In this paper the authors share, and reflect critically on, the experience of using digital storytelling (DS) methods in a South African township. We interrogate the innovations…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper the authors share, and reflect critically on, the experience of using digital storytelling (DS) methods in a South African township. We interrogate the innovations prompted as we operationalized DS in a context that has historically prized collectivist values and that experiences chronic resource constraints.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors ask: How can DS be optimally used to understand youth resilience in a collectivist, developing context? The authors worked with 18 older adolescents (aged 18–24) during two day-long events. The authors provide detailed descriptions of the method used, and offer reflections focusing on narrative, visuals and technology-mediation.
Findings
This study concludes by sharing four key lessons learned during the project. First, revisit the definition of “story” for your context, participant group and time. Second, a slower process yields more meaningful product. Third, facilitator competence matters. Finally, advance and deeper thinking about the ways in which technology will be used leads to richer research outcomes.
Originality/value
The paper reflects on the interplay between the transactional nature of contemporary digitally-mediated methods in a low-resource setting and with a seldom-heard population, and it's relationship with the ancient local traditions of story-making and audiencing.
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While there is no question that women on movie screens are frequently eroticised, with countless shots of heaving bosoms or curvaceous rear ends, action stars do occasionally get…
Abstract
While there is no question that women on movie screens are frequently eroticised, with countless shots of heaving bosoms or curvaceous rear ends, action stars do occasionally get a reprieve. Pam Grier, the first female action star, was not so lucky. While Grier's Amazonian status should be celebrated, the dark side of her career should also be noted as a cautionary tale of just how much misogyny and racism lurks behind Hollywood doors and intertwined into American cinema history. This chapter examines how Grier's career forces us to rethink both femininity and racism, as well as action films themselves.
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Theron R. Nelson, Thomas Potter and Harold H. Wilde
Surveys of senior real estate executives have previously indicated that real estate represents approximately 25 per cent of corporate worth. These surveys, however, relied on self…
Abstract
Surveys of senior real estate executives have previously indicated that real estate represents approximately 25 per cent of corporate worth. These surveys, however, relied on self reported estimates of current real estate value. This study uses objective data to investigate the proportionate value that real estate represents on corporate balance sheets. The findings indicate that, when buildings are adjusted for inflation, real estate represents about 40 per cent of total corporate assets. Since corporate worth may also be measured in market value terms, several indexes were constructed to measure the proportion of firm market value represented by real estate assets. With buildings inflation adjusted, real estate represents about 80 per cent of firm market value. Although firm size does have an impact on all the ratios computed in this study, the impact is fairly modest in virtually all cases
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Steven Gerrard and Renée Middlemost
In this, the third volume of Emerald Publishing's Gender and Action Film series, the emphasis is placed firmly on the way that Action Cinema has transformed in the post-millennial…
Abstract
In this, the third volume of Emerald Publishing's Gender and Action Film series, the emphasis is placed firmly on the way that Action Cinema has transformed in the post-millennial period. Through a series of in-depth case studies, and using a mix of theoretical approaches and analysis, each chapter will offer comparative gender studies that are both evocative and interrogative of a genre that has often been lambasted for the way in which gender is portrayed. The volume covers such areas as ageing action stars and the roles they portray in geriaction movies, critical examinations of gender in Action Cinema post-9/11, and changes aspects of feminism, gender practices and metamodern narratives.
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The image of Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine) in the Mad Max and X-Men franchises represents traditional heroic action masculinity. This chapter explores the roles of…
Abstract
The image of Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine) in the Mad Max and X-Men franchises represents traditional heroic action masculinity. This chapter explores the roles of female action heroes in defying patriarchy and subverting action film genre stereotypes in male-dominated franchises. In contrast to past characterisations of Max, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) provides both a departure to the role of Max as the male saviour seeking vengeance, by focusing on Imperator Furiosa and offering space for a portrayal of femininity characterised by inclusivity and tolerance. In Logan (2017), the decay of Wolverine is central to the narrative. Rather than the portrayal of an immortal hypermasculine hero in the previous X-Men films (with emphasis on men in X-Men), a new female mutant Laura assumes his mantle. In this context, I consider the gender roles and depiction of women in these films, and how they may be read as offering a futuristic vision of utopia in dystopian narrative worlds.
In the distant future, the social and economic systems build by the patriarchy are crumbling, causing an environmental crisis and divisive society, where people who are different (mutants) are hunted down. Mad Max: Fury Road and Logan both offer an alternative depiction of women and girls, providing new perspectives to navigate an uncertain dystopian world through fierce female warriors Furiosa, and mutant girl Laura. Ultimately this chapter demonstrates that survival in the post-apocalyptic and dystopian worlds represented in Mad Max: Fury Road and Logan may be achieved via a subversive feminist solution/utopia to the crisis of masculinity.
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Linda Appie, Dorothy Ndletyana and Anthony Wilson-Prangley
The main teaching objective for the case is for students to build a better understanding of how to advance women (and other minorities) in the workplace through mentorship. This…
Abstract
Learning outcomes
The main teaching objective for the case is for students to build a better understanding of how to advance women (and other minorities) in the workplace through mentorship. This is achieved through recognizing the wide variety of issues that enable and constrains women’s advancement in the workplace; defining mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking; and highlighting how mentoring, sponsorship, coaching and networking can overcome the challenges of facing women’s advancement in the workplace?
Case overview/synopsis
The case study explores the role of senior women leaders in the career advancement of other women in the workplace. It helps us understand how mentoring can address the low prevalence of women at senior levels despite companies’ efforts to advance women. The case profiles the career and leadership journey of a senior female executive, Maserame Mouyeme. It documents her rise from the dusty streets of Soweto, South Africa to become one of the first black female executives in several corporate contexts across Africa and especially at Coca-Cola. The case illustrates her practice of mentoring and its impact on her and others’ careers. Also illustrated is Mouyeme’s leadership style, mentoring approach and workplace experiences. Students deliberate Mouyeme’s dilemma: whether to continue to advance a new generation of women leaders or whether to focus on her core role of building the business she is responsible for. The selected research method is a teaching case study, grounded in an exploratory approach. Primary data was collected via semi-structured interviews with the protagonist and four of her mentees. Secondary data was collected via studies about the protagonist and the companies she has worked for in her career. The case provides empirical insights about the role of leaders and especially women, in advancing women. The case shows the approaches in which organizations can advance women. It also shows how emerging leaders can better manage their own careers. The case deepens knowledge of women advancement and career development.
Complexity academic level
The case is appropriate for post-graduate level study, including MBA-level. It is also appropriate for use on executive development programs.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 6: Human Resource Management.
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Steven Gerrard and Renée Middlemost
In this, the exciting first volume of a three-volume edited collection, you will be taken on a gender-focused adventure through action cinema's formative years. Through a series…
Abstract
In this, the exciting first volume of a three-volume edited collection, you will be taken on a gender-focused adventure through action cinema's formative years. Through a series of in-depth case studies and analysis, each chapter focuses on the way that gender has been discussed in such films as the Mad Max franchise, sword and sorcery films, and the Angel trilogy. There are character case studies, including Ellen Ripley in Aliens, Sharon Stone in her ground-breaking work as femme fatale, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves. We also take you on a journey through the action cinema of Wong Kar-Wai and Action Women in Colombian national cinema. The collection even takes you into the gendered dinosaur world of Jurassic Park. Whilst Action Cinema has often been derided, it has also been celebrated. We hope that this edited collection will make you want to revisit the action movies of the past, whilst we open them up to brand new interrogations.
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For much of its peak popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, women in action films were relegated to the damsel in distress and/or the romantic interest for the male lead. This was…
Abstract
For much of its peak popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, women in action films were relegated to the damsel in distress and/or the romantic interest for the male lead. This was particularly evident in action films where women were depicted as being petite and submissive, especially towards the heroic male. Rarely did women occupy the primary focus in action films. Nowadays women are more frequently occupying positions of creative power as producers and actors, and there are some notable examples of progressive female roles in modern film. Female action stars tended to occupy one of two roles, that of what Marc O'Day (2004) labelled ‘action babe’ cinema, using the colloquial and dismissive term ‘babe’ as an indication of the derogatory nature of the female action hero who was often just a supermodel with a gun. However, there has emerged another type of female action star, the tough, aggressive and physically capable female action star, such as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1992).
Yvonne Tasker coined the term ‘musculinity’ to define this new model of tough women; female action stars who appropriate what are considered traditionally masculine traits (developed muscles, aggression, confidence, leadership skills, bravery). The presence of athletic women in action films, especially when compared to their male counterparts, defies expectations for women, and as such provides a unique example to analyse in terms of gender dynamics. This is especially true of combat sports, where aggression is a feature of the sport and still considered a testosterone-oriented attribute. Indeed, in the 1970s and 1980s, the peak of the male action star, martial arts and associated combat sports provided opportunities for many former athletes to transition into action films. Using Tasker's framework of musculinity, I will examine Haywire (2011) as a notable progression in the representation of female action stars and musculinity. Focusing on a case study of Gina Carano's role in Haywire, and her subsequent career narrative, this chapter highlights how perceptions of masculinity and femininity in both combat sports and action films have previously limited roles for women and how much that has shifted in contemporary filmmaking.