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the_lady_lily) wrote2010-06-20 07:37 pm
the_lady_lily) wrote2010-06-20 07:37 pm
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Bibliography
Wayfaring - Margaret Silf
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miriammoules sent me this last summer, and of course it sat on the 'to-do' pile and it took me until the Feast of the Holy Innocents at the end of December last year to do it - Joseph taking the Holy Family into exile. The book itself is a spiritual workbook of sorts; it takes you through Jesus' life, ministry, death and resurrection as a way of bringing you closer to understanding how God is at work in your life, and ways of listening to his voice.
Now, when I was on retreat I worked through the chapter dealing with Holy Week and the crucifixion, and I can safely say that nothing quite that heavy has hit me between the eyes for quite some time. Less impactive-ly, some of the material especially in the earlier chapters is obviously targeted at people who are either coming to this sort of approach for the first time or who are new at Christianity; having done Companions in Christ a couple of years ago, some of that basic kit was well-worn territory for me, too recently covered for a fresh look to be much use. But it was a matter of a day's exercise not resonating rather than a whole chapter not working, and this sort of thing is so personal that there's always going to be part of a book that doesn't work for you personally.
So. Yes. Lots of imaginative prayer, very imaginative use of scripture and engagement with creation and the world around us, ultimately a very helpful book to have taken the time to work through. If you are the sort of person who likes guided meditative reading, this is a very good choice. I'm looking forward to picking up her Landmarks, the companion book, at some point, although I suspect that there's going to be a lot of other stuff on my journey first.
Body Politics - Nancy Henley
Disclaimer - this was published in 1986. The world has, in some ways, moved on. But not a lot.
Henley's study looks at various forms of nonverbal communication and how they are used to reinforce power hierarchies. Some of the things she examines are the use of space, facial expressions, time, touch, body posture and so on. Pointing out that we never actually explicitly teach people how these things work, she illustrates that humans nevertheless learn codes of nonverbal behaviour that display appropriate status signals, beginning at a very young age. Her interest is primarily in how these things reinforce power dynamics, particularly patriarchal hierarchies, although she does also incorporate race and class into the discussion to reinforce the point that it is all power hierarchies that use these cues.
The worrying thing is that a lot of the points she brings up are still things that are used as non-verbal signals to indicate dominance, whether that dominance is based on gender, class or race. She's particularly good on touch; she notes that most studies examine touch specifically as an indicator of intimacy, without acknowledging that it is possible for touch to be used in a highly coercive fashion. Examples include men picking up a woman to dump her in a swimming pool (oh, what a jape!) and male customers feeling they have the right to grab female waitstaff to get their attention (in the studies cited, female waitstaff reported that only male customers did this). And that's before we even enter the land of coercive affectionate touching, where women are supposed to accept 'affectionate' physical contact because it's affectionate, and thus 'harmless', regardless of whether they actually want to be touched or not.
Rather than try to sum this up, I thought I'd just reproduce the main points that Henley makes as the 'take-home' thoughts for both men and women to break down these subtle reinforcers of hierarchies. If you're interested in learning more, definitely grab a copy of this book.
Women can stop: smiling unless they are happy; lowering or averting their eyes when stared at; getting out of men's way in public; allowing interruption in conversation; restraining their body postures; accepting unwanted touch.
Women can start: staring people in the eye; addressing them by their first names; being more relaxed in demeanor (as this is an indicator of status, not morality); touching others when it feels appropriate; supporting other women (e.g. paying attention in conversations, showing respect for their space, defending against interruptions).
Men can stop: invading women's personal space; touching them excessively; interrupting; taking up extra space; sending dominance signals to each other; staring.
Men can start: smiling; losing their cool; displaying emotion; confiding in other men; sending gestures of support; being honest when unsure about something; condensing their bodies.
miriammoules sent me this last summer, and of course it sat on the 'to-do' pile and it took me until the Feast of the Holy Innocents at the end of December last year to do it - Joseph taking the Holy Family into exile. The book itself is a spiritual workbook of sorts; it takes you through Jesus' life, ministry, death and resurrection as a way of bringing you closer to understanding how God is at work in your life, and ways of listening to his voice.Now, when I was on retreat I worked through the chapter dealing with Holy Week and the crucifixion, and I can safely say that nothing quite that heavy has hit me between the eyes for quite some time. Less impactive-ly, some of the material especially in the earlier chapters is obviously targeted at people who are either coming to this sort of approach for the first time or who are new at Christianity; having done Companions in Christ a couple of years ago, some of that basic kit was well-worn territory for me, too recently covered for a fresh look to be much use. But it was a matter of a day's exercise not resonating rather than a whole chapter not working, and this sort of thing is so personal that there's always going to be part of a book that doesn't work for you personally.
So. Yes. Lots of imaginative prayer, very imaginative use of scripture and engagement with creation and the world around us, ultimately a very helpful book to have taken the time to work through. If you are the sort of person who likes guided meditative reading, this is a very good choice. I'm looking forward to picking up her Landmarks, the companion book, at some point, although I suspect that there's going to be a lot of other stuff on my journey first.
Body Politics - Nancy Henley
Disclaimer - this was published in 1986. The world has, in some ways, moved on. But not a lot.
Henley's study looks at various forms of nonverbal communication and how they are used to reinforce power hierarchies. Some of the things she examines are the use of space, facial expressions, time, touch, body posture and so on. Pointing out that we never actually explicitly teach people how these things work, she illustrates that humans nevertheless learn codes of nonverbal behaviour that display appropriate status signals, beginning at a very young age. Her interest is primarily in how these things reinforce power dynamics, particularly patriarchal hierarchies, although she does also incorporate race and class into the discussion to reinforce the point that it is all power hierarchies that use these cues.
The worrying thing is that a lot of the points she brings up are still things that are used as non-verbal signals to indicate dominance, whether that dominance is based on gender, class or race. She's particularly good on touch; she notes that most studies examine touch specifically as an indicator of intimacy, without acknowledging that it is possible for touch to be used in a highly coercive fashion. Examples include men picking up a woman to dump her in a swimming pool (oh, what a jape!) and male customers feeling they have the right to grab female waitstaff to get their attention (in the studies cited, female waitstaff reported that only male customers did this). And that's before we even enter the land of coercive affectionate touching, where women are supposed to accept 'affectionate' physical contact because it's affectionate, and thus 'harmless', regardless of whether they actually want to be touched or not.
Rather than try to sum this up, I thought I'd just reproduce the main points that Henley makes as the 'take-home' thoughts for both men and women to break down these subtle reinforcers of hierarchies. If you're interested in learning more, definitely grab a copy of this book.
Women can stop: smiling unless they are happy; lowering or averting their eyes when stared at; getting out of men's way in public; allowing interruption in conversation; restraining their body postures; accepting unwanted touch.
Women can start: staring people in the eye; addressing them by their first names; being more relaxed in demeanor (as this is an indicator of status, not morality); touching others when it feels appropriate; supporting other women (e.g. paying attention in conversations, showing respect for their space, defending against interruptions).
Men can stop: invading women's personal space; touching them excessively; interrupting; taking up extra space; sending dominance signals to each other; staring.
Men can start: smiling; losing their cool; displaying emotion; confiding in other men; sending gestures of support; being honest when unsure about something; condensing their bodies.
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