Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper seeks to remedy two gaps in sociology of culture: (1) attention to the experience and practical use of the content of music and (2) attention to opera. In order to understand how is music experienced and what kinds of uses it affords, this paper asks how does an audience receive, represent and experience opera years after its historical primacy, when it has lost both its popular and distinguishing character at the same time.
We report the results of a yearlong ethnography conducted at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon over the last three seasons.
We propose five ideal types to interpret how music is experienced at the opera house: the devotee, the better self, the melancholic, the hero and the addict. Each one of them are a shade of the total operatic experience, which comprises a moral engagement with music that aims for a transcendence of everyday life by attaching values of truth and goodness to it. This engagement involves: a) a superior spiritual understanding of the opera lover; b) a past-oriented understanding of time; c) a set of practices by which the person can abandon herself to music; d) a heroic ethic that serves as the horizon for practice; e) the non-circulatory character of the object of appreciation; f) the medium and material to narrate the self and g) a never ending process of learning how to “properly” enjoy the experience.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The present paper presents the results of a participatory sketching and photography exercise conducted in the Sudan to gauge how avid listeners of Ashreat Al Amal (“Sails of Hope”), an entertainment-education radio soap opera, engaged with its educational content, especially with the topic of female genital cutting (a practice that is widespread in Sudan). Our respondents’ sketches and photos suggest that they comprehended the various intersecting plotlines and educational messages of Ashreat Al Amal, that is, a more empowered status for women, abandoning harmful practices such as female genital cutting, and seeking safe motherhood and childhood. Our respondents’ sketches also suggest various degrees of emotional and personal resonance with the key plotlines and characters. The female genital cutting scenes and their deadly consequences held the most personal meaning for both male and female respondents as it closely paralleled their lived realities. Many of our respondents freely and openly shared the debilitating consequences of large families, especially on the health of women and children. Our respondents emphasized that by listening to Ashreat Al Amal they learned about, or were reinforced in abolishing the practice of female genital cutting, and giving girls and women more control of their reproductive health.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: This presentation will discuss findings from a qualitative study in which 53 men and women in Germany of different cultural backgrounds watched an episode of a new educational soap opera directed at (immigrated) adults. The soap opera which features German, Turkish, Iraqi, Kenyan and Russian characters meeting in a German language evening class is designed to show everyday life (and its obstacles) among different immigrant groups, and to motivate immigrants on their journey to acquire German. In group discussions, the respondents explained how they liked the individual characters of the soap opera (issues of familiarity, recognition, para-social interaction) and what they think there is to learn from this program. Interviews with immigrated women who viewed the whole series provided deeper understanding of character interpretation. Issues of gender and cultural background of the viewers will be addressed that are important for the understanding of how the respondents read the characters of the soap opera.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Entertainment-Education interventions were evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methodologies to assess what specific variables may make more effective the communication strategy. Variables including length of the Entertainment-Education serial drama and the post-viewing discussion sessions in their relation to cognitive, attitudinal and behavioral intentional outcomes were examined using experimental design and focus group discussions. It was predicted that the length of the Entertainment-Education serial drama would impact the quality of the intervention. Likewise, it was predicted that the post-viewing discussion sessions would improve the quality of the intervention. It was concluded that the length of the Education-Entertainment serial drama did not produce significant change in the overall efficacy of the intervention. However, the post-viewing discussion sessions when incorporated with the E-E drama series or telenovela did produce significant change in regards to cognitive, attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of the Entertainment-Education intervention. Implication of the findings for future Entertainment-Education interventions is enclosed.