Análisis de contenido

Food and water shortages are two of the greatest challenges facing humans in the coming century. While our theoretical understanding of how humans become vulnerable to and cope with hunger is relatively well developed, anthropological research on parallel problems in the water domain is limited. By carefully considering well-established propositions derived from the food literature against what is known about water, our goal in this essay is to advance identifying, theorizing, and testing a broader anthropology of resource insecurity. Our analysis focuses on (1) the causes of resource insecurity at the community level, (2) “coping” responses to resource insecurity at the household level, and (3) the effect of insecurity on emotional well-being and mental health at the individual level. Based on our findings, we argue that human experiences of food and water insecurity are sufficiently similar to facilitate a broader theory of resource insecurity, including in how households and individuals cope. There are...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677311

Food, Water, and Scarcity Toward a Broader Anthropology of Resource Insecurity

Within Internet forums, members of certain (online) communities discuss matters of concern to the respective groups, with comparatively few social restraints. For radical, extremist, and other ideologically “sensitive” groups and organizations in particular, Internet forums are a very efficient and widely used tool to connect members, inform others about the group’s agenda, and attract new members. Whereas members of such groups may be reluctant to express their opinions in interviews or surveys, we argue that Internet forums can yield an abundance of useful “natural” discursive data for social scientific research. Based on two exemplary studies, we present a practical guide for the analysis of such data, including data-sampling strategies, the refinement of the data for computer-assisted qualitative and quantitative analysis, and strategies for in-depth analysis. The first study is an in-depth analysis of discourses within a German neo-Nazi discussion board. In the second, nine online forums for young Ge...

Analyzing Internet Forums

This study is one of the first to examine the links connecting water insecurity, gender, and emotional distress. The article presents quantitative and qualitative analyses of interview data collected from randomly selected pairs of male and female household heads (n =48) living under the same household-level conditions of water insecurity. The results provide partial confirmation of past findings that women are more likely than men to be burdened with everyday water responsibilities. However, there were no significant differences between men's and women's experiences in household water emergencies (i.e., water shortages and last-ditch attempts to buy water) and reports on some measures of emotional distress (i.e., worry, annoyance, and anger with family members). The results suggest that intrahousehold gender disparities may be mitigated in times of severe water scarcity. The discussion raises questions about the comparability of men's and women's expressions of emotional distress.

Intrahousehold Disparities in Women and Men's Experiences of Water Insecurity and Emotional Distress in Urban Bolivia

We often pigeonhole our surroundings into dualistic categories, e.g., nature/culture. Perhaps evolutionary forces favoured dichotomous brains, or dualistic categories may be only social constructs. These lines of thought led to my research question(s): Do juxtaposed mechanisms of dichotomous black-and-white (essentialist) cognitive patterns exist; and, if so, how do such mechanisms affect cultural and scientific concepts of reality? My thesis focusses on four classic modes of othering (Human–Animal, Human–Machine, Male–Female, Heterosexual–Homosexual) oft-cited in biological anthropological studies, aiming to reconstruct the developmental forces that can bring about, stabilise or modify such binaries. My thesis therefore also is situated in discourses of sociology, psychology, animal studies, AI theory and gender/sexuality studies. I explored how rigid – respectively, fluid – the above exemplary alterities were by gathering data on the perceptions of their boundaries as reflected in electronic archives covering 16 years of newspaper reporting in the UK (1995–2010) and then subjecting this data to both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, measuring the fluctuation of ambiguity tolerance. My results strongly indicate similar temporal patterns of ambiguity tolerance across three out of four dichotomies – including a distinct “millennial effect” of intolerance – and a remarkably stable Male–Female dichotomy. This suggests firstly that received understandings of concrete descriptions in evolutionary theory such as “human”, “animal”, “species”, “tool (machine)”, “homosexual” and “heterosexual” may function as cultural concepts considered to be natural kinds, but also are temporally malleable in both popular and academic discourse; and, secondly, that we may have natal (arguably plastic) gender schemata. I show quantitatively and qualitatively that essentialist thinking – as expressed by ambiguity (in)tolerance in socially empowered individuals – functions as an infrahumanisation mechanism to protect one’s perceived ingroup, be that humans, males or heterosexuals. I argue instead for an ultrahumanisation that may allow for less anthropocentrism, less androcentrism and less heterocentrism.

The evolving binary: perspectives on infra- and ultrahumanisation

http://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/peni/v9n2/v9n2a2.pdf

Vulnerabilidad y representación social de género en mujeres de una comunidad migrante

Representación social y género: una relación de sentido común

El objetivo de este trabajo fue aproximarse a la produccion discursiva alrededor del VIH/sida en personas que viven y trabajan en dos centros penitenciarios de la Ciudad de Mexico para conocer el contenido de su representacion social Se entrevisto a internos e internas no portadores y seropositivos, trabajadores tecnicos y autoridades que dirigen los centros, realizandose un analisis tematico del contenido Aparecieron tres categorias: creencias, disposicion afectiva y  practicas dentro del centro penitenciario La representacion social se ancla al consumo de drogas por parte de los internos que viven con VIH/sida, diferenciandose entre si es adicto o no, mas que al hecho de ser o no seropositivos, dando sentido a las acciones de apoyo y solidaridad para los internos no adictos y rechazo y discriminacion de los adictos

/pdf/representacion-social-del-vih-sida-en-personas-que-viven-y-2tprxobgi3.pdf

Representación social del VIH/sida en personas que viven y trabajan en dos centros penitenciarios mexicanos

At 30 years of the onset of the first case of Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome in Mexico, the disease has changed during these decades, including its current status as a chronic illness and the spread of it in non-risk groups such as women. From the theory of social representations this disease has been a privileged object of study, but the experience of living with the disease and the condition of gender in the construction of such representations have been addressed to a lesser extent. The aim of this research was to determine the social representation women living with HIV has developed on their health conditions, placing change and permanence, from a diagnosis. There were carried out 12 in-depth interviews with participants from two primary care centers, and it was conduced a categorical content analysis using N Vivo software. The results were classified in 12categories which were grouped into three meta categories 2 types of representational content in the sample: hegemonic (death, illicit sexuality) and emancipated (chronicity).The findings revealed the prevalence of traditional norms and values about gender and sexuality rooted in social thinking despite the scientific advances in the field of health. Furthermore, it was found a negotiation of meaning based on experience. Further research is recommended to carry out comparisons between groups of women with HIV in order to be able to establish more precise differences in social position and representational content, in order to develop effective and relevant in both primary prevention and positive strategies

/pdf/cambios-y-permanencias-en-la-representacion-social-del-vih-2w3z1i9x3q.pdf

Cambios y permanencias en la representación social del VIH en un grupo de mujeres portadoras

This feminist narrative research addresses the tension between keeping or breaking silence in 14 women, from Mexico City and other Mexican entities, who interrupted their pregnancies in the first trimester. The reasons for remaining silent related to the social sanction on abortion or on sexual activity prior to marriage; to possible effects on their life projects and to the aim of protecting their decisions; the motivations to talk about this experience, were linked to the need to obtain safe services and to have emotional support. In some cases, breaking the silence had a political and sorority purpose, aimed at reducing stigma and supporting other women. In some cases, the breaking of the vicious circle between silence, stigma and the belief that it is a rare experience was observed, which helps to reduce the social penalization of abortion.

/pdf/guardar-romper-el-silencio-sobre-la-interrupcion-voluntaria-3q8tqbascw.pdf

Fátima Flores Palacios

Papers

Vulnerabilidad y representación social de género en mujeres de una comunidad migrante

Representación social y género: una relación de sentido común

Representación social del VIH/sida en personas que viven y trabajan en dos centros penitenciarios mexicanos

Cambios y permanencias en la representación social del VIH en un grupo de mujeres portadoras

Guardar/romper el silencio sobre la interrupción voluntaria del embarazo: narrativas de mujeres mexicanas