's chapter on Vanuatu, a discussion of New Caledonia pottery by Chiu, two chapters on Fiji by Nunn et al. and Parke, and a presentation on western Borneo archaeology by Ono. In one of the two broadly synthetic writings on "The Lapita Sphere," Roger Green (in an extensively endnoted and referenced chapter) usefully groups much of the various writings on Lapita phenomena into four sets sharing similar explanatory themes. Green's own conclusion is that Lapita references a cultural horizon and regional traditions that are the product of a "series of node and network type migrations" (p. 112) in Near and Remote Oceania. Many archaeologists will agree with Green, but with phrases such as "this Lapita culture indeed represents related groups of peoples who possessed a sense of ethnicity" (p. 113), I am left thinking of the sociocultural interpretations of phases, horizons, and traditions offered by Americanist culture historians in the middle of the twentieth century (realizing that Green was trained thus). Such culture-historical interpretations were difficult to evaluate and led in part to the downfall of that paradigm (Lyman et al. 1997). Glenn Summerhayes examines obsidian and pottery distributions in the Bismarck archipelago, noting that early diversification of obsidian distribution networks is not mirrored by pottery distributions. Summerhayes anticipates Spriggs' argument in a later chapter and reminds us of "the problem of focusing on only one class of material culture in modeling the socio-economic nature of Lapita communities" (p. 143). The third section of the volume, "Oceanic Diversity," is aptly titled, for the chapters herein range from household archaeology to rock art to herpetofauna. Again, there are both chapters that present new data and several syntheses that...

Sociocultural Interpretations of Social Phobia in a Non-Heterosexual Female

ABSTRACT Social Phobia is a prominent anxiety disorder that is not well understood, especially among socially marginalized, non-heterosexual individuals. A case description of Social Phobia symptoms in a female who is unsure of her sexual identity is presented and analyzed. The diagnostic assumptions of Social Phobia as applied to the case are critically examined. The goal is to highlight unanswered questions regarding social anxiety among non-heterosexuals and to open a discussion of cultural etiological theory. Implications for treating Social Phobia with a cultural component are discussed.

Celan's folds and veils

'Celan's folds and veils' explores the methods of overreading demanded by Celan's poems, in which symbolic, etymologic, metaphoric, literal, material and sociocultural interpretations form not a unity but rather a clash among levels of meaning. The reader's internal articulation of this clash of meanings (and approaches to meaning) is the core function of Celan's poetic work. The essay is centred on a close reading of 'Todtnauberg', a frequently analysed poem about Celan's meeting with Heidegger. The essay concludes with a consideration of Celan in the context of New American poetry. As a supplement, several translations of the poem, including a new homophonic translation by the author, are compared, side by side.

Book review Laterality, the universe, and everything

McManus, I.C. (2002). Left Hand, Right Hand. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 412pp. £20.00. ISBN 0-297-64597-8 (hbk). When I want to annoy my colleagues, I usually inform them that all of psychology (and the sciences and humanities, for that matter) can be reduced to differences between the left and the right sides. After reading Left Hand, Right Hand by Chris McManus, I am starting to wonder if I might not be that far off the mark. This wonderful book takes the reader on a journey round all things that have a left and a right side. The topics covered in the book are diverse and range from asymmetries in the molecular structure of amino acids to socio-cultural interpretations of the semiotics of left and right. The book's chapters frequently start by describing a central historical character, such as Robert Hertz (an anthropologist interested in the symbolism of left and right) or Thomas Watson (one of the first to describe the condition of situs inversus). At one level, these historical figures provide th...

Subethnicity and Identity: Socio-Cultural Interpretations of Chinese Business Titles in Toronto

This paper examines the theme of subethnicity in the study of subgroups of ethnic Chinese in Toronto and their identities. Using the Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese clientele as examples, this paper examines the business strategies of a selected sample of Chinese businesses with noticeable subethnic targets. Socio-cultural interpretations are offered on how these businesses package themselves through their business titles. The results confirm that there are distinctions among the three subgroups, reflecting the diverse orientations and values of their backgrounds. The study concludes with a discussion on the importance of ethnic sub-market segmentation and the implications of subethnicity to ethnic studies.

Evaluating Visual Criteria for Identifying Carbon- and Iron-Based Pottery Paints from the Four Corners Region Using SEM-EDS

AbstractPaint types on black-on-white pottery in the prehistoric American Southwest have had significance for both chronological and sociocultural interpretations. Visual attributes have formed the basis for distinguishing carbon- and mineral-based paints on ancient black-on-white pottery in the American Southwest for over 60 years. In this study, an SEM-EDS (scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer) system was first used to make an independent objective determination of the mineral or non-mineral paint present on 15 Mesa Verde White Ware sherds. Then, a group of 19 people (including experienced archaeologists and newly trained individuals) examined and classified the paint on these sherds, achieving an overall accuracy of 84.2 percent. This group also ranked in priority order the visual attributes they felt were most useful in determining pottery paint type: nature of edges (fuzzy, sharp), absorption (soaks in, sits on top), luster (shiny, dull), color range (black-gray-blue; black-brown-reddish), flakiness (doesn't flake off, flakes off), thickness (thin, thick), and surface polish (polish striations visible through paint, striations not visible through paint). In each case, the attribute applicable to carbon-based paint is listed first. The most difficult sherds for the group to identify displayed attributes of both carbon and mineral paints. A category for "mixed" paint type, already in use by archaeologists, is a reasonable third category for labeling sherd paint, as long as it does not become a "catch-all" category. For problematic sherds, the SEM-EDS can be used to characterize paint type, then the visual attributes adjusted to improve investigator accuracy in paint type determination.

Influences on Young Children's Knowledge: The case of road safety education

Recent commentators on early education have noted a need to combine the strengths of constructivist and sociocultural theoretical perspectives in the early childhood curriculum. Road safety education in the early childhood years rarely reflects a coherent theoretical base. This article argues that effective road safety education for young children needs to incorporate both constructivist and sociocultural perspectives on learning. Interviews with preschool children highlight the variety of influences that affect children's road safety knowledge and illustrate the interface of constructivist and sociocultural interpretations of learning about road safety. The value of a dual perspective is explored further with reference to a road safety curriculum intervention, which used reflective dialogue procedures, derived from Pramling's (1990) phenomenographic perspective on learning. The curriculum project demonstrates that adult interactions that clarify and make explicit children's informal learning about road safety are an important part of road safety education in the early years.

Toward a more interpretative communication research 'framework': television as a cultural system. An interpretation of Clifford Geertz.

SUMMARY The world today is in a state of turmoil. Such an opening statement hardly surprises anyone any more. This 'crisis' also affects the discussion in the scientific field. Today's social sciences appear more interested in the impact and effects of aspects of the so-called 'superstructure' of society than in previous times. Though most social scientists reckon that the concepts of power, culture and ideology are essential for an understanding of the social reality, the concepts are often not defined and therefore interpreted in different ways. This is mainly because of the multidimensionality of these concepts. Thus this article focuses on these important concepts in view of new sociocultural and anthropological interpretations of their use in intercultural and cross-cultural communication research. In Servaes (1989b) we briefly discussed definitions of power, ideology, and culture that contribute to this new interpretation of the superstructure. We particularly focused on the German scholar Jurgen Ha...

Folktales and Traditional Morality

Folktales and Traditional Morality Christa Kamenetsky (bio) Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and, the Culture of Childhood, by Maria Tatar. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992. Maria Tatar has searched out parallel didactic trends in early children's literature and European folktales. With great ease she crosses centuries and national boundaries in tracing recurring patterns of virtues and vices in educational tracts, folktales, fantasies, classical mythology, and the Bible, as well as in the works of Shakespeare, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Working on the premise that the history of children's literature has suffered from an unusually cruel streak, one that especially affects women and children, she singles out "moral correctives" in selected works of James Janeway, John Bunyan, Jane and Anne Taylor, Mrs. Sherwood, Carlo Collodi, Heinrich Hoffmann, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lewis Carroll and then looks for corresponding trends in contemporaneous folktales. Didactic patterns in folktales have become more prominent in recent centuries, Tatar claims, because the oral tradition has been supplanted by printed texts intended for children. Individual folktale collectors supposedly also rewrote folktales in accordance with prevailing social and educational concepts, as well as their personal likes or dislikes, thereby not only eliminating coarse, bawdy, erotic, and incestuous scenes to protect children, according to Tatar, but also emphasizing acts of cruelty, violence, brutal intimidation, bigotry, and coercion, mainly to utilize the tales as "lessons" (64–65). An increasing concern with productive socialization led collectors to intensify an already existing gender bias. Male protagonists usually reaped rewards for such virtues as humility, compassion, and faithfulness, yet they often escaped punishment for crimes committed in the course of adventurous actions. Female protagonists, in contrast, were not rewarded for the same virtues, though these were often taken for granted as preconditions for marriage, which was usually their only chance to move to a higher class. Self-willed or adventure-some actions by women were condemned. If women failed in obedience, [End Page 200] humility, diligence, or endurance, they were chastised, often having to sacrifice their self-esteem by assuming a servile attitude, like Catskin or Allerleirauh. In contemplating the "seven sins" of female protagonists and their gruesome consequences, Tatar traces this gender bias in such works as a tale of Boccaccio, Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and an eighteenth-century manual on how to subdue unruly wives. In European folktale variants she examines similar patterns of punishment associated with female disobedience, pride, selfishness, greed, gluttony, and unfaithfulness. After establishing some common sociocultural attitudes toward stubborn and self-willed women through the ages, she concludes that women were treated cruelly and coercively because men considered them to be "children" and inferiors (105–7, 135). In a chapter entitled "Beauties and Beasts," Tatar pays special attention to the themes of female obedience and self-denial. She uses the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius's version and a number of folktale variants on this theme as a testing ground, observing that de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast," the Grimms' "Singing, Spring Lark," and the Norwegian "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" show a shift in emphasis toward didacticism. Whereas the myth dwells on the theme of female jealousy, the folktale variants emphasize the sin of female curiosity and state more explicitly a demand for modesty, obedience, endurance, compassion, and complete subordination. Here Tatar employs feminist and sociocultural interpretations of the theme by Carol Gilligan, Torberg Lundell, Jack Zipes, and others (260). According to Tatar, adulterous women are punished with special cruelty in folktales. To illustrate her point, she refers to two passages describing the death penalty for adulterous females, one from "The Three Snake Leaves" in the collection of the Brothers Grimm and one from "The Lion's Grass" in Italo Calvino's anthology of Italian folktales. In the first tale, the unfaithful woman is "sent out to sea with her accomplice in a boat filled with holes," and in the second the woman is condemned in the following terms: "Hang her first, then burn her, and then throw her ashes to the wind" (118). Even the most skeptical reader might lean toward accepting Tatar's thesis that folktales are biased against women...