Stereotypical Images Research Articles

Висвітлення образів військовослужбовиць в українських медіа в період російсько-української війни

The study aims to propose a typology of servicewomen’s images promoted by the Ukrainian media during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Qualitative content analysis was used as a research method. The study was based on 50 articles about women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine published between November 2020 and May 2023. The timeframe was chosen given the event that marked the strengthening of the Ukrainian government’s course to the further development and promotion of gender equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, namely the ratification of the National Action Plan for Resolution 1325 – “Women, Peace and Security” for the period up to 2025. The articles were selected based on several keywords: women, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, women in the military, and gender equality. The Russo-Ukrainian war has given rise to the promotion of various images of female soldiers in the media. The media offers its audience two types of servicewomen images: 1) a conservative image based on the stereotypical perceptions of women; 2) a counter-stereotypical image that rejects clichés and destroys gender stereotypes. The conservative typification of images of servicewomen, as a demonstration of society’s concern about women performing combat missions that contradict traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity, not only reinforces the idea of traditional stereotypical roles of women but also challenges the prospects of participation of women in combat. The multifaceted gender stereotypical images – “Beauty in uniform”, “Model for a glossy magazine”, “First of all a Woman”, “Beloved Woman”, and “Mother” – are permeated by benevolent sexism against women, which has three components: paternalism, gender differentiation, and heterosexual intimacy. The image “Person with special domestic needs” focuses on physiological processes related to the female reproductive system. This content of the image conveys the assumption that women can face an uncomfortable situation when it is challenging to perform the necessary hygienic measures, and this can hinder them from being in the war zone. The counter-stereotypical typification manifested in the “Professional Soldier” and “Rebel” images contribute to overcoming stereotypical perceptions and shaping a society where women have equal rights and opportunities to realize these rights. Creating the “Professional Soldier” image, the media assume that the main prerequisite for a professional warrior is not gender but professional competencies. The “Rebel” image of a servicewoman represents a new generation of women who openly declare their right to be whatever they want and join the military to eliminate the “weaker sex” stereotype. The emphasis on masculinity in the “Rebel” image indicates that, despite the increase in women, the media still perceives the army as a masculine organization. Both conservative-stereotypical and counter-stereotypical images, such as “Sexual Object” and “Lesbian”, can be created for purely commercial interests or as a marketing ploy to attract the audience.

Research on Regional Architectural Design Method Based on GIS

Urbanization and continued population growth have had a major impact on the urban environment. Many buildings lack close regional and biomimetic characteristics during the rapid generation process, making it impossible to achieve ecological sustainability. This article took the rehabilitation center of Jinghong Dai Cultural Park in Yunnan as an example for research, intending to highlight regional characteristics and change the current severely homogenized urban style. Visual on-site environmental analysis was performed through Arc GIS, CFD-phoenics, and sketchup, and the site form planning of ecological buildings from the perspective of “regional characteristics” was explored. Morphological data of local buildings and regional plants were collected, plant growth patterns were analyzed in Grasshopper software, and skins were generated from the perspective of “biomimetic properties”, and we combined the planning form with the skin to form the overall regional architectural design. The design approach of multi-parameter software combinations brings a richer expression morphologically and distinguishes the more homogeneous stereotypical image of the city, which is of great significance and value in expanding the form of architectural design. The spatial form of the site layout and the phenology of the native plants respect the original natural environment and create a symbiosis between man and nature.

Primary School Student’s Scientist Perception and their Attitudes towards Science: A Case Study

Scholars report that the students’ interest in STEM declines and suggest to approach them earlier. This case study with the convenient sample of seven primary school students investigates the students’ view of science and scientists and examine the following research questions in the Dutch lower secondary school context: (1) What are young students' images and perceptions of scientists and their work? (2) How do young students conceptualize science and scientist? (3) What are young students' attitudes toward science, STEM careers and science involvements? To find an answer to these questions, four different measurements were employed in the study. First, the students joined a photo-elicitation interview (PIE) exploring their values and perceptions, second, a Word Association Test (WAT) searching the cognitive structures, third, responded an attitude questionnaire and lastly, they completed the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) and joined a follow-up semi structured interview individually. The analysis showed that there are stereotypical image of science and scientists among the students in this study. The environmental context and the pandemic period have influence on their perceptions. The students conceptualized science and scientists realistically and showed the higher positive attitude towards science than the STEM career and science involvement in the future. The multiple measurements provided a broader perspective on the students’ view. The discussion extended to the methodological aspects and suggestions were given.

Raluca Bianca Roman, Sofiya Zahova, and Aleksandar G. Marinov, eds. Roma Writings. Romani Literature and Press in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II

Raluca Bianca Roman, Sofiya Zahova, and Aleksandar G. Marinov, eds. <i>Roma Writings. Romani Literature and Press in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II</i>

Alexandre Volkoff’s Casanova (1927): Text, myth, film

Alexander Volkoff’s acclaimed silent masterpiece Casanova (1927) is an excellent example of the many links between Italian and Russian cultures: this international super-production, led by a group of Russian émigrés, is based on the memoirs of a famous Venetian, and shot largely in Venice. While the film’s production history is relatively well studied, little has been written on the relationship between the film and the text on which it is based. This article aims to fill in this gap. It demonstrates that Volkoff’s Casanova, often considered to be merely a spectacular genre film, actually offers a subtle reading of Giacomo Casanova’s autobiography. Volkoff’s Casanova both illustrates myths and stereotyped images linked to the famous adventurer and subtly questions them. It also highlights the contradictory nature of the character, reproducing many of the oppositions which underlie the original text of the memoirs.

The contribution of the hidden curriculum to gender inequality in teaching and learning materials: Experiences from Tanzania

This study aimed to examine the contribution of the hidden curriculum to gender inequality in teaching and learning materials. Despite the efforts to have an official curriculum through school textbooks and learning materials. The hidden curriculum continued to encourage gender inequality through teaching and learning materials. The study examined the content and portrayal of males and females in primary school social studies textbooks. The study used a qualitative research approach and the documentary review method was used to gather information from books, published articles, and policy documents. The findings show that there was an improvement in addressing gender inequality in textbooks and learning materials. The findings show that the visibility and representation of females in textbooks have increased. However, gender roles were portrayed in stereotypical ideas and images that encourage gender bias. The study concluded that teaching and learning materials encourage a hidden curriculum that facilitates the underrepresentation of females and males in textbooks. Therefore, the Government in collaboration with the relevant authorities should ensure that the development of teaching and learning materials considers gender-responsive content and gender balance in role allocation. There is a need to increase awareness among reviewers and book authors on gender sensitivity in the preparation of teaching and learning materials in order to ensure adherence to gender equality principles.

Реализация традиционных образов сравнения компаративных тропов с диминутивными дендронимами в русской поэзии XIX–XXI веков

The article examines the traditional images of comparison, characterizing diminutive dendronyms in the language of the Russian poetry of the 19–21st centuries, from the perspective of the relationship of ‘cultural-stereotypical (traditional) – author’s individual’. The analysis of 725 fragments from the Russian poetic works of the 19–21st centuries reveals the ways of word formation and the composition of diminutive dendronyms, as well as the composition of folk poetic, general poetic and individual author’s images of comparative tropes representing these diminutives as subjects of comparison: girl; love attraction, longing; to cry (tears), to grieve, to yearn; fertility; separation; bitter, unhappy fate, orphanhood; gold, silver; emerald; smoke; clothing; fire; pattern, mesh product; infantas by Velasquez, ermine coat; calico; fidelity. The referencedenotative features of the corresponding realia, motivating the choice of figurative associations are determined: a thin trunk, flexible branches, serrated, heart-shaped leaves, flowering trees, fruit trees. The techniques that help make stereotypical images of comparison in the Russian poetic language individualized are established: the inclusion in the composition of an extended anthropomorphic metaphor; updating by means of occasional epithets, lexical variation of the components of the trope. The stable semantic connotations of diminutive dendronyms are singled out: ‘shy’, ‘timid’, ‘meek’, ‘slender’, ‘tall’, ‘gentle’, ‘curls’, ‘braids’, ‘thin figure’, ‘beauty’, ‘breasts’, ‘captivate’, ‘innocence’, as well as the ways of their representation in poetic contexts: extended metaphors ‘autumnal withering of a tree – withering of female beauty’; memories of the lyrical hero about close people; parallelism of the images of a tree and a human condition; conventional epithets (weeping, bitter); features of the situation of a literary text. The results of the study allow us to improve the understanding of how comparative tropes with diminutive dendronyms develop dynamically in the Russian poetic language.

Geopolitical Discourse in Contemporary Latvian and American Travel Narratives

The concept of geopolitics has become a subject for research in a number of scientific disciplines, including literary studies with a special focus on travelogue, which is the most multipresentative genre of travel writing. Travelogue, being a literary genre, the thematic dominant of which highlights the aspect of mobility, represents numerous geographical locations through the prism of geopolitics. Countries, territories, and regions, may acquire associative changes in the context of historically-political shifts.&#x0D; The present article focuses on the common political influences on the Siberian chronotope reflected in the contemporary Latvian and American travel narratives. It reveals not just the travellers’ subjective receptions of the place, but also indicates numerous political influences, which created a stereotypical image of Siberia as a place of marginality, forced power and exile.&#x0D; After considering and analysing the Siberian chronotope through the comparative perspective, it becomes obvious that American travellers tend to perceive this region basing on their general knowledge of historical processes and on the established stereotypes, while Latvian travellers trace a piece of their own history in Siberia, where hundreds of Latvians suffered repressions in the late 1930s under the influence of the Soviet regime.

Особенности жанра и композиции текстов немецкоязычных онлайн-путеводителей

The study aims to identify the corpus of specific linguostylistic means and the genre-compositional originality of the texts of German-language online travel guides. These texts are reference publications aimed at a wide range of readers and they are used primarily by tourists for a more detailed acquaintance with a travel destination. The texts of online travel guides, along with the texts of excursions, audio guides, leaflets, catalogs, brochures, virtual excursions, travel agency websites, belong to the genres of tourism discourse and are characterised by a distinct structural organisation, a variety of speech tactics, verbal and non-verbal codes and perform the informational, advertising, accumulative and regulatory functions. A travel guide is a “calling card” of a cultural and linguistic community, which allows forming certain holistic stereotypical images in the minds of recipients regarding a foreign-language worldview. The paper is novel in that it makes the first attempt to carry out a comprehensive analysis of different-level linguistic means representing the genre-compositional features of modern online travel guides. As a result of the study, it has been proved that the texts of German-language online travel guides have a distinct compositional structure, are characterised by a set of specific linguistic means that implement the general communicative task of tourism discourse, i.e. making an impact on the recipient.

Reflective Fourier ptychography-based depth-recovery & resolution-enhanced real scene hologram acquisition method

Recording interference holograms using coherent light is a complex process for real-world objects. Alternatively, holography based on integral imaging with natural illumination is considered an option. However, the field of view (FOV) of this technology is limited by the lenslet array of the integral imaging system. This paper proposes an integral imaging-based hologram recording method via a commercial plenoptic camera to increase the FOV for a conventional II system. Meanwhile, to address the problem of depth non-uniform compression caused by the main lens of the plenoptic camera, this paper proposed a depth recovery method combined with the camera’s metadata parameters for depth retargeting. Finally, we introduce a reflective Fourier-ptychography-based algorithm via an optimum overlap rate to acquire high-performance holograms. Compared to stereotypical integral imaging holography, this method produces a higher resolution reconstruction result. In addition, we conduct three sets of experiments on real scenes whose results also prove the proposed method embodies finer reconstruction results, and depth is recovered up to twice as much as the original outcome.

Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation, by LIZ BUCAR

Liz Bucar’s new book creatively builds on debates on cultural appropriation that regularly take place in the global public sphere. Its central argument, that borrowing the religious practices of others always carries moral risks, is illustrated by three case studies: “Solidarity Hijab,” “Playing Pilgrim,” and “Respite Yoga.” The author argues that these three case studies are examples of what many would consider positive engagement with the “Other,” while causing harm. I initially became interested in the book because Chapter 1 addressed issues that came up in my own research, and I was curious about Bucar’s take on it. It is this: Non-Muslims using the hijab as a political symbol in liberal campaigns harms Muslim communities. To illustrate this, Bucar used two examples, a poster portraying a Muslim woman wearing an “American flag hijab” and a viral hashtag #HijabForHarmony (p. 46). The poster is presumably meant to express support for all Muslim women, but it uses a very stereotypical image of a Muslim woman of South Asian heritage in a head covering. Hence, it silences Muslim women who do not cover their heads and those of other racial and ethnic backgrounds, in particular Black Muslim women. Secondly, the poster is “whitewashed”—in the poster, compared with the photograph that was originally taken of the portrayed woman, her cheekbones are accentuated, her skin is lighter, and her face is narrower. Not only is she sexualized, but in the poster rendition, she also wears a head covering made out of the American flag as if to “compensate” for her Muslimness. #HijabForHarmony encouraged non-Muslim women to wear the hijab and post their selfies on social media after the white supremacist attack on the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their cosplay made them the focal point of the news, while the Muslim community was erased from mainstream reporting on the fallout of the shooting.

Counter-stereotype intervention for construction and demolition waste recycling products: A functional near infrared spectroscopy study

The generation and stock of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is increasing, which makes the environmental and economic problems serious. In recent years, China has also launched many policies to encourage and guide C&D waste recycling. However, most of these policies are aimed at contractors and recycling utilization parties, while the lack of publicity and promotion has led to the acceptance in the market is generally low. People may have a negative stereotype of this recycled material recycled from C&D waste.In order to explore a measure that can alleviate this problem, this study used experimental research methods from psychology and neuroscience to investigate the mechanisms of different presentation forms of counter-stereotype intervention materials. This study included two experiments: the pretest experiment verified the implicit-explicit stereotype and neuronal image representation of C&D recycling products through single category implicit association test (SC-IAT), semantic difference scale and functional near-infrared (fNIRS). The posttest experiment was based on the counter-stereotype intervention method and intergroup contact theory. A within-participants design was used to investigate the effectiveness of counter-stereotype intervention and the differences in two intervene presentation forms based on the pretest experiment.The results showed that the counter-stereotype intervention was effective in suppressing the activation of stereotypes. The effects of the intervention were similar for both the video and graphic formats. In the neuron imaging representation of the posttest experiment, the significantly activated brain region shifted from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-dlPFC) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-dlPFC). L-dlPFC is highly associated with the modulation of cognition, indicating that after the counter-stereotype intervention, the necessity of C&D waste recycling and the credibility of the recycling product influenced the participants. So when the stereotype was reactivated, the signal in the L-dlPFC was suppressed, weakening the expression of the stereotype. This also suggests that the mechanism of counter-stereotype intervention is to strengthen the brain regulatory system rather than to inhibit the activation of stereotypes at the source.

The Depiction of Arab Women in Fadia Faqir’s My Name Is Salma and Diana Abu Jaber’s Crescent

The study aims to compare and contrast how diasporic Arab writers, Fadia Faqir and Diana Abu-Jaber, both present Arab women in their respective novels, My Name is Salma and Crescent. This study was conducted using the theories of post colonialism. Hence, the researcher relies on Edward Said’s views on Orientalism in analyzing both novels. The study concludes with how both Faqir and Abu Jaber represent Arab women characters in different ways in their works, My Name is Salma and Crescent, respectively. Abu Jaber tries to negate the stereotypical images known in the West about Arab women through representing independent, confident, educated Arab women characters in Crescent, this depiction contrasts with Fadia Faqir’s representation of Arab women in her novel My Name is Salma in which she reflects the stereotypical images of the oppressed, submissive, and dependent Arab woman.

Advocating for Changing Stereotypical Image of the Status of Women in Pakistani Society

The role of media organs especially TV channels is very important in the rise and fall of any society. This study significantly discusses two variables; one is the media portrayal of women and the other is women's image and status in society. This study uses qualitative approach based on the "Delphi method" identifying approaches of media advocacy for disrupting the stereotypical image of women. The current research concludes that Pakistani media is on the path of commercialism and currently reporting on women's unequal balance between media portrayal and her actual status in society and portraying violence, sexism, commodification, patriarchal system, low self-esteem that the faithful, obedient and timid characters. Even the character of the well-educated strong woman is shown as a weak character. They should have programs where women inspire. There are so many such female role models here in this country that usually highlight their achievements in Pakistani media.

Stereotypical Images of Ukrainians and Russians in a HumanitarianCrisis: Multicultural Perspectives

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This article aims to map the stereotypical image of Ukrainians and Russians from a cross-cultural perspective in the context of the ongoing armed conflict.&#x0D; RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The research problem concerns the cultural differences that are revealed in the perception of representatives of the two nationalities that are involved in the armed conflict. Since stereotypical judgements are most often revealed in language, an adjective check list was used for the study. A sample of 92 Polish and Slovenian students took part in the study. The collected linguistic material was used to analyse and compare cross-cultural stereotypical judgements about Ukrainian and Russian citizens.&#x0D; THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The argument begins with theoretical perspectives on the concept of stereotyping and the process of stereotyping. The role of language in the stereotyping process is analysed. An analysis of the results and conclusions is presented.&#x0D; RESEARCHRESULTS: In general, Polish students attribute fewer positive adjectives than Slovenian students to both Ukrainians and Russians. The analysis revealed significant statistical differences as well as similarities between the researched groups of Polish and Slovenian students in terms of the stereotypical image of Ukrainians and Russians.&#x0D; CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS: Empirical evidence shows that Polish and Slovenian students have more in common in their perception of Russians, while they perceive Ukrainians quite differently. The linguistic characteristics obtained in this study provide a general insight into the perceptions of the two nationalities involved in the war. It should also be noted that these characteristics of Ukrainians and Russians may constitute socially important knowledge on the negative stereotypes about these nationalities. This knowledge may be useful in challenging counteracting or disseminating such judgements, which may be harmful and lead to prejudice or discrimination against people from the nationalities studied.&#x0D;

Cross-Media Narratives of City Image: The case of Chongqing, China

In the era of media fragmentation, a story world mode brought about by multiple media platforms is on the rise. Cross-media narratives become the core force of city competition by catering to the audience’s preferences while generating rich experiences of different media, promoting the efficient communication of city images to promote city tourism. This case study is based on the cross-media narrative theory, the general narratology theory, the interaction ritual chains theory, etc. It investigates how the contents are produced according to the characteristics of Chongqing city resources and how the image positioning matches different media to complete the common narrative process. Through reviewing previous literature and exploring some cross-media narratives of city image in Chongqing, the main findings of this paper are:1) demonstrative narratives interpret Chongqing’s image artistically and metaphorically to present the contradictions and need in the social space of Chongqing; 2) non-fictional narratives employ multiple combinations of typical city symbols in an enumerative design of narrative symbols to exhibit the superior tourism resources and displays its spirit in the construction and development of the Chonqing city; 3) participatory interactive narratives make the abstract, stereotypical city image that was reflected in traditional film pieces become more modern, urban, and fresh through interaction ritual chains. These results provide great value for the construction of the city image, which can contribute to providing future research a reference.

“Not that her being black had anything to do with it, for me”: Blackness in Emma Donoghue’s “The Welcome”

The paper aims to analyze the construction of the character JJ in Emma Donoghue’s short story “The Welcome” (2006). The story portrays Luce’s sexual awakening for JJ, the new resident of the women-only cooperative living residence, The Welcome. The shyness of JJ and her supposed indifference to the attempt at a romantic approach and friendship made by Luce is a reaction to the process of transgenderism. If, as the Argentine critic Ricardo Piglia (2000) argues, all short stories narrate two stories, the first is a frustrated love story, and the second is about JJ’s revelation as a transgender person. The critical intervention undertaken in this article challenges and exposes internalized images and racial regimes of representation by demonstrating that the signs and elements which prepare the reader for JJ’s revelation represent her as an abject character. ​​From being fundamental to the theory of subjectivity (Kristeva 1988, McAfee 2004) to a signifying practice of the body and sexuality (Butler 1999), abjection is a common signifier of blackness (Scott 2010). By intersecting race, gender, and sexual identities, the short story fails to represent JJ as a complete subject because it articulates stereotypical images around blackness and transgenderism, casting, at once, both terms as abjection. Thus, the centralization of Luce’s desire and the representation of JJ as an abject character suggest the impossibility of intimacy for the black queer body within the homonormative parameters of gender, sexuality, and race.

The construction of the Turkish woman author’s image through translation: the image of Suat Derviş in In The Shadow of the Yalı

ABSTRACT This study seeks to explore the paratextual packaging of Suat Derviş’s In the Shadow of the Yalı through a sociological lens, probing the connections between the consecrating power of translation and its role in dispelling cultural stereotypes. Arguing that asymmetrical power relations and translation flows have a significant impact on the representation of cultures in and/or through translation, the study first focuses on the stereotypical image(s) of the Turkish women writers in the Anglophone book market. Secondly, the study notes that the representation of Derviş for the Anglophone reader’s reception is beyond the confines of those images, revealing the role played by the translator Maureen Freely in challenging the prevailing practices of Western image construction and dissemination. Thirdly, against the backdrop of the distinction between translation as consecration and consecration by translational agents, the study scrutinizes the paratextual framing strategies that serve to transfer the consecrating agents’ symbolic capital to Derviş. The study concludes that while translation into a dominant literary field might be the initial step toward consecrating a writer from a less dominant culture, translation becomes an instrument that propagates existing power hierarchies when translational agents perpetuate the stereotypical representations that influence the positioning, promotion, and reception of translations.

Making (female) health care work matter

Over the last two years, digital media have contributed significantly to increasing the visibility of those who are outstandingly challenged by the pandemic. In Germany, the Twitter hashtag #systemrelevant [systemically relevant] initiated a public debate on values and working conditions. Applying the practice-theory-based concept of performative publics, we analyze the formation of this specific public with a special focus on its gendered structure. Results of our mixed-methods approach show how health care work has become the dominant issue of #systemrelevant. Civil society actors and engaged health care workers set the agenda, and journalism primarily responds to these voices. Although care work is performed predominantly by women, most of the attention online is given to men. However, on the level of tweets and linked content, the discourse in #systemrelevant counteracts stereotypical images of women in health care. Overall, the ethnographic data on the most significant collective actor show a continuous tension between symbolic recognition and their struggle for improving working conditions.

Les jumelles de la rue Nicolas by Évelyne Trouillot

Reviewed by: Les jumelles de la rue Nicolas by Évelyne Trouillot Sarah Davies Cordova ÉVELYNE TROUILLOT Les jumelles de la rue Nicolas Le Palais-sur-Vienne, France. Éditions Project'îles. 2022. 275 pages. TWINS FEATURE PROMINENTLY in Haitian culture and literary history, reflecting spiritually and figuratively the socioeconomic and political complexities of Haiti. As marasa, they occupy the privileged position of divinities in the Vodou pantheon, representing unpredictability in subjecthood and history's irrationality and are figured with a third "other" of (pro) creative potential and change. In literature, they first appear in Haiti's foundational national novel, Stella (1859), written by Émeric Bergeaud, as the mulatto Remus and the black Romulus born of an African slave, and their story recounts allegorically Haiti's revolutionary fight for freedom and independence. Twinhood doubles as mimetic (pre)figurations in Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones (1998), when the crib-death of Rafael, the fraternal light-skinned Dominican twin, sets in motion Trujillo's 1937 genocide of Haitians. Such historically situated twinned characters are no strangers to Évelyne Trouillot's imaginary of combative female characters facing the intersecting socioeconomic, educational, and gender inequities that constitute their quotidian habitus, as enslaved or citizen in Haiti, in exile in France or the United States. Set in Port-au-Prince during the last decade of the twentieth century, in the aftermath of the US embargo and Hurricane Georges, Les jumelles de la rue Nicolas intertextually references the marasa of Lilas Desquiron's Les chemins de Loco-Miroir (1990) and revisits Trouillot's short story "Which One?" in Danticat's 2011 Haiti Noir collection, switching points of view so that it is the eponymous twins who take turns narrating homodiegetically their life story rather than following the mothers of two half-sisters determined to ensure that their infant is the one chosen for adoption by their father's great-aunt in Brooklyn. Structurally recalling Trouillot's plurivocal narratives, the alternating use of roman type and italicized passages separated by a recurring vévé drawing denoting the marasa threesome patterns the two interior voices of this linguistically, visually, and corporeally layered two-tongued telling. It is Claudette, the high achiever and linguistically gifted illegitimate orphan, who initiates the nonlinear dialogue with her half-sister Lorette, seeking to reach a symbiotic wholeness, inaccessible without her "other." Their uncanny likeness (which identifies them as their father's daughters), the similar-sounding names he gave them, and their artful way of substituting for each other mark them as the twins of Nicolas Street, a name that brings to mind the patron saint of children, and the father of marasa, a figure who is sorely missing in the girls' lives. As they trace in their differences and preferences, they also (re)constitute the injustices of their Cinderella-storylike childhood and their mother/stepmother's Machiavellian determination to realize, after her philandering husband's untimely death in Miami, her (American) dream of socioeconomic security on her daughter's back (or Claudette's if need be). For Évelyne Trouillot, literature's trope is breaking historical silences and taboos and disrupting the dominant narrative's stereotypical images with women characters who set out the entangled determinants of (trans)generational life stories of Haiti. Just as a pharmakon antidote to the abuse and domestic violence exercised on the jumelles' bodies is the ethics of care of traditional Vodou rituals in each of their mothers' rural safe havens, which corporealize the twins' "douloureux partage et incontournable altérité," so too do the (homophonic) titular binoculars zoom in to counternarrate the monocular American national fiction; that fiction depicts Haitians as dying to be locked into an unremitting globalized consumerism, with Claudette and Lorette fighting back to break free from the sociopolitical shackles conditioning their identity as half-sisters. In the fight, they story a marasa legacy, a dosa, a potent emancipatory novel. [End Page 82] Sarah Davies Cordova University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma