‘Getting Naked with Gok Wan’: A psychoanalytic reading of How To Look Good Naked’s transformational narratives

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora Thomadaki
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Self In Relation ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
Emotionally Troubled ◽  
Self Discovery

Gok Wan’s television fashion series How To Look Good Naked (Channel 4, 2006–10) has vividly revolutionized the self-improvement genre. By developing a playful, caring and female-friendly makeover platform that values the articulation of emotional experiences in relation to the body, the series facilitates the exploration of the inner layers of subjectivity through the psychological exercises and self-reflective practices that Gok Wan sets out for his subjects. Playful mechanisms of creativity are central to his makeover practice, integrating fashion techniques and stylistic practices to encourage his female participants to reflect upon and make sense of their emotionally troubled experiences in relation to the body. Makeover props belonging to his female subjects play a fundamental role in activating a process of self-reflection and exploration of the self through relatedness. Through the close textual analysis of How To Look Good Naked (Series 2 Episode 6), this article applies Donald Woods Winnicott’s psychoanalytic ideas (1957, 1963, 1960, 1971), to argue that the creative dimensions of Gok Wan’s makeover technique reveal an object relating psychoanalytic process that entails a form of therapeutic playing; one that allows his female participants to restore aspects of self in relation to the body and to gain an emotional awareness of these experiences that leads eventually to self-discovery and self-acceptance. Ultimately, this reading of Gok Wan’s method confirms the emotional and cultural value of makeover narratives to generate rich opportunities that enrich notions of inner-self experience.

Self, Indian theories of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.S. Rukmani
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Spiritual Energy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Ultimate Principle ◽  
Ultimate Nature

Hindu thought traces its different conceptions of the self to the earliest extant Vedic sources composed in the Sanskrit language. The words commonly used in Hindu thought and religion for the self are jīva (life), ātman (breath), jīvātman (life-breath), puruṣa (the essence that lies in the body), and kṣetrajña (one who knows the body). Each of these words was the culmination of a process of inquiry with the purpose of discovering the ultimate nature of the self. By the end of the ancient period, the personal self was regarded as something eternal which becomes connected to a body in order to exhaust the good and bad karma it has accumulated in its many lives. This self was supposed to be able to regain its purity by following different spiritual paths by means of which it can escape from the circle of births and deaths forever. There is one more important development in the ancient and classical period. The conception of Brahman as both immanent and transcendent led to Brahman being identified with the personal self. The habit of thought that tried to relate every aspect of the individual with its counterpart in the universe (Ṛg Veda X. 16) had already prepared the background for this identification process. When the ultimate principle in the subjective and objective spheres had arrived at their respective ends in the discovery of the ātman and Brahman, it was easy to equate the two as being the same spiritual ‘energy’ that informs both the outer world and the inner self. This equation had important implications for later philosophical growth. The above conceptions of the self-identity question find expression in the six systems of Hindu thought. These are known as āstikadarśanas or ways of seeing the self without rejecting the authority of the Vedas. Often, one system or the other may not explicitly state their allegiance to the Vedas, but unlike Buddhism or Jainism, they did not openly repudiate Vedic authority. Thus they were āstikadarśanas as opposed to the others who were nāstikadarśanas. The word darśana for philosophy is also significant if one realizes that philosophy does not end with only an intellectual knowing of one’s self-identity but also culminates in realizing it and truly becoming it.

scholarly journals Herodes - die Grote?

1995 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter J.J Botha
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Self Discovery

Herod - The Great?. The claim to historical understanding is more than simply quoting from ancient sources. Not only must anachronism and ethnocentrism be dealt with in order not to make the ancients mere instruments of modem preferences, but the sources themselves must be carefully interpreted so that we do not become victims of their propaganda. The challenge of historical understanding with sincerity and fairness is illustrated in this study of Herod the Great, king of the Judaeans. Studying history is not to aim at the discovery of final truth, but to participate in the conversation about truth, and therefore the self-reflection and self-discovery implied by historical exploration.

Reframing the Self(ie)

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Sarah Ann Bixler
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Ministry ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Developmental Theory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Self Discovery ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
To Receive

Based on developmental psychology, youth ministry has often regarded the adolescent self in terms of a search for identity. The selfie demonstrates this psychosocial attempt to discover one’s self and receive affirmation for it. While developmental theory is helpful and relevant for youth ministry, theology offers a more desirable foundation on which to build youth ministry practices. Thomas Merton’s theological understanding of the self addresses this dilemma, whereby the self finds the adolescent. This perspective can help us reframe youth ministry’s assumptions based on developmental psychology, which regard the adolescent’s task as self-discovery. As James Loder describes, the inner self emerges through God’s transformation. This is an issue of reordering of theology and psychology. For adolescents to position themselves to receive this inner transformation, Christian ministry with young people can effectively facilitate a posture of prayer whereby God can affect the transformation of the deepest sense of the self.

Evangelical Conversion and the Transformation of the Self in Amazonia and Melanesia: Christianity and the Revival of Anthropological Comparison

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Robbins ◽  
Bambi B. Schieffelin ◽  
Aparecida Vilaça
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
Anthropology Of Christianity ◽  
Recent Theoretical Work ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
The Mind

AbstractThe last several decades have seen both a renewed anthropological interest in the possibility of cross-cultural comparison and the rapid rise of the anthropology of Christianity. These two trends should be mutually supportive. One of the promises of the anthropology of Christianity from the outset has been that it will allow people to compare how processes of Christianization have unfolded in different parts of the world and to consider how the resulting Christian configurations are similar to and different from one another. But to this point, relatively little detailed comparative empirical work on Christianity has appeared. Our aim here is to contribute to remedying this situation. Drawing on recent theoretical work on comparison, we set comparative work on Christianity on a new footing. Empirically, we examine how processes of Evangelical Christianization have transformed notions of the self in one Amazonian society (Wari') and two unrelated societies in Melanesia (Bosavi and Urapmin). We define the self for comparative purposes as composed of ideas of the mind or inner self, the body, and relations between people. In our three cases, Christianization has radically transformed these ideas, emphasizing the inner self and downplaying the importance of the body and of social relations. While our empirical conclusions are not wholly unexpected, the extent to which the details of our three cases speak comparatively to one another, and the extent to which the broad processes of Christian transformation they involve are similar, are surprising and lay a promising foundation for future comparative work in the anthropology of Christianity.

‘A pinch of unseen, unguarded dust’: The World and Self in Thomas Hardy's Poems

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Monika Szuba
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Phenomenological Philosophy ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Recurrent Theme ◽  
Body Subject

The essay discusses selected poems from Thomas Hardy's vast body of poetry, focusing on representations of the self and the world. Employing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concepts such as the body-subject, wild being, flesh, and reversibility, the essay offers an analysis of Hardy's poems in the light of phenomenological philosophy. It argues that far from demonstrating ‘cosmic indifference’, Hardy's poetry offers a sympathetic vision of interrelations governing the universe. The attunement with voices of the Earth foregrounded in the poems enables the self's entanglement in the flesh of the world, a chiasmatic intertwining of beings inserted between the leaves of the world. The relation of the self with the world is established through the act of perception, mainly visual and aural, when the body becomes intertwined with the world, thus resulting in a powerful welding. Such moments of vision are brief and elusive, which enhances a sense of transitoriness, and, yet, they are also timeless as the self becomes immersed in the experience. As time is a recurrent theme in Hardy's poetry, this essay discusses it in the context of dwelling, the provisionality of which is demonstrated in the prevalent sense of temporality, marked by seasons and birdsong, which underline the rhythms of the world.

A Stellenbosch University #FeesMustFall Herstory: Reflections of a So-Called "Radical Black Intersectional Feminist"

Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashanti Kunene
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Patriarchal Narratives

#FeesMustFall was a movement whose maxim was, “This revolution will be intersectional, or it will be bullshit.” This article is a self-reflection on my participation as a so-called radical black intersectional feminist in the #FeesMustFall movement at Stellenbosch University. It is also an attempt to provide evidence of the double erasures taking place in the mainstream patriarchal narratives about the #FeesMustFall movement. My story bears witness to the fact that queer black womxn were the backbone of the movement and that #FeesMustFall did indeed occur at Stellenbosch University. These constitute the double erasures taking place in terms of what is and can be known about the #FeesMustFall movement. My reflections serve to make a much-needed contribution to the body of knowledge produced about the #FeesMustFall movement.

Makna Alif dalam Puisi Zikir D. Zawawi Imron dan Sajak Alif Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Sholeha Rosalia ◽  
Yosi Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
The Self ◽  
Sociology Of Literature ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Creation

Alif means the first, saying the Supreme Life and is Sturdy and has the element of fire and Alif is formed from Ulfah (closeness) ta'lif (formation). With this letter Allah mementa'lif (unite) His creation with the foundation of monotheism and ma'rifah belief in appreciation of faith and monotheism. Therefore, Alif opens certain meanings and definitions of shapes and colors that are in other letters. Then be Alif as "Kiswah" (clothes) for different messages. That is a will. "IQRO" is a revelation that was first passed down to the Prophet Muhammad. Saw. Read it, which starts with the letter Alif and ends with the letter Alif. The creation of a poem is influenced by the environment and the self-reflection of a poet where according to the poet's origin, in comparing in particular Alif's poetry from the two poets. The object of this research is the poetry of Zikir by D. Zawawi Imron and Sajak Alif by Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda. This study uses a comparative method and sociology of literature. Through a comparative study of literature between the poetry of Zikir D. Zawawi Imron and Sajak Alif Ahmadun Yosi Herfanda, it is hoped that the public can know the meaning of Alif according to the poet's view. With this research, the Indonesian people can accept different views on the meaning of Alif in accordance with their respective understanding without having to look for what is right and wrong. The purpose in Alif is like a life, in the form of letters like a body, a tree that is cut to the root, from the heart is split to the seeds, then from the seeds are split so that nothing is the essence of life. So, it is clear that Alif is the most important and Supreme letter. Talking about the meaning of Alif as the first letter revealed on earth. After the letter Alif was revealed, 28 other Hijaiyah letters were born. The letter Alif is made the beginning of His book and the opening letter. Other letters are from Alif and appear on him.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Walden
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The book’s epilogue explores the place of musical portraiture in the context of posthumous depictions of the deceased, and in relation to the so-called posthuman condition, which describes contemporary changes in the relationship of the individual with such aspects of life as technology and the body. It first examines Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo to view how Bernard Herrmann’s score relates to issues of portraiture and the depiction of the identity of the deceased. It then considers the work of cyborg composer-artist Neil Harbisson, who has aimed, through the use of new capabilities of hybridity between the body and technology, to convey something akin to visual likeness in his series of Sound Portraits. The epilogue shows how an examination of contemporary views of posthumous and posthuman identities helps to illuminate the ways music represents the self throughout the genre of musical portraiture.

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