Suchergebnisse

This paper analyzes the role of print media in framing incidences of sexual harassment in public transport; particularly in the context of Bangladesh, where gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the public sphere. This article uses Douglas' cultural theory to reflect on media practices and its institutional power to reframe the social problem through risk and blame attribution. We conducted a discourse analysis of 71 news articles extracted from four of the widely circulated and influential newspapers of Bangladesh. Our findings reveal that the hegemonic discourse of gender-based violence in public transport is systemic and/or primarily reliant on legal recourse. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as symptomatic of broader gender inequality is less frequent. Moreover, these media platforms belong to an assemblage of patriarchal social-power holders that collaborate with established law and order to facilitate a blame game, thereby relieving the same stakeholders of ownership and accountability. Given the power of news media in constructing meta-narratives of safety (and nudging policymakers), journalists must tread responsibly on issues of blame, women's safety, and their rights to the city.

This paper, based on a qualitative study, explores the home-making activities of older adults living in a non-profit, welfare-based institutional care home in Kerala, India. We employed in-depth interviews and observation to obtain rich data on various home-making practices of older adults. Contrary to the stigmatization in India of care homes as places of abandonment and desertion, this study illustrates: (1) the important role of non-profit care homes in protecting neglected older adults especially in non-western contexts; and (2) the performative roles of older adults who utilize, modify, and recreate home in formal care spaces. Our empirical results show that daily rhythmic activities, gender roles, kinning, and cultural practices in a formal care setting contribute to establishing new familial ties and continuity in life as well as a sense of insideness in a formal care home. This paper contributes to the emerging dialogue on the role of rhythm, kinning, and culture in home-making practices in formal care spaces in a non-western context.

Negotiating public spaces to reach their destinations is an everyday struggle for women in India. Indian cities have witnessed a considerable increase in crimes against women, compelling women to avoid or minimize their use of public spaces. This study aims to understand how people and their actions in public spaces shape perceptions of safety amongst women, and how women negotiate public spaces to avoid such incidents of harassment. This study comprising of focus group discussions and in-depth interviews was carried out in Kolkata, India. Visual surveys were conducted to spatially contextualize the narratives from the participants. The data were thereafter transcribed, coded, and analyzed. The study finds that the following elements negatively impact women's perceptions of safety: 'male gaze'; negative personality traits, appearances, and behavior of men; presence of middle-aged men and strangers; cultural differences; and places that reported repeated occurrences of harassment. Lively spaces and busy roads on the other hand where daily commuters, hawkers, shopkeepers are engaged in purposeful activities are perceived as safe by women. Women make constant efforts to negotiate unsafe conditions in public spaces through avoidance, protection, and prevention. Most women tend to internalize the process of negotiation than to reclaim their rights to public spaces. Younger women, however, tend to step forward and confront their harassers. The findings of this study can help planners and policy makers co-create safer public spaces for women and facilitate their right to the city.