Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Subject: search.filters.subject.symbolic violence

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    ‘Who am I now?’ the lived experiences and identity construction of individuals following bariatric surgery
    (Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA), 2024-09-19) Wolff S; Maydell E
    Mediatised standards of beauty in contemporary western societies contribute to stigma and discrimination of individuals labelled ‘obese’ by medical professionals. Most people who undergo weight-reduction treatments, including bariatric surgery, choose it due to serious health conditions, often unable to lose weight in any other way. However, they are commonly constructed as ‘cheaters’ and blamed for lacking will and self-control. Cultural beliefs demonising fat and fat people produce the perceptions of an inferior identity, often leading to internalised fatphobia among such individuals. This study investigates the lived experiences of 11 individuals after bariatric surgery using semi-structured interviews analysed via narrative framework. The findings demonstrate paradoxical effects bariatric surgery can have on identity, through a persistent ‘obese’ view of self and body perception challenges, indicating long-lasting harmful effects of symbolic violence these individuals experience due to stigmatisation and medicalisation of fat and highlighting hegemonic discourses inscribing normative views on human bodies.
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    Journalism ‘fixers’, hyper-precarity and the violence of the entrepreneurial self
    (1/07/2023) Ashraf SI; Phelan S
    The figure of the so-called journalism ‘fixer’ has received overdue academic attention in recent years. Scholars have highlighted the role played by fixers in international news reporting, a role historically obscured in the mythos of the Western foreign correspondent. Recent research has produced useful insights about the work done by fixers in ‘the shadows’ of the international news economy. However, it has also tended towards a domestication of the role, where the local ‘fixer’ finds their place in a collaborative relationship with those officially consecrated as ‘journalists’ from elsewhere. This article presents a critical theoretical analysis of this functional role, building on the image of the fixer as a kind of ‘entrepreneur’. Rather than interpreting the latter designation as a source of empowerment or agency, we approach it as a euphemism for the hyper-precarious and exploitative underpinnings of fixer-labour. Our argument draws on different theoretical sources, including Foucault-inspired work on the entrepreneurial rationality of the neoliberal self, Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence, and Rancière’s concept of politics. The theoretical argument is supported by the first author’s reflections of working as a Pakistani-based ‘fixer’ during the U.S-led war on terror.