Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This project untangles the process by which pole dancing, once considered deviant and relegated to the secluded stages of strip clubs, has moved to the living rooms of mainstream Americans. The multiple dimensions of this process; changing media representations, redefining of the activity by participants and class perceptions and justifications are examined utilizing a variety of methods. Participant observation, multiple media analysis and interviews reveal the dynamic process by which pole dancing, once the work of strippers, has become the exercise of choice for suburban housewives.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: As the process of market transition in Eastern and Central Europe continues, the proportion of people who report that they favor the socialist system has grown. The article examines the sources of this post-communist nostalgia among middle class, middle aged Poles, the social group which is commonly thought to have been the chief beneficiary of the process of market-transition. While positive attitudes towards socialism are reported by vast majorities of respondents in all opinion surveys, nostalgic attitudes are frequently scorned by the media and in the public discourse and therefore are subject to self-censorship. The present article examines the mechanism of social suppression of nostalgia. We argue that the main source of nostalgic attitudes is the merging of economic and social status that has occurred in the course of transformation. Under socialism, many occupations enjoyed extraordinary social prestige, despite low salaries. The ongoing fusion of social and economic status gives those less financially successful a feeling of being deprived of both social position and of economic well-being. This hypothesis is verified through a series of interviews and through the analysis of alternative explanations of nostalgia, for example, theories claiming that post-socialist societies have been affected by collective amnesia. We argue that post-communist nostalgia has substantive reasons and is likely to transform itself into a more militant opposition to the principles underlying the transition to market-based economy.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: For Koreans living abroad, the return to South Korea represents a homecoming of sorts, a psychic return to the country of one’s ancestry, romanticized and distant. This paper is part of a larger project that explores the migration projects of Korean Americans to Seoul, South Korea in search of an ideal Koreanness, embodied in a specific history, culture and traditions. Korean American return migrants are perceived as both foreign yet familiar which informs their positions within Korean society in disparate ways.

Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I center the narratives of Korean American men and women who negotiate the interplay of ethnicity, nationality and gender ideologies. While Korean American masculinity is enhanced by their transnational ties to the U.S., Korean American femininity is perceived as unfavorable compared to ideal notions of Korean femininity. As these actors confront new expectations regarding gender and national identity particularly within their social relationships, divisions arise creating fissures between the Korean American male and female experience which shed light on the gendered dimensions of ethnic identity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Prior researchers of polarity and war usually use subjective methods, such as studying historical events and speculating on the conditions of power concentration, to conceptualize and define polarity. However, such arbitrary designation of polarity easily