Negotiating male gatekeeper violence in team-based research on Bangladeshi migrant women in Malaysia

While the field of migration studies is expanding to understand the nuanced experiences of women across Asia, there has been little discussion of how these studies were conducted. This article draws on the reflective accounts of three researchers on a team project investigating the lived experiences of female Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia. While the research aims centred on understanding the lives of the Bangladeshi migrant women, the team spent a significant amount of time negotiating male gatekeeper violence in the field. The article further describes the researchers’ experiences of sexual harassment and intimidation, and explores these through the complex locations of the migrant workers and the female researchers in the field site. In addition, the article deals with the way in which the team’s feminist research sensibilities were challenged in the context of negotiating that violence. The ethical dilemma of continuing the research in the face of persistent violence was dealt with by discussing approaches employed in managing the violence. Analysing male gatekeeper violence in the field, allowed for conversations around the intersection of migration and masculinities. This auto-ethnography reveals methodological concerns for female researchers and exposes the negotiated nature of the front line of migration research.     

The conundrum of castration in the archaeological record: An interpretation of Roman cattle horn-cores from Chelmsford,Essex

Current methods of sexing archaeological cattle bones, in particular the metapodials, are based upon past research into contemporary breeds and this work embraces a limited sample size, spread across a vast geographical area. Although the separation of cows and bulls is not in question, there appears a great deal of subjectivity in the literature concerning the identification of castrated beasts. Living bone is in a dynamic state of equilibrium with the rest of the body and responds to increased loading, that is, an increase in weight of the beast or stress/strain through strenuous movement, by remodelling. If cows and oxen are performing the same work, as for example in ploughing, then loading on the bones will be similar. These bones will thus respond by remodelling in corresponding fashion, and hence any morphological and metrical distinctions will be clouded. Horn-cores are less subject to these constraints, although in some cultures there may be loading on these bones, for example through attaching the harness to the horns for ploughing. The Chelmsford cattle horn-cores constitute waste from some industrial activity and it is argued in the text that horn-working is the most likely candidate, together with possibly tanning. Sexing of the bones strongly indicated male animals, with few females being present. A procedure for detecting castrated cattle (oxen) is presented, the results of which suggest an equivalent ratio of oxen to bulls.     

The Holocaust in Italian Collective Memory: Il giorno della memoria , 27 January 2001

The article examines the first official, national Holocaust memorial day in Italy, the so-called Giorno della memoria (Day of memory), marked on the 56th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2001. It looks at the ways in which the day acted as a filter for issues of national collective memory and identity, in particular state and public negotiation of the legacy of Fascism, as well as addressing broader issues of Holocaust remembrance. The article looks first at the origins of the Giorno della memoria in political and in legislative terms. Then it sketches in the events of the day itself, at national and local levels, in political, educational and cultural terms. This is followed by an analysis of media coverage and contemporary commentary, showing how various lines of interpretation addressed general issues related to the Holocaust and specifically Italian historical, ideological and contemporary questions.     

Innovative Trends in Women's and Gender Studies of the National Socialist Era

The text is less a review of the new literature than a reflectionon significant and innovative current trends in the historiographyon women and gender in the National Socialist era. The firstpart deals with various women's activities within milieus andprofessions, including their room for manoeuvre: midwives, socialworkers, female Nazi functionaries, and female auxiliary workersof the Nazi Wehrmacht. The second part of the article addressesspecific features of biopolitics, targeted not only againstJews but also against asocial women, homosexuals and prostitutes.It also looks at visual images of bodies. Although the Nazistried to create strongly determined binaries to categorize ‘we’and ‘the others’ in the arts and other propagandamaterial, there existed, in fact, a broad spectrum of body images,especially among media stars. A third trend in the history ofthe Third Reich deals not only with the politics of exclusionbut also of inclusion, as found in the concept of Volksgemeinschaft(national community), a concept that had many facets, such asthe Volksfamilie, comradeship and home front. And it was themedia that had the task of ‘translating’ this conceptto the people in many appealing ways. The fourth part considersthe gendering of memories after 1945 and the dominance of malenarratives and points of view. The four parts of the articleare intended to contribute to intersectional history and thehistory of social engineering.     

Men at home,men and home in two Anglophone novels by Indian women writers

Postcolonial Indian women novelists writing in English have been deeply concerned with addressing the ways in which ‘home’ in patriarchal societies is an ambiguous space, characterized by unequal gender relationships that make it a terrain rife with violence, and feelings of alienation and discontent for women. Through the lens of two contemporary Anglophone novels by Indian women writers, Arundhati Roy’s (1997) The God of Small Things and Manju Kapur’s (2006) Home, this article evaluates the significance of the relationship between male identities, politics and domestic spaces in India. Focusing primarily on two bourgeois male characters, Estha and Vicky, the article examines, in depth, their painful coming-of-age in terms of the complex intersection of gender, class and age hierarchies in the domestic arena and demonstrates the centrality of the concept of home to their sense of self and space.     

‘If You Find Out Who Her Father is I Would Be Interested to Know’ The Kwermin in an Eastern Min Context

In this paper the peripheral position of the Kwermin in the Min regional context is discussed through a focus on two gift‐presentations, those of bridewealth and those presented to fully initiated men at the end of their initiatory process. The items of the traditional bridewealth gifts are discussed as well as the debate that emerged, after the discontinuation of this traditional presentation, whether Kwermin should take up the large bridewealth payments introduced from the highland Bimin or go back to an earlier custom of sister‐exchange (abu) between clans without great emphasis on bridewealth. However, it is suggested that the present day monetary claims, without their actual payment, may eventually serve to strengthen the previous practice of abu. The gifts presented following full initiation are referred to as Afek's pubic hair and it is shown how these presentations can be understood as being Afek, or essential aspects of this highland's originating ancestor, creating novices as true men who are then presented to Afek in a way similar to the way wives are presented to husbands. It is suggested that such presentation of man to ancestress partly explains patriarchal Kwermin men's reluctance to fully accept highland ideology, preferring to maintain their allegiance with the cultural hero of the lower mountains and the lowlands, Webnok.     

Legg–Calvé–Perthes Disease and unifocal eosinophilic granuloma in a visigoth from the Duratón necropolis (Segovia,Spain)

Individual number 12, exhumed at the Duratón Visigoth necropolis (Segovia, Spain), was found in a supine position inside a simple fossa without adornments. He was a very robust adult (∼50/60 years) male presenting two pathologies, independently originated and both occurring in a particular anatomical area: the right hip. The first one has been diagnosed as Legg–Calvé–Perthes Disease, and it affects the right femur and the coxal. The femoral head has a diameter that is much greater than usual, with a porous articular surface, no fovea capitis and a marked arthritic secondary growth which is inserted in the femoral neck; the coxal shows a pathological acetabulum larger than the left one, and having osseous borders. The second disease, considered a unifocal eosinophilic granuloma, is in the inner face of the right ilium, and practically occupies the whole iliac fossa. The development of the two pathologies and their probable repercussions on the individual's mobility, on the basis of the study of both the pathological and normal pieces recovered, are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关于贾宝玉是性别认同障碍者的猜想辨析

日本汉学家合山究教授,2011年出版的专著《<红楼梦>——性同一性障碍者的乌托邦小说》,是日本红学界目前最新的研究成果。合山氏在书中披露了主人公贾宝玉属于性别认同障碍患者的大胆猜想。这种观点在日本汉学界可谓前无古人,其研究特点在于,借用心理学上的GID性别认同障碍剖析贾宝玉的人格特征、行为举止等,并以此解释《红楼梦》中众多疑团;并对曹雪芹、《红楼梦》的成书意义等做出基于GID性别认同障碍立场的解释。而我们认为这种猜想其实是文本对宝玉的"女性化"处理得来的,其真正病因在于儒家意识形态压制下的非主流男性气质的曲折表现。     

Kabit,Rimbu and Opa: Modalities of Anganen Sacrifice1

ABSTRACT At the time of colonisation and missionisation that quickly saw their abandonment, the Anganen practised two male exclusive cults in which animals were sacrificed in the hope of influencing powerful spirits. One cult, kabit, was only staged to overcome serious affliction thought to be sent by the spirits to individuals of subclans or women married into them. That is, it was a reaction to spirit power. The other cult, rimbu, while practised in response to widespread problems of humans, pigs and gardens, was also undertaken in the hope of increased health and productivity, and thus a possible action as well as a reaction. The paper describes and compares the cults. One major theme is male empowerment, as rimbu not only underwrites male power over others, it is also about empowerment to act on the world as well. While obviously radically different in many respects, at least in local consciousness, the adoption of opa, the giving of money, produce and labour to the church, has resonance with the pre‐colonial situation. Mostly it is undertaken to please what the Anganen see as a vengeful God based on Old Testament stories. However, on occasions such as the lead up to the yasolu pork distribution, the most prestigious event in Anganen, big men may ostentatiously present large gifts of money to missionaries or men may purchase cattle to slaughter, cook and distribute their meat on the opening of new churches. Both instances are beyond emulation by most in the community and, like rimbu may be, venues for male empowerment.     

良渚文化瑶山玉神器分化及巫权调整之探讨

本文根据《瑶山》揭示的甲乙两类、南北两行墓列12座墓葬,分别判定墓主为觋与巫的不同性别,进而考定南行6位墓主为觋,北行6位墓主为巫。作者首先针对出自巫墓内的所谓“神面”、“兽面”及“神徽”进行分析,重新认定“神面”为觋面,“兽面”为小巫扮演的道具兽或兽面,并破译原定“神徽”为觋戴魃头骑小巫扮演的道具兽以玉事神图徽,可简称为“觋事神图徽”。经过对南行墓列6座觋墓出土的玉冠形器、带盖柱形器、三叉形器、成组锥形器、玉钺、琮等6种玉器进行分析,本文认为玉冠形器为玉梳背,琮中之大孔琮应是镯,不是原来意义上的神器之琮。巫专用的玉器有玉梳背、璜与圆牌。从觋巫所用玉器的尺寸、纹饰、形制来看,觋玉大大高于巫玉,也折射出觋的地位大大高于巫。本文论证了与母系、父系两种社会相关的由巫权向觋权过渡的新问题,指出瑶山墓地显示觋权已巩固,而巫权已败落并居于觋权之下。作者提出瑶山觋已是掌握政治军事大权而又兼顾事神的新型统治人物,即不称王的“王”,而当王掌权之后,巫觋便降格为“祝”与舞者,这就是《瑶山》在考古学上的重大贡献,也是玉文化研究的一次突破。