The Breasts of Virgins: Sexual Reputation and Young Women’s Bodies in Medieval Culture and Society

Many medical texts of the European Middle Ages included advice to young women on breast reduction. These recipes and techniques have not often been discussed by medieval historians, whose interest in meanings of women’s breasts has concentrated mostly on religious or nutritive associations. Highlighting late medieval English texts and culture, this article summarises medical advice on repressing breast growth, notes some ancient and earlier medieval precedents and argues the recipes responded not only to aesthetic preferences but also to beliefs that bust size and texture signified sexual experience. Arguing that breasts were legible flesh, in which an observer could read a young woman’s honour, it contends that breast suppression not only met idealised beauty standards but also protected sexual reputations.     

Fat Acceptance TV?: Rethinking Reality Television With TLC’s Big Sexy and the Carnivalesque

Big Sexy (2011), a television mini-series on TLC, tells the story of five “larger than life” Manhattan women working in the fashion industry. In comparison to dozens of reality television programs that emphasize weight-loss, Big Sexy critiques the idea that all fat individuals need to lose weight, or should even want to lose weight in the first place. This resistant message of fat acceptance exists in a carnivalesque televisual space, creating a site for the interplay of competing, yet increasingly co-present discourses of the body despite the dominance of “obesity epidemic” rhetoric. Ultimately, Big Sexy necessitates a different theoretical lens than the one often applied to reality television, namely neoliberalism in relation to governmentality, shame, and self-discipline, in order to make sense of its uniqueness within this continually expanding genre.     

The effect of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction among immigrants: Does host national identity matter?

Overqualification is a form of person-job misfit that is common among those who reside in a foreign country. It is associated with poor work-related well-being and can inhibit full adjustment to the host society. The goal of our study is to examine the impact of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction among immigrants. Furthermore, we investigated immigrants’ host national identity as a moderator of the impact of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction. We analysed longitudinal online survey data from 124 Italian and Spanish immigrants who migrated to Germany between 2000 and 2014. Regression analyses show that perceived overqualification is negatively associated with job satisfaction six months later. Furthermore, host national identity moderates the association between perceived overqualification and job satisfaction: low overqualification is beneficial for job satisfaction whereas high overqualification is a threat for job satisfaction, especially for immigrants who identify strongly with the host society. We do not find corresponding direct and moderating effects on career satisfaction. We conclude that indicators of acculturation, such as host national identity, are worth considering in order to understand the impact of person-job misfit on work-related well-being among immigrants.     

Welcome Home: Examining Power and Representation in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Guide for New Immigrants

This essay analyzes how the book, Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants, promotes discourses of governmental safety and sovereignty in favor of shaping new immigrant arrivals into normative United States citizens. The paper examines the guide’s visual and textual inclusions and exclusions in order to hone in on the methods used to create a sense of ignorance in the reader, the techniques through which the United States government represents itself as the ultimate helpmate, and the efforts to condone immigrant normativity by describing repeatedly what “most people” in the United States want, have, or do. Finally, the paper discusses the broader implications of government sanctioned authoritative messages directed toward newly arriving immigrants in the United States.     

Does the term matter? The labeling effect on the perception of ethnic minorities: The case of The Romani in Serbia

Empirical research on the impact of linguistic labels on social perceptions is scarce, especially in the context of ethnic groups. Across three studies (N = 1185), we investigated the impact of labels on perceptions of the Romani ethnic group by non-Romani participants in Serbia. In Study 1 (N = 244), we found some evidence that the Romani elicit more positive perceptions (more sociable and competent) when labeled with the neutral (vs. derogatory) term. In two follow-up studies, we focused on investigating potential mechanisms. In Study 2, we tested whether positive perceptions emerged via perceived higher status, while in Study 3 we focused on the motivation to respond without prejudice and sensitivity to hate speech. Study 2 (N = 467) replicated the labeling effect showing that Romani were perceived more positively (more sociable and moral) when labeled with the neutral term. However, we found no support for perceived group status as a mechanism. Study 3 (N = 474) did not corroborate the labeling effect but found the higher external motivation to respond without prejudice (potential mechanism). Meta-analytic effects showed that Romani were perceived as more moral, sociable, and competent when the neutral term was used. These effects were to some extent moderated by ideology as they existed only for right-wing individuals. We conclude that the effect is much smaller than the effects in previous comparable studies.     

Angels With Dirty Faces: Who Invited Slumdog Millionaire and The Visitor?

Two recent movies, The Visitor and Slumdog Millionaire, exemplify very different ways of dealing with the pains of inequality in modern life. Popular culture celebrates the successes of meritorious individuals from backgrounds of victimization and oppression, but it struggles to find positive themes when social arrangements continue to victimize other meritorious individuals. We may appear to transcend our past inequalities, but we still have present inequalities to struggle against. Similarities to recent political events, the unsettled issues of immigration, the fear of Muslims, and the election of a multiracial President are noted.     

The effects of positive affectivity on expatriate creativity and perceived performance: What is the role of perceived cultural novelty?

This study set out to investigate the effects of positive affectivity (PA) on expatriate creativity and perceived performance in the host country workplace. Most importantly, the study examined the moderating role of perceived cultural novelty in the relationship between PA and creativity and its consequences for the indirect association between PA and perceived performance as mediated via creativity. Data from 297 expatriates in Denmark were collected and hypotheses were tested using regression-based analyses. Consistent with predictions, findings showed a positive relationship between PA and creativity. In addition, PA was positively associated with perceived performance. Results of mediation analysis indicated that creativity mediated the effects of PA on perceived performance. While a moderating effect of perceived cultural novelty in the relation between PA and creativity was found, this moderation was in the opposite direction of the postulated hypothesis, i.e. the positive association between PA and creativity was strongly attenuated at high levels of perceived cultural novelty. Subsequent moderated mediation analysis showed that the identified mediation ceased to exist at high levels of perceived cultural novelty.     

The “scouse wedding” and other myths: reflections on the evolution of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration

This paper considers the development of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration, based on an analysis of the competition to become the UK's first City of Culture (UKCC) for 2013. The paper outlines New Labour's developing approach to culture-led regeneration, placing the UKCC in the context of the use of culture for various local development policies, particularly city branding and urban regeneration (Evans & Shaw, 2004; McGuigan, 2005). Within this context, the paper considers how Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2008 has been narrated by New Labour and the manner in which this narrative has influenced the development of the UKCC programme (Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS], 2009; Garcia, Melville & Cox, 2010). The paper demonstrates how this narrative overlooks the ultimate specificity of Liverpool's success (Liverpool Culture Company, 2009; Garcia et al., 2010), which suggests a unique combination of political circumstance, cultural leadership and public and private investment are at the root of the perceived success of Liverpool's ECoC 2008, rather than an exportable, replicable policy (O'Brien & Miles, 2010) described by the policy literature, and substantiated by the competition to select the UKCC 2013 (DCMS, 2009). The paper's conclusion problematises the prospect of another city repeating the Liverpool experience. The “Liverpool model” of culture-led regeneration is shown as one which limits prospective cultural policies to a narrow vision of the possible, a vision which is unlikely to be sustainable in the foreseeable future.     

The road to an international career: The “Erasmus effect” on resilience,intercultural interactions and cultural intelligence

This study is part of a framework that views study abroad programs as an opportunity for experiential and transformative learning. Using a mixed-methods approach with a quantitative multi-wave study, this research examined the relationship between cultural intelligence and the internationalism career anchor – the individual predisposition and desire for international mobility for work. This study considers the role of resilience and intercultural interactions as predictors of cultural intelligence. In addition, we examined the transformative learning process by relating the development of cultural intelligence to specific critical incidents or critical experiences in intercultural interactions that can be considered triggers of the learning process. A sample of 170 outgoing Italian Erasmus students completed a self-report questionnaire prior to departure and another upon return home. The study also included a control group (n = 52) consisting of students from the same university who had not participated in the Erasmus program. The results revealed the positive value of the Erasmus experience, particularly in terms of strengthening the internationalism career anchor, cognitive cultural intelligence and resilience. The results also showed that students’ pre-departure resilience and intercultural interactions with other international students from different countries can explain higher levels of cultural intelligence and the desire to work abroad or take on global work assignments. No significant change across time was found for the same variables in the control group. In addition, the critical experiences reported by students highlighted a strong cognitive and motivational component associated with the Erasmus program. Some practical implications for higher education are discussed.     

“Thank You for Calling:” Accents and Authenticity on NBC’s Outsourced

India’s turbulent and dynamic relationship with the English language stems from its colonial past. This project integrates linguistic hegemony, mimicry, and brown voice to examine discourses surrounding the creation and reception of fake Indian accents on the short-lived NBC series Outsourced. The first primetime sitcom to showcase a primarily South Asian cast, Outsourced featured British and American actors of Indian descent using fake Indian accents to portray call center workers. Critical Discourse Analysis reveals the influence of linguistic hegemony to delegitimize Indian English and thereby hinder linguistic cosmopolitanism.     

Which intercultural competences for teachers,educators, and social workers? A literature review

Europe seems to be going through a historical period characterized by the fear of otherness, conceived as an attack on the positive values of liberal society. This fear manifests itself, according to several researchers, through neo-assimilationist tendencies in public policies in many European nations: an example of this trend can be considered the reintroduction of the language and knowledge requirements of the country for new immigrants as a prerequisite for obtaining permanent residence and citizenship.At the same time, in both academic and public debates, the tendency is spreading to affirm that it is necessary to overcome the multicultural approach in favour of a new paradigm capable of dealing with the complexities typical of the superdiversity that characterizes European nations: the interculturalism. This trend is in contrast to the thinking of several researchers who believe that the theoretical principles and the practical aims, which are at the basis of multiculturalism and interculturalism are complementary to each other. Multiculturalism tends to focus more on the level of public discourse and political debate while interculturalism is aimed more at more meso and micro-level. It is believed that teachers, social workers and educators play a fundamental role in making the members of the majority of a State more open to comparison and exchange with subjects coming from other historical and geographical contexts. The purpose of this review is to identify the intercultural competencies that these professionals should have to counter the fear and closure towards diversity, which is constantly increasing in European societies.     

The Golden Age of the Arts? Taking Part Survey Findings on Older People and the Arts

The UK has an ageing population, and this trend is likely to continue. This article uses data from a new survey called ‘Taking Part’ to analyse patterns of arts engagement among older people (defined as those aged 55 and over) and the reasons for and barriers to older people engaging with the arts. While levels of engagement generally decline among older groups, those aged 55–74 make up a substantial part of the audience for a number of arts events including classical music, opera and craft exhibitions. Indeed, the analysis shows that the 55–64 age cohort is among the most actively involved with the arts. Adults in older age groups also engage with the arts, participating in a range of activities including crafts, reading and watching arts programmes on TV. When analysed further, socio-demographic factors including gender, disability status and socio-economic status emerge as important predictors of arts engagement among older people. Data on motivations and attitudes show that older people engage in the arts for enjoyment, relaxation, to see a specific performer or event and for a sense of a social occasion. In terms of barriers to arts engagement, time is less of an issue for older people, while the impact of poor health (particularly among people with a limiting disability) and the lack of social networks and transport is intensified among older age groups. The article closes with a consideration of the implications for arts engagement among older people of a number of projected future trends, including continuing population ageing and increasing average number of years spent in poor health, increasing Internet use, the narrowing of gender inequalities in life expectancy, the growth in ethnic minority representation among older people and pension reform.     

The Impact of External Pressures on an Ethnic Community: The Case of Montréal's Quartier Chinois and Muslim-French Immigrants

This article examines how a community responds to external pressures to adapt culturally to a dominant cultural/political paradigm. Interviews were conducted in Montreal, Canada in 2003 and in France in 2005. In Montreal interviews were conducted among Chinese shopkeepers residing in Montreal's Chinatown, or Quartier Chinois. In France interviews were conducted with Muslims in various ummahs, or Muslim communities in France. The results of the interviews demonstrate that when a minority group is pressured to linguistically, politically, culturally, religiously, and economically adapt to a dominant paradigm that the minority community will respond by closing itself from the dominant culture.     

A Review of “African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900–1960”

The Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013 created a new kind of discomfort in the United States about “self-radicalized” terrorists, particularly related to Muslim immigrants. The two suspected bombers, brothers with Chechen backgrounds, had attended U.S. public schools. News media portrayed the brothers as “immigrants” and often showed them as having a struggle between their Chechen and U.S. identities. This article proposes that educators consider reframing the talk and discourses about immigrants and immigration toward a more complex understanding of transnationalism. The author demonstrates her work as a former English language learner teacher and her current research in the area of transnationalism to argue for educators to teach meaningfully about this concept. The goal, the author argues, is to help create a deeper understanding of newer arrivals to the United States so that the more newly arrived have greater choices about who they become and the identities they perform.