Unworthy of Grief: Enduring Urban Violence in Northeast Brazil

Pervasive urban violence has taken its toll on daily life in the northern part of Recife. Taking an ethnographic approach, and tracing recent developments of violent crime and homicide in Recife, this article explores the implications of the normalisation of violence. By thinking through how residents tried to protect themselves and endure the violence in practical and moral terms, the article seeks to elucidate why some members of the community – victims of violent crime and their mothers – were not deemed worthy of grief.     

谣言、流言和传说——人类意义生产的三种非常信息传播形态

人是符号的动物。人类创造符号在于发现、生产和表达意义。在人类的表意系统中,反事实性的社会话语体裁占有相当重要的份量。从传播学的角度讲,反事实、非科学的社会话语主要是由三种非常规的信息传播形态——谣言、流言和传说——构造而成。三种信息传播形态的共性即非常性在于其传播脉络超脱于经验事实的约束而又很可能有用且可信。与此同时,三种非常的信息传播形态各有其独特的传播情境、功能和内容。     

Queen Sofia of Spain as the embodiment of traditionalist womanhood. Analysis of the gossip press coverage on the Queen from 2011 to 2014

The article analyses framing of Queen Sofia by the Spanish gossip press as an embodiment of the traditionalist model of womanhood existing in Spain. The paper presents results from the content analysis of extensive press coverage on the Consort (173 articles published between May 2011 and May 2014) from the leading gossip magazine ¡Hola! Through the use of gender stereotypes’ categorization, it displays a coherence between the content of the Queen’s discourse in the magazine and the conservative vision of womanhood developed within the Spanish patriarchal model. Final results show that despite a superficial modernization of the Queen’s image obtained thanks to the fact of focusing the discourse on her public activity, ¡Hola! frame on Queen Sofia corresponds to the portrayal of the ideal of traditionalist Spanish woman. She is thus presented in roles of a mother, grandmother and wife rather than an independent and professionally accomplished woman. Moreover, she is described as a strongly emotional woman, worshipping her family, whose public actions are motivated more by a feeling of obligation toward her family and the country than by a will of having a professional career.     

Gossip in a Maximum Security Female Prison: An Exploratory Study

This research examines 2 issues that have been overlooked by previous research on the subculture of female inmates: the social functions of gossip in a maximum security female prison and the inmates’ motivations and attitudes toward gossip and gossipers. The inmates of Israel's female prison perceive gossip as a negative phenomenon. Although they claim that gossip is frequent and central in their prison lives, most deny gossiping themselves. The inmates give several explanations for gossip. They see gossip as an inherent part of “female nature” and claim that gossip is used to increase one's social or material status. They also argue that gossip is an act of envy or an expression of useless evilness. Nonetheless, this study proposes that the inmates use gossip to relieve various pains of imprisonments and that despite the inmates’ negative attitudes, gossip may serve other beneficial social purposes of which the inmates are unaware. Although complex and occasionally contradictory, the findings of this study emphasize the multiple positive and negative functions that gossip has in the prison lives of female inmates.