Spaces Of Everyday Life Research Articles

Fluidity of places in everyday food consumption: Introducing snackscapes

AbstractSnack consumption encompasses the repetitive habits of consumers in various everyday life spaces. Despite the pervasiveness of snack consumption worldwide, the phenomenon of snacking has not been given extensive attention, unlike other areas of food consumption research. Yet, snacking shows certain distinctive features, such as fluidity of places. This study leans on foodscape literature and introduces the concept of snackscape, which enables us to showcase the multiplicity of places in snacking culture. While prior foodscape studies are located in certain tangible places, such as urban surroundings, festival sites or particular geographical areas, snackscapes demonstrate how snacks may be consumed, for instance, on the move from one place to another, or in a variety of places that are not part of one's ordinary routines, such as on a picnic or a holiday trip to a foreign country. The findings show how places of habitual snack consumption vary from time to time—or are even on the move. This is a powerful demonstration of how a routine‐like consumption practice takes place in everyday life. This study also highlights important consumer policy issues, especially in regard to young consumers and their snacking habits. Thereby, the study brings forward the agentic capacity of snackscapes having implications on engaging in healthier snack consumption.

Women’s everyday spirituality in Diamond Way Buddhism: an auto-photographic study

ABSTRACTThe Western world is experiencing increasing popularity of new religious movements whose adherents tend to spirituality, a subjective, personal form of religion. These spiritual forms shape the spaces of everyday life, their meanings, perceptions, and experiences, which is starting to be reflected in new geographies of religion. In Czechia, one of the most rapidly growing new religious movements is Diamond Way Buddhism. This contribution focuses on how Diamond Way spirituality is lived and experienced in space. The paper explores this phenomenon using the method of auto-photography. We asked six women to photograph places important to them in their daily lives and interpret their spiritual meaning. This method allows exploration of women’s spirituality in the everyday spaces where it is perceived and experienced, such as kitchens, buses, or natural sites. The results show that women have a specific way of experiencing Buddhism in seemingly secular space which they describe through feminine characteristics of transcendence. Everyday spaces become spiritual through the subjects’ emotional and continual experiencing of Buddhism, while the officially sacred space of a Buddhist center is incorporated into everyday life activities of women. The division between sacred and secular spaces often described by scholars is therefore challenged.

Культовые практики в пространстве повседневности императорских дворцов Петербурга первой четверти XIX века

Культовые практики в пространстве повседневности императорских дворцов Петербурга первой четверти XIX века

Espacialidades en conflicto. Refronterización y resistencia en el embalse de Anzaldúas (frontera Tamaulipas-Texas)

Re-bordering, one of the processes of contemporary “borderness,” imposes the configuration of new spatialities in border areas. Focusing on the spaces of everyday life and using a qualitative methodology, the author analyzes the spatial operations that reproduce or resist this process, and whether the operations reinforce border separation between territories and societies of two neighboring nation-states. He analyzes the border between the United States and Mexico, selecting the bi-national Anzalduas Dam on the Río Bravo/Grande as a case study. This place is characterized by the simultaneous presence of re-bordering operations and recreational activities on both sides of the border, based on which the resistance operations are constructed. The author concludes that, to a greater or lesser extent, even the resistance itself reinforces border separation.

Alternative Music Geographies: A Commentary

Spaces have always had a central role in the formation and impact of youth cultures, beginning with the near spaces of everyday life – school, workplace, village, neighbourhood – where peers come together and cobble together their own styles out of the traditions of their elders and media information about the new. National space was an important element as well, as a container for traditions, but also as a communication space for negotiating the boundaries of the new. Finally, in the years after 1945, global space has gained enormous importance with national debates affected by events and trends from other world regions. That they did not displace national specificities, but that these rather perhaps came forward even more prominently than before, is particularly clear in those youth cultures in which transnational influences have been connected with national cultural preferences and formed into unique mixtures. In Germany there is also the fact that the country was divided, so that the already battered construct of a single national culture was dismantled even further while its heterogeneous components stood out, just like the disparate notions of an appropriate economic and political order. In this respect a focus on youth cultures in divided Germany after 1945 reveals unusually diverse manifestations of broader debates concerning the legitimacy of new styles among youth.

«VICTIM OF ABORTION»: ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHILDBIRTH AND ABORTION DURING THE FIRST YEARS OF SOVIET POWER

The article analyses the issue of abortion during the new Soviet ethics. The childbirth and abortion are the two phenomena through which the womens daily life is shown during the challenging post-revolutionary period. The evolution of the authorities attitude towards womans private world is revealed. The deformation of gender roles during the epoch of social and political transformations by new ideology, economical realities, changes of social space of everyday life is demonstrated. The emancipation of a woman appeared to be a field of tactics and strategies of day-by-day living which demanded from woman skills of adaptation to the new life roles in actively developed socialistic project.

Policing the borders of church and societal membership: immigration and faith-based communities in the US South

ABSTRACTPolicing the borders of church and societal membership: immigration and faith-based communities in the US South. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper examines processes of border crossing and border policing within churches engaged in immigrant-outreach in the US South. Based on interviews with pastors and on focus groups with immigrant and non-immigrant congregants in 35 churches in the US South, we explore how border politics and anti-immigrant racialization intersect with the practice of faith. We argue that the complex border work undertaken by clergy members and congregants can be understood in terms of differential inclusion, that is, the extension of partial membership that may lead to a widening, rather than a diminution, of social inequalities. Immigrants themselves are cognisant of this border work and tread carefully in making claims of belonging in the church and in the state. Paying attention to the affective, emotional and performative dimensions of borders, we argue that border work needs to be understood as a diffuse set of practices undertaken by ‘ordinary’ people in the spaces of everyday life who position themselves and others as legitimate or illegitimate members of society in new immigrant destinations.

From Animation to Augmentation:Dennō Coiland the Composited Self

When cities are covered over with layers of augmented reality, what shadows are cast by this new ability to see? The Japanese anime series Dennō Coil explores exactly this question, following a group of children living in a near-future society where augmented reality glasses have become as essential to daily life as smartphones have today. Comparing debates over ‘seamful’ design in ubiquitous computing with the role of the alpha channel in digital image compositing, the author argues for understanding the sensory environments of augmented reality as part of a longer history of bringing the animated image out into the spaces of everyday life. This article explores the new physical and psychological demands placed on individuals as they seek to navigate the protocols of this newly augmented world, while cultivating and conditioning what the author calls the ‘composited self’.

‘That’s just my own homeland security instinct’: teaching terror in times of war

ABSTRACTFollowing the 11 September attacks, the United States exponentially expanded educational opportunities related to the global war on terror. The United States, for example, created hundreds of degree-granting college programmes in national security, high school homeland security studies programmes, ‘spy camps’ and online modules for children, and guidelines for teachers to identify students who may embrace extremist ideologies. I argue that these shifts in US public schooling contribute to what sociologist Jackie Orr (2004) calls the ‘militarization of inner space’, a process that ‘enlist[s] the psychological life of US citizens as a military asset’ in the on-going service of the global war on terror (455). Reorganized to meet the demands of a war increasingly fought in the spaces of everyday life, US schools serve as a key staging ground for the global war on terror.

Comparative mobilities in an unequal world: researching intersections of gender and generation

Mobilities are shaped by social inequalities and spatial unevenness as demonstrated in a range of existing studies across disciplines. These inequalities are manifest at different scales, from the very local spaces of everyday life to global spaces of accelerated mobilities. Mobile spaces, however distant, are connected through common everyday practices and the sociocultural contexts in which they are produced. In this paper, we argue that researching these interconnectivities and commonalities requires a particular methodological approach that accounts for the situatedness of experience. Our focus is on the ways in which inequalities according to gender and generation are generated through urban designed spaces. We suggest that drawing in to a shared material and ‘border’ object, the urban bench, provides a point of reflection on these distant yet parallel expressions of mobile inequality.

Producing “Quality of Life” in the “Nuevo South”: The Spatial Dynamics of Latinos’ Social Reproduction in Southern Amenity Destinations

AbstractThrough the comparative analysis of two case studies of non‐metropolitan localities in the U.S. South, we seek to advance understandings of the spatial dynamics of social reproduction for Latino immigrants settling in amenity destinations. The arrival of Latino immigrants in Greater Williamsburg, Virginia (pop. ∼96,000) and Rabun County, Georgia (pop. ∼16,000), can be linked to the influx of domestic, ex‐urban, amenity migrants, whose lifestyle and consumption patterns created a demand for low‐wage labor in services and construction. We argue that constrained housing options that emerged from amenity‐driven migration and gentrification worked together with intersecting vulnerabilities of race, gender, and immigration status to inhibit Latino newcomers’ ability to navigate the spaces of everyday life. We discuss two patterns of immigrant housing and demonstrate how in a context of dispersed public space and limited transportation options these geographies of social reproduction increased insecurities for Latino newcomers, facilitating the policing of their physical mobility and control over their labor. By attending to the ways in which socio‐spatial conditions in these underexplored sites of immigrant reception condition Latinos’ daily life, our analysis brings to further light the many ways that place matters for Latinos’ settlement experiences. [Amenity Migration; Gentrification; Immigration; Latinos; U.S. South]

Aesthetics of urban space through collaborative urban planning: integrating environmental aesthetics with communicative theory of planning

The collaborative urban planning has the potentials to make cities more aesthetically pleasing to the dweller. In this paper, we focus on the strengths of the said theory to bring in the views of the user to the designing process of the urban space. Our current research interest in the Collaborative Planning is also based on its ability to formulate a wider basis for evaluation, development and conservation of the city and its life. We intend to argue that aesthetics, within the current consciousness, is not what is meant by beauty but what makes the man familiar within his dwelling space. Aesthetic theories help understanding the perception, appreciation or experiencing of the space in everyday life. By developing useful tools to discuss the values of urban space, the contemporary developments in the environmental aesthetics, especially within phenomenological and pragmatist philosophy, could make the communicative planning theory more context-oriented. The current conception of planning as a decisionmaking process that has little to do with humanistic perspective of the city is to be challenged and provided with alternatives here. This decision-making deals with many practical demands, but its conventional attitude has cost the city life. The communicative theory and collaborative planning as a practice, strengthen inhabitant's relations to the urban space and as such, could create a new as well as manage the existing without losing its links with the users. Once reinforced with phenomenological and pragmatist ideas developed in the environmental aesthetic theories, this new practice could strengthen the urban space to promote dwelling.

Ottomans and the Kodak Galaxy: Archiving Everyday Life and Historical Space in Ottoman Illustrated Journals

This article investigates late nineteenth-century Ottoman illustrated journals as a key site for the articulation of new, popular, and visualised forms of historical knowledge and sensibility in the imperial domain. Focusing on the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, a period from 1876 to 1909 marked by the beginnings of print industry and rising levels of literacy in the Ottoman world, the article situates photography within a mixed, hybrid, and highly image-based media environment that radically transformed Ottoman modes of looking and remembering. Allowing new forms of reading, viewing, and popular participation, the journals helped refashion and pluralise collective images of the empire’s material past. The article argues that the new visions of history and antiquity that emerged in the Ottoman journals were not merely an ideological package imposed by the state and passively consumed by the readers. The journals played an essential role in creating a highly visualised interface where popular and official forms of historical imagination mingled and interpenetrated.

Cenas sociais e espaço de trabalho. Homologias na vida profissional de jovens de classes populares

Neste artigo, analisamos uma série de situações problemáticas em espaços de trabalho nos quais participam jovens de classes populares da cidade de Córdoba (Argentina), e mostramos múltiplas interpenetrações que ocorrem entre os diferentes âmbitos de sua vida cotidiana e o especificamente do trabalho. Retomando as noções de “esferas de valor” e “cenas sociais”, propomos uma interpretação dos deslocamentos de lógicas de ação e critérios de valor como estratégias de gestão de recursos no espaço de trabalho, possibilitados por homologias estruturais entre diversas cenas sociais (trabalho, família, escola, rua, política) e fundados na estrutura das relações de classe.

Media Reach Among Fisherwomen in Cuddalore District in Tamil Nadu

Media has become a powerful weapon in modern society. The earth is encompassed by communication satellites and both rich and poor, although disparate, are linked to a single emerging world of the media. The last few years have witnessed a tremendous growth of interest in how the media work, how they affect people's daily lives, and how the public might ensure the fulfilment of the staggering potential of the media. The media bring change in behaviour and attitude of the people by emphasizing on certain issues (Altheide, 1985). With the revolutionary progress of mass communication, an unprecedented opportunity has been created to share and exchange information for knowledge and social change (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). New technologies in the latest media such as the Walkman, Cellular phones, handheld Television, and wireless portable computers, make it possible to carry media into places and spaces of everyday life. Media serve the individuals and society in different perspectives for further development and empowerment of fisherwomen. Against this backdrop this article seeks to define and discuss the issues connected to modern social media. The core area of discussion is how the modern media serve fisherwomen of Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu for development and empowerment in the competitive world of globalization and free market.

Mutualistic Social Relationship Between Tamil and Chinese Communities in the Formation of Social Space in Kampung Keling Medan

This study shows the unique relationship between the local Tamil community and Chinese newcomer community in Kampung Keling. The locality brought by Tamil community in their everyday life space and modernity brought by Chinese community in the commercial space blend together are reflected in the social space that appears in the public space along the pedestrian path in front of shop houses belonging to Chinese community. Both communities share the social space harmoniously for their respective interests. Social relationship in the area has an important role in maintaining the existence of Tamil community and the economic activities of Chinese community.

The Islamic representation of Tatarstan as an answer to the equalization of the Russian regions

This article presents a study of Islamic religious symbols involved in maintaining the special status of the Tatars in post-Soviet Tatarstan. It explores how regional ethnic elites in Tatarstan use Islam (the discourse of the history of Islam in the region and Islamic symbols in the representation of the region) as a tool for legitimizing their privileged positions in the region. In addition, the article examines how Islamic culture enters into the everyday life and public space of the region, thereby, in a sense enforcing social borders between different ethnic groups. This study has two aims: a theoretical analysis of religious symbols’ role in the struggle for status in the ethnic hierarchy and the practical application of the developed theoretical framework to the case of post-Soviet Tatarstan. The author concludes that after the system of ethnic federalism was abolished in Russia, Tatars have retained their special status by appealing to Islam.

L'Espace littéraire de Mahi Binebine: pour une esthétique du désenchantement social

ABSTRACTThe Stars of Sidi Moumen (2010) of Mahi Binebine is a francophone Moroccan novel that clearly illustrates the current interest of the Moroccan writers to all aspects of daily life of individuals and society. It is an expression of the writer's citizenship, but also a literary creation and contribution as citizen. It is a text that illustrates the interactions between literature and the lived space of everyday life, knowing that the space referred to in this novel is a space of non-space: a spatial and human chaos of Sidi Moumen slum in Casablanca. It would therefore be interesting to see how the social context, which serves as base to literary works, is reinstated in the context of the imaginary, questioning the definitions that tend to separate literature from the real or the surrounding world and to query the effects of place on individual behaviors and the shaping of identity tensions to the point of making “murderous identities” in the words of Maalouf. Indeed, from the status of children “slum” to that of children suicide bombers “kamikazes,” the reader is faced with a trajectory that reflects human frailty, from simple individual disillusionment to a real disenchantment fed by social criticism.

Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise by Penny Harvey and Hannah Knox

Penny Harvey and Hannah Knox, Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015. 264 pp.Anthropologists have long been challenged to undertake ethnographic studies of state. In their joint study of road construction in Peru, Penny Harvey and Hannah Knox draw on conceptions of state a relatively abstract entity that is made real through governmental practices. In Roads, team examines production of Interstate Highway/Route 26 and Iquitos-Nauta road infrastructural technologies. These roads arise out of complex partnerships between state institutions and non-state entities, scholars and scientists, commercial interests, and local populations. Citing De Boeck (2012: 5), road is taken by Harvey and Knox as a built form around which publics thicken. This book is about teasing out material and imaginative dynamics that encourage both roads and publics to appear, to co-coalesce, with particular attention being paid to ways in which roads manifest political, not just through transformations they promise, but also by arranging and rearranging mundane spaces of everyday life (8). Harvey and Knox argue that a multidimensional study of material transformation in guise of a road deepens ways in which we understand how political is articulated, especially where political is defined the relationships in and through which heterogeneous forms of social difference are enacted (187). In tracking how these these differences are articulated, they show how materiality acts both catalyst and a foil to production of states, identities, intereses (interests), and imaginaries.The text is organized into three sections. Looking to provisionally, and quite self-consciously, bracket what are in effect borderless, sprawling affairs, Part I tracks storied histories of these two roads. It focuses particularly on interaction of state-sponsored imaginaries of connection, modernity, and expertise versus more local values, desires, and interpretations. The more engaging second and third sections constitute ethnography of road construction. Part II presents an analysis of bureaucratic processes that produce idea of road if not road itself-road materiality, regulatory practice, and interviews with engineers, planners, environmental officers, safety personnel, and local people. Part III focuses on discontinuous manifestation of state by exploring experiences of conflict and accommodation, from scale of informal and individual, when residents frustrate official access to land by constantly attempting to renegotiate terms of their agreements, or formal and institutional, in frequent inauguration rituals led by state representatives that may or may not coincide with completion of various road sections and bridges.Throughout book, authors revisit ways in which people situated at different nodes along road network are responding to themes of risk, opportunity, nationalism, contingency, knowledge, uncertainly, integration (and interruptions to it), and neoliberal impetus to release value. In doing so, authors work at a number of different scales to examine a site that, by its very nature, resists easy ethnographic investigation. The strategy of tacking back and forth between themes and participants allows Harvey and Knox to interrogate spaces inbetween what people say and what they do, what state promises and what it delivers, or how road is constructed rhetorically and how it actually functions. This focus on these third spaces is mobilized even in their use of theory.The most interesting aspect of book, and what can be taken and applied elsewhere, is introduction of several third space concepts. Finding well-known theoretical classifications useful, but unable to adequately capture ethnographic material they encountered on ground, Harvey and Knox float several new concepts. …

Everyday encounters: tourists in Cuban casas particulares

ABSTRACTThrough the operation of casas particulares (bed-and-breakfasts) tourists in Cuba are provided with the opportunity to stay in local homes. Casas particulares are government regulated small-scale accommodation alternatives that can be found throughout the island. They starkly contrast with more familiar large-scale and standardized accommodations in Cuba such as resorts and hotels. By electing to stay in casas particulares, visitors to Cuba are exposed to the seemingly more everyday spaces of Cuban daily life. Based on ethnographic research conducted in the city of Trinidad, this article examines the tourist experience in the “everyday” landscape of Cuban homes. The research reveals that while tourists cross into the spaces of everyday life, stays in casas particulares are generally short and in a span of few days it is difficult for the tourist to understand the nuances of daily life.