”Mi lascia in pace, per favore”: la città di Roma

Uno dei posti dove mi è toccata vivere è Roma. Quella città vecchia e bellisima. A molti piace, a me invece... Di solito la chiamo una città per turisti e politici, e dico che per il resto della gente la cosa è più complicata.

How Do You Tell the Ugly Stories?

Most of us experience a lot of things, simply being alive. Good things, bad things, meh things. We tell each other about them, or we don't, depending on whether we find it worth telling about. But sometimes, just sometimes, something really, really ugly happens. Of the sort where you may have to deal with it for the rest of your life. You might not want to tell people, but sometimes they need to know, for whichever reason is applicable. That is not something that anybody can really do anything about, except maybe by fundamentally changing how people treat each other, but I find myself wondering – when to tell? And how?

I Studied This for Five Years. You Have an Opinion

One of my 'favourite' pastimes (as in, not) is when I find myself discussing something I know a lot about with a person who knows … less much about it. Being an anthropologist, 'something I know a lot about' will usually be along the lines of social and cultural determination, how do we define power, what are human rights really. That sort of thing. Gender is one of my favourite topics (for real), and so I spend a lot of time reading about it, thinking about it, researching, how do we understand female sexuality, how do we socially define women? I may not be the most expert in the whole wide world, but I dare say I do know my stuff.

Så slap dog af, det var jo bare for sjov!

Jeg er tilbage på bloggen! Juhu! Og starter hårdt ud efter pausen (som skyldtes en arbejdsplads hvor ”vi har ytringsfrihed, men...”) med en historie, jeg hørte sidste år i toget. Der er en pointe med den, så stick with me.

En gruppe unge damer skulle på Skanderborg-festival, og sludrede løs på vejen dertil, så hele togvognen kunne overhøre, hvordan de gav hinanden tips og advarsler. Særligt det sidste: det nye fede blandt ungdommen nu til dags er åbenbart, at når man er stærkt beruset på en festival, og de unge mænd spiller øl-bowling, og der går en kvinde forbi, de synes ser pæn ud, må en af dem råbe ”tiger-mis!”, og derefter løbe efter hende, og vælte hende omkuld lige der midt i det hele, hvad enten hun synes det er sjovt eller ej. Så bare lige så I ved det, piger, hvis I ser nogen, der spiller øl-bowling, så gå langt udenom!

Me, Myself, and My Gross and Hairy Legs

So, let's get to the good old debate on whether it is fair to expect women to shave their legs. Nay – whether it is actually expected of women, or they just all (or approx. 99% of them) do it because they feel like it and no societal pressure whatsoever involved.

The entire depilation debacle comes up once in a while, but today I'll only focus on the leg part.

Walking Down the Street In Her 6 Inch Heels. Symbolic Femininity

You can vividly imagine it, you probably see it every day. Young and less young ladies walking along the streets, in high high high heels, with varying degrees of agility, looking more or less like ducks (sorry, but really). Most of the time, people reach their destination without incident, just once in a while someone smacks their face into the sidewalk and all look embarrassed and the lady gets to her feet and hurries on her way hoping nobody will remember her face. Because for some reason, this is almost invariably done by individuals of the female species. But what's the deal? Why would anybody do the duckwalk and willingly accept the increased risk of knocking out a couple of front teeth for no apparent reason?

Hvad ønsker vi for vores børn?

Konfirmationssæsonen er sat ind, og traditionen tro mødte vi alle sammen op for at fejre den unge konfirmand (i dette tilfælde af hankøn). Der var mad, og der var sang, og der var taler, og alt var fryd og gammen. Men så var der en af talerne. Et ældre familiemedlem holdt en tale, som afsluttedes med at ønske det unge menneske et langt og lykkeligt liv, og andre gode og rare ting, og så nogle ting mere: ”et godt og lukrativt arbejde og en sød og dejlig partnerske”. Med andre ord: du skal helst blive lige som alle os andre.

Society Against the State

In 1648 a bunch of guys sat down and decided that the best way to end wars of religion would be to create states. Sovereign states with sovereign rulers, and what happened inside those states was no one's business but the rulers'. People eventually stopped warring over religion, at least in Europe – they started warring “internationally” instead, as states became nations and saw in themselves something intrinsically unique to their respective nations that must be defended at all costs. Bloodshed ensued. Within the last 100 years the entire planet has been fitted into a neat pattern of nations, states, nation states, term it as you please, nice coloured spaces on the map, characterised by their internal affairs being nobody's business but their own. It is seen as a result of 'development', as something inevitable, as all societies must eventually progress towards having a State, and this is a Good Thing. While we're at last shedding some of the “my genocide is nobody's business but my own” thinking, and people are also beginning to get a grip of why “everybody must develop so as to be as civilised as us” may be deemed offensive, that a state should be inevitable is not so easily forgotten. Historians and other clever people sought out evidence in the sources of history to show why all peoples must eventually develop state structures in order to govern themselves, as not having a ruling power is equal to being Neanderthals, to paraphrase only slightly. Which brings me to what I want to present to you today. Is the State inevitable?

Escenas españolas

Antes que todo, perdonadme por tardar tanto en actualizar el blog. Mi pc personal ha decidido dejar el mundo de ordenadores funcionantes, y no he podido acceder a algo tan simple como blogspot.com. (En efecto, esto se publica desde un ordenador que apenas se le ve la pantalla.. espero volver pronto con mejores condiciones de trabajo!)

De todas formas, esta vez trataré un tema que superficialmente puede parecer más puntual, pero aún así pienso que tiene una influencia más alargada y por eso también una cierta importancia.

Empecemos con algunos escenarios que he visto e vivido durante mi año en Barcelona y viajando por España.