Islam as Drama: Wedding Rites and the Theatricality of Islam in South Sulawesi

This article discusses the prominence of wedding rituals in South Sulawesi to illuminate Islamic development in post-Suharto Indonesia and theatrical expressions of Islam through dramaturgical and social drama analysis. Theatre metaphors help explain the theatricality of Islam and the centrality of wedding rites in social and religious life in South Sulawesi, two social facts not easily understood by people outside this region. Through the performance of wedding rites, Muslims know themselves as Muslims, display social status and transform local politics. Analysis of wedding rites illustrates not only the importance of theatricality in the expression of Islam for the Bugis Makassar Muslims, but also how massive social and religious transformation is structured around a particular life-cycle ritual, namely weddings. Giving emphasis to theatricality, this article nuances recent studies about contemporary Islam, which largely focus upon the importance of discourses in the life of contemporary Muslims.     

Political Economic Analysis in Sociology as Dramatic Rhetoric*

The relationship between political economy and social problems advanced by S. M. Miller in his presidential address to the Society for the Study of Social Problems is analyzed. Political economy is judged to qualify as ritual drama as much as science or as ideology because (1) political economy reduces Maclver's distributive and conjunctural phenomena to collective phenomena, (2) it fails to grapple directly with political and economic obstacles to its proposed policies, and (3) it does invest these obstacles with symbolism. The function of ritual drama is suggested and the concept is applied to the work of other sociologists.     

Violence,the occult and the everyday: a Radio Zulu drama of the 1980s

This article explores how the medium of radio through the genre of radio drama enables the exploration of issues of power and violence in a way that is both public and intensely private. It argues that through the airing of a topic as feared, as secret and yet as pervasively present – or potentially so – as the supernatural and the occult, radio drama can open up for debate areas of modern life around which there is often official silence. The focus is on a double serial drama, single parts of a proverb, Yiz’ Uvalo and Inqobo Yisibindi (“In Spite of Fear, the Victor is Courage”). I discuss the power of radio to create an interactive community and particular public and the power of this particular drama to harness listeners’ interest, emotions and fears. It had the ability to fascinate and delight and to create a parallel world, which intersected with events but at the same time kept its own internal dynamic which impelled its listeners on with it. I explore too the particular elements within people’s lives and imaginings with which this drama interacted, and how this contributed to its extraordinary “success.”     

Side-by-Side on Stage - Music and Drama Form a Bridge between Acting Students and People with Dementia in an Intergenerational Group Work

ABSTRACT

This article presents an intergenerational music and drama therapy groups comprised of twelve people with dementia residing in a nursing home and twelve acting students from the community.

The qualitative research aimed to explore the students’ attitudes towards elderly people, and to understand the role of creative arts therapies in facilitating intergenerational relationships. Qualitative content analysis of students’ weekly reports and questionnaires revealed the gradual process of connection between the students and people with dementia. Engaging in a creative act helped the students to discover the strengths and abilities of people with dementia and to see beyond the disease.     

The making of ‘the elderly’: Constructing the subject of care

The provision and arrangement of care for elderly people is one of the main challenges for the future of European welfare states. In both political and public discourses elderly people feature as the subjects who are associated with particular needs, wishes and desires and for whom care needs to be guaranteed and organised. Underlying the cultural construction of the care regime and culture is an ideal type model of the elderly person. This paper analyses the discursive construction of elderly people in the discourses on care in Austria. An understanding of how elderly people as subjects, their wishes and needs and their position within society are constructed enables us to analyse, question and challenge the current dominant care arrangements and its cultural embeddings. The paper demonstrates the processes of silencing, categorisation and passivation of elderly people and it is argued that the socio-discursive processes lead to a particular image of the elderly person which consequently serves as the basis on which the care regime is built.     

Ritual Power: Risk,Rumours and Religious Pluralism on Lombok

This article shows how rituals occupy a key role in the negotiation of inter-religious relations on the island of Lombok. Building on the argument set out in Howe’s 2000 article on ‘Risk, Ritual and Performance’ in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute that the anthropology of ritual has much to gain by focusing on risk, this article takes the rhetorical evocation of risk as a focus of inquiry, thereby refining understandings of how ritual efficacy are discursively generated. Examining a contested Hindu ritual performed in 2007, the article traces the representations of risk being mobilised by three sets of actors with stakes in the performance, showing how the ritual was a compromise co-produced by the Hindu Balinese organisers, Sasak Muslim groups and government officials. The article also uses this controversy to illustrate that Balinese and Sasak, despite adhering to different religions, share key assumptions about the power of ritual.     

Project Jump: Young People's Perspectives on a Sexual Health Drama Project for Hard to Reach Young People

This article explores the qualitative process findings from an evaluation of Project Jump — a sexual health drama project for hard to reach young people. Project Jump aimed to enable young people to consider their sexual behaviour and its impact and consequence on other people and themselves. The research aimed to capture the experiences and perceptions of young people's involvement in the project, particularly in relation to the use of drama as a medium for learning. Findings from young people demonstrate that drama can offer an important alternative to traditional health promotion in that young people articulated positive aspects of their involvement. These included enthusiastic participation, empowerment and sexual health skills acquisition. In addition, critical areas for consideration for policy‐makers and practitioners in employing a drama‐based approach particularly in relation to effective identification, engagement and ongoing follow‐up activity with vulnerable groups are highlighted. © 2006 University of the West of England. Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau.     

International migrations and care provisions for elderly people left behind. The cases of the Republic of Moldova and Romania

International migrations are posing numerous challenges to care systems in both sending and receiving countries. Based on a multi-method research conducted between 2011 and 2013, this article looks at how the care provisions for elderly people are rearranged in two Eastern European countries affected by the care drain phenomenon (the Republic of Moldova and Romania). The author charts and compares how transnational families, but also the other facets of the care diamond, such as the public sector, the market and the not-for-profit sector, provide care to elderly people left to cope at home alone because their close relatives have migrated. The main findings of the article are that transnational families are the principal welfare provider for elderly people left behind, while there is a serious delay in the adoption of specific policies for the elderly.     

The Micro Potential for Social Change: Emotion, Consciousness, and Social Movement Formation

Can one explain both the resilience of the status quo and the possibility for resistance from a subordinate position? This paper aims to resolve these seemingly incompatible perspectives. By extending Randall Collins's interaction ritual theory, and synthesizing it with Norbert Wiley's model of the self, this paper suggests how the emotional dynamics between people and within the self can explain social inertia as well as the possibility for resistance and change. Diverging from literature on the sociology of emotions that has been concerned with individual emotional processes, this paper considers the collective level in order to explore how movement action is motivated. The emotional dynamics of subordinate positioning that limit women's options in face-to-face interactions are examined, as are the social processes of developing feminist consciousness and a willingness to participate in resistance work. Pointing toward empirical applications, I conclude by suggesting conditions where resistance is likely.     

Intact or in tatters? Family care of older women and men in urban Mexico

This article asks how family relationships affect the living conditions of low-income elderly people in urban Mexico. The existence of so many elderly women living alone in the country is at odds with cultural beliefs portraying mothers as the archetypal recipients of family charity. It is evident that there is little state provision of accommodation for the elderly, forcing older people to rely on their families for care. Living with family is usually thought to be a better option for older people. Yet many poorer families cannot afford to provide care, and some are not willing to do so. In addition, families treat elderly men and women differently, with significant consequences for housing conditions and well-being of men and women in later life.     

Managing everyday (in)securities: Normative values,emotional security and symbolic recognition in the lives of Russian rural elders

Qualitative studies of ageing have called for attention to be paid to the diverse experiences of older people and to their agency in negotiating opportunities and constraints. A lack of research into the experiences and subjectivities of rural elders has been noted. Yet, the majority of research concerning elderly people in contemporary Russia continues to treat old age as a category and focus on particular practical and material forms of assistance available to pensioners. This article, aims to contribute to the small but growing body of ethnographic studies which shed light on the lives of elderly people in Russia as subjects in their own right. Based on ethnographic fieldwork from rural Siberia, the article explores the ways in which elderly people experience and interpret day-to-day (in)securities, forms of care and social support. In doing so the article explores three key questions: Firstly, how do lived realities, both past and present, and normative values of rural life intersect in elderly people's experiences of (in)security in post-socialist contexts?; Secondly, what forms of assistance do older people view as legitimate in their everyday lives? In particular, how are emotional exchanges and interpersonal connections interpreted and what securities do they bring?; Thirdly, what is the significance of symbolic support and recognition for elderly people and how do these draw on practices and frameworks from the socialist past?     

The invisible minority: under-representation of people with disabilities in prime-time TV dramas in Japan

This study analysed the depiction of people with disabilities in Japanese TV dramas. Using preview issues of TV Guide, we content-analysed serial dramas and drama series aired during prime time on five commercial broadcasting networks between January 1993 and December 2002. The results showed that only 1.7 per cent of the characters examined were disabled, indicating that disabled persons were under-represented on TV. The study also found that most of the disabled persons depicted were young; there were almost no elderly people with disabilities. Analysis also revealed that Japanese TV dramas focused on certain disabilities. The implications of these findings are also discussed from the perspective of cultivation theory and the drench hypothesis.     

STRATEGIC RITUALIZATION AND ETHNICITY: ATYPOLOGY AND ANALYSIS OF RITUAL ENACTMENTS IN AN ITALIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

This investigation utilizes a theoretical framework that focuses on ritual enactments to examine the ways members of an Italian American community in southeastern Oklahoma use social rituals to achieve different outcomes. Several methodological strategies (especially interviews and historical analysis) are utilized to document how individuals within this ethnic community have, for over the last century, employed numerous rituals to, among other things, express their ethnicity, create community ties, enhance personal gain, and survive. Building upon the theory of structural ritualization, the concept of strategic ritualization is employed and expanded upon to examine this issue. A typology of three types of strategic ritualization is presented and defined: ritual legitimators, ritual entrepreneurs, and ritual sponsors. This conceptualization represents the first elaboration of structural ritualization theory addressing this topic. In focusing on this little studied ethnic community, the importance of ritualized practices and their strategicuse throughout society are emphasized. The relation of this research to broader concerns dealing with the social constructionist approach to ethnicity and the intersection of decision-making, culture, and structure are briefly highlighted and directions for future theory development and research are indicated.     

Older people's experiences of community life: patterns of neighbouring in three urban areas

This paper examines changes to the community life of older people living in three urban areas of England: Bethnal Green, Wolverhampton and Woodford. All three were the subject of classic community studies in the 1940s and 1950s, these providing rich material about the lives of groups such as elderly people. Using this earlier research as a baseline, the paper presents data on how the experience of living in urban neighbourhoods has changed for older people in the intervening years. The article reviews the relationship between elderly people and their neighbours, drawing on quantitative as well as qualitative data. In conclusion, the paper identifies a number of general arguments pointing to the value of a community and locality perspective for understanding the impact of social changes on later life.     

Grandparenting and age identity

This study examines multiple dimensions of age identity, including how old people feel, how old people want to be, how old people hope to live to, and how old is old. We pay particular attention to the influence of the grandparent role and the timing of the transition to grandparenthood. We use data from a Midwestern sample of 666 elderly Americans included in the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP). The analysis suggests that older people who enjoy being grandparents feel younger, believe that people become old at older ages, and hope to live longer than those who do not enjoy grandparenting. In addition, those who became grandparents at younger ages feel older than those who enter this role “on time.” While becoming a grandparent at a young age may in a sense accelerate aging, positive interaction with grandchildren can lead to a younger age identity.     

The elderly in rural environments

This paper provides a critical examination of the research available on the rural elderly in America. A detailed review of the many studies and topical areas investigated by rural gerontologists is not attempted. Rather, several ‘salient aspects’ of rurality (occupational, ecological and sociocultural) are identified as a basis for describing and explaining the status and experiences of older people in rural areas. The meaning of these dimensions as they relate to rural environments and the elderly is explored through both a general discussion and an application to two substantive issues — health status and life satisfaction. This examination illustrates the sizeable gaps that exist in what we currently know about the rural elderly and the problems/drawbacks of approaches traditionally used to study this topic. The paper concludes with a call for a more unified and conceptually based approach to future rural elderly research, that focuses on how and why the ‘salient aspects’ of rurality produce different circumstances and experiences for the elderly, and that emphasizes rural variation, not just ‘rural vs urban’ comparisons.     

The effect of disability on the net worth of elderly people

As demographic shifts make the Social Security program financially vulnerable, the responsibility for income security in old age will shift from the government to elderly people. In this changing environment, the accumulation of wealth will be a crucial issue because wealth holders can draw income from assets, which can supplement retirement income. Thus, wealth (or net worth) is a proximate indicator of economic well-being of the elderly. This article presents the findings of a study of the net worth of elderly people with disabilities. The major findings were that a smaller proportion of elderly people with disabilities has assets of any type compared with elderly people with no disability; the dollar value of each type of asset is smaller among elderly people with disabilities than among elderly people with no disability; and the net worth of people with disabilities is smaller than that of elderly people with no disability even after other variables were controlled.     

Drama for Empowerment: the role of Drama in Education with special reference to work in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe

This article deals with the strengths and pitfalls of Drama in Education. I describe two projects that have focused on the empowerment of young people in a civil society and the promotion of intercultural understanding between the countries of Western and Central and Eastern Europe: “Seeding a Network” and “Branching Out”. It is argued that drama is the most inclusive and social of all art forms. Drama in education provides young people with a safe context in which they can tackle major issues, and allows teachers and students alike to radically re‐examine their social and personal relationships. The dangers associated with drama are also discussed.     

Chapter 2. Housing and Household Movement in Later Life

ABSTRACT

In most developed countries housing policies are focusing on enabling elderly and very elderly people to remain in their own homes. Attention is also turning to people in the Third Age to see how their housing needs to be different from earlier stages of their lives but also as a preparation for old age. This paper presents evidence from the United Kingdom (UK) about choices and policies at different stages of middle and old age and on the developing range of housing options to meet these needs.     

Ritual slaughter and animal welfare in interwar Poland

This articles examines the ritual slaughter debates in the Polish Second Republic (1918 to 1939) from the perspective of the organized animal welfare movement, and argues that animal welfarists both supplied and reinforced antisemitic arguments for banning ritual slaughter; Poland partially banned the Jewish rite in 1936. Animal protectionists in Poland subscribed to the view that the level of civilization reached by a people was best measured by their attitudes towards animals, the most defenseless of living creatures; compassion and humanitarianism, they believed, were defining feature of modern civility. Animal protectionists understood ritual slaughter to be unusually cruel, and as such they saw it as violating the imperatives of the modern and rational era. Given that Jews were the ones who practiced ritual slaughter, they in turn were described as a cruel anachronism that jeopardized animal protectionists' goal of establishing Poland's place in a civilized Europe.