tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/michelle-obama-17492/articles
Michelle Obama – The Conversation
2020-08-24T20:05:04Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144741
2020-08-24T20:05:04Z
2020-08-24T20:05:04Z
Michelle Obama’s necklace and the power of political jewellery — from suffragettes to a secretary of state
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354275/original/file-20200824-14-1nj5ztn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C11%2C1882%2C899&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michelle Obama in the necklace that went viral.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Democratic National Convention</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The necklace worn by Michelle Obama while addressing the Democratic National Convention — a fine gold chain spelling out the word VOTE in spaced, sans serif letters — has <a href="https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/1295563528338722816?s=20">gone viral</a>.</p>
<p>Made by a small company <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/aug/18/michelle-obama-vote-necklace-former-first-lady-democrats">owned by Chari Cuthbert</a>, the necklace
<a href="https://bychari.com/products/the-original-spaced-letter-necklace-vote">was designed</a> “for powerhouse women who let their voices be heard, especially at the polls”.</p>
<p>Using jewellery to communicate a message is neither new or unusual. Archaeologists
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-bling-makes-us-human-101094">have described</a> finding body adornments as “the closest thing to finding prehistoric thought.” Most jewellery, whether a ring or a <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/its-honour/medal-order-australia">medal</a> or a <a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/15186">badge</a>, is visible to others and thus an expression of the wearer and their status.</p>
<p>But Obama’s is the latest in a long line of celebrated examples of jewellery as a political device: from suffragettes’ medals to Madeleine Albright’s pins. Even brooches worn by Queen Elizabeth have been read by some as political statements.</p>
<p>Examples from the British suffragette campaign for the vote (a political movement spanning from 1903 to 1918) included brooches and necklaces made from precious stones, enamel and ribbons. They used the colours of purple, white and green, associated with the Women’s Social and Political Union. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1233&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1233&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354279/original/file-20200824-14-1h5j7np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A suffragette Hunger Strike medal awarded to Myra Eleanor Sadd Brown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museums Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_Strike_Medal#:%7E:text=The%20Hunger%20Strike%20Medal%20was,Many%20women%20were%20force%2Dfed.">Medals</a> awarded by the union leaders to women who contributed to the campaign drew on military aesthetics. Other jewellery worn by suffragettes reflected the fashions of the time, in particular <a href="https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/300365.html">art nouveau</a>. </p>
<p>One Hunger Strike medal was awarded to women’s rights activist Myra Eleanor Sadd Brown after she was imprisoned in London in 1912, went on a hunger strike and was force fed. It includes an inscription on the reverse side “<a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1208261">FED BY FORCE 4/3/12</a>”. </p>
<p>More recently, Lady Hale, the president of the UK Supreme Court, wore a large, glittering spider brooch when announcing that Boris Johnson’s 2019 prorogation of parliament was “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/sep/28/lady-hale-spider-brooch-launches-global-trend">void and of no effect</a>. There was discussion about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/sep/24/say-it-with-a-brooch-how-a-fashion-item-became-a-political-statement">what this brooch symbolised</a>. Was it sending a message to the British prime minister? </p>
<p>In Australia, meanwhile, Greens Senator Larissa Waters caused <a href="https://www.qt.com.au/news/battle-of-the-adanithemed-earrings/3592686/">a minor stir</a> when she wore Stop Adani earrings in Parliament in 2018.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1067991222663303168"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-bling-makes-us-human-101094">How 'bling' makes us human</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Jewellery and diplomacy</h2>
<p>In some instances, the context in which it is worn - or by whom - makes jewellery political. The first female U.S. Secretary of State, Madeline K. Albright, wore brooches and pins to express political and diplomatic intent. "I found that jewelry had become part of my personal diplomatic arsenal,” <a href="https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/former-secretary-state-madeleine-albrights-collection-pins-exhibited-first-time">she has said</a>. </p>
<p>In 2009, the Museum of Art and Design New York exhibited over 200 brooches and pins from Albright’s personal collection. The <a href="https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/former-secretary-state-madeleine-albrights-collection-pins-exhibited-first-time">exhibition</a> coincided with the publication of Albright’s memoir <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6404604-read-my-pins">Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box</a>. Notably Albright’s brooches don’t usually include text: others must read the symbolism. </p>
<p>For instance, after media controlled by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/madeleine-albright-brooch-dnc_n_5798a745e4b01180b530ef41">referred to her as an “unparalled serpent”</a>, Albright wore a golden snake brooch pinned to her suit for her next meeting on Iraq. </p>
<p>She also had an <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/madeleine-albright-on-her-life-in-pins-149191/">“arrow pin that looked like a missile”</a> (worn when negotiating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Russians). And after learning the Russians had planted a listening device — a “bug” — in a conference room near her office in the State Department, she wore a bug brooch the next time she saw the Russians.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354285/original/file-20200824-22-15pt425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madeleine Albright wearing one of her brooches in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the late 1990s, Albright’s use of brooches for political purpose inspired Helen Drutt English to curate the exhibition Brooching It Diplomatically. Sixty-one art jewellers from 16 countries created brooches in tribute to Albright. </p>
<p>The origin of a piece of jewellery is also a consideration in understanding its meaning. In 2018, a simple green agate brooch Queen Elizabeth wore when meeting President Donald Trump and the First Lady, Melania, was identified as having been a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/18/was-the-queen-sending-coded-messages-to-donald-trump-via-her-brooches-absolutely">gift</a> from former President Barack Obama and Michelle, his wife.</p>
<p>At the next meeting, the Queen wore a snowflake brooch, a gift from Canada. Some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/18/was-the-queen-sending-coded-messages-to-donald-trump-via-her-brooches-absolutely">read this</a> as a reference to Trump’s use of the word “snowflake” as a derogatory term.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354288/original/file-20200824-22-jlray8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth with Donald and Melania Trump in July 2018. Her choice of brooches during this time prompted much analysis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">STR/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Jewellery and ethics</h2>
<p>The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle’s interest in wearing ethically sourced or sustainable clothes and jewellery has been <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-pippa-small-jewelry-became-a-favorite-meghan-markle-1180579">widely reported</a> and signals her priorities. She has worn jewellery such as gold studs and bangles from <a href="https://pippasmall.com/about/">Pippa Small</a> a UK firm <a href="https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/royal-style/2019081276387/meghan-markle-ethical-jewellery-pippa-small-interview/">committed to fair trade</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz3YhbMgylN/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Increasingly, jewellery firms small and large are making statements about their approach to ethics and sustainability. So in choosing what jewellery you buy, you can make a political statement, perhaps by supporting local workers or ethical workplaces.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fashion-production-is-modern-slavery-5-things-you-can-do-to-help-now-115889">Fashion production is modern slavery: 5 things you can do to help now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While some might seek to trivialise jewellery, a traditional form of feminine adornment, brooches, rings and necklaces can make powerful statements. Since Michelle Obama wore her VOTE necklace last week, sales of the necklace have <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/18/politics/michelle-obama-vote-necklace-designer/index.html">reportedly skyrocketed</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Shaw is a senior lecturer and head of jewellery and small objects at Queensland College of Art Griffith University. She is a member of the advisory council for Ethical Metalsmiths and is on the board of management for World crafts Council Australia. </span></em></p>
From hunger strike medals to brooches shaped like serpents and spiders, women’s jewellery can speak volumes.
Elizabeth Shaw, Program Leader Fine Art, Head of Jewellery and Small Objects, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142920
2020-07-29T02:12:01Z
2020-07-29T02:12:01Z
Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349552/original/file-20200727-21-1jty5gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3653%2C2482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Spotify</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“You kind of fail your way to success,” observed Matt Lieber, head of podcast operations at Spotify, at this year’s <a href="https://www.audiocraft.com.au/the-festival">Audiocraft festival</a>, an annual weekend of panels about podcasting. Normally held in Sydney, this year, thanks to COVID-19, the festival shifted online.</p>
<p>Lieber was talking about StartUp, his podcast about establishing Gimlet Media in 2014. Lieber and his business partner, Alex Blumberg, wanted to develop a podcast studio that would become “<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40515119/gimlet-media-is-one-step-closer-to-becoming-the-hbo-of-audio">the HBO of audio</a>”.</p>
<p>Last year, Gimlet hit the jackpot. It was acquired by Spotify for <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/spotify-gimlet-media-podcast-deal.html">US$230 million</a> (A$322 million). </p>
<p>While podcasts have been alive on the internet since 2004 (“But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/feb/12/broadcasting.digitalmedia">asked</a> the Guardian), 2014’s Serial is <a href="https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/whats-behind-the-great-podcast-renaissance.html">largely credited</a> with starting a new boom for the form.</p>
<p>Serial hit <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/serial-season-3-50-milllion-downloads.html">420 million</a> downloads in late 2018; S-Town, from the same production company, had <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2017/05/s-town-podcast-40-million-downloads.html">40 million</a> downloads in its first month.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BANqsJcBAf7","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Last week, the New York Times (whose own The Daily has surpassed <a href="https://www.nytco.com/press/the-daily-hits-one-billion-downloads/">one billion downloads</a>) acquired Serial Productions for <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/23/the-new-york-times-is-buying-the-production-studio-behind-serial-for-25m/">US$25 million</a> (A$35 million). </p>
<p>What was once on the fringes of the internet is now a multi-billion dollar industry. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-s-town-invites-empathy-not-voyeurism-76510">Why S-Town invites empathy not voyeurism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The growing numbers</h2>
<p>For a long time, podcasting was touted as the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/how-podcasting-is-shaping-democracy/524028/">most democratic</a> and accessible mode of journalism and public engagement. </p>
<p>On podcasts, hobbyists could indulge a passion for Greek legends, friends could riff on their favourite books, celebrities could show their human side, and media organisations could share stories too unwieldy for a newspaper or television format.</p>
<p>The early low-budget, niche podcasts were a far cry from shows like Serial or The Joe Rogan Experience. (Hosted by comedian Joe Rogan, the latter show has a reported <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/19/21263927/joe-rogan-spotify-experience-exclusive-content-episodes-youtube">190 million downloads</a> a month and was acquired by Spotify in May for around <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-strikes-exclusive-podcast-deal-with-joe-rogan-11589913814">US$100 million</a> (A$140 million).</p>
<p>While some Spotify shows are still available on other podcasting services, productions like The Joe Rogan Experience and the platform’s latest offering, The Michelle Obama Podcast, are available exclusively on Spotify. </p>
<p>Obama’s podcast, which launches today, features conversations on the “relationships that shape us” – not surprisingly, her first guest is her husband.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JRvzuUTwOJ0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Spotify’s <a href="https://www.theverge.com/21265005/spotify-joe-rogan-experience-podcast-deal-apple-gimlet-media-ringer">known investment</a> in acquiring podcasts over the past 18 months comes to around US$696 million (A$975 million). This figure doesn’t include the unknown price Spotify has paid in deals with <a href="https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/barack-michelle-obama-spotify-podcast-1203234767/">the Obamas</a> and <a href="https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/kim-kardashian-west-spotify-podcast-1234641221/">Kim Kardashian West</a> to produce original shows, nor the money Spotify is <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/spotify-aims-become-worlds-no-1-audio-platform-1256162">investing in-house</a>.</p>
<p>While Rogan and Obama’s podcasts are (for now) free to listen to, they will tempt people over to the platform and – Spotify hopes – create paying subscribers. Obama’s 2018 memoir, Becoming, has sold <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47704987">over 10 million copies</a>: that is a lot of potential listeners.</p>
<p>Far away from these mega-investment dollars, independent producers are still creating smaller shows for devoted audiences. Many attending Audiocraft were these independent producers, seeking to learn more about the art, craft and business of bringing their podcast ideas to life. </p>
<p>Such aspirations were mocked by a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN0njKIeK5M">ABC skit</a> with celebrities begging people not to turn to podcasting under quarantine. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hN0njKIeK5M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The skit polarised viewers: older folk laughed, but younger people bristled, seeing it as an entitled elite trying to police what should be a wide open space without gatekeepers. </p>
<p>This divide is a growing tension among podcast producers.</p>
<h2>Pushing boundaries</h2>
<p>The other big commercial contender in podcasting is the Amazon-owned Audible, which has similarly gone on a “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-22/amazon-wants-to-build-your-favorite-podcast">multimillion-dollar shopping spree</a>” for podcasts over the past few years.</p>
<p>With Spotify locking listeners into their platform, and Audible’s podcasts only available to paying subscribers we are a far cry from the <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/podcasting-shows-the-value-of-an-open-internet/">open internet ideals</a> the form was built on. </p>
<p>Yet, even in this world of multi-million dollar deals, independent producers are still asserting their right to shape the industry. </p>
<p>Renay Richardson, a black British podcaster whose passionate presentation at Audiocraft wowed the audience, founded <a href="https://www.broccolicontent.com/">Broccoli Content</a> to advance diversity in podcasting. This year, she launched an <a href="https://www.equalityinaudiopact.co.uk/">Audio Pledge</a> demanding equity in pay and representation for minority voices. </p>
<p>It has so far been signed by over 250 organisations, including Spotify and the BBC.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1285925969338019843"}"></div></p>
<h2>An intimate artform</h2>
<p>According to Spotify’s Matt Lieber, podcast listeners want to hear a story, learn something new, and find someone you would want to hang out with. One festival session ticked all three boxes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.birdseyeviewpodcast.net/">Bird’s Eye View</a> was made in Darwin Correctional Centre over two years. Funded by the Northern Territory government and the Australia Council and independently distributed, Birds Eye View gives a remarkable insight into the lives of incarcerated women.</p>
<p>With raw empathy, the podcast shares moving stories of women talking about abuse, addiction and crime on the outside along with darkly humorous stories of life on the inside. It’s a testament to deep relationships formed over a long and immersive production time. </p>
<p>The payoff is the compelling personal storytelling at which podcasting excels.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ynJKpjjvb","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Some producers fear with the industry so rapidly growing, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/spotify-wants-to-become-the-youtube-of-podcasts-it-would-be-terrible-for-the-industry/2020/05/27/394aec7c-a054-11ea-9590-1858a893bd59_story.html">market forces</a> could choke creativity and innovation. </p>
<p>An old adage holds that if you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made. If the big podcasting platforms figure that one out we will all be the poorer. </p>
<p>Podcasting’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/03/its-boom-time-for-podcasts-but-will-going-mainstream-kill-the-magic">special ingredients</a> have long been the authenticity of its wide range of voices and the intimate relationship they engender with the audience, speaking directly into our ears. If those defining characteristics get subverted in a push for profit, much of podcasting’s magic will be lost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan McHugh will receive consultancy funding from Lockdown Productions, which will be making a podcast with Audible Australia. She has also received funding for podcast production from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Podcasts were once a niche hobby of the internet. Now (thanks to Spotify), Michelle Obama is joining the fray.
Siobhan McHugh, Associate Professor, Journalism, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122997
2019-09-11T12:19:26Z
2019-09-11T12:19:26Z
Why community-owned grocery stores like co-ops are the best recipe for revitalizing food deserts
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291808/original/file-20190910-190044-cpinfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Detroit People's Food Co-op, opening later this year in a food desert, is an example of a community-driven project.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DPFC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tens of millions of Americans <a href="https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-hunger-us">go to bed hungry</a> at some point every year. While poverty is the primary culprit, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722409/">some blame food insecurity</a> on the lack of grocery stores in low-income neighborhoods.</p>
<p>That’s why <a href="https://www.ccachicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Chicago-2011-Transition-Report.pdf">cities</a>, <a href="http://thefoodtrust.org/what-we-do/supermarkets">states</a> and national leaders including former first lady <a href="https://foodinsight.org/first-lady-michelle-obamas-healthy-food-financing-initiative-announcement-highlights-the-importance-of-affordable-healthful-foods-in-underserved-communities/">Michelle Obama</a> made eliminating so-called “food deserts” a priority in recent years. This prompted some of the biggest U.S. retailers, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/retailers-seek-answers-to-food-desert-problem-2016-11-10">such as Walmart, SuperValu and Walgreens</a>, to <a href="https://apnews.com/8bfc99c7c99646008acf25e674e378cf">promise to open or expand</a> stores in underserved areas. </p>
<p>One problem is that many neighborhoods in inner cities <a href="https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/usp_fac/191/">fear gentrification</a>, when big corporations swoop in with development plans. As a result, some new supermarkets never <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/12/23/philadelphia-artist-defeats-eminent-domain-land-grab-will-keep-his-studio/#7cf79659591e">got past the planning stage</a> or <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/8/3325">closed within a few months of opening</a> because residents did not shop at the new store. </p>
<p>To find out why some succeeded while others failed, three colleagues and I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1863">performed an exhaustive search</a> for every supermarket that had plans to open in a food desert since 2000 and what happened to each. </p>
<h2>What’s a food desert?</h2>
<p>I’m actually rather skeptical that food deserts have a significant impact on whether Americans go hungry.</p>
<p>In previous research with urban planners <a href="https://www.pdx.edu/profile/meet-professor-megan-horst">Megan Horst</a> and <a href="http://foodsystemsplanning.ap.buffalo.edu/raj/">Subhashni Raj</a>, we found that diet-related health <a href="https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.43.3.328">more closely correlates with household income</a> than with access to a supermarket. One can be poor, live near a grocery store and still be unable to afford a healthy diet.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the lack of one, particularly in urban neighborhoods, is often a broader sign of disinvestment. In addition to selling food, supermarkets act as <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedfcr/y2009p75-87nv.5no.3.html">economic generators</a> by providing local jobs and offering the convenience of neighborhood services, such as pharmacies and banks. </p>
<p>I believe every neighborhood should have these amenities. But how should we define them?</p>
<p>U.K.-based public health researchers Steven Cummins and Sally Macintyre coined the term in the 1990s and described food deserts as low-income communities whose residents <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098022000011399">didn’t have the purchasing power</a> to support supermarkets. </p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture began looking at these areas in <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-environment-atlas/">2008</a>, when it officially defined food deserts as communities with either 500 residents or 33% of the population living more than a mile from a supermarket in urban areas. The distance jumps to 10 miles away in rural areas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291841/original/file-20190910-190002-ujn60d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The map shows how many people in different counties across the country lived in food deserts in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-environment-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/">USDA ERS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the agency has created <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/">three other ways</a> to measure food deserts, we stuck with the original 2008 definition for our study. By that measure, <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/82101/eib-165.pdf?v=0">about 38% of U.S. Census tracts</a> were food deserts in 2015, the latest data available, slightly down from 39.4% in 2010. </p>
<p>That means about 19 million people, or 6.2% of the U.S. population, <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/">lived in a food desert in 2015</a>.</p>
<h2>Michelle Obama makes it a priority</h2>
<p><a href="http://thefoodtrust.org/what-we-do/supermarkets">The Food Trust</a> was among the first to tackle the problem. In 2004, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit used US$30 million in state seed money to help finance 88 supermarket projects throughout Pennsylvania, which helped make healthy food available to about 400,000 underserved residents. </p>
<p>Our research followed the success as it drew attention nationally. Rahm Emanuel <a href="https://www.ccachicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Chicago-2011-Transition-Report.pdf">made eliminating food deserts in Chicago a top initiative</a> when he became the city’s mayor in 2011. And Michelle Obama <a href="https://foodinsight.org/first-lady-michelle-obamas-healthy-food-financing-initiative-announcement-highlights-the-importance-of-affordable-healthful-foods-in-underserved-communities/">helped launch</a> the <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/programs/community-economic-development/healthy-food-financing">Healthy Food Financing Initiative</a> in 2010 to encourage supermarkets to open in food deserts across the country. The following year major food retailers promised to open or expand 1,500 <a href="http://get-hwhc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Partnership-for-a-Healthier-America.pdf">supermarket or convenience stores</a> in and around food desert neighborhoods by 2016.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/supermarkets-in-food-deserts-development-financing-health-promotion.pdf">receiving generous federal financial support</a>, retailers <a href="https://apnews.com/8bfc99c7c99646008acf25e674e378cf">managed to open or expand just 250 stores</a> in food deserts during the period. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291648/original/file-20190909-109952-1j1a1zm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The food trust financed dozens of supermarket projects in Pennsylvania in 2004.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Healthy-Corner-Stores-/75483a880946408da27cd14c0fd03293/2/0">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to grow in a food desert</h2>
<p>We wanted to dig deeper and see just how many of the new stores were actually supermarkets and how they’ve fared. </p>
<p>I teamed up with <a href="https://www.spi.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-benjamin-chrisinger">Benjamin Chrisinger</a>, <a href="https://humanecology.ucdavis.edu/student-spotlight">Jose Flores</a> and <a href="https://sociology.ucdavis.edu/people/cglennie">Charlotte Glennie</a> and examined press releases, website listings and scholarly studies to assemble a database of supermarkets that had announced plans to open new locations in food deserts since 2000. </p>
<p>We were particularly interested in the driving forces behind each project. </p>
<p>We identified only 71 supermarket plans that met our criteria. Of those, 21 were driven by government, 18 by community leaders, 12 by nonprofits and eight by commercial interests. Another dozen were driven by a combination of government initiative with community involvement.</p>
<p>Then we looked at how many actually stuck around. We found that all 22 of the supermarkets opened by community or nonprofits are still open today. Two were canceled, while six are in progress. </p>
<p>In contrast, nearly half of the commercial stores and a third of the government developments have closed or didn’t it make it past planning. Five of the government/community projects also failed or were canceled.</p>
<p><iframe id="QNZor" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/QNZor/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>A shuttered supermarket is more than just a business failure. It <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40499246/how-closing-grocery-stores-perpetuate-food-deserts-long-after-theyre-gone">can perpetuate the food desert problem</a> for years and prevent new stores from opening in the same location, <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/01/10/louisville-food-deserts-how-grocery-stores-closing-hurt-community/1944809002/">worsening a neighborhood’s blight</a>. </p>
<h2>Why co-ops succeeded</h2>
<p>So why did the community-driven supermarkets survive and thrive? </p>
<p>Importantly, 16 of the 18 community-driven cases were structured as cooperatives, which are rooted in their communities through customer ownership, democratic governance and shared social values. </p>
<p>Community engagement is vital to opening and sustaining a new store in neighborhoods where residents are understandably skeptical of outside developers and worry about <a href="https://www.attomdata.com/news/market-trends/attom-data-solutions-2019-grocery-store-battle/">gentrification and rising rents</a>. Cooperatives often adopt local hiring practices, <a href="https://cdi.coop/coop-cathy-coops-benefit-communities/">pay living wages</a> and help residents counteract <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/01/25/new-research-explores-the-ongoing-impact-of-racism-on-the-u-s-farming-landscape">inequities in the food system</a>. <a href="https://www.fci.coop/sites/default/files/Startup%20guide-02.2017.pdf">Their model</a>, in which a third of the cost of opening typically comes from member loans, ensures communities are literally invested in their new stores and their use. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mandelagrocery.coop/">Mandela Co-op</a>, which opened in a West Oakland, California, food desert in 2009, is a great example of this. The worker-owned grocery store focuses on purchasing from farmers and food entrepreneurs of color. As a result of its success, the Mandela Co-op <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Mandela-Grocery-Cooperative-marks-10-years-in-13959570.php?psid=mc7QM">is expanding</a> and supporting the local economy at the same time many commercial supermarkets are closing locations as the <a href="https://www.grocerydive.com/news/why-grocery-consolidation/535608/">grocery industry consolidates</a>.</p>
<p>Our study suggests policymakers and <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/action/doSearch?AllField=food+desert&ConceptID=">public health officials interested</a> in improving wellness in food deserts should take community ownership and involvement into account. </p>
<p>The success of a supermarket intervention is predicated on use, which may not happen without community buy-in. Supporting cooperatives is one way to ensure that shoppers show up.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Brinkley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Prodded by Michelle Obama and other government leaders, Walmart and other major US retailers vowed to build hundreds of stores in food deserts. What happened?
Catherine Brinkley, Assistant Professor of Community and Regional Development, University of California, Davis
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115341
2019-05-08T11:31:05Z
2019-05-08T11:31:05Z
Psychology behind why your mom may be the mother of all heroes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273183/original/file-20190507-103085-1p6o5o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Moms leave their mark.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/eo11MS0FSnk">Bruno Nascimento/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each May, the United States celebrates Mother’s Day, and for good reason. According to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/heroes-9780199739745">surveys I’ve conducted</a>, over 25% of Americans cite their mother as their number one hero. Fathers come in a distant second at 16%.</p>
<p>Moms are indeed the mother of all heroes.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273199/original/file-20190507-73121-1eljlwr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abraham Maslow organized what he believed were universal human needs into a pyramid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/maslows-hierarchy-needs-1215408931">mayrum/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than 60 years ago, psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed his famous <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1955-02233-000">hierarchy of human needs</a>, spanning the most basic biological needs to the pinnacle of realizing one’s full potential. Mothers are masters at helping their children meet this full range of human needs: from providing physical nourishment and safety, love and affection, all the way up to supporting emotional and spiritual growth.</p>
<p>Survey respondents report their mothers as heroic in helping them progress through the various stages of Maslow’s model – even if they don’t call it that. A good mother feeds you, protects you, loves you, helps you connect with others and encourages you to become your best self. She’s fulfilling what <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1S8fK9sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">psychologists including me</a> <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/heroes-9780199739745">have identified as</a> the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00130">four important functions of a hero</a>: provide defense and protection; embody <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12094">intelligence and wisdom</a>; model moral behavior; and promote enhancement and inspiration.</p>
<p>Here’s how moms do it.</p>
<h2>1. Mothers defend and protect</h2>
<p>Amazing stories abound of mothers doing whatever it takes to save their children, whether lifting astronomical weights or sacrificing their own lives. It is commonplace to see headlines about mothers saving and protecting their children in the most harrowing of circumstances.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273200/original/file-20190507-73121-1iz6t1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Respondents reminisced about their own ‘Mama Bears.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mama-grizzly-bear-cubs-567175354">Holocene Eco Pros/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The protection function of heroes is seen in the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/heroes-9780199739745">comments of survey respondents</a> about why their mothers are their heroes. Typical responses include, “My mother protected me from neighborhood bullies” and “My mother kept me safe from predators.” In her review of the psychological mechanisms of motherhood, Rebecca M. Fischer, a student researcher here at the University of Richmond, found that <a href="https://works.bepress.com/scott_allison/76/">mothers are “biologically driven to protect</a>, care for and motivate their children to succeed.”</p>
<p>Other colleagues of mine at Richmond, neuroscientists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.03.007">Craig H. Kinsley</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=elVzfF0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Kelly G. Lambert</a>, have discovered that <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-maternal-brain/">motherhood changes the brain</a> in female rats, producing maternal behaviors directed toward protecting their young from danger. In human beings, too, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pregnancy-causes-lasting-changes-in-a-womans-brain/">women’s brains undergo significant remodeling</a> that lasts more than two years after birth. These changes help women with the transition into motherhood and may include a readiness to protect and defend the baby.</p>
<p>Human infants are <a href="https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/06/22/helpless-at-birth-why-human-babies-are-different-than-other-animals/">among the most vulnerable of all primates</a>. No wonder our species evolved to have mothers who risk it all to protect us when we are so small and fragile.</p>
<h2>2. Mothers provide intelligence and wisdom</h2>
<p>Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence suggesting that <a href="https://psychology-spot.com/did-you-know-that-intelligence-is/">intelligence is inherited more from mothers</a> than from fathers.</p>
<p>Beyond this genetic inheritance, mothers tend to be committed to passing on wisdom to their children. My own mother taught me that the most important things in life are intangible and cannot be bought – love, integrity, character and honesty.</p>
<p>Many of Americans’ most cherished heroes credit their mothers for teaching them fundamental truths about life. George Washington apocryphally observed that “<a href="https://adoption.com/10-quotes-from-george-washington-and-abraham-lincoln">all I am I owe to my mother</a>. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” Famed musician Stevie Wonder has reportedly called his mother his “<a href="https://esme.com/single-moms/sons-daughters/stevie-wonder-and-his-greatest-teacher">greatest teacher</a>.” </p>
<p>And mothers often impart intentional life lessons to their children. Former first lady Michelle Obama observed: “Life is practice and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/11/michelle-obama-shares-the-no-1-lesson-she-learned-from-her-mom.html">I tell my girls this every day</a>. You are practicing who you are going to be. … Do you want to be dependable? Then you have to be dependable. If you want people to trust you then you have to be trustworthy.”</p>
<p>Legendary tales of heroism <a href="https://www.newworldlibrary.com/Books/ProductDetails/tabid/64/SKU/15936/Default.aspx#.XNCMsdNKgu8">almost always include mentors</a> who possess enduring wisdom and are willing to share it. Mothers serve as mentors to their sons and daughters when they need guidance while growing up.</p>
<h2>3. Mothers are moral models</h2>
<p>A good mother tries to provide an example of high standards of human conduct.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273186/original/file-20190507-103053-nd7asu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Moms do a lot by example.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/RRZM3cwS1DU">James Wheeler/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In his <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/06/presidential-proclamation-mothers-day-2016">2016 Presidential Proclamation of Mother’s Day</a>, Barack Obama emphasized how mothers “shape America’s character.” He noted how many mothers “struggle to raise children while pursuing their careers or as single parents working to provide for their families” and how mothers lead “by powerful example and overcoming obstacles so their sons and daughters can reach their fullest potential.”</p>
<p>As children, many people watch their mothers’ selflessness and daily sacrifices, and learn that we’re all called to perform these acts of kindness for others. Heroes <a href="https://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2013/05/17/10-reasons-why-we-need-heroes/">are beacons of hope</a> who demonstrate how to behave virtuously. Sounds like a lot of moms.</p>
<h2>4. Mothers enhance and inspire</h2>
<p>The respondents to my colleagues’ and my hero surveys never fail to mention how <a href="https://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2013/05/17/10-reasons-why-we-need-heroes/">their mothers made them better people</a>. Typical responses include, “My mother inspired me to become my best self” and “My mother motivated me to develop my fullest potential.” </p>
<p>A good mother thinks the world of her children and wants what’s best for them. She encourages her kids to reach for the stars and maximize their fullest potential. As Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg has said, her mother “raised me and my sister to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-coo-sandberg-the-women-of-my-generation-blew-it-so-equality-is-up-to-you-graduates-2011-5">believe that we could do anything</a>, and we believed her.” </p>
<p>My own research on heroism indicates that hero stories throughout the ages were designed to energize and motivate their audience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12094">to become better people</a> – an important part of the job description for moms, too.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273201/original/file-20190507-73100-3u7oyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The job of a mother doesn’t end at a certain age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elderly-woman-her-adult-daughter-1097362091">De Visu/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Despite any flaws, moms come out on top</h2>
<p>Do women instantly become saints when they have a child? Of course not. Certainly there are plenty of mothers out there who don’t fit these somewhat idealized descriptions.</p>
<p>But of all the people to pick from as heroes – presidents, humanitarians, legends, coaches and family members – <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/heroes-9780199739745">our survey respondents listed mothers as their number one hero</a>. Mothers, we learned, meet people’s needs and mold them into their best selves more effectively than any other individual the respondents encountered. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/story/14115577/1/why-mother-s-day-beats-father-s-day-for-both-spending-and-deals.html">Mother’s Day far exceeds Father’s Day</a> in terms of greeting card sales and gift expenditures, and for good reason. Mothers come out on top in our poll of heroes because of the free offering of love that they provide. Good moms are there for you when you need emotional support. They hug you. They comfort you when you cry and let you sit on their laps. They kiss you on your cheeks before school and at bedtime at night. </p>
<p>Yes, social norms are changing and <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/06/14/the-new-american-father/">fathers are taking on the role of nurturers</a> more than in previous generations. But the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Heroism-and-Heroic-Leadership/Allison-Goethals-Kramer/p/book/9781138915657">emerging psychological science of heroism</a> helps explain why many people reserve a special place in their hearts for their heroic mothers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott T. Allison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Psychology researchers are interested in what makes a hero. Turns out many mothers tick off those same boxes by fulfilling a range of needs for their offspring.
Scott T. Allison, Professor of Psychology, University of Richmond
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115717
2019-04-24T13:50:30Z
2019-04-24T13:50:30Z
Why nonfiction books dominate bestseller lists in South Africa
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270457/original/file-20190423-175510-1w4md7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pieter-Louis Myburgh's "Gangster State" is one of South Africa's top sellers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Leonard</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Books in South Africa don’t often make headline news. But a controversial subject, protests and disruptions at a book launch, and threats of book burning are sufficient to get South Africans talking about the place of books in society once again. </p>
<p>This is exactly what has <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/04/09/gangster-state-book-launch-disrupted-by-protesters">happened</a> with investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s latest book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/gangster-state-unravelling-ace-magashule%E2%80%99s-web-capture/9781776093748">“Gangster State”</a>. </p>
<p>“Gangster State” is an exposé of current African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Ace Magashule’s alleged murky dealings as premier of the Free State province, and his rise to one of the governing party’s most influential positions. The book has stirred up passionate reactions, both for and against its contents. </p>
<p>This last happened in late 2017 when another investigative reporter Jacques Pauw published a similar book, <a href="http://www.nb.co.za/books/20140">“The President’s Keepers”</a>. That book dealt with South Africa’s previous head of state, Jacob Zuma, who’s been closely <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/people/jacob-zuma.html">linked</a> to massive corruption. Zuma <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/zuma-corruption-case-another-attempt-to-tarnish-my-name-20181120">denies</a> the allegations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-books-that-tell-the-unsettling-tale-of-south-africas-descent-87044">Two books that tell the unsettling tale of South Africa's descent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Clearly, this kind of book touches a certain chord in South African society. A quick glance through the top-selling books in the past few years shows that non-fiction, and particularly political non-fiction dealing with very topical events, is the most popular genre. </p>
<p>The trend can be traced back through a number of years, with nonfiction consistently dominating the Nielsen’s BookScan <a href="http://www.sapnet.co.za/nielsenbookdatarecordsupplyservice.php">sales charts</a> - the most comprehensive figures collected on book sales through commercial booksellers. This raises the question: why do political books do so well in South Africa? </p>
<h2>Celebrities</h2>
<p>This isn’t a uniquely South Africa phenomenon. Nonfiction is popular around the world. Celebrities’ memoirs or biographies, as well as history titles, are more likely to become bestsellers than any other kinds of nonfiction. Indeed, Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” caused a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/books/paper-printers-holiday-sales-books-publishers.html">paper shortage</a> in the US towards the end of 2018, as it was reprinted in such large quantities and at short notice to keep up with audience demand. This title has now sold more than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47704987">10 million copies</a> worldwide. </p>
<p>Where South Africa differs is in the balance of sales between nonfiction and fiction. In most of the largest publishing markets, fiction is bought at much higher rates than nonfiction. In the US, for instance, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4622404.pdf">average sales</a> for fiction titles are between 4 000 and 8 000 copies, while the nonfiction average is lower, at 2 000 to 6 000 copies.</p>
<p>In South Africa, it’s the reverse. Nonfiction <a href="https://qz.com/africa/874444/south-africas-bestselling-books-are-mostly-about-south-africas-political-dysfunction/">outsells</a> fiction. This is not a new trend, either: political books found a ready audience throughout the apartheid period. </p>
<p>There are a few categories of nonfiction that do particularly well: political nonfiction, South African history (especially political history), religious books – and the ubiquitous cookbooks. The authors that have the edge tend to be journalists rather than academics, probably because their writing is so much more accessible. </p>
<p>Statistically, too, men write more nonfiction than women in South Africa, and so are more likely to produce top-selling titles, as was found by one of my post-graduate students, Kelly Ansara, in her Master’s study of the gender balance in SA publishing.</p>
<h2>South African trends</h2>
<p>In analysing the publishing lists and sales figures of the local nonfiction publishers – Pan Macmillan, Jonathan Ball, Penguin SA, Tafelberg and Jacana, on the whole – another difference becomes apparent. Books by and about celebrities are not as popular in South Africa as in the US and UK. Their sales are thus less predictable. </p>
<p>For instance, while former Springbok rugby coach Jake White’s “In Black and White” sold more than 60 000 copies in a week in 2008, star rugby player Joost van der Westhuizen’s “Man in the Mirror” was less successful. Comedian Trevor Noah’s memoir, “Born a Crime”, has been extremely successful, but titles by local musicians and actors such as Bonang Matheba and Somizi Mhlongo have sold comparatively few copies. </p>
<p>The raft of competing titles that hit the shelves after the murder conviction of former Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius did not take off as well as expected. Excellent titles on topics as diverse as climate change and South African art sell a respectable number, but don’t make the bestseller list.</p>
<p>Many of the country’s nonfiction titles sell several thousand copies very quickly, but few of them have staying power. Current interest is intense in topics like <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/group/State_Capture/">state capture</a> and corruption scandals. But it fades quickly, leading to a short shelf-life for a number of political books. Only a few gain the perennial interest and staying power of a title like “I Write What I Like” by Steve Biko or Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom”.</p>
<h2>Making sense</h2>
<p>Many commentators suggest that the interest in political and current affairs titles reflects a nation trying to make sense of its tumultuous political environment. The huge political and social shifts of the past 20 to 30 years are still influencing South Africans’ daily lives. With one corruption scandal following another, trust in the authorities is low. But citizens still seek authoritative overviews and answers - in the nonfiction titles that line our shelves.</p>
<p>There is little reason to predict that the trend will change. However, if the threats mount, then we may see authors and publishers shifting to less controversial topics. For now, it’s great to see books in the news again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth le Roux does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Political books touches a certain chord in South African society that makes them bestsellers.
Beth le Roux, Associate Professor, Publishing, University of Pretoria
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113019
2019-04-10T10:49:31Z
2019-04-10T10:49:31Z
Michelle Obama is a surprise textbook example of how women thrive and grow through adulthood
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267881/original/file-20190405-180023-1tdyjl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=728%2C230%2C2766%2C1912&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michelle Obama charted her own course, prioritizing what she values.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Michelle-Obama-School-Lunches/98365888e3664ec1bb3f5ffee2f75e17/2/0">AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267623/original/file-20190404-123431-t87yr7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The individual story told in the former first lady’s bestselling memoir is emblematic of the best-case version of women’s development and fulfillment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562881/becoming-by-michelle-obama/">Penguin Random House</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Michelle Obama’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562881/becoming-by-michelle-obama/">Becoming</a>” can be read in many ways: as a political memoir, as a story of being black and aspiring in America or as a Cinderella story that transports an ambitious black girl from a 900-square-foot apartment to a home with “132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and 28 fireplaces spread out over six floors, and a staff of ushers, florists, housekeepers, butlers and attendants for her every need.”</p>
<p>As a psychologist who tries to better understand the course of women’s growth throughout adulthood, I was surprised to see that it can also be read as an illustration of how women ideally evolve. For decades, psychologists have relied on psychologist <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12014">Erik Erikson’s theoretical model of the stages of life</a>, a model based on how men develop that largely overlooks women.</p>
<p>I’ve spent 45 years studying women’s lives to remedy this gap, most recently publishing “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Paths-Fulfillment-Womens-Meaning-Identity/dp/0190250399">Paths to Fulfillment: Women’s Search for Meaning and Identity</a>.” I followed 26 randomly chosen college-educated women from ages 21 to 58. They came from large cities, small towns and rural areas. Some were the first of their families to go to college, and many struggled with early poverty and abuse. All married at some point in their lives, and just over half of them had children. Most cultivated some kind of profession; others simply “worked.” In analyzing their lives, I offer a way of thinking about women’s life journeys that depicts the stages of adulthood for those who surmount the challenges they encounter. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1062426467869642753"}"></div></p>
<p>Michelle Robinson Obama, despite living an extraordinary life, exemplifies the optimal path of development I found among my “ordinary” women. In contrast to Erikson’s male life stages, I learned that relationships to others are central for women’s development in adulthood. Candid about her inner life, Michelle titles her life chapters “Becoming Me,” “Becoming Us” and “Becoming More,” which map perfectly with the psychological stages of identity, intimacy and care – the eras I identified in women’s lives. In that sense, Michelle Obama represents “Everywoman.” </p>
<h2>‘Becoming Me’ – the challenge of identity</h2>
<p>Like the women I followed, Michelle found her fulfillment in ways very different from what she had expected. As a young girl, she had modest aspirations: a family, a dog and “a house that had stairs in it – two floors for one family.” </p>
<p>Optimal identity formation involves exploring possibilities, reworking the goals of childhood and forging one’s own path. Michelle Robinson set her sights on becoming a successful lawyer, emulating the people she had observed in downtown Chicago, “in smart outfits” and moving with purpose. Dogged through her adolescence and early adulthood by the question “Am I good enough?,” becoming a Harvard-degreed corporate lawyer showed her that she was.</p>
<p>Her identity crisis came when she recognized she didn’t really want the life she’d achieved. She felt empty practicing law. Taking a big occupational risk, she found that working in public service or for nonprofit organizations felt like doing something for a larger good. Identity – “becoming me” – came from achieving her goals and then taking on what she expressed as the “universal challenge of squaring who you are with where you come from and where you want to go.”</p>
<p>Like Michelle Obama, women in my study often realized, in their 30s, that their initial choices were not what fit them. Generationally, they were among the first to penetrate meaningfully into the work world where opportunities for self-realization were opening. They could become judges or take on management roles. They could leave social work and become teachers for more family-friendly hours. They could, like Michelle, think seriously about what suited them and change course. They could create their own identity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267882/original/file-20190405-180044-1ubeauu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Part of moving toward fulfillment was finding a true partner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Obama-Easter-Egg-Roll/26366caecc434a2b9204cc7f386a672d/3/0">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Becoming us’ – intimacy</h2>
<p>The quest for intimacy, which became central in their 20s, led many women in my study to modify their own occupational goals in light of their partners’.</p>
<p>Like many of them, Michelle chose her mate after a period of developing friendship rather than initial passion. Once married, she then had the challenge of aligning her goals with his – which were far from her dream of recreating the close, warm family she’d grown up in. Michelle disdained politics and resented Barack’s time away from the family. She refused to uproot her children and move to Washington when he was a senator. Out of love, she supported Barack’s presidential run, but didn’t think he would win and, in some ways, hoped he wouldn’t. Intimacy was leading her on a path she would never have chosen.</p>
<p>Many of the women in my study followed similar trajectories although, of course, on a smaller scale. One woman, Betty, had to readjust her goals as a physical therapist when her husband made a fortune in real estate and, in their 30s, wanted to retire and spend their time traveling. Maria, a nurse from a traditional Italian American family, had to become the family breadwinner when her husband was physically disabled. Like Michelle, each had to rework her identity to accommodate the unforeseen circumstances of her spouse. </p>
<h2>‘Becoming more’ – care</h2>
<p>Adulthood is about <a href="https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/foley/research/generativity/">what psychologists call generativity</a>: investing in projects of care. Once situated in the White House, which she partly regarded as a prison, Michelle sought to focus her energies and use her influence for a larger good.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267883/original/file-20190405-180041-n12iwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michelle, as much as she could, tried to prevent Barack’s position from interfering with what she prioritized: family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Obama-Malia-s-Graduation/ce7d807882244ea08db57ed9fa0fb2b7/4/0">AP Photo/M. Spencer Green</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Michelle never internalized the media’s representation of her as a celebrity “rock star.” Instead, her generative need to promote well-being in children through nutrition and exercise were what motivated her - and she used her fame and special status for these ends. She was passionate about being a role model for girls, and she still tried to create a close family. She writes that one of the best things about her husband being president was that their home was above his office and he could be present for dinner most nights – helping ensure as normal a family life for their daughters as possible.</p>
<p>“Becoming more” – or finding a way to care for others – was central in the lives of the most fulfilled woman I have studied. When these women reflect on the meaning of their lives at age 58, teachers describe students who returned to thank them for things they said that changed their lives. A doctor remembers working as a volunteer with AIDS patients. A judge recounts letters she received from claimants who were helped by her decision. A mother spoke of how well her autistic child had done with her efforts to find him support. Those whose lives had the most meaning were those who felt they’d had impact on the lives of others.</p>
<h2>Culminating in fulfillment</h2>
<p>Not all of the women I have studied felt fulfilled by age 58. Some were still trying to master the identity task, having drifted through life. Others never found the intimacy that could anchor their care.</p>
<p>But those who felt their lives most meaningful at age 58 followed the path that Michelle Obama details. They created themselves, shared this self deeply with another person and found that they could “become more” by offering themselves to promote others’ well-being. Of course, this can happen outside the traditional mold of marriage and children – many of the most profound and fulfilling connections my women reported came through their work or other relationships.</p>
<p>Like Michelle Obama, thriving midlife women create themselves in a network of interconnection with other people. They are contributing in some important way to the lives of others. They don’t talk a lot about making money or climbing ladders. That’s not where their ambition is.</p>
<p>As one of the women I’ve studied put it, “You find yourself by giving yourself away.” For women, and perhaps for men as well, mature identity, intimacy and care develop in the context of relationship, something that psychology is just beginning to understand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruthellen Josselson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A psychologist unexpectedly realized that Obama’s memoir ‘Becoming’ mirrors the life stages she’s identified in a group of women she’s been tracking since 1970.
Ruthellen Josselson, Professor of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106297
2018-11-13T13:09:03Z
2018-11-13T13:09:03Z
Michelle Obama’s Becoming is an insight into inequality, feminism and a FLOTUS who broke the mould
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245298/original/file-20181113-194488-1e0vun3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michelle Obama: on the campaign trail.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU0MjEzNTk3NSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTMyNDc2NjU3IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzEzMjQ3NjY1Ny9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJiQUZmYys4YkJvRnF3STcwRjBZc1BOeXgyMjQiXQ%2Fshutterstock_132476657.jpg&pi=33421636&m=132476657&src=mceD7ic-zyK7ZAsPV_sBAQ-1-31">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Time magazine described it as a tour <a href="http://time.com/5395384/michelle-obama-arena-tour-becoming/">“fit for a rock star”</a>. This is not how book promotional outings are usually billed – but then this is no ordinary tome. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/13/michelle-obama-wanted-everything-read-exclusive-extract-memoir-becoming">memoirs of Michelle Obama</a> comprise one half of a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/barack-and-michelle-obama-sign-joint-book-deal-worth-over-65-million-report-562409">US$65m joint publishing deal</a> for the former first couple’s autobiographies.</p>
<p>One measure of predicted global interest is that Michelle Obama’s book, <a href="https://becomingmichelleobama.com">Becoming</a>, will be translated into 28 languages. The month-long tour plan is bold, taking in ten major arenas, with an all-star line-up of moderators including Oprah Winfrey, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, businesswoman Valerie Jarrett, actress Sarah Jessica Parker and more. One is left in absolutely no doubt that the legacy of this First Lady stands robustly alongside that of her husband. Very few of her predecessors can make this claim. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245294/original/file-20181113-194509-ypix1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Michelle Obama with husband, president elect Barack Obama, and daughters Sasha and Malia Obama at the presidential election victory speech, Chicago, on November 4, 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU0MjEzNTU0NiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTgyNTU3NDA5IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzE4MjU1NzQwOS9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJBam5mQjBBellTZHNzd2lXK1Y0SndDVkM3Y0UiXQ%2Fshutterstock_182557409.jpg&pi=33421636&m=182557409&src=mceD7ic-zyK7ZAsPV_sBAQ-1-54">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before Barack Obama entered public life, Michelle was his mentor. When he was elected to the Senate, <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-why-michelle-was-working-mom-316k-year-we-didnt-have-luxury-her-not-work">she earned more than him</a>. Many <a href="http://time.com/4669078/michelle-barack-obama-law-harvard/">said</a> that she was smarter than him, and he was very smart indeed.</p>
<h2>The American Dream</h2>
<p>Michelle Obama is a potent symbol of what is good about America. She reminds us that an African American girl from the poorer end of town has the potential to do and be anything. And not to simply become First Lady, which was a role forced upon her. By determination and hard work, she got to Harvard and Princeton and carved out a highly successful career in her own right.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ICYb38sPXrs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>When obliged to embrace the role of presidential wife, her reluctance was palpable in those early days. Such caution was well founded. Her dynamism and ability were on display throughout the 2008 election, and she campaigned energetically for her husband. But even prior to his victory, she got a taste of the vitriol that would come later. In one unguarded moment, for example, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/michelle-obamas-proud-remarks-83559">she said during the presidential primaries in 2008</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her comments were made in relation to high voter turnout in the primaries but her opponents were not concerned with the context. Immediately, she was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/12/michelle-obama-memoir-becoming-five-takeaways">chastised and the criticism</a> from some quarters continued unabated. </p>
<h2>The ‘Angry Black Woman’</h2>
<p>Traditionally, the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) has been presented as an appendage of the president, whose priority was spousal loyalty, whatever the challenges involved. She spent her time entertaining, engaging in charitable endeavours, and attempting to provide some sort of normality to children being raised in a profoundly abnormal environment.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1062196568370171907"}"></div></p>
<p>Adichie talked of Michelle Obama having to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/t-magazine/michelle-obama-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-gloria-steinem-letter.html">“flatten herself”</a> to better fit the mould of First Lady. She reminds us that because Michelle Obama did not smile constantly and vacuously, but only when she felt like it, she was given that cheapest of derogatory labels – the Angry Black Woman. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/t-magazine/michelle-obama-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-gloria-steinem-letter.html">Adichie added</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Women, in general, are not permitted anger – but from black American women, there is an added expectation of interminable gratitude, the closer to groveling the better, as though their citizenship is a phenomenon that they cannot take for granted.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Michelle Obama, the nation suddenly was faced with this stunning, independent entity – and not everyone was pleased. Others, however, were thrilled as they watched her blow the doors off what was previously the suffocating confines of the First Lady’s office. </p>
<h2>FLOTUS and Feminism</h2>
<p>Prior to Michelle Obama, the First Lady story was too often one of wonderful, capable, intelligent women being shoe-horned into a claustrophobic position with no formal office, portfolio, title or, of course, salary. They simply had to button their lips and smile. But Michelle Obama revolutionised the role of the First Lady and, as a result, it’s as though feminism has finally been recognised as a part of what the FLOTUS could be.</p>
<p>We must also now recognise the meaningful impact that a First Lady can have in getting legislation passed, and implementing significant policy change. However humble Michelle Obama’s family origins on the South Side of Chicago were, she has a platform like few others, and she uses her voice to promote a positive message on a range of key issues, including her FLOTUS project on child health and nutrition. Indeed, she reveals in the book how she offered her successor, Melania Trump, help or advice – a gesture <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/12/politics/michelle-obama-melania-trump/index.html">so far ignored by Mrs Trump</a>.</p>
<p>In her final year as First Lady, one Gallup poll reported a 64% approval rating for her (noticeably higher than that of her husband). In her post-White House role, Michelle Obama’s approval ratings have remained strong and even increased since she left the <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1618/favorability-people-news.aspx">White House</a>. When compared to her deeply uncontroversial predecessors, such as Laura or Barbara Bush, however, her poll numbers were relatively low. It’s clear that anyone who pushes boundaries and breaks down barriers isn’t not going to please everyone. Hillary Clinton learned this lesson the hardest of ways, when she lost the presidency to Donald Trump. </p>
<p>But Michelle Obama is extraordinarily relatable, down to earth, too. It’s refreshing to see in her memoir, for example, an acknowledgement that when their marriage needed it, the Obamas sought professional help.</p>
<p>Michelle has continuously demonstrated the capacity to lead by example, to balance conflicting roles, to raise two strong and capable daughters, and to clearly still be in a loving marriage, despite the strain that comes with eight years of scrutiny and criticism. In the <a href="https://www.etonline.com/news/205507_president_obama_crashes_michelle_interview_with_oprah_praises_first_lady_masterful_political_talents">words of her husband</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The way in which she blended purpose and policy with fun so that she was able to reach beyond Washington on her health care initiatives, on her military family work was masterful. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She remains an inspiration for future First Ladies, and women and girls everywhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clodagh Harrington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Michelle Obama’s new memoir tells the tale of the First Lady’s remarkable, but sometimes troubled, journey.
Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor of American Politics, De Montfort University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/102703
2018-09-11T10:36:50Z
2018-09-11T10:36:50Z
The friendship of Michelle Obama and George W. Bush strikes a hopeful, important chord
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235681/original/file-20180910-123107-yvdupw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michelle Obama hugs George W. Bush at the opening of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Obama-Smithsonian-African-American-Museum/95e3d04b4ae146a1813ba5ccec46516c/8/0">Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, a <a href="http://time.com/5384902/george-bush-michelle-obama-candy-mccain-funeral/">video</a> showing George Bush passing candy to Michelle Obama at the funeral of John McCain went viral. That such a simple act of kindness should attract such wide attention is a notable sign of our divided and rancorous times. It reminds us how rare it has become to see people on a national stage treat one another kindly, as if friendship between them were a real possibility. As a physician, I can say that this apparent decline in prospects for friendship presents a real threat to our well-being.</p>
<p>Friendship is more important than many of us know. Aristotle, the person <a href="http://pantheon.media.mit.edu/rankings/people/all/all/-4000/2010/H15">MIT</a> claims exerted more influence in history than any other, declared that it is impossible to live a full human life without friends. Not surprisingly, he devoted a large portion of his <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html">most widely read work</a>, “The Nicomachean Ethics,” to the topic. What makes friendship so important to us? What factors enable friendships to thrive? And where can we look for examples of friendship at its best?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1035911156182011904"}"></div></p>
<h2>Friendship’s benefits</h2>
<p>One clear benefit of friendship is good health. A <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316">review</a> of 148 studies involving over 300,000 participants found that those with robust social relationships were 50 percent more likely to survive than those with poor ones, a benefit roughly equal to quitting smoking and twice that of regular exercise. Another <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167487007000694">review</a> found that separation and lack of social contact are strongly associated with a poor sense of well-being.</p>
<p>Such results should not surprise us. Aristotle <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,035:1:1253a">wrote</a> that human beings are social creatures. Every human infant comes into the world helpless, and it is only by virtue of years of care and child-rearing that any of us reaches maturity. The medical community is just now beginning to understand more clearly the vital role of friendship throughout the human lifespan, not just in the early years but also throughout life.</p>
<p>While it is possible to identify some generic features of thriving friendships, one of the best ways to understand the full richness and complexity of such relationships is to study the stories of great friends. Western literature brims with examples – <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html">Homer’s</a> Achilles and Patroclus, the <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-samuel/">Bible’s</a> Jonathan and David, and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-h/1342-h.htm">Jane Austen’s</a> Charlotte and Elizabeth. But recent American history has furnished its own shining examples.</p>
<h2>Dorothy and Peter</h2>
<p>Consider one of the most remarkable American friendships of the 20th century, <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/dorothy-day-9268575">Dorothy Day</a> (1897-1980) and <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/petermaurin/pm-biography.html">Peter Maurin</a> (1877-1949). Together they would found a movement known as the Catholic Worker, which still <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/communities/directory.html">operates</a> 220 houses of hospitality across the U.S. </p>
<p>As a young woman, Dorothy Day led a bohemian life, experiencing numerous love affairs, a failed marriage, suicide attempts and an abortion. With the birth of her daughter in 1926, she turned from her atheist common law husband to answer a religious calling. A gifted writer, she recounted her remarkable story in her 1952 <a href="https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/628.pdf">autobiography</a>, “The Long Loneliness.”</p>
<p>Peter Maurin was <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/petermaurin/pm-biography.html">born</a> to a poor working family in France and immigrated to America, where he worked as a French tutor. In the 1920s, inspired in part by the life of St. Francis of Assisi, he underwent a religious conversion, after which he embraced poverty as a gift from God and worked at menial jobs for room and board. Peter liked to contrast the contemporary view of beggars as bums with the ancient Greek view that they are the ambassadors of the gods.</p>
<p>Dorothy and Peter met in 1932. She was a journalist who had just returned from covering a hunger march in Washington, D.C., hungering herself for some cause to which she could devote her life. He was a street-corner prophet with big ideas who had failed to gain traction. She saw in him the answer to her prayers for a purpose in life, and he saw her as a person whose words and works could attract thousands to the cause.</p>
<p>In 1933, their new friendship really began bearing fruit. Peter suggested she start a newspaper, the <a href="https://www.catholicworker.org/forest-history.html">Catholic Worker</a>, which published its first issue on May 1, selling for a penny a copy. His ideas also served as the inspiration for <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/3.pdf">houses of hospitality</a> for the poor. By living with and serving the poor, Dorothy, Peter and those they attracted to the movement would not only talk and write about their ideas but also live them every day.</p>
<p>Dorothy and Peter could hardly have been more different. He was short, an immigrant, shabbily dressed, his pockets bulging with newspapers and pamphlets, his mind on fire with ideas. She was tall and striking, a cigarette often dangling from her mouth, and could readily inspire others to action. </p>
<h2>Features of great friendship</h2>
<p>Their friendship flourished first because they shared a common purpose. Such purposes might include building a thriving family, creating a business partnership, or simply bringing out the best in each other. Dorothy and Peter <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/176.html">believed</a> that they had been put on earth “to give people the vision of a society in which it is easier for people to be good.” Great friendship means more than enjoying one another’s company. It means sharing a vision and working to achieve it.</p>
<p>Second, instead of dividing them, their differences brought them more closely together. They complemented one another – Peter the absent-minded dreamer who lived in ideas, and Dorothy the activist whose street battles would land her in prison multiple times. Peter delighted in the title of agitator, but it was primarily Dorothy who would build the movement’s momentum. Each was a formidable force, but together they produced results far beyond the mere sum of their parts.</p>
<p>Third, their relationship depended on something far deeper than romance. Each was keenly aware of the differences between men and women, and they occasionally teased each other about them. For example, when Dorothy rejected Peter’s original name for the newspaper, he <a href="http://www.catholicworker.org/petermaurin/pm-biography.html">responded</a>, “Man proposes and woman disposes.” But because they shared a deep commitment to a common purpose, each tended to find in the quirks of the other cause not for consternation but delight.</p>
<p>Fourth, they regarded their relationship not as a secret to be jealously guarded for their own private enjoyment, but a renewable resource that could only grow through the sharing. <a href="https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/867.pdf">Wrote</a> Dorothy, “Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.” At first several, then dozens, and eventually hundreds of young people joined the movement. As it unfolded, they found their shared mission not diluted but intensified.</p>
<p>Finally, they both loved books and conversation. Peter read the Bible and the Lives of the Saints, to which Dorothy added the novels of Dickens and Tolstoy. She would frequently get to know visitors by asking them to <a href="https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file%3Faccession%3Ddayton1250126537%26disposition%3Dinline">name their favorite</a> of Dostoevsky’s novels. They regularly discussed such books and ideas at roundtable discussions, which helped to clarify their thinking and inspire their mission. To them, reading and conversation were not pastimes. They were means of discerning and affirming life’s purpose.</p>
<h2>Building friendships</h2>
<p>Our fascination with a simple act of human kindness between political rivals reveals our longing to see and experience friendship. But friendship, like love, is not a dish that can be reliably prepared merely by following a recipe. To find genuine friendship and reap the many benefits it can sow, we need to explore the elements of great friendship, including a common sense of purpose, a commitment to complementarity, a delight in difference, a summons to share and a love of learning.</p>
<p>Perhaps the greatest wonder of friendship comes through community. Dorothy Day said, “We have all known the long loneliness, and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” As MIT’s <a href="http://pantheon.media.mit.edu/rankings/people/all/all/-4000/2010/H15">second-most influential human being</a>, Plato, wrote in his dialogue “<a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html">Symposium</a>,” in isolation we are incomplete. It is only in the union of friendships that we stand a chance of leading truly complete lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gunderman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A simple act of kindness between George Bush and Michelle Obama illuminates our need for friendship and well-being.
Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/94368
2018-04-23T10:40:07Z
2018-04-23T10:40:07Z
How images change our race bias
<p>Images are not static. They grab our attention, incite desire, alter our relations to others, and tweak our beliefs, as they usher us into new worlds. </p>
<p>When “Black Panther” was released, Baye McNeil, a former Brooklynite now living in Japan, was thrilled. As he told The Japan Times, he <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2018/03/18/our-lives/black-panther-change-japanese-view-people-color/#.Wq_FaZPwbdQ">joined</a> “a group of palpably positive brothers and sisters” at a Tokyo theater. Collectively they were transported to the land of Wakanda. As an exile in Japan and a black man in a country with very few people of African descent, he and his friends entered, as he described, “a bountiful realm of invigorating messages and restorative images” that provided him with a sense of connection and belonging. </p>
<p>Baye McNeil was not alone. Back in the U.S., the writer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/magazine/why-black-panther-is-a-defining-moment-for-black-america.html">Carvell Wallace explained</a> how the movie’s fictional nation of Wakanda operated in very real ways to provide a world that African-Americans could aspire to, both as a place rooted in the past, as well as the future.</p>
<p>Whether it’s a blockbuster movie or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/03/politics/michelle-obama-portrait-girl-parker-curry/index.html">2-year-old Parker Curry</a> looking up at Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama, the images we all see matter.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf1tL5bgf5w","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Seeing is not just believing. Seeing changes what we believe, about ourselves and about other people, including constructions of race.</p>
<h2>Learning to see</h2>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/05/10/to-see-and-not-see">essay</a>, “To See and Not See,” the late writer and neurologist <a href="https://www.oliversacks.com/about-oliver-sacks/">Oliver Sacks</a> describes how seeing is not as easy as lifting our eyelids. Instead, as he said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When we open our eyes each morning, it is upon a world we have spent a lifetime learning to see. We are not given the world: we make our world through incessant experience, categorization, memory, reconnection.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, to have vision is one thing; to see is another.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://www.sbrentplate.net/books">research</a> investigates how we learn to see. <a href="https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=xEze9gQAAAAJ&hl=en">I’m interested</a> in the ways people use images, but equally interested in the ways images use people and change their perception.</p>
<p>We begin to imagine other people and how they appear, before we shake their hands, and well before any relationship might occur. We create mental models of others based on our past experiences, and these models influence any new encounters, whether we are conscious of them or not.</p>
<p>Cognitive psychologist <a href="http://pages.wustl.edu/dcl/jeff-zacks">Jeffrey Zacks</a>, in his book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/flicker-9780199982875?cc=us&lang=en&">“Flicker: Your Brain on Movies,”</a> offers this fascinating idea that can be either disturbing or offer positive feelings:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Whether we experience events in real life, watch them in a movie, or hear about them in a story, we build perceptual and memory representations in the same format.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed, studies in cognitive sciences show that our neural system does not easily differentiate between images we see on screen and images we see in “real life.” Baye McNeil and Carvell Wallace were under no illusion that Wakanda was not a real place, but the power of images is such that people can feel things in the world of cinema. Those feelings can transfer back into life outside the theater.</p>
<h2>Change our images, change our seeing</h2>
<p>It is precisely because our ability to see is largely learned and heavily influenced by media images, that we can also relearn how to see. A number of studies in cognitive sciences in recent years have shown how people can, for example, reduce racial biases through practices of seeing. </p>
<p>Psychologists have long <a href="https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1004&context=christian_meissner">documented</a> the “own-race bias,” also known as “other-race effect,” the inability of humans to recognize and distinguish faces of people from races other than their own. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096509000228">studies</a> have shown that already by nine months, infants demonstrate such perceptual narrowing. This occurs because babies in their first year are exposed primarily to close family members who tend to be of the same ethnic and racial background. For evolutionary reasons, this narrowing allows for quicker processing of relevant sensations by eliminating other competing neural processes. Our ancestors needed to distinguish their own kin more than they needed to recognize people from other places.</p>
<p>Today, a number of researchers are exploring the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15943669">reversibility</a> of the own-race bias, pointing out again the plasticity of our neural system.</p>
<p>One research group <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(14)00234-4">used bodily illusions</a>, such as setting white people in front of a computer screen that generates an image of that person, but makes light-skinned people appear darker-skinned. When tested later for racial biases, the biases diminished.</p>
<p>Another group <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019858">used picture books</a> to forestall the emergence of own race biases by showing images of Chinese people’s faces to Caucasian infants. After seeing more images of people from another race, the infants could continue to distinguish the other race faces better than a control group. </p>
<p>Still another study <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-23868-001">used clips from the movie</a> “The Joy Luck Club,” asking a group of white Americans to put themselves in the place of the main Chinese-American character, June. Subsequent tests found a reduction in implicit prejudice toward “outgroups” in general. </p>
<h2>Representation matters</h2>
<p>Because images matter, the types of images we see matter even more. Flat, two-dimensional images change our perception in the world <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/religion-and-film/9780231176750">beyond the movie theater</a>, outside the picture books.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"979167860978204672"}"></div></p>
<p>Of course, we can’t hook up a general population to computers and virtual reality environments that change our racial appearance or set up control environments for our children to have such experiences. But we can choose the images we see on a regular basis.</p>
<p>And that is why critiques such as <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/03/oscarssowhite-is-still-relevant-this-year">#OscarsSoWhite</a> matter so much. It’s not only that it would be more equitable to have more actors of color on the big screen, it’s that having more actors of color might actually change the racist presumptions of our culture at large.</p>
<p>Readers might recall Jessica Curry, the mother of the red-coated Parker Curry whose image is now firmly in the public eye as she stares at a portrait of Michelle Obama. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/opinion/michelle-obama-portrait-sherald-parker.html">As she wrote for The New York Times,</a> “Representation matters. … Only by being exposed to brilliant, intelligent, kind black women can my girls and other girls of color really understand that their goals and dreams are within reach.”</p>
<p>The creation of a less racist social system does not have a simple guidebook, and it would be naive to suggest that if we all started looking at better images, the world would be a better place. But then again, in its own small way, it might.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94368/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Seeing is not just believing. Seeing changes what we believe, about ourselves and about other people.
S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate, Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Hamilton College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/76138
2017-06-02T20:00:28Z
2017-06-02T20:00:28Z
Does changing style of hair or dress help black people avoid stigma?
<p>On the eve of the NBA Finals, superstar LeBron James found the “N-word” spray painted on his home. Not even <a href="http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19505341/police-looking-racial-slur-sprayed-front-gate-lebron-james-home-los-angeles">James</a>, with all his wealth, fame and success, is exempt from being <a href="https://theconversation.com/uncovering-the-roots-of-racist-ideas-in-america-71467">attacked with classic racist slurs</a>.</p>
<p>In the United States, blackness is stamped with centuries-old <a href="http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/book/hardcover/stamped-from-the-beginning/9781568584638">images and ideas</a> that assign it to <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo21386376.html">perpetual “last place</a>.”</p>
<p>One way blacks have historically responded to stigma – a discredited or disgraced identity – is by displaying what they understand as mainstream values associated with white elites. This strategy, often referred to as “respectability,” is intended to put on display black people’s fitness for full cultural and social citizenship, thereby protecting them from stigma or lowering their exposure to it.</p>
<p>We know from prior research that consumption has been an important <a href="http://www.springer.com/us/book/9780306460890">part of this strategy</a> since a full-fledged mass market emerged in the U.S. in the late 1800s. The mass market brought with it standard product quality, package sizes and prices. Before that, <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807848067/american-dreams-in-mississippi/">as historian Ted Ownby has detailed</a>, blacks had little chance to escape discrimination and stigmatized treatment at local general stores. The mass market, at least in principle, provided an opportunity to express equality with whites in a very tangible way.</p>
<p>These everyday acts of consumption may seem simple, but they gave birth to the Montgomery bus boycott and other acts of anti-racist resistance. Rosa Parks and Montgomery’s riders protested more than the indignity of “back of the bus” treatment. They protested paying full fare for less than full service. Likewise, the student sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the Jim Crow South, as well as protests at leisure places in the North <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15035.html">like swimming pools, golf courses and amusement parks</a>, protested for the rights of blacks to engage fully as consumers.</p>
<p>As a researcher who studies sociological aspects of consumption, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Crockett2/publications">including racial inequality</a>, I examine the question of how well consumption works to manage everyday anti-black stigma in a forthcoming study in the <a href="http://academic.oup.com/jcr/article/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucx049/3064204/Paths-to-Respectability-Consumption-and-Stigma?guestAccessKey=04bdd54a-31c8-47b4-b394-972286268627">Journal of Consumer Research</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s what I found.</p>
<h2>Two approaches</h2>
<p>My analysis shows that members of the contemporary black middle class continue to use consumption to combat stigma. However, after the end of the civil rights movement by 1970, the strategy splintered into two approaches.</p>
<p>The most traditional approach involves avoiding stigmatized objects and practices. The other approach, which emerged after 1970, uses cultural features of blackness to destigmatize objects and practices.</p>
<p>People at times use both strategies to combat “[Fill in the blank] while black” treatment at <a href="http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/587/">restaurants</a>, <a href="http://www.ebony.com/news-views/black-bank-profiling-lawsuit">banks</a>, in <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/02/02/city-council-oks-airport-ban-on-cab-drivers-who-refuse-customers-based-on-race/">taxis</a> or <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/study-finds-racial-discrimination-by-uber-and-lyft-drivers">using a ride-hailing app</a> like Uber or Lyft. </p>
<h2>How well do these strategies work?</h2>
<p><em>Note: To protect the anonymity of study participants, I do not identify specific locations. I also use pseudonyms.</em></p>
<p><strong>Case 1: When avoiding stigmatized things or actions works</strong>. No one better embodies this than former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (not participants in my study, unfortunately). Their entire public persona <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/how-the-obama-administration-talks-to-black-america/276015/">scrupulously avoids anti-black stigma</a>. </p>
<p>Many study participants likewise reported an emphasis on avoiding stigmatized objects and practices. For example, one person was critical of “sagging” pants or shorts as a style because it invites stigmatized treatment. They feel that this vigilance in avoiding stigma helps them “fit in” in predominantly white settings. </p>
<p><strong>Case 2: When avoiding stigmatized things or actions fails</strong>. Rather than 1950s-style discrimination or open racial hostility, participants emphasized seeing fewer benefits from middle-class status than their white counterparts. For instance, a group of participants who each migrated to a small, rural southern town from more cosmopolitan settings found that avoiding stigmatized objects and practices did not help them or their children fit in with white middle-class peers. They felt they were not granted the status that presumably comes with middle-class occupations, accomplishments and households. </p>
<p>A participant spoke about coming to terms with this in the context of his daughters’ experience at school. In a story I heard repeated, he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“You know when it hit me? Prom. That’s when it finally – when my daughter had to go to prom with her girlfriends… I was like how tough is this for you to be an A student, an athlete, doing the right thing, and you can’t even date these knuckleheads because they want certain things that you’re not ready to compromise?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Prom, with its formal dresses and tuxedos, bouquets and boutonnieres, hair, makeup and limousines, is the quintessential consumption event of adolescence. It is also where the politics of race, class and gender became crystal clear to this dad. His daughter refused to accept last-place stigma, which for black girls means the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10057104">presumption of openness to sexual advances</a>. Although she conformed to the classic “good girl” norms of achievement and chastity, this did not shield her from last place stigma. It also left her dateless on prom night. </p>
<p><strong>Case 3: When “oppositional respectability” succeeds</strong>. My study is the first to identify this approach to combating stigma, which emerged after 1970. Rather than avoid stigmatized things and actions, it seeks to remove stigma using features of black culture. For instance, one participant, Adam, does this by cultivating an identity as a cosmopolitan consumer of fine arts who especially loves African-American and African art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165153/original/image-20170412-25898-1j88v7x.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pieces from Adam’s art collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His extensive art collection is an expression of pride in his cultural heritage, although black art is historically stigmatized as <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/496153?journalCode=wp">“low-brow” and unrefined</a>. So how does he destigmatize these objects?</p>
<p>In my interview with him, his extensive knowledge of pieces with slave themes allow him to craft a story that centers (rather than minimizes) slavery as an ordeal that forged great strength of character. In his telling, that character – and in effect, the art – is part of his cultural heritage.</p>
<p><strong>Case 4: when “oppositional respectability” fails</strong>. Cynthia, a young, single, corporate attorney, lives in a midsized southern city. She migrated there, the city of her childhood, after law school. It’s a traditional black working-class and poor neighborhood derisively known as “Black Bottom.” She was one of few blacks to be part of a wave of gentrification in the neighborhood. Like Adam, she sought to combat last-place stigma by removing stigma from the neighborhood. The ways <a href="https://newsone.com/3114333/gentrification-is-racist-brooklyn-landlord/">gentrification exacerbates racial inequality</a> are well-documented, yet has also <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo3643926.html">helped remove last-place stigma</a> attached to certain neighborhoods.</p>
<p>The market reinforced her efforts, as it did Adam’s. Builders renovated older homes and buildings in anticipation of newcomers. But many of the first wave of gentrifiers moved away for fear of crime. When perceptions of neighborhood disorder become widespread they almost invariably exceed reality, but they are very <a href="http://myweb.fsu.edu/bstults/ccj5625/readings/sampson_raudenbush-spq-2004.pdf">difficult to change</a>.</p>
<p>Cynthia did not see her move to combat stigma as successful. When I interviewed her, she was contemplating leaving the area, as life there became less tolerable. Many traditional residents saw her as just another gentrifying intruder. And without any real change in the neighborhood stigma, Cynthia felt navigating crime in the neighborhood wasn’t worth it, even if it wasn’t as bad as its reputation suggested.</p>
<h2>Shaking stigma</h2>
<p>Avoiding stigmatized things and actions is the classic approach for many African-Americans. For them, “Pull up your pants!” has an unassailable logic. But my research suggests that, whatever other benefits may come from hiking up one’s britches, that won’t always effectively combat stigma. </p>
<p>Many participants shared instances of their refusal to internalize anti-black stigma, and how they expressed that through things like art collections, home displays, and personal hair and clothing styles. This approach works best when people can craft stories that disavow stigma and the marketplace reinforces their stories.</p>
<p>Yet for many, stigma still attaches more strongly to black identity than to <a href="http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx">specific behaviors or objects</a>. Once attached, it can <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2538616">survive for a long time</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Crockett received funding for this study from the Institute for African American Research at the University of South Carolina. </span></em></p>
Research on how black people try to avoid racism in their daily lives shows that following white, mainstream standards can have mixed results.
David Crockett, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of South Carolina
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/71761
2017-03-27T02:37:12Z
2017-03-27T02:37:12Z
Restaurants pledged to make kids’ meals healthier – but the data show not much has changed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161646/original/image-20170320-9124-yhzzv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An All-American meal.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/firsttubedotcom/2200307324/in/photolist-ng7rdE-9eSpyX-7u1XPc-8N7Lp3-ptkhv-95Cik-FnFxJ8-4KxNTc-6i1GmQ-ptjSq-ptjov-ptk65-4mr9Hb-86tQkL">Cropped from firsttubedotcom/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chain restaurants are not known for serving up healthy kids’ meals. Most entrees on a kids’ menu are either fried, breaded or doused in cheese. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rare side dish options, and French fries abound.</p>
<p>Looking at nutritional content alone, some drinks could easily be mistaken for candy. For example, one serving of <a href="https://www.friendlys.com/menu-item/sharks-in-the-water/">“Sharks in the Water”</a> – a blue raspberry soft drink sold at Friendly’s – has more than an entire day’s worth of added sugar. </p>
<p>With options like these, it isn’t surprising that kids who eat more restaurant food have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23128151">worse diets</a> than other children. </p>
<p>In recent years, restaurants have vowed to change up the menu and offer healthier choices for kids. But <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28089130">our analysis</a> of the nutritional content of more than 4,000 children’s menu items from across the country shows that, despite the promises, kids’ plates still look much the same.</p>
<h2>Promises to change</h2>
<p>Despite the health risks, kids eat at restaurants all of the time. In fact, kids eat restaurant food <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db213.htm">nearly as much</a> as they eat at home. </p>
<p>This is due, in part, to the amount of money restaurants spend encouraging kids to buy their products. Restaurants advertise directly to kids by offering action figures from the movie “Frozen” or Hot Wheels cars. They host birthday parties in indoor play areas. Dora the Explorer, Lebron James and Michael Phelps promote restaurant food on billboards and through television advertisements and social media campaigns.</p>
<p>Each year, the restaurant industry spends nearly one-quarter of its advertising budget on tactics that directly target children. This spending seems to have paid off: <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db213.htm">one-third of kids and over 40 percent of teens</a> eat fast food each day.</p>
<p>There is increasing political pressure on restaurants to offer healthy kids’ meals. Michelle Obama was one of the first prominent political leaders to demand change, as part of her Let’s Move! campaign. In 2010, the first lady petitioned for healthier kids’ food <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/13/remarks-first-lady-address-national-restaurant-association-meeting">in a speech</a> to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), the nation’s largest food service trade organization. She asked that these healthy options be heavily promoted and easy for parents to find amid the macaroni and cheeses, chicken fingers and grilled cheese sandwiches that have dominated children’s menus for decades. A self-professed “fry lover,” the first lady even pushed restaurants to offer healthier defaults. For example, restaurants could automatically include fruit and vegetable side dishes with kids’ meals and serve French fries only when specifically requested.</p>
<p>The NRA quickly responded to this call to action by creating <a href="http://www.restaurant.org/Pressroom/Press-Releases/National-Restaurant-Associations-Kids-LiveWell-Pr">Kids LiveWell</a>. Kids LiveWell sets nutrition standards for kids’ meals that restaurants can voluntarily adopt. To participate, restaurants must offer at least one kids’ meal and one other item that meet the program’s nutritional goals. For example, a piece of grilled chicken served with broccoli would likely meet these requirements, while fried chicken with French fries would not.</p>
<p>Kids LiveWell is incredibly popular. More than 150 restaurant chains in over 42,000 locations have joined since the program launched in 2011. Participating restaurants are included in a web application designed for parents, called Healthy Dining Finder. Meals meeting the Kids LiveWell criteria are designated with an icon on restaurant menus. Program participants have received significant media attention, with the NRA issuing dozens of press releases since the program began.</p>
<p>This isn’t the only industry pledge to make kids’ meals healthier. In 2014, Subway joined the <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/23/first-lady-michelle-obama-announces-commitment-subway-restaurants-promot">Partnership for a Healthier America</a>, promising to offer apple slices and to introduce healthier beverages, like low-fat milk and water, to kids’ menus. In March 2012, <a href="http://news.mcdonalds.com/us/releases/mcdonald-s-usa-introduces-new-low-fat-yogurt-side">McDonald’s</a>, a restaurant not participating in Kids LiveWell, reduced the size of French fries and added fruit and low-fat dairy options to Happy Meals. The following year, they promised to drop soda from kids’ menus. Restaurants like <a href="https://cspinet.org/new/201511302.html">Wendy’s, Panera Bread and Applebee’s</a> have since followed suit.</p>
<h2>Counting calories</h2>
<p>These promises beg the question: Has anything changed? To answer this, we looked at changes in the average nutritional content of kids’ menu items from the nation’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28089130">45 top-earning chain restaurants</a>. Details about these items were pulled from the nutrition information database <a href="http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/3406/menustat-website">MenuStat</a>, which collates nutrient data from menus posted on chain restaurant websites and has been updated each year since 2012. </p>
<p>Despite industry promises to offer healthier kids’ menu options, between 2012 and 2015, our analysis found the amount of calories, salt and saturated fat in kids’ menu items has not budged. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162095/original/image-20170322-31213-tvwd02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We looked at the nutritional content of kids’ menus in the 45 top-earning chain restaurants from 2012 to 2015. Despite industry promises, calories in kids’ beverages, entrees, side dishes and desserts offered on menus has not budged.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 15 top-earning Kids LiveWell participants showed similarly dismal results. Compared to 30 restaurants not affiliated with the initiative, the top participating restaurants made no improvements to calories, salt or saturated fat in kids’ entrees, side dishes or desserts in the first three years of the program. </p>
<p>We found that, in 2015, when combined, the average beverage, entrée, side dish and dessert contained nearly twice the recommended calories for a single meal and more than half the daily salt limit. </p>
<p>At first glance, it might seem like beverage options have improved. The proportion of sugary soda on kids’ menus declined over time, from 30 percent of kids’ beverages in 2012 to 23 percent in 2015. But when sodas were removed from kids’ menus, they were simply replaced with other high-sugar drinks like flavored milks, sports drinks and sweetened teas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162096/original/image-20170322-31198-u57r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We also looked at beverages on kids’ menus in the 45 top-earning chain restaurants from 2012 to 2015. The proportion of sugary drinks stayed much the same.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because restaurants are swapping one high-sugar drink for another, the proportion of sugary drinks on kids’ menus has not changed at all over time. Since 2012, sugary drinks have consistently made up 80 percent of beverage offerings on kids’ restaurant menus.</p>
<h2>The bottom line</h2>
<p>Food companies have a history of creating voluntary programs to avoid nutrition-related regulation. However, these often have little meaningful impact on health.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://www.bbb.org/council/the-national-partner-program/national-advertising-review-services/childrens-food-and-beverage-advertising-initiative/">Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative</a> is an industry self-regulatory program designed to reduce food marketing for unhealthy products to kids. Although companies have followed their pledges, the nutrition criteria bar is so low – high-sugar snacks like <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26232330">Gushers and Fruit Roll-Ups</a> are just two examples of “healthy” products – that these actions have not had a meaningful impact. </p>
<p>The Kids LiveWell program, though well-intentioned, seems destined for the same fate. A kids’ menu from <a href="https://www.applebees.com/Menu/Kids">Applebee’s</a> – one of the early restaurants to join Kids LiveWell – reveals one grilled chicken entree alongside chicken tenders, a corn dog, mini cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese. It’s hard to imagine the grilled chicken standing a chance. </p>
<p>Voluntary initiatives were a reasonable first step, but our analysis shows they have not had a meaningful impact on kids’ meal offerings. So what else needs to be done to ensure our children get the nutrients they need? </p>
<p>The restaurant industry can improve Kids LiveWell by adding standards for healthy beverages, so the vast majority of beverages offered on kids’ menus are healthy options like unsweetened water or seltzer. Kids LiveWell should also require that a much larger percentage of kids’ menu items meet the program’s nutritional criteria. For example, if more than half of entrees on the kids’ menu looked like the grilled chicken, kids might be more likely to choose the healthy option.</p>
<p>Although big chain restaurants have a long way to go, some smaller restaurants have made promising changes. When the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919925">Silver Diner</a> increased the number of kids’ meals meeting the Kids LiveWell standards, offered fruit and vegetable sides by default and removed French fries and soda from their menus, kids’ orders of healthy meals and sides went up, and orders of French fries and soda declined. </p>
<p>We believe these types of changes should be voluntarily adopted by restaurants or mandated by state and local governments. For example, the cities of <a href="https://cspinet.org/news/perris-ca-stop-serving-sugary-drinks-default-kids-meals-20170315">Davis, Stockton and Perris, California</a> have issued “healthy-by-default” ordinances, which require restaurants to offer healthy beverages automatically with kids’ meals, although parents can still request sugary drinks if they want to. <a href="http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(15)00335-9/abstract">New York City</a> recently introduced a “Healthy Happy Meal” bill, which sets nutritional standards for fast food meals marketed to kids, including requirements for fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as limits on added sugar and salt. </p>
<p>Other policies – such as taxes on sugary drinks and other foods high in calories, sugar and salt – could encourage restaurants to revamp their kids’ menus, or may at least <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28228484">curb consumption</a> of less healthful options.</p>
<p>Increased pressure from parents can also help move the needle. Advocates and parents can help hold the restaurant industry accountable to their voluntary pledges to ensure meaningful progress towards healthier kids’ meals.</p>
<p>Going out to eat was once viewed as an occasional treat, but is now so commonplace it accounts for <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-choices-health/food-consumption-demand/food-away-from-home.aspx">nearly half</a> of all food spending. Kids deserve tasty, nutritious meals to help them grow, play and learn, and restaurants can play an important role in making that happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Chain restaurants vowed to make children’s menus healthier. But our analysis of menus across the country shows that kids’ choices still aren’t very good for them.
Alyssa Moran, Sc.D. candidate in the Department of Nutrition, Harvard University
Christina Roberto, Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Nutrition, University of Pennsylvania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/68873
2017-01-21T00:40:11Z
2017-01-21T00:40:11Z
Obama’s legacy is bittersweet – and its chance of survival hangs in the balance
<p>The grace. The elegance. The deftness of touch. The quick intelligence. The soaring rhetoric. The unlimited aspirations. The hope of a better life for all. Though Barack Obama’s legacy is rather lesser than some might have hoped for when he was inaugurated president of the United States in 2009, in him the world has lost the leadership of a gentle soul, a humble man of immense quality and kindness. And now, these qualities will be replaced with bitter self-interest and vulgarity.</p>
<p>Even without the contrast of Donald Trump, Obama’s dignified bearing, even his very existence, was an inspiration. He and his wife <a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-speech-proves-you-dont-have-to-blow-your-own-trumpet-to-be-heard-70978">Michelle</a> were an unrivalled illustration of dignity in public office – and more than that, he has clearly left a profound mark on his country. </p>
<p>In his <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38580546">valedictory address</a> in Chicago, Obama was as always breathtakingly optimistic, both about what has been achieved and in his estimation of America’s potential to achieve greater things yet:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I’d told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history; if I’d told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, take out the mastermind of 9/11; if I’d told you that we would win marriage equality and secure the right to health insurance for another 20m of our fellow citizens – if I’d told you all that, you might have said our sights were set a little too high.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To watch the incoming administration crumble this legacy into rubble will be unbearably painful. But it also pays to ask why this hugely gifted politician didn’t accomplish more – and why he won’t leave a more durable legacy.</p>
<h2>Back from the brink</h2>
<p>The task Obama faced after his inauguration was monumental. The 2008 financial crisis had threatened to engulf the US in a recession as deep and lasting as the Great Depression in the 1930s; the new president inherited an unemployment rate of 7.8%, which by October 2009 had risen to 10%. The 2009 <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/what-was-obama-s-stimulus-package-3305625">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act</a> delivered an $831 billion stimulus package, pumping money into infrastructure, education, health, energy, federal tax incentives, and expansion of unemployment benefits and welfare provisions. </p>
<p>According to the Council of Economic Advisers, the US economy added jobs for <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/economic_reports/2016.pdf">74 consecutive months</a> and reached its pre-recession average by mid-2015, falling to 4.6% by November 2016. Non-farm employment exceeded its pre-recession peak by 6.7m, with the automobile industry <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=111613">adding 700,000 jobs</a>.</p>
<p>This was a stunning turnaround, but millions of casualties of the financial crisis <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/americans-cant-recover-from-financial-crisis-2016-7?utm_source=feedburner&%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+(Business+Insider)?r=US&IR=T">have still not recovered</a>. There remains a lingering sense that the financial institutions that caused the crisis were never made to pay for it. </p>
<p>Then there was the battle to achieve affordable universal health care, Obama’s signal social reform. This was a titanic fight that left him in an intractable conflict with the Republican Party in Congress for the whole of his two terms in office. The <a href="http://obamacarefacts.com/obamahealthcare-summary/">Affordable Care Act</a>, now widely known as “Obamacare”, requires all Americans to purchase a private health plan, secure an exemption, or pay a tax penalty. Those who could not afford health care qualified for Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or assistance in the form of tax credits. </p>
<p>Health care was ultimately extended to all citizens. But the system’s troubled implementation and the political guerrilla war waged against it before and since its introduction demonstrates the just how unprepared US for any comprehensive form of social provision.</p>
<h2>Bad examples</h2>
<p>Obama drew a line under the US’s military adventurism in the Middle East, finally <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-withdrawal-idUSTRE7BH03320111218">withdrawing US forces</a> from Iraq in December 2011; he also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/28/statement-president-end-combat-mission-afghanistan">declared an end</a> to the war in Afghanistan in November 2014. But he was unable to head off the horrors of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/obamas-legacy-will-be-forever-tarnished-by-his-inaction-in-syria-67030">Syrian civil war</a>, first setting out a “red line” that Bashar al-Assad’s regime could not cross without consequences and then declining to act when it did. </p>
<p>While he avoided putting American “boots on the ground” on a grand scale, he presided over actions by special forces, including the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. He also continued to rain bombs on Muslim countries, and his apparent penchant for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-political-role-of-drone-strikes-in-us-grand-strategy-62529">drone strikes</a> has arguably set a <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-donald-trump-takes-control-of-the-us-drone-fleet-63377">dangerous precedent</a>.</p>
<p>Obama also maintained a quiet but determined commitment to <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/interview-president-obama-underwater-snorkeling/">protect the environment</a>, working hard to replace fossil fuels with renewables. And while the world’s developing economies rebuffed a global climate agreement at Copenhagen in 2009, they ultimately committed to a rapid reduction in emissions at the 2015 <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-at-a-glance-50465">Paris summit</a>. The sense of optimism was capped by Obama’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/world/asia/obama-xi-jinping-china-climate-accord.html">emmissions reduction agreement with President Xi</a> of China. </p>
<p>But once again, by using his <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/donald-trump-barack-obama-trump-transition-executive-orders-544838?rm=eu">executive powers</a> to circumvent an intransigent Republican congress, Obama laid this and other key achievements open to destruction by future presidents – and first in line is Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The fate of the US economy now lies in the hands of a man who claims to be a serial entrepreneur, but who could just as well be described as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/live-updates/general-election/real-time-fact-checking-and-analysis-of-the-first-presidential-debate/fact-check-has-trump-declared-bankruptcy-four-or-six-times/">serial bankrupt</a>. The new Republican-controlled Congress is already preparing to dismantle Obamacare, but needs to ensure millions of Americans who now have access to health care <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/314549-study-obamacare-repeal-could-leave-32-million-without-coverage">don’t suddenly lose it</a>.</p>
<p>In foreign affairs and military intervention, Obama’s successor promises to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-undiplomatic-twitter-diplomacy-isnt-a-joke-its-a-catastrophic-risk-70861">highly unpredictable</a>. He might be most dangerous of all when it comes to climate change and environmental protection, although international support for serious global measures to curb emissions has probably never been higher. </p>
<h2>System flaws</h2>
<p>Obama also failed to achieve some of his fundamental objectives, but many of these failures reflect fundamental flaws in the American system that are beyond any one president’s power to repair. </p>
<p>Above all, his hopes for a new era in race relations were cruelly dashed. Black Americans were still being lethally victimised as his presidency drew to a close, with police brutality perhaps a more incendiary issue than ever. Throughout it all, he remained dignified as ever; his <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38562817">plaintive rendition of Amazing Grace</a> at a church in <a href="https://theconversation.com/hate-violence-and-the-tragedy-of-the-charleston-shootings-43579">Charleston, South Carolina</a> where eight worshippers and a pastor were brutally killed marked the end of his effort not to be portrayed as a black president.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IN05jVNBs64?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Tragically, his efforts to constrain gun violence in the US failed to overcome the onslaught of political opposition to responsible control, and a constant patter of gunfire punctuated his presidency. At <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20738998">Sandy Hook elementary school</a>, 20 young children and six adults perished at the hands of a single shooter. The event <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67h-vsMX1EQ">brought Obama to tears</a>: “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.”</p>
<p>By his own admission, Obama failed to overcome the <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/republican-party-obstructionism-victory-trump-214498">intense partisanship</a> of American politics and society. The disfigurement of US democracy continues, undermining the possibility of stable government. Tens of millions of Americans don’t participate in the democratic process at all, and the political agenda is still disproportionately shaped by a wealthy corporate elite. </p>
<p>We can only hope that while the traumatic 2016 election may have left America’s more idealistic political forces chastened, they are not broken.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Clarke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The 44th president is now gone. What mark does he leave on his country?
Thomas Clarke, Professor, UTS Business, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70978
2017-01-09T13:58:53Z
2017-01-09T13:58:53Z
Michelle Obama speech proves you don’t have to blow your own trumpet to be heard
<p>Michelle Obama used her <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/01/06/508546111/michelle-obamas-emotional-farewell-the-power-of-hope-has-allowed-us-to-rise">last official speech as first lady</a> to talk about education, one of her signature issues – but laden as it was with the subtext of the end of an era, it may in itself be one of her greatest legacies. Gracious, understated, articulate, and intelligent, Obama spoke from the heart to an assembled audience of school guidance counsellors. Her message was a simple one, but the speech had an uncommon depth too.</p>
<p>Becoming visibly emotional as she finished her remarks, the outgoing first lady spoke of hope for the future. Allied to this, she invoked the importance of hard work and the need to fight for freedom, not take it for granted. When she later spoke of her father’s influence, she touched a nerve not just of the American spirit, but something universal. Her words awoke memories in us all of significant moments when we too have <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/paul-breen-one-minute-i-was-looking-up-at-chelsea-apartments-the-next-i-was-pummelled-with-an-image-of-my-father-dying-on-roadside-35033715.html">reflected on those who shaped us</a>.</p>
<p>Transcending race and nationality, Obama demonstrated her power as a presenter, stamping her identity not just on history, but education. Decades from now, this speech may well be remembered as a focal moment at a pivotal point in US and world history. Teachers will use excerpts from this speech in their classrooms for years to come, not just to teach history and politics, but also language and presentation skills.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pPHyNsBua_E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>From a teaching perspective, Obama’s speech was powerful by virtue of its pacing, personalisation, and placement of words. Sculpted around a thesis of aspiration, it was built from carefully chosen language – concise verbs (work, provide, lead) and abstract nouns (inspiration, diversity, and hope - used a total of 18 times). With her careful construction, Obama offered a subtle form of resistance to the aggressive language of division deployed by the likes of Donald Trump.</p>
<p>This too means her speech may well be remembered long after the Trump era is over. Great speeches don’t just touch the human spirit in the moment, but say something about the times in which their speakers and listeners live. This is why many teachers use Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in their classrooms to this day: it’s an example of both presentational genius and the definitive expression of an epochal moment.</p>
<h2>Hope springs</h2>
<p>There’s another crucial dynamic at work here too. When I teach presentation skills in my own classes, I myself draw on these speeches too and more besides, including my students’s own choices of the best presenters or presentations they have seen. Sometimes, a female speaker gets added to the equation, such as Emma Watson via her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PZBRfk">2014 address</a> to the UN’s HeforShe Campaign – but nonetheless, the great majority of notable speeches are associated with men. </p>
<p>This is largely because men have enjoyed disproportionate access to leadership and power, and still do. But it’s also to do with taught expectations about content and delivery of great presentations. Great speeches are associated with explicit links to the bigger picture; they generally rely on grand references to history, and often serve as a call to arms. In some ways, Obama’s speech followed the same pattern. But she did it differently, presenting her ideas not in a feminine way, but as a feminist in the true sense of the word.</p>
<p>Without ever raising her voice or pointing a finger, she called upon present and future generations to challenge the prevailing power structures of the moment. She made scant reference to God or militarism, and stuck instead to the themes of everyday existence – jobs, diversity, caring, sharing. Going against the US’s rapidly darkening climate of fear, she framed differences of colour, faith, and creed as abiding national strengths, not liabilities.</p>
<p>This was the culmination of the last eight years, during which Obama has presented her ideas with understated but remarkable power and passion. With this speech in particular, she has staked out a prominent place in the classrooms of the future. She has entered the ranks of men who usually monopolise PowerPoint slides and brushed them aside. </p>
<p>Right now, her speech might not be getting the full attention that it deserves, but in time, it will surely get its due as a pivotal and prophetic address. In the final act of her national performance, Obama has given us all, teachers and students, a valuable lesson in presentation skills: you don’t necessarily have to shout, thunder, and blow your own trumpet to be listened to – even for decades to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70978/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Heading into the last days of the Obama administration, the outgoing first lady cemented a noble legacy for herself.
Paul Breen, Senior lecturer, University of Westminster
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70639
2016-12-25T20:41:50Z
2016-12-25T20:41:50Z
2016, the year that was: Arts and Culture
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151150/original/image-20161221-13180-3qdeqv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Visitors take in Cameron Robbins’ Field Lines at Dark Mofo at the Museum of Old and New Art.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mona/Remi Chauvin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2016 was not a good year to be a famous male musician. In January, <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-bowie-in-the-divided-city-of-berlin-53034">David Bowie died</a> at just 69. He was mourned <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-bowie-pop-star-who-fell-to-earth-to-teach-outsiders-they-can-be-heroes-52995">by pretty much everyone</a>, including the German Foreign Office, which tweeted: “You are now among Heroes”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-JqH1M4Ya8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In April, Prince went. <a href="https://theconversation.com/princes-passing-bookends-another-chapter-in-the-history-of-music-58286">His death was sudden</a>. He was only 57 – an <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-elusive-virtuoso-who-embraced-ambiguity-and-female-desire-58274">eccentric virtuoso</a>, a brilliant performer and a prodigious songwriter and composer. “Today, the world lost a creative icon,” said President Obama in an official statement.</p>
<p>Then, in November, Leonard Cohen died. He was 82 and as he had written to his muse Marianne, some months earlier, “we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon”. Still, for those who had <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-leonard-you-brought-us-so-much-light-68674">spent a lifetime listening to Cohen</a>, his sudden absence was hard to grasp. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-writer-musician-leonard-cohen-was-a-one-off-68676">David McCooey wrote</a>, Cohen – with his mesmerising baritone voice and “profound sense of playfulness and enigma” – was a one-off. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151131/original/image-20161221-13172-iy88bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Georgia Blain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scribe Publications</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Death comes to artists in every genre, of course, and late this year we lost two stellar Australian writers – <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-georgia-blain-a-brave-and-true-chronicler-of-life-70329">Georgia Blain</a> and the remarkable <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-shirley-hazzard-art-is-the-only-afterlife-of-which-we-have-evidence-70519">Shirley Hazzard</a> – along with the pioneering Melbourne architect <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-peter-corrigan-a-life-of-movement-energy-and-integrity-69868">Peter Corrigan</a>. But there was much more to Arts + Culture in 2016 than sadness. </p>
<p>It was a year of creative foment – from operas fused with circus to hard-hitting feminist memoirs to young, bold festivals such as Adelaide’s OzAsia and Hobart’s Dark Mofo – and as always, intense debate about the importance of the arts to a thriving, democratic society. Here then, is 2016 as we saw it.</p>
<h2>Cultural identity</h2>
<p>In March, the Daily Telegraph informed readers that students at a leading NSW university were “being told to refer to Australia as having been ‘invaded’ instead of settled in a highly controversial rewriting of official Australian history”.</p>
<p>Archaeology professor Bryce Barker offered a much needed <a href="https://theconversation.com/of-course-australia-was-invaded-massacres-happened-here-less-than-90-years-ago-55377">informed perspective on this matter.</a> Detailed historical research on the colonial frontier, he wrote,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>unequivocally supports the idea that Aboriginal people were subject to attack, assault, incursion, conquest and subjugation: all synonyms for the term ‘invasion’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The culture wars manifested in other ways, too, with Indigenous Australians featuring controversially in the cartoons of Bill Leak. In an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-white-mans-burden-bill-leak-and-telling-the-truth-about-aboriginal-lives-63524">impassioned response to one cartoon</a>, Chelsea Bond wrote that Leak’s work “continues a long tradition of white men’s fantasies about the inferiority of Aboriginal people”. Philosopher Janna Thompson, meanwhile, pondered whether it was right to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-racism-and-is-bill-leak-a-controversialist-or-a-racist-67993">accuse Leak of racism</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151135/original/image-20161221-13168-e5dksd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Gaillard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a global era dominated by Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and others, Julianne Schultz argued <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-must-act-now-to-preserve-its-culture-in-the-face-of-global-tech-giants-58724">in her 2016 Brian Johns lecture</a>, that we needed to find “ways to embrace the particularity of being Australian in a global context and find new ways to express that”. Our cultural institutions were a vital part of this, she wrote. </p>
<p>Yet this year we saw further cuts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-to-radio-national-are-gutting-a-cultural-treasure-trove-69397">specialist programming at Radio National</a>, and continued uncertainty around the question of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-books-and-copyright-the-government-should-leave-things-as-they-are-68911">copyright laws and Australian writing</a>. And arts funding continued to be a sore point.</p>
<h2>Arts policy</h2>
<p>As Sasha Grishin noted in March, a change in Prime Minister did not bring a fresh perspective on arts funding - indeed <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-silver-tongued-turnbull-fails-to-woo-the-arts-vote-55132">the urbane and eloquent Malcolm Turnbull</a> had rather spectacularly failed to woo the arts vote.</p>
<p>Arts Minister Mitch Fifield’s Catalyst Fund (a compromise after the furore over the proposed NPEA), began funding “innovative ideas from arts and culture organisations”. But there was a disturbing <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-is-the-balance-and-credibility-in-our-federal-governments-arts-policy-58485">lack of transparency</a> in the decisions it made, wrote Jo Caust. In May, the Australia Council announced who would miss out in its latest funding round. The unlucky included many notable theatre companies and the arts advocacy body NAVA: our <a href="https://theconversation.com/carnage-in-the-arts-experts-respond-to-the-australia-council-cuts-59368">expert panel was unimpressed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151137/original/image-20161221-13154-lta2ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The West Australian Ballet, one of the recipients from the Catalyst fund.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cortlan Bennett/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The arts sector loudly articulated its concerns during the federal election campaign, <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-where-to-now-for-australian-culture-62439">finding its voice as a lobby group</a>. We considered policy solutions to the pressing question of how artists could make a living wage in our series <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-artists-pay-their-taxes-in-art-57669">Making Art Pay</a>. And our crack team of experts compared the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-price-of-victory-comparing-the-cost-of-olympic-gold-to-an-elite-arts-prize-64159">cost of an Olympic gold to an arts prize</a> (guess which one proved to be better value?)</p>
<h2>Screen</h2>
<p>Mad Max: Fury Road won six Oscars in the fields of Film Editing, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Production Design. We considered the implications of this success for <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-mad-maxs-six-oscars-mean-for-the-australian-film-industry-55564">our local film industry</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151140/original/image-20161221-13160-q22drj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mark Mangini and David White react after winning Best Sound Editing for Mad Max Fury Road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Blake/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also reflected on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-star-wars-mad-max-and-the-real-vs-digital-effects-furphy-56137">use of CGI </a> in films; Martin Scorsese’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-it-felt-like-a-kiss-movies-popular-music-and-martin-scorsese-59231">cinematic use of music</a>, the work of the masterful <a href="https://theconversation.com/ivan-sens-goldstone-a-taut-layered-exploration-of-what-echoes-in-the-silences-60619">Australian filmmaker Ivan Sen</a> and new local films including <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tragi-comedy-down-under-appropriates-cronulla-rather-than-offering-insight-63259">Down Under</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/joe-cinques-consolation-violence-delusion-and-the-question-of-guilt-63595">Joe Cinque’s Consolation</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-film-collisions-is-part-disaster-movie-part-travelogue-and-completely-immersive-66563">virtual reality film Collisons</a>.</p>
<p>Bruce Isaacs dissected the <a href="https://theconversation.com/video-the-five-greatest-scorsese-scenes-episode-5-goodfellas-60170">five greatest Scorsese scenes</a> and began a new video column on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-antonionis-the-passenger-65395">the great movie scenes</a>. After the death of the influential Australian director Paul Cox, film-maker Jonathan auf der Heide wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-lessons-from-the-editing-suite-of-paul-cox-61578">a beautiful remembrance</a> of his time spent working with this complex, uncompromising auteur who unashamedly wore his heart on his sleeve.</p>
<p>On television, our experts reflected on Australian productions including <a href="https://theconversation.com/molly-is-lacking-as-a-tv-show-but-millions-including-me-are-hooked-54471">Molly</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bloody-good-tv-how-rake-changed-australian-television-61433">Rake</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dna-nation-raises-tough-questions-for-indigenous-australians-59877">DNA Nation</a>, the adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/christos-tsiolkas-the-blasphemous-artist-and-barracuda-61434">Barracuda</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/man-up-inspired-genius-or-half-baked-celebrity-expertise-67143">Man Up</a> and Cleverman, which showcased <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-cleverman-our-first-aboriginal-screen-superhero-with-healing-powers-and-a-political-edge-59813">our first indigenous superhero</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151143/original/image-20161221-13138-lylhgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elias Anton as Danny Kelly in Barracuda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They considered the impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-reg-grundy-changed-australian-tv-for-better-or-worse-59068">the late Reg Grundy</a>, offered some ideas for the ABC under <a href="https://theconversation.com/memo-to-michelle-guthrie-expert-ideas-for-the-new-abc-era-58929">Michelle Guthrie’s reign</a> and argued that The Bachelor was <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-bachelor-turns-women-into-misogynists-62423">turning women into misogynists</a>. And controversially, Travis Holland declared that after 28 seasons, The Simpsons has now <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-simpsons-has-lost-its-way-67845">lost its way</a>.</p>
<p>Game of Thrones remained hugely popular. We examined the series’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-from-daenerys-to-yara-the-top-ten-women-of-game-of-thrones-58356">appeal to women</a> and how a Melbourne visual effects firm made its <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-game-of-thrones-emmy-award-winning-battle-scene-was-made-65235">Emmy award-winning battle scene</a>. We also asked Carolyne Larrington, a professor of medieval European literature, for her ideas about <a href="https://theconversation.com/wrapping-up-the-fantasy-how-will-game-of-thrones-end-67245">how the series might end</a>. She predicts the TV show will take a comic rather than tragic option, “contenting itself with a marriage between Jon and Daenerys and finding some quick fix for the White Walker problem”. </p>
<h2>Visual art</h2>
<p>Sadly, it was a year that saw continued terror attacks around the world. After the bombings in Brussels, Kit Messham Muir reflected on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/art-and-terror-a-new-kind-of-memorial-56734">new kinds of memorials being created to honour the dead</a> – from weeping Tintin cartoons to spotlit public buildings – and the selective nature of this mass grieving. </p>
<p>Major exhibitions reviewed included <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-spectacle-rescues-the-sydney-biennale-from-irrelevance-56417">The Sydney Biennale</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-mofo-and-the-affective-power-of-a-creative-storm-60852">Dark Mofo</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-very-serious-painting-of-barry-humphries-is-a-welcome-prize-winner-62536">The Archibald Prize</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-mist-burnt-country-asks-what-remains-after-the-mushroom-cloud-66135">Black Mist, Burnt Country</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-the-naked-nude-from-the-tate-68324"> Nude: art from the Tate collection</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-hockney-interrogates-space-and-time-68671">David Hockney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-ponder-the-evolutionary-urge-to-create-but-where-are-the-women-68414">On the Origin of Art</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151151/original/image-20161221-13138-1x2x3qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The winner of this year’s Archibald Prize: Louise Hearman’s Barry, oil paint on masonite 69.5 x 100 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: © AGNSW, Nick Kreisler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our ongoing Here’s Looking At series, meanwhile, considered great works on show here including <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-whistlers-mother-54334">Whistler’s Mother</a>, Cindy Sherman’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-cindy-sherman-head-shots-59444">Head Shots</a>, Frida Kahlo’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-frida-kahlos-self-portrait-with-monkeys-61141">Self Portrait with Monkeys</a> and Janet Laurence’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-looking-at-deep-breathing-resuscitation-for-the-reef-by-janet-laurence-63408">Deep Breathing: Resuscitation for the Reef</a>.</p>
<h2>Literature</h2>
<p>Camilla Nelson mounted a powerful argument in favor of <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-literary-canon-is-exhilarating-and-disturbing-and-we-need-to-read-it-56610">reading the literary canon </a>- if only to critique it. And on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth, we <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-charlotte-bronte-still-speaks-to-us-200-years-after-her-birth-57802">paid tribute to</a> “the startlingly modern psychology” of the author’s many memorable characters.</p>
<p>Our writers analysed the impact of funding cuts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meanjin-funding-cuts-a-graceless-coup-59455">Meanjin</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/express-media-is-unique-and-young-people-need-it-59518">Express Media</a> and the need for an overhaul of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-prime-ministers-literary-awards-need-an-urgent-overhaul-61300">Prime Minister’s Literary Awards </a>. Jen Webb dived into the novels on <a href="https://theconversation.com/touching-ferocious-and-poetic-the-miles-franklin-shortlist-is-worthy-of-your-attention-64428">the Miles Franklin shortlist</a> and declared all a potentially worthy winner. And Nick Earls told us how the bookshop had <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-hail-the-bookshop-survivor-against-the-odds-63758">survived against the odds</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151152/original/image-20161221-13160-1i2rt1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The survival of Australian bookshops: a good news story in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Snipergirl/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our Guides to the Classics offered a handy primer on great works of literature from Herodotus’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-histories-by-herodotus-53748">The Histories</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-arthurian-legend-64289">Arthurian legend</a>. Also on a classical note, our ongoing series Mythbusting Ancient Rome sorted the facts from the mythology about controversial figures such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-the-emperor-nero-65797">Emperor Nero</a>.</p>
<h2>Music</h2>
<p>The release of Beyonce’s Lemonade was a pop cultural phenomenon. Lauren Rosewarne cautioned against a simplistic <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyonces-lemonade-tell-all-or-fizzy-soap-operatic-art-object-58513">autobiographical</a> reading of the album while Blair McDonald looked at the way pop musicians such as Beyonce were <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-quest-for-legacy-how-pop-music-is-embracing-high-art-58741">mining contemporary art</a> in their work. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EtHOmforqxk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We analysed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-sounds-of-kanye-west-54169">sounds of Kanye West</a>; declared Tim Minchin’s Come Home (Cardinal Pell) to be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/tim-minchins-come-home-cardinal-pell-is-a-pitch-perfect-protest-song-54945">pitch-perfect protest song</a>; asked whether <a href="https://theconversation.com/sad-music-and-depression-does-it-help-66123">listening to sad music</a> can help with depression and looked at why learning a musical instrument later in life can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/ageing-in-harmony-why-the-third-act-of-life-should-be-musical-57799">good for the ageing brain</a>. As the music industry continued to be transformed by digital technologies we considered whether professional musicians were <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-loss-of-music-68169">an endangered species</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-vella-52581/dashboard#">not</a>.</p>
<h2>Theatre and the performing arts</h2>
<p>The 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death was commemorated with a year-long party. Shakespeare’s words, <a href="https://theconversation.com/marx-freud-hitler-mandela-greer-shakespeare-influenced-them-all-57872">wrote Robert White</a>, influenced everyone from Karl Marx to Hitler to Nelson Mandela to George Bush. In a fascinating essay, Rachel Buchanan, curator of the Germaine Greer archive at the University of Melbourne, considered how Shakespeare influenced <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-shakespeare-helped-shape-germaine-greers-feminist-masterpiece-59880">the writing of Greer’s The Female Eunuch</a>. Still, it was intriguing to hear from Ian Donaldson on why Shakespeare’s death was largely seen as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-was-shakespeares-death-such-a-non-event-at-the-time-68713">non-event at the time</a>.</p>
<p>Julian Meyrick began a new series, The Great Australian Plays. While the idea of the canon is contested, his aim is to write about plays <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-great-australian-plays-refining-our-theatre-canon-64234">from the past 70 years</a> in a way that is “flexible, conditional and, dare I say it, fun”. The series will continue next year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151145/original/image-20161221-13154-rgzpee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cirque de la Symphonie delivered virtuoso performances of both circus and music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Aulsebrook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local productions reviewed included Ayad Akhtar’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-disgraced-turns-west-meets-islam-divisions-into-striking-melodrama-58224">Disgraced</a>, Belvoir St’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-wise-mans-art-twelfth-night-and-cross-mobility-casting-63321">Twelfth Night</a>, Victorian Opera’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/banquet-of-secrets-australian-musical-theatre-comes-of-age-55647">Banquet of Secrets</a>, a new production of <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-of-marlowes-finest-plays-roars-into-the-21st-century-63529">Edward II</a>, a spate of classical works <a href="https://theconversation.com/sequins-and-symphonies-how-opera-ran-away-with-the-circus-64125">employing the circus arts</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gonzo-we-need-to-talk-about-young-men-and-porn-65948">Gonzo</a>, a groundbreaking play exploring young men’s use of porn.
Festivals we covered included those in <a href="https://theconversation.com/spirals-within-spirals-vortex-temporum-at-the-sydney-festival-52687">Sydney</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/absurdist-poignant-slapstick-plus-a-brass-band-in-en-avant-marche-64867">Brisbane</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-beauty-and-poetry-come-together-in-ancient-rain-66986">Melbourne</a> and Adelaide’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-shakespeare-in-hindi-to-tackling-human-trafficking-the-best-of-ozasia-festival-66385">OzAsia</a>. </p>
<h2>Gender</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, women continued to be under-represented in a range of artforms, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/harder-faster-louder-challenging-sexism-in-the-music-industry-58420">popular</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sound-of-silence-why-arent-australias-female-composers-being-heard-59743">classical music</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-science-fictions-women-problem-58626">science fiction</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-arent-the-problem-in-the-film-industry-men-are-68740">the film industry</a>. We analysed the reasons for this and what could be done about it.</p>
<p>We learned, however, that roller derby is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chinese-roller-derby-is-empowering-women-57963">empowering women in China</a> and Australian women historians have (almost) <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-historians-smashed-the-glass-ceiling-66778">smashed the glass ceiling</a>.
And as debate continued over public breastfeeding we looked at <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-decent-woman-the-breastfeeding-and-visibility-debate-is-nothing-new-57728">historical attitudes to it</a> in the 18th and 19th centuries and found it wasn’t completely absent from public life during that time.</p>
<h2>Architecture</h2>
<p>Our new architecture columnist, Naomi Stead, wrote beautifully on topics that ranged from visiting <a href="https://theconversation.com/architecture-is-a-performed-art-and-the-eames-house-is-a-pretty-good-show-59511">the Eames House</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cathedrals-of-light-cathedrals-of-ice-cathedrals-of-glass-cathedrals-of-bones-60557">cathedrals as metaphors</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-return-of-the-breeze-block-63264">return of the breeze block</a>.
We reviewed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/venice-biennale-an-exhausting-beautiful-attempt-to-relinquish-architecture-60789">Venice Biennale</a> and assessed the proposal to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sydney-opera-house-upgrade-deserves-a-single-guiding-vision-63934">upgrade the Sydney Opera House</a> and the growth of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/opening-doors-and-minds-the-open-house-phenomenon-63717">Open House movement</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151147/original/image-20161221-13147-pum4b7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrance to the Arsenale at this year’s Venice Biennale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">provided by William Feuerman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And our Friday essay on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-australian-mosque-65101">Australian mosque</a> traced the history of mosques here, from the earliest known one – built in South Australia, likely in the 1860s – to recent incarnations such as Glenn Murcutt and Hakan Elevli’s Australian Islamic Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Newport. </p>
<h2>Religion</h2>
<p>After the June terror attack on a gay nightclub in the US state of Florida, Christopher van der Krogt considered what The Koran and The Bible <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-quran-the-bible-and-homosexuality-in-islam-61012">had to say about homosexuality</a>. Closer to home, new Australian research found that both <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcoming-but-not-affirming-being-gay-and-christian-64110">LGBT Christians and pastors alike</a> grappled with difficult spiritual questions. And on the eve of the canonisation of Mother Teresa, Philip Almond <a href="https://theconversation.com/questioning-the-miracles-of-saint-teresa-64743">questioned her “miracles”</a>. </p>
<p>Our Friday essays proved extremely popular this year. If you’re looking for a good read over the holidays, I’d recommend <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-naked-truth-on-nudity-66763">Ruth Barcan on nudity</a>, Michelle Smith on <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-talking-writing-and-fighting-like-girls-66211">feminist memoirs</a> Julia Kindt on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-secrets-of-the-delphic-oracle-and-how-it-speaks-to-us-today-61738">oracle of Delphi</a> or Raimond Gaita <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-reflections-on-the-idea-of-a-common-humanity-63811">on the idea of a common humanity</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151148/original/image-20161221-13140-23wn4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Dylan performing in October this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ki Price/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course my introduction to this article was more than a little misleading. Lots of male musicians had an apparently excellent 2016 (from Flume to Ed Sheeran to Kendrick Lamar to Frank Ocean) – and Bowie and Prince albums sold like hotcakes. Then there was Bob Dylan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. </p>
<p>Jen Webb <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-honouring-dylan-the-nobel-prize-judges-have-made-a-category-error-67049">memorably described the choice of Dylan for the prize</a> as “discourteous to members of the field of literature, dismissive of women’s achievements, and fundamentally kinda nostalgic”. David McCooey, however, reminded us of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-are-bob-dylans-songs-literature-67061">ancient link</a> between poetry and music. </p>
<p>The passion this decision generated was extraordinary. It showed how much the arts matter to people. We can’t wait for next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Many great artists died in 2016: Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Paul Cox, Shirley Hazzard. It was a year of creative foment and as always, intense debate about the importance of the arts to a thriving, democratic society.
Suzy Freeman-Greene, Books + Ideas Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64283
2016-11-30T03:02:54Z
2016-11-30T03:02:54Z
America says goodbye to Michelle Obama, its mom-in-chief
<p>As she prepares to leave the White House, first lady and self-titled “mom-in-chief” Michelle Obama <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/3340/presidential-ratings-first-lady.aspx">remains popular</a>. Indeed, Obama was one of Hillary Clinton’s most powerful advocates during Clinton’s historic but ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign. </p>
<p>From Obama’s speech at the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/25/remarks-first-lady-democratic-national-convention">2016 Democratic National Convention</a> to <a href="https://www.google.ie/search?q=Michelle+Obama+speech+in+response+to+Trump&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=LVghWKDKLYPRgAaw4qTgDg#q=Michelle+Obama+speech+in+response+to+Trump+New+York+Time">her rebuke</a> of Donald Trump’s lewd comments about women, Obama urged the country to “go high” for the sake of our children. </p>
<p>Assuming a maternal role is not unusual for a first lady. It also is not unusual for women to couch their public activism in maternal terms. From Sen. Patty Murray, “the soccer mom in tennis shoes,” to former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s “Mama Grizzlies,” women frequently have appealed to motherhood as a means of gaining credibility in the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0033563032000125313">public sphere</a>. Yet Obama’s choice to highlight maternity was not always well received.</p>
<p>When Obama first assumed the title “mom-in-chief” <a href="http://www.salon.com/2008/11/12/michelle_obama_14">white feminists grumbled</a>. As Obama continued to highlight her maternity, they claimed that Obama was <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_breakfast_table/features/2012/_2012_democratic_national_convention/michelle_obama_s_speech_was_an_enormous_success_but_it_didn_t_say_enough_for_working_moms_.html">belittling the significance</a> of her professional accomplishments as an attorney and vice president of University of Chicago hospitals. </p>
<p>Black feminists <a href="http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/09/a-black-mom-in-chief-is-revolutionary-what-white-feminist-get-wrong-about-michelle-obama/">rejected these critiques</a>. They argued that Obama’s embrace of maternity had progressive potential for the African-American community. </p>
<p>As a professor of communication studies who <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07491409.2016.1182095">focuses on motherhood</a>, I believe these responses illustrate the complex nature of contemporary assumptions about motherhood. I also believe that they shed light on the opportunities and challenges of grounding politics in maternal appeals. </p>
<h2>White feminists’ critiques</h2>
<p>White feminists who disliked Obama’s choice to highlight maternity were not rejecting motherhood. Rather, I believe they were resisting the assumption that motherhood is always a woman’s central concern. </p>
<p>White feminists also were rejecting common and unsustainable assumptions about what it means to be a “good” mom. One is that a mother is the only suitable caregiver for her children. Another is that she must provide 24/7 care. And, a mother is expected to always put her children’s needs ahead of her own. </p>
<p>These notions, sometimes referred to as “<a href="http://bit.ly/2fzDagr">intensive motherhood</a>,” leave little room for women to focus on careers, activities or commitments outside of caring for children.</p>
<p>Echoes of intensive motherhood were frequently heard in Michelle Obama’s public comments. This was true of the speeches she gave at the Democratic National Conventions. </p>
<p>In 2008, she <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93963863">said</a>: “I come here as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world. They’re the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night.”</p>
<p>Obama uttered a similar sentiment in 2012, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamas-convention-speech">asserting</a>, “at the end of the day my most important title is still ‘mom-in-chief.’” </p>
<p>In these speeches, Obama also appealed to her concern for the nation’s children as the basis for her political priorities. She even extended that basis to the president. </p>
<p>In 2016 she <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/25/remarks-first-lady-democratic-national-convention">told the audience,</a> “Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as president and first lady because we know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls but the children across this country.”</p>
<p>Throughout her time in the White House, maternity has been at the center of Obama’s public and private life. As first lady, Obama stands as the symbol of American womanhood. By prioritizing maternity, Obama reinforced the assumption that motherhood is a woman’s most important role.</p>
<h2>Black feminists’ celebration</h2>
<p>While white feminists worried about the sexist implications of Obama’s maternal stance, black feminists pointed out that African-American women have rarely had the opportunity to prioritize motherhood. Economic necessity has meant that generations of black women have had to work outside the home. </p>
<p>Black feminists also noted that positive images of black mothers are largely absent in <a href="http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/09/a-black-mom-in-chief-is-revolutionary-what-white-feminist-get-wrong-about-michelle-obama/">popular culture</a>. Thus, when Michelle Obama prioritized the well-being of her African-American daughters, she rejected the negative stereotypes attached to black motherhood. </p>
<p>Obama’s prioritization of motherhood, including her concern for the nation’s children, can be seen part of the African-American tradition of “othermothering.” According to <a href="https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/black-feminist-though-by-patricia-hill-collins.pdf">Patricia Hill Collins</a>, othermothering is a practice through which black women assume responsibility for children who are not their own.</p>
<p>Black women who serve as othermothers understand their work as extending beyond the community’s children. They see their work in relation to the welfare of the community as a whole. </p>
<p>Additionally, in black communities, the family serves as an important refuge for African-Americans <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Yearning-Race-Gender-Cultural-Politics/dp/0896083861/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=">living in a racist world</a>. It serves a political function, allowing black women to nurture and protect their families and themselves.</p>
<p>When Obama prioritized the well-being of her daughters while also extending her maternal concern to the children of the nation, she appealed to a politicized version of motherhood grounded in an African-American tradition of community care.</p>
<h2>The varied, evolving meanings of motherhood</h2>
<p>As Obama’s tenure as first lady comes to an end, white feminists’ critiques of Obama’s maternal persona have quieted. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is simply a sign of respect, or of not wanting to criticize a popular first lady at the end of her term. Or perhaps, it is a sign that Obama has brought an African-American understanding of motherhood to a wider audience, shifting the meaning of motherhood on the public stage.</p>
<p>It is a vision of motherhood Hillary Clinton clearly appreciated and embraced. </p>
<p>In her 2016 DNC speech, Clinton <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-dnc-transcript.html">noted</a>, “First Lady Michelle Obama reminded us that our children are watching, and the president we elect is going to be their president, too.” </p>
<p>Clinton reinforced this sentiment as she ended her remarks. She urged Americans to build “a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country.” </p>
<p>We will not get to see whether this mother and grandmother would have echoed Michelle Obama’s maternal stance during her presidency. Nonetheless, as we move forward, we can anticipate that women will continue to appeal to motherhood on the public stage and that the meanings of those appeals will have been profoundly affected by Michelle Obama’s eight years as our first lady and mom-in-chief.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Hayden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Michelle Obama placed motherhood at the center of her role as first lady – a decision not all women applauded.
Sara Hayden, Professor of Communication Studies, University of Montana
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64724
2016-09-06T01:13:18Z
2016-09-06T01:13:18Z
Do kids who grow kale eat kale?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136447/original/image-20160902-20235-gp0h7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/5711747069/in/photostream/">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s back-to-school time in the United States, and for countless children across the nation, it’s also time to get back into the school garden.</p>
<p>For centuries, <a href="http://4h.ucanr.edu/files/1229.pdf">educators and philosophers</a> have argued that garden-based learning improves children’s intelligence and boosts their personal health. In recent years, concerns related to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm">childhood obesity</a> and <a href="http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/">young people’s disconnection from nature</a> have led to a revitalized interest in the topic.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of American schools have some form of school garden. Many are located on school grounds and others are run by external community partners. Most are connected to the <a href="http://www.lifelab.org/for-educators/schoolgardens/">school’s curriculum</a>. For instance, seeds are used in science class to explain plant biology, fruits are used in social studies to teach world geography and the harvest is used in math to explore weights and measures. Some even incorporate food from the garden <a href="http://www.changelabsolutions.org/sites/default/files/SchoolGardenLiability_Memo_FINAL_20130621.pdf">into the school lunch.</a></p>
<p>As a researcher and an activist, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working to promote a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system. Through this process, I have heard bold claims made about the power of garden-based learning to meet these challenges.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DC3H0sxg4tY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">School gardens claim a variety of benefits.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the enthusiasm that surrounds garden-based learning today, it’s worth taking stock of their overall impacts: Do school gardens actually improve the education and health of young people? </p>
<h2>Promoting school gardens</h2>
<p>School gardens have become a favorite strategy of prominent advocates in the <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/06/10/food-movement-rising/">“Good Food Movement.”</a> Both celebrity chef <a href="http://www.jamieskitchengarden.org/">Jamie Oliver</a> and First Lady <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/school-garden-checklist">Michelle Obama</a> have been vocal supporters. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136324/original/image-20160901-1023-qei1o1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An elementary school garden with six raised beds is meant to help kids learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/15034204592/in/photolist-oUwef1-rLY5Ds-byvicG-q7EWPu-3cU2sx-4Jcqz7-6Rgdv3-oR7oB7-zy55s-6gQpec-7aSqxR-4JcmWU-sq8LAW-6z2y7i-9LRWZu-bWAuk7-7CDYgj-bY84jS-feikXW-5XjM6e-rZ88Hh-8e1yXP-86w2Jf-4JcnZs-JmYPFJ-g2n8Ba-c1WAw1-iodwji-iYAf82-q7EjCY-JJK4ph-57jSV2-oQtdUN-5xbSXp-7wTtde-sqg7q2-5UhLw5-4rXy9Y-8eC33Z-8cAbi9-qZacsY-8Ef6w6-7J76Sx-5TwvyE-4J85ND-oygA7v-4pkivD-q7TubT-suwYws-5qxPVs#undefined">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://foodtank.com/news/2015/07/urban-farms-and-gardens-are-feeding-cities-around-the-world">Nonprofit and grassroots groups</a>, who see these gardens as a way to provide fresh produce for the <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx">food insecure</a>, have forged partnerships with local schools. Then there are service-based groups, such as <a href="http://foodcorps.org/">FoodCorps</a>, whose members spend one year in a low-income community to help establish gardens and develop other school food initiatives. </p>
<p>Philanthropic organizations like the <a href="https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyKids/TeachingGardens/Teaching-Gardens_UCM_436602_SubHomePage.jsp">American Heart Association</a> have also sponsored the construction of hundreds of new school garden plots.</p>
<p>Taken together, upwards of <a href="http://www.bridgingthegapresearch.org/_asset/4q28pc/BTG_gardens_brief_FINAL_March2014.pdf">25 percent of public elementary schools</a> in the United States include some form of garden-based learning. School garden projects are located in every region of the country and serve students of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic classes.</p>
<h2>Transforming kids lives through gardens?</h2>
<p>Advocates argue that gardening helps kids make healthier eating choices. As the self-proclaimed <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la/transcript?language=en#t-448403">“Gangsta Gardener” Ron Finley put it in his popular TED Talk,</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If kids grow kale, kids eat kale.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136333/original/image-20160901-1015-br2wf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does garden-based learning help school kids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugacommunications/6430961073/in/photolist-aNhmFc-noqgnz-bb3f8k-gKJsiV-k1yPm-8qVJ78-oTt85M-2HfDPD-fUfXdX-2KxMXL-acsMTN-nE3nGz-cGk1vq-eUy4SX-oxHGbp-sAqQS-7Ae3iw-86EUBe-7jMSXn-73CKzJ-cXJdEo-7Aahr4-srfq6V-f26qNf-rufie7-5eDDMb-9mAAqx-oQaz6E-6Wxyhm-tKd6Qp-8KVebW-86EUAe-oNaQ1A-oNaU7w-bWDE1g-5Ukyei-i4Uey1-8QeUgp-eFQ3cq-dqM7sW-eFJwNR-9TbQHt-Curwec-dKWRNj-nj8UUW-932q3K-e4VAqv-JnWz1b-o67vv5-qFZtvv#undefined">UGA College of Ag & Environmental Sciences - OCCS</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many proponents go even further, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-heart-association-and-activist-kelly-meyer-team-up-to-plant-teaching-gardens-nationwide-103857488.html">suggesting</a> that garden-based learning can inspire a variety of healthy changes for the whole family, helping to reverse the so-called obesity epidemic. </p>
<p>Others, like <a href="https://edibleschoolyard.org/sites/default/files/Ten%20Years_Final_Single%20Page.pdf">Edible Schoolyard founder Alice Waters,</a> argue that experience in the garden can have a transformative impact on a child’s worldview, making sustainability “the lens through which they see the world.”</p>
<h2>Sure, gardens can help</h2>
<p>There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that garden-based learning does yield educational, nutritional, ecological and social benefits. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ822027">several published studies</a> have shown that garden-based learning can increase students’ science knowledge and healthy food behaviors. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19846682">Other research</a> has shown that garden-based learning can help students better identify different types of vegetables as well as lead to more favorable opinions on eating vegetables.</p>
<p>In general, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00045608.2014.985627?journalCode=raag20">qualitative case studies</a> of garden-based learning have been encouraging, providing narratives of life-changing experiences for children and teachers alike. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136341/original/image-20160901-1048-k9erm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do gardens improve the intake of fresh foods and fruit?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/57811430@N08/9712196647/in/photolist-fNexGk-cyxsjJ-cEzpKW-85hrBB-86S5gF-cEzqSy-cEznJY-bLnmd8-phahFZ-ei3PCx-uEAgph-cEzowu-86Vggq-8dnh5M-cEznYy-zoBxm-7zQE73-nv6Bb-8UC8yh-G2sWAf-7kHnFq-B9DkDT-tUHNV6-xc1hSM-rryQmW-qNb2hL-mKvdtV-8MCUGP-fNexHa-86S5GV-53GTT8-4uKwRs-53M8mN-EmE8D-fNexGv-LKeQN-p1cpTK-86S5t6-oZW8Br-7qnHYh-ec1cGb-gkftBq-pfEDES-2katmV-oZW95v-zbNv-cEzsUQ-oZWr91-5rqcya-oZX9PJ#undefined">RubyDW</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, when it comes to actually increasing the amount of fresh foods eaten by young people, improving their health outcomes or shaping their overall environmental attitudes, quantitative results have tended to show <a href="http://heb.sagepub.com/content/34/6/846.abstract">modest</a> gains <a href="http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2252/">at best</a>. Some of the most <a href="http://www.schoollunchinitiative.org/downloads/sli_eval_full_report_2010.pdf">highly developed school garden programs</a> have been able to increase student vegetable consumption by about a serving per day. But the research has not been able to show whether these gains are maintained over time. </p>
<p>A lack of definitive evidence has led <a href="https://modeledbehavior.com/2010/09/30/how-progressive-ideology-is-holding-back-the-healthy-schools-movement/">some critics</a> to argue that school gardens are simply not worth the time and investment, especially for lower-income students who could be concentrating on more traditional college prep studies. </p>
<p>The social critic Caitlin Flanagan <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/cultivating-failure/307819/">has gone so far as to say</a> that garden programs are a distraction that could create a “permanent, uneducated underclass.”</p>
<h2>There are no magic carrots</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that the power of garden-based learning is sometimes overstated.</p>
<p>Particularly when describing garden projects in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2016.1221058">popular narratives</a> imply that a child’s time in the garden will rescue her from a life of poverty and chronic disease. </p>
<p>I call this the “magic carrot” approach to garden-based learning. But as we all know, there are no magic carrots growing in the school garden. </p>
<p>Gardens alone will not eliminate <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/su6203.pdf">health disparities</a>, <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/educational-opportunity-monitoring-project/achievement-gaps/race/">close the educational achievement gap</a>, <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/st_2016-06-27_race-inequality-ch1-07/">fix unemployment</a> or solve <a href="http://ced.berkeley.edu/downloads/research/LUP.parks.pdf">environmental injustice</a>.</p>
<h2>When is a garden successful?</h2>
<p>For gardens to effectively promote learning and health, they must be supported and reinforced by the community as a whole. <a href="https://fluidsurveys.com/share/33316792afbb54f8210b/">Surveys of school garden practitioners</a> show that garden programs have serious potential to enhance school and neighborhood life – but only if certain conditions are met.</p>
<p>Notably, school gardens are most successful when they are not held afloat by a <a href="http://grist.org/article/behind-all-the-photo-opps-with-the-first-lady-school-gardens-are-in-despera/">single dedicated teacher</a>. Instead, multiple involved stakeholders can ensure that a garden doesn’t dry up after only a season or two.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136339/original/image-20160901-1015-ja4dbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If kids grow kale, do they eat it?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/10334288213/in/photolist-gKcVQZ-7hbfxq-cZEHD9-bxaAgu-cZEFYq-cZEQcE-n31Asn-n3cmRR-5bbCuK-n3991Z-n3mQzE-n36iib-opaBP3-fTsywQ-984t1x-fTrrit-fTsWTa-fTsuGV-cZEr9E-9Lev6p-n3chX9-cZEk4h-cZEvgE-n351xk-cZEuKf-bL1Uok-cZEjsb-cZET9y-cZEqvf-cZEx4b-cZEscU-n33uSj-9KTKtj-cZEych-cZEP95-fTrzhA-abJ3CX-cZEaYd-5bfVTL-8eTyXE-8eQhj6-cZExBC-47i3Sb-A6D42H-eWzsPF-zdaqQy-c2dbau-fTsyuy-fTsybj-opaLHV#undefined">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, participation from administrators, families and neighborhood partners can turn a school garden into a <a href="http://foodtank.com/news/2016/08/five-questions-with-tony-hillery-founder-of-harlem-grown">dynamic and sustainable community hub</a>. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Doing-Nutrition-Differently-Critical-Approaches-to-Diet-and-Dietary-Intervention/Hayes-Conroy/p/book/9781409434795">experienced practitioners</a> have also shown that garden-based learning is more powerful when its curriculum reflects the cultural backgrounds of the young people it serves. When children of Mexican descent grow indigenous varieties of corn, or when African-American youth cultivate collard greens, the process of growing food can become a process of self-discovery and cultural celebration.</p>
<p>In other words, if kids grow kale, they might eat kale, but only if kale <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3759222/">is available in their neighborhood</a>, if their family can afford to buy kale and if they think eating kale is relevant to their culture and lifestyle. </p>
<h2>Creating valuable green space</h2>
<p>As my own <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520287457">research</a> has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWinO-QGi9k">highlighted</a>, there are organizations and schools across the country that incorporate garden-based learning into broader movements for social, environmental and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cultivating-food-justice">food justice</a>.</p>
<p>These groups recognize that school gardens alone will not magically fix the problems our nation faces. But as part of a long-term movement to improve community health, school gardens can provide a platform for experiential education, create valuable green space and foster a sense of empowerment in the minds and bodies of young Americans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garrett M. Broad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
School garden projects are becoming hugely popular. Over 25 percent of public elementary schools include garden-based learning. Do these gardens improve the education and health of young people?
Garrett M. Broad, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/62067
2016-07-26T04:51:31Z
2016-07-26T04:51:31Z
Dreams from their mothers: Hillary and Obama bending history again
<p>Hillary Clinton, the first woman presidential nominee of any major party, has a lifetime of experience in fighting for the rights of children and families. She draws on the inspiration from her <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/hillary-clinton-emotional-mother-33613961">mother’s Dickensian childhood</a>.</p>
<p>President Obama and Hillary Clinton appeared on the campaign trail together at a rally in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/us/politics/hillary-clinton-obama.html?_r=0">North Carolina</a>, exactly eight years after she endorsed him in Unity, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91975550">New Hampshire</a>. Now he has endorsed her as the most qualified person to carry on his legacy. </p>
<p>A landmark transition seems to be underway. We might be witness to a rare succession from the first black president to potentially the first woman president, representing inclusiveness and opportunity. These are the values American democracy might inspire in the age of globalization – the age of growing inequality and populist rage.</p>
<p>Women’s political power seems to be entering a new era. In Obama’s inner circle, women have had direct influence on his decision-making – and in the projects to uplift girls and women worldwide, something Hillary has championed.</p>
<h2>Women who shaped Obama</h2>
<p>The women who shaped Obama’s life narrative have been principally three: his mother, Ann Dunham; grandmother, Madelyn Dunham; and wife, Michelle Robinson Obama. The
struggles of these women have shaped Obama’s <a href="http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A2983C">self and identity</a>. </p>
<p>The three women in Obama’s personal narrative all came from the Midwest. Thus,
Obama established his roots in the Midwest. While Obama’s autobiography, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father">“Dreams from My Father,”</a> is principally concerned with father loss and his identity before he became a politician, the later book, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Audacity_of_Hope">“The Audacity of Hope,”</a> is dedicated to the key women in his life. It is an overtly political book focused on the fundamentals of the American dream and the values of hard work and responsibility he acquired from his mother and grandmother.</p>
<p>There is strong evidence to suggest that the president has effectively relied on female advisers: Valerie Jarrett in the White House, Hillary Clinton as the former secretary of state, Kathleen Sebelius in the Department of Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano as the homeland secretary, Janet Yellen at the Federal Reserve, and Susan Rice and Samantha Powers at the U.N. Obama’s two Supreme Court appointments were also women, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. </p>
<p>Obama has strongly supported women’s leadership in politics and government.</p>
<p>This may partly reflect his mother’s early socialization. Ann Dunham was, by all accounts, a professional anthropologist who mostly worked overseas. She planned to attend the United Nations conference on women in Beijing in 1995. She was a passionate supporter of women’s education and literacy development. She had conducted many projects that raised women’s status in the developing world, especially in Southeast Asia, where for almost 20 years she did her <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/surviving-against-the-odds">dissertation research</a>. As a young man, Obama traveled with her on many occasions to villages in Indonesia.</p>
<h2>Two parallel lives</h2>
<p>As journalist Elizabeth Moore revealed in <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">Newsday</a> and Janny Scott has reported in her book, <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/305057/a-singular-woman-by-janny-scott/9781594485596/">“A Singular Woman,”</a> starting in 1993 to the end of 1994, Ann Dunham was working in New York City preparing for a major U.N. conference in Beijing. She planned to speak about microcredits and microlending to poor women. This is the same conference at which Hillary Clinton, then first lady, electrified the audience with her now <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/06/world/hillary-clinton-in-china-details-abuse-of-women.html">well-known statement</a>, “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights…”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131657/original/image-20160722-26817-1w50re4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hillary Clinton at 1995 U.N. conference on women in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UN/DPI Yao Da Wei</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ann Dunham’s colleagues wondered what impact she might have had at the Beijing conference, where Clinton ultimately advocated for women’s rights. Ann Dunham never made it to the event because she was suffering from the last stages of cancer. </p>
<p>“But Clinton did speak at the panel co-sponsored by the International Coalition on Women and Credit that Dunham-Soetoro had brought together at the U.N.’s initiative. Two years later, Clinton helped launch a campaign to extend microfinance to 100 million families, a goal the coalition pushed at Beijing - and attained two years ago,” <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">Moore</a> reported.</p>
<p>The political is deeply personal. Obama’s mother and Hillary Clinton were “generational sisters,” separated only by five years (Hillary being younger). Both were Midwesterners by birth and socialization, Methodist by faith, ardent feminists who championed women’s liberation, and staunch supporters of the civil rights movement and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.; both traveled the world empowering women and girls. </p>
<p>Friends remember Ann Dunham as an earthy person, grounded in real-life experiences, but a woman with a passion for <a href="http://www.eastwestcenter.org/news-center/web-articles/spotlight-on-alumni-ewc-alumna-ann-dunham-mother-to-president-obama-and-champion-of-womens-rights-and-e">making a difference</a>. She wrote a 1,000-page doctoral dissertation on village economy in Indonesia, the insights from which were used to design savings and credit products for low-income rural clients at the People’s Bank of Indonesia. She convinced bankers to see how small-scale women entrepreneurs can be reliable in building businesses.</p>
<p>Ann Dunham wanted to move families out of poverty, yet all the while she was looking to achieve a major change in the way women were perceived in the developing
world, according to her colleague <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">Nina Nayar</a>. She worked on an effort to convince the U.N. to convene an expert panel on lending to women. The report from the experts became the foundation for the Beijing policy platform and for standards on lending that <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">emerged later</a>.</p>
<p>The professional efforts made by Ann Dunham were in a separate but parallel
track with the initiatives made by then First Lady Hillary Clinton, who launched a project backed by Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. Both women viewed the Beijing conference as an opportunity to further microcredit projects. Microcredit “was
mentioned in probably every other speech she made as first lady,” according to Melanne Verveer, Clinton’s former <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">chief of staff</a>.</p>
<p>At the conference, Clinton chaired the panel and gave a passionate speech. “It’s called micro, but its impact on people is gigantic. … When we help these women to sow, we all reap,” <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/president/articles/2008/12/29/20081229obama1229clinton.html">Clinton told the audience</a>. While Clinton may not have heard of Ann Dunham’s work, she was influenced by it.</p>
<p>Later, as secretary of state, Clinton placed a special emphasis on the progress of women, creating linkages between development, democracy and diplomacy – the so called <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-hillary-doctrine/9780231164924">“Hillary Doctrine.”</a> </p>
<h2>Dreams from their mothers</h2>
<p>The night Hillary Clinton clinched the nomination, I was in the audience at Brooklyn Navy Pier. She <a href="http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/6/8/hillary-clinton-gives-victory-speech-brooklyn-navy-yard">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My mother believed that life is about serving others. And she taught me never to back down from a bully — which it turns out was pretty good advice. …I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic Party’s nominee.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Women and young girls were watching with tears in their eyes.</p>
<p>When Hillary Clinton receives the democratic nomination in Philadelphia, birthplace of American democracy, it will ring in a historical transition at the start of the 21st century. It seems plausible that the heads of Western powers in Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. will <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/women-global-leaders_us_5776a1cfe4b09b4c43c04895">all be women</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Global-Hillary-Womens-Political-Leadership-in-Cultural-Contexts/Sharma/p/book/9781138829749">my recent book</a>, I suggest Clinton’s candidacy represents the culmination of postwar liberalism championed by Eleanor Roosevelt and a long-awaited recognition of the historical importance of mothers and daughters in the American founding.</p>
<p>As Clinton wrote in her <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Living-History/Hillary-Rodham-Clinton/9780743222259">autobiography</a>, “My mother and my grandmothers could never have lived my life.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dinesh Sharma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hillary Clinton’s work lifting up girls and women has a striking parallel to the work of women who shaped President Obama and his presidency.
Dinesh Sharma, Associate Research Professor, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/62764
2016-07-20T02:34:49Z
2016-07-20T02:34:49Z
Melania Trump’s speech follows a long history of plagiarism in public life
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131169/original/image-20160720-7913-twir3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Melania Trump allegedly plagiarised a speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">STF/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Melania Trump’s apparent plagiarism of the speech given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention reminds us of the importance we continue to ascribe to originality and to authenticity in public life.</p>
<p>At the Republican Convention, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/19/melania-trump-republican-convention-plagiarism-michelle-obama">Melania Trump said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life.</p>
<p>That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son, and we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow, because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LD3oB_3fiW4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Eight years earlier, the words of Michelle Obama were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.</p>
<p>And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children - and all children in this nation - to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The unascribed usage of Michelle Obama’s words has been both denied and attributed to someone other than Melania Trump. Sam Clovis, a Trump campaign adviser who has assisted in the drafting of some of his speeches, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-speech.html?_r=0">acknowledged</a> in an interview on MSNBC that Melania Trump used words that were not her own:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m sure what happened is the person who was helping write this plucked something in there and probably an unfortunate oversight — and certainly Melania didn’t have anything to do with it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Plagiarism is an emotive and divisive topic. The age of intertextuality and “the Information Age” mean that information is ubiquitously available for processing, repetition, adjusting and reframing by all. </p>
<p>The issue is what this means for unacknowledged secondary use of what others have thought, said or recorded - whether plagiarism still has meaning as a contemporary concept.</p>
<p>A thoughtful perspective <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/22/qr-markham-plagiarism-scandal">contended by literary journalist Stuart Kelly</a> in 2011 is that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the virtual world, the most valuable currency is reality. That would explain why the two things that aggravate the blogosphere most in literary terms are plagiarism and impersonation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Plagiarism around the world</h2>
<p>The man who is now US Vice President Joe Biden in a law assignment at the Syracuse University College of Law <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/18/us/biden-admits-plagiarism-in-school-but-says-it-was-not-malevolent.html?pagewanted=all">plagiarised five pages from a 15-page article</a> in the 1965 Fordham University Law Review. </p>
<p>He explained himself by saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My intent was not to deceive anyone. For if it were, I would not have been so blatant.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Put another way, it was an accident – he didn’t mean to do anything wrong. This rationalisation can be termed the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/scholarly-misconduct-9780198755401?cc=au&lang=en&">“Biden defence”</a>. </p>
<p>In 2013, the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, resigned his position after revelations of his plagiarism. At first, though, he had claimed that the author he plagiarised instead had plagiarised him. Later resiling from this, he then blamed a researcher for what had happened. </p>
<p>Bernheim refused to resign on the basis that to do so would amount to an act of vanity and desertion of office. However, he changed his mind after <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22111313">evidence emerged</a> also about the illegitimacy of his claimed doctoral qualifications, which it turned out he had not completed at the Sorbonne.</p>
<p>In Australia too there have been high-profile casualties of the exposure of plagiarism. </p>
<p>A prominent example was the vice-chancellor of Monash University, David Robinson, who <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/11/1026185088581.html">engaged in wholesale copying of others’ work</a> in the late 1970s and 1980s and had to resign his position in 2002. </p>
<p>A Monash University philosophy professor <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/13/1031608325789.html">reportedly said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having a plagiarist as head of a university is like having an embezzler running an accounting firm. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In more recent times a series of European politicians have lost their positions after revelations that they engaged in plagiarism in obtaining their postgraduate degrees. </p>
<p>The first in the sequence was Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German defence minister, who was persuaded to resign in 2011 after it became apparent that his 2006 thesis from the University of Bayreuth was significantly plagiarised. </p>
<p>He had become known as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism">“the cut and paste minister”</a> and thereby an electoral liability.</p>
<p>Then Silvana Koch-Mehrin, the deputy speaker of the European Parliament, was <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/university-of-heidelberg-finds-koch-mehrin-guilty-of-plagiarism/a-15156485">prevailed upon to resign</a> in 2013 after exposure of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. </p>
<p>She challenged the deprivation of her doctorate by Heidelberg University in 2013 but failed.</p>
<p>In 2012 the president of Hungary, Pal Schmidt, had his doctorate from Semmelweis University withdrawn on the basis of his plagiarism of a German academic and a Bulgarian sports official. </p>
<p>Over the course of the scandal that ensued he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/world/europe/hungarian-president-pal-schmitt-resigns-amid-plagiarism-scandal.html">resigned the presidency</a>.</p>
<p>The prime minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, was exposed in 2012 as having plagiarised significant parts of his doctoral thesis on the International Criminal Court. </p>
<p>A 13-member ethics commission set up by the University of Bucharest found
he had plagiarised elements on 115 pages of the 297 pages of his thesis. </p>
<p>His conduct became the subject of accusation and counter-accusation in the political process. </p>
<p>By 2014, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-ponta-idUSKBN0JU1N520141216">Ponta had abandoned his doctorate</a> and lost office in Romania’s elections.</p>
<h2>Consequences to political careers</h2>
<p>It is clear then that exposure of unattributed copying of material in the academic domain has had devastating consequences for a number of European politicians. </p>
<p>It has also generated much reflection on the value of intellectual authenticity and integrity. </p>
<p>In many theatres of life, such as registration as a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3121267/">medical practitioner</a> or a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2010/1927.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=plagiarism">psychologist</a> and admission as a lawyer, plagiarism is regarded as indicative of a person <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2010/108.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=keough">not being fit and proper</a> for a role as a professional, at least for a time. </p>
<p>What then is it about plagiarism that continues to offend community sensibilities?</p>
<p>Essentially, it is that it is a theft of ideas or thoughts without fair attribution of the creator’s work. It is a breach of trust. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/scholarly-misconduct-9780198755401?cc=au&lang=en&">We invest belief and confidence</a> that what we hear or read is the actual product of the person and is not the result of intellectual dishonesty.</p>
<p>When it turns out to be otherwise, justifiably, we feel cheated and fooled – what seemed real and reliable is not, and we have been deceived. </p>
<p>This matters in the world of academia where scholars’ work should be their own and where there is a particular value accorded to originality – scholarliness that is fresh, which deals fairly with what has come before and which gives fair ascription to the intellectual heritage of ideas.</p>
<p>In the public domain, though, where someone such as Melania Trump gives an address at a high-profile event, we are entitled to believe that when she speaks about herself and her family, she is being straightforward with us and not merely copying and pasting. </p>
<p>The check and balance of Turnitin or Ithenticate – software that detects plagiarism – should not be necessary. </p>
<p>When it turns out that she is simply mouthing the words of another, without telling us so, this goes not just to her integrity but to the mindset that she and others like her have: a preparedness to deceive us and which assumes we will not notice or care, and that they can get away with it. </p>
<p>This is profoundly both dishonest and patronising. It is why, legitimately, we are distressed and angry that what appeared to be authentic and meaningful is not. </p>
<p>Plagiarism in public life is an ugly slight upon the intelligence and the trust of an audience, and it is why it deserves to be condemned vigorously and unapologetically.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Freckelton AO QC does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Plagiarism in public life is an ugly slight upon the intelligence and the trust of an audience.
Ian Freckelton AO QC, Professorial Fellow in Law and Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/61694
2016-07-01T04:53:27Z
2016-07-01T04:53:27Z
How Michelle Obama’s visit to a London school helped boost students’ grades
<p>Something extraordinary happened to the pupils of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in London in 2009. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/apr/05/michelle-obama-school-london">Michelle Obama visited</a> that April while in London with her husband for a G20 summit, then asked pupils from the school to meet her in Oxford two years later, and finally invited a dozen pupils to visit her in the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/michelle-obama/9167373/The-ultimate-school-trip-visiting-the-Obamas-at-the-White-House.html">White House in 2012</a>. </p>
<p>Despite her title as first lady of the United States, the identity of her spouse is not the only remarkable thing about Michelle Obama. She grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Chicago’s South Shore, but made it to Princeton and then Harvard Law School before taking a job in a prestigious law firm. She credits education and hard work as the reasons for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/apr/05/michelle-obama-school-london">her successful career</a>. </p>
<p>Having Michelle Obama visit your school would be exciting enough even if she simply waved and gave a general speech. But she didn’t. She talked about how the pupils of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School had the capacity to do as she did, to use education to really get on in life. In general terms: “I did this; you could too”, which can be a very powerful message if delivered by the right person. You only need to watch the news videos to see that the pupils were genuinely inspired.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1fEOWFHtozU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There have been <a href="http://www.llcsjournal.org/index.php/llcs/issue/view/14">many debates</a> among researchers about how important aspirations are in influencing attainment at school. By studying what happened to the GCSE performance of the students at the school Obama visited, <a href="http://simonburgesseconomics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/EGA-paper-20160627.pdf">my research</a> shows that her inspirational visit boosted their grades. </p>
<h2>Back to the books</h2>
<p>Elizabeth Garrett Anderson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/apr/05/michelle-obama-school-london">is a high-performing</a> inner-city, all girls school with a very high percentage of non-white British children. </p>
<p>Using data from the Department for Education, I found that average performance in GCSE exams taken by 16-year-olds at the school improved substantially following her visits. Of course, establishing a robust causal relationship is hard, and probably impossible for just these two events, but the results do provide strong suggestive evidence. </p>
<p>The first graph below shows total GCSE points achieved in the school she visited compared with the average over all other London schools. The scores are measured relative to all of London, proportional to the overall variability in test scores – in the graph below a difference of 0.1 is considered large. It is clear that the school’s 2010 result is somewhat higher than 2009, though not dramatically so, but the 2012 score is substantially above that of 2011. </p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-2Bxoi" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2Bxoi/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>These results focus on the overall effect, but since Obama was encouraging very high performance and aspirations it is important to look specifically at high performance too. </p>
<p>The second graph shows the school averages of the number of A*, A or B grades its pupils achieved. The result is very striking: there was a sharp increase in the school’s performance relative to the rest of London in 2012. If this is really a result of Obama’s interventions then it is a big effect.</p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-3YyMd" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3YyMd/3/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>To get some sense of the magnitude of the effect it’s useful to translate them into GCSE grades. I found that the impact on total GCSE points is huge, equivalent to moving each pupil up two grades – for example, from C to A – in each subject. When I looked at the best eight scores for each pupil, the impact was equivalent to moving each pupil up one grade in each subject. These are dramatic changes. </p>
<p>Of course, the big jumps up in performance at the school in 2012 might just be chance: an issue which I discuss <a href="http://simonburgesseconomics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/EGA-paper-20160627.pdf">in my research</a>. In fact, these results are strongly significant as I calculated that there is only about a 1% probability that they are just chance. </p>
<h2>The money’s on Michelle</h2>
<p>What about the difference in impact between the visits? Given that the 2012 impact was greater than the 2010 impact, the question arises: was it Obama or was it Oxford? Or maybe the transatlantic trip to the White House? The media attention around the visits may also have contributed. </p>
<p>Strictly speaking, these different components cannot be separated, but many schools have visits to Oxford University which would have a much less dramatic effect on its own – and the White House trip only involved a dozen pupils. So my money is on Obama being the true catalyst for inspiration.</p>
<p>These results support the idea that inspiration, aspiration and effort are potentially very important for achievement. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was by no means a low-performing school, and yet this injection of inspiration made a big difference. So if pupil effort is important, then we need a much better understanding of pupil motivations and how to inspire pupils to greater engagement. This seems to be me to be a key question, one deserving much more research. </p>
<p>We need to get more inspirational role models into schools to talk to pupils about the importance of education. Of course <a href="http://www.speakers4schools.org/">this already happens</a> – for example the Inspiring Women Campaign does precisely this on <a href="http://www.inspiringthefuture.org/inspiring-women/">a large scale</a>, including one meeting at <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/high-fliers-from-london-inspire-girls-to-dream-big-9600275.html">Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in 2014</a>. The hard bit is finding speakers with that close connection to the specific pupils, to make it believable to say: “I was like you, you can be like me”. Harder still of course is to find speakers with the inspirational power of Michelle Obama.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Burgess receives funding from the ESRC, the Education Endowment Foundation and the Department for Education. </span></em></p>
The first lady effect: inspirational.
Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/42158
2015-06-02T10:11:41Z
2015-06-02T10:11:41Z
Feet on campus, heart at home: first-generation college students struggle with divided identities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83426/original/image-20150529-15221-tnrh3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First generation students: Divided lives?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/schoeband/5418245734/in/photolist-9fMVFU-brk3Fg-5LDsRZ-8Mjbpv-ac1Rk-r3mhd6-dRsLkh-6osH5m-d1kV2Q-6TPYLc-x4vaU-5jPpU-4LMtJZ-4LMrUR-4LMq3i-4LMvx4-aoctd7-aobGxh-rAMjhT-2jYDxZ-sVekii-ehjzN3-8MAazW-stmMay-6xcF5U-d1kUQN-ceZV6N-6mgdUL-aGKgjr-bgwmbV-tcqcxS-phGjyf-aohs2g-ry7V7e-51uNy4-SXGTG-51z23U-fZAaA7-ebum2b-51z1EY-6mc3xp-51uMvp-51uN5K-nEDFzs-6mgcNd-6mgdsY-6mgcE7-6mc4qe-6G5UEi-5nVuV4">Andreina Schoeberlein</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>First-generation (FG) college students, or students whose parents have not earned a four-year degree, face unique psychological challenges. </p>
<p>Although perhaps supportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.296.7903&rep=rep1&type=pdf">a break in the family system</a> rather than a continuation of their schooling. </p>
<p>In families, role assignments about work, family, religion and community are passed down through the generations creating <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1084908">“intergenerational continuity.”</a> When a family member disrupts this system by choosing to attend college, he or she experiences a shift in identity, leading to a sense of loss. Not prepared for this loss, many first-generation students may come to develop <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634520410001682401">two different identities</a> – one for home and another for college.</p>
<p>As a former first-generation college student who is now an associate professor of education, I have lived this double life. My desire to help other first-generation students resulted in <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">research</a> that provides insights into the lived experiences of first-generation students at <a href="http://www.wheelock.edu">Wheelock College</a>, a small college in Boston, Massachusetts, that has a high percentage of first-generation students. In 2010, 52% of our incoming undergraduates were first-generation college students. </p>
<p>Nationally, of the 7.3 million undergraduates attending four-year public and private colleges and universities, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html?_r=0">about 20% are first-generation</a> students. About 50% of all FG college students in the US are <a href="http://www.heri.ucla.edu/PDFs/pubs/TFS/Special/Monographs/FirstInMyFamily.pdf">low-income.</a> These students are also more likely to be a member of a racial or ethnic minority group.</p>
<h2>Why do they decide to go to college?</h2>
<p>Most first-generation students decide to apply to college to meet the requirements of their preferred profession. But unlike students whose parents have earned a degree, they also often see college as a way to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390227">“bring honor to their families.”</a> </p>
<p>In fact, studies show that a vast majority of first-generation college students go to college in order to help their families: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390227">69% of FG college students</a> say they want to help their families, compared to 39% of students whose parents have earned a degree. This desire also extends to the community, with 61% of FG college students wanting to give back to their communities compared to 43% of their non-first-generation peers.</p>
<p>And while their families often view them as their “savior,” “delegate,” or a way out of poverty and less desirable living conditions, many first-generation students struggle with what has been described as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1084908">“breakaway guilt.”</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First-generation students are torn between family and college expectations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evaekeblad/8408332720/in/photolist-dP1UnN-bdQzAx-7EQ5eF-8yoyTq-rX6Cbn-7F9xrr-8ZEFpp-6QB5ex-2ywExb-2ysjh6-8tnkVc-5EqqRN-5EqqFG-5EqqyY-5Eqqq1-4R6MU-66rjbK-3brGg2-4PwrxY-amX1NL-b9Ri9x-b9RcFt-b9ReQK-b9RbBc-b9Rjca-b9Regk-b9Rgyc-b9RgUB-b9RhmM-b9Rg8g-5uwJg5-b9RaFZ-b9Rfur-b9Rduv-ma354i-mmhkVd-mmhkcE-2Gf1s9-6U2Ti5-7vUm3h-387xxz-33hMdu-47B9v9-6J9fDZ-d4wQbf-4DdTnu-5njsyh-st8JiD-6sXTNr-6CNfBR">Eva the Weaver</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their decision to pursue higher education comes with the price of leaving their families behind. </p>
<p>They may feel they’re abandoning parents or siblings who depend on them. And families too may have conflicted feelings: first-generation college students’ desire for education and upward mobility may be viewed as a rejection of their past.</p>
<p>Perceived as different at home and different at school, first-generation college students often feel like they don’t belong to either place. </p>
<p>The challenge of higher education is to recognize the psychological impact that first-generation status has on its students and to provide help.</p>
<h2>First-generation students lack resources</h2>
<p>Not all first-generation college students are the same, but many experience difficulty within four distinct domains: 1) professional, 2) financial, 3) psychological and 4) academic. </p>
<p>Most of all, they need professional mentoring. They are the ones most likely to work at the mall during the summer rather than in a professional internship. They can’t afford to work for free, and their parents do not have professional networks. </p>
<p>Often, first-generation students apply only to a single college and do that without help. They can’t afford multiple application fees and they are unsure of how to determine a good fit, as their parents have not taken them on the college tour. </p>
<p>Many FG students fill out the financial aid forms themselves. As one FG college student <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They put all these numbers down and expect you to know what each one means. My mother doesn’t know and she expects me to find out and then tell her how it all works.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>FG students <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">worry</a> about the families they leave behind and try to figure out how to support them. </p>
<p>One first-generation student managed to enroll in college but was still worried about her mother’s lack of support. Miles away from home on a college campus for the first time, she divided her time each semester between paying her parents’ bills online and completing her assignments. Her parents didn’t own a computer or know how to use one. </p>
<h1>Stigma of being a first-generation college student</h1>
<p>Colleges need to recognize that FG students do not easily come forward to seek help. </p>
<p>Even though there are many successful former FG role models, such as First Lady <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama">Michelle Obama</a>, US Supreme Court Justice <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/sonia-sotomayor-453906">Sonia Sotomayor</a> and US Senator from Massachusetts <a href="http://www.warren.senate.gov/">Elizabeth Warren</a>, there is considerable stigma associated with FG status. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stigma forces some students to be invisible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/javigvidal/2263809049/in/photolist-4s3Byv-5Y1QAj-5XWzyr-5Y1Qzu-5Y1QBs-5XWzJF-5XWzEZ-5XWzG2-5XWzCP-5XWzGZ-3UaNPk-5GykFi-7D4RjQ-28q9Se-7D11QM-k9s3s8-4Av1BN-f2F2ub-9LV9Qi-FbFoA-5StXrP-9ep4oD-89JVvk-5Ds6jh-8ovzZM-bLFw12-aR89BZ-5UefjG-f31vim-5Z2EGu-7HwJZs-bLFvXV-7KEpFC-5F8bAK-5xLZ9Y-ze5z1-f2LfPM-eaoccb-bxHR3Q-9wrdaK-Hqrg5-9wucEC-9wrd9Z-eaoGWY-f2Lfuv-f31uMd-f2LfwM-8ovzVn-f31uYU-nPnKMx">Javier Garcia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, some FG college students may choose to remain invisible. Once they identify, their academic ability, achievement and performance may be <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">underestimated</a> by others. Their background is viewed as a deficit rather than a strength. And they are unnecessarily pitied by others, especially if low-income.</p>
<p>In extreme cases, other students and faculty may question their right to be on campus. Low-income, first-generation college students may arrive to college with fewer resources and more academic needs, making them <a href="http://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/OPAI/H3ERC/2012_papers/Reyes%20nora%20-%20rev%20of%201st%20gen%20latino%20college%20students%20-%202012.pdf">targets for discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html">New York Times video</a> on FG students at Ivy League colleges, a FG college student at Brown University who was born in Colombia told faculty that she was from New Jersey to avoid having to reveal that she was a first-generation college student.</p>
<p>But, there is another side to the story as well. </p>
<p>There are FG college students who view their status as a source of strength. It becomes their single most important motivator to earning their degree. These students are driven and determined. They can perform academically in ways that are equal to or even better than students whose parents have earned a degree.</p>
<p>These students too may benefit from a FG support group to help alleviate the internal pressure they place on themselves to succeed. </p>
<h2>How colleges can help FG students</h2>
<p>First-generation college students need customized attention and support that differs from students whose parents have earned a degree. They need to feel like they belong at their college or university and deserve to be there.</p>
<p>Higher education, with its unique culture, language and history, can be difficult for first-generation college students to understand. Students whose parents have attended college benefit from their parents’ experiences. </p>
<p>They come through the door understanding what a syllabus is, why the requirement for liberal arts courses exists and how to establish relationships with faculty. They can call their parents to ask for help on a paper or to ask questions about a citation method. They can discuss a classic novel they have both read. </p>
<p>This FG research has raised awareness on the Wheelock campus that has led to positive change. In 2014,the college applied for a <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fitw/index.html">First In the World federal grant</a> to help implement a new FG program. Though we were not awarded a grant in the first round of competition, we will continue to seek funding.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities have the ability to redesign their institutional cultures, teaching practices and academic support services to be more inclusive of first-generation college students.</p>
<p>For instance, they can offer required courses in a variety of different formats (hybrid, on-line, face-to-face) and timings (between semesters, during summers) to help FG students reduce degree completion time and save money. </p>
<p>They can recruit former FG faculty members to advise and mentor FG students. A FG web page for FG students and families can be created that features success stories, user-friendly financial aid as well as scholarship information, and links to other opportunities. </p>
<p>With the right support from institutions of higher education, FG students can earn their degree, reinvent themselves and reposition their families in positive ways for generations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Banks-Santilli received funding from The Gordon Marshall Fellowship at Wheelock College in 2010. This fellowship is designed to promote faculty scholarship and research.</span></em></p>
First-generation college students may suffer from a guilt of abandoning their families. They also carry huge responsibilities and expectations. How can colleges help them be successful?
Linda Banks-Santilli, Associate Professor of Education, Wheelock College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/37439
2015-02-17T12:21:22Z
2015-02-17T12:21:22Z
How Obamacare is reaching young invincibles through digital technologies
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71889/original/image-20150212-13206-xrqazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cringe.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The second open enrolment period of the US <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-obamacare-18642">Affordable Care Act</a>, which was due to close on February 15 <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/15/deadline-weekend-glitch-state-federal-exchange-enrollment-effect/23454419/">has been extended</a> in most US states. <a href="http://acasignups.net/blogs/charles-gaba">Estimates vary</a>, but around 10m people have already enrolled on the exchanges across the 37 states using the national HealthCare.gov enrolment platform and the 14 sites operated by individual states and Washington DC. </p>
<p>The exchanges, or marketplaces, were established by the ACA for eligible citizens to compare and sign-up for private qualified health insurance plans. A report published by the US Department of Health and Human Services suggested <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2015pres/01/20150127b.html">around 3m</a>, or 42%, of the 7m who had signed up using the site by mid-January were first-time users and around 2.5m (35%) of these were under the age of 35.</p>
<h2>Thinking about the future</h2>
<p>Reaching the under-35s, the so-called “young invincibles”, is crucial to the success of the exchanges. Insurance is a notoriously dull product – one <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X4OQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185&dq=devising+consumption+mcfall&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fhDiVNXxFOSP7AbAhIHgAg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=devising%20consumption%20mcfall&f=false">that has to be sold, and sold relentlessly</a>. As a product it appeals to our desire for a perfectly restorable world, with a core promise to make good the damages wrought by everyday catastrophes such as illness, death, accidents and theft. As the poet and insurance underwriter Wallace Stevens put it, our instinct:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…Is to go on indefinitely like the wax flowers on the mantelpiece. Insurance is the most easily understood geometry for calculating how to bring the thing about.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The young tend to care less about catastrophe and insuring against it. Since this instinct is usually felt more keenly with advancing age, a perennial problem encountered by life and health insurers is adverse selection bias. Put simply, those with cause to fear health risks are more likely to sign up for insurance. With the exception of smoking, insurers who offer cover on the ACA exchanges are prohibited from discriminating against existing conditions, so the risk for them is enrolling a disproportionate number of ageing and sickly – and therefore expensive – enrollees.</p>
<p>One traditional way of meeting the challenge of marketing a dull, technical, unenticing and often expensive product is by personal selling. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bG_4wFy39IUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=viviana+zelizer&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XxTiVJLVIMHP7gaIv4DoCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=viviana%20zelizer&f=false">Historically</a>, agents and brokers have played a huge role in the establishment of insurance markets. Personal interaction or “facetime” is still important in the ACA’s outreach. </p>
<p>Advisers have played a major role in many states. Get Covered Illinois, the state exchange’s enrolment arm, has <a href="http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/illinois-turning-to-insurance-agents-for-obamacare-outreach/">recently turned to agents to reach out for customers</a>. Agents can help people navigate the anxieties that come with buying insurance. But agent services are more likely to appeal to members of the “<a href="http://www.naic.org/Releases/2014_docs/financial_pressure_rises_for_sandwich_generation.htm">sandwich generation</a>” of 45 to 65-year-olds. They are a lot less attractive to the crucial, young target group. Young invincibles are the “millenials”, born between the 1980s and the 2000s and accustomed to fast, digital interactions.</p>
<h2>Going digital, but smartly</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2015/jan/biennial-health-insurance-survey">Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey</a> 2014 suggests that the subsidised insurance options and protections offered by the ACA had reduced the number of uninsured working-age adults from around 37m (20% of the population) in 2010 to 29m (16%), by the second half of 2014.</p>
<p>But how do insurance providers appeal to younger groups? The first open enrolment period in 2013-14 had <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/04/18/obamacare_young_enrollment_percentage_of_young_invincibles_aca_enrollees.html">mixed results</a>. Some were disappointed by the 28% enrolment of the 18-34 age group. The percentage sounds healthy, but around 40% of uninsured Americans are in this age group. An ideal result would therefore be a lot higher than 28%. </p>
<p>Outreach targeted at younger people included a heady, sometimes controversial, mix of social media and advertising messages. The kegstand ad, featured above, was one of a series by <a href="doyougotinsurance.com">Got Insurance</a>. The series provoked outrage <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1310/30/cnr.07.html">in some quarters</a> by seeming to endorse behaviour out of line with public health messages. </p>
<p>The series was originally created by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI) and Progress Now Colorado Education in Autumn 2013 as part of the Thanks Obamacare campaign. It offered a riposte in a climate where the Koch brothers had funded “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/creepy-uncle-sam-obamacare_n_4260116.html">creepy gynaecologist</a>” videos that called on viewers to “empower yourself by opting out of Obamacare”. But the series also demonstrates how easy it is to be caught trying too hard to speak the language of a younger demographic: “Brosurance” anyone?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R7cRsfW0Jv8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There have still been notable successes and the Obama administration has innovated constantly in its outreach. Obama has been noted previously for his energetic adoption of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mayTrDHJVUkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=daniel+kreiss&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9B3iVKPyO_Dd7QafvoD4Cg&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=daniel%20kreiss&f=false">multi-channel networked campaigning</a>, reaching out to target populations across different platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media. </p>
<p>This year, splashy youth speech has given way to a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/obamacare-millennials-114654.html">gentler, more local and better targeted approach</a> This was illustrated neatly in the final weeks of open enrolment. Since national youth enrolment day on January 29, Barack and Michelle Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, have tweeted childhood photos of themselves under the banner “no one stays young and invincible forever”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"560918339141500928"}"></div></p>
<p>This was followed last week by an onslaught of Valentine’s Day tie-ins, all hammering home “the insurance relationship”. </p>
<p>Digital channels are at the centre of marketing to the young. But that’s not the only way the digital figures in the post ACA context. New York-based health insurer start-up <a href="https://www.hioscar.com/">Oscar</a> is not just a relentless user of multi-channel, digitally oriented marketing. It is the first to respond to the “be as healthy as you can” responsibility enshrined in the legislation by introducing digital, financial incentives. Oscar members, for example, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/12/oscar-misfit/">can order a free Misfit fitness band and be rewarded with Amazon vouchers</a> for hitting individually tailored fitness targets. </p>
<p>It is too soon to say whether this type of digital “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mzZV9jFLltwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cass+and+sunstein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Qx_iVOyxJuWE7gbG8IHwCw&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=cass%20and%20sunstein&f=false">nudge</a>” will spread beyond niche providers but the incentives for the industry are already there. Youth enrolment figures might not be as high as some pundits think they should be ideally. But given the nature of the task, if when the figures finally settle, 35% of new enrolments do prove to be under 35, this would be a major accomplishment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz McFall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The second open enrolment period of the US Affordable Care Act, which was due to close on February 15 has been extended in most US states. Estimates vary, but around 10m people have already enrolled on…
Liz McFall, Head of Sociology, The Open University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35341
2014-12-11T10:41:10Z
2014-12-11T10:41:10Z
Movie about Obamas’ first date merely a sequel in long-running saga
<p>A <a href="http://deadline.com/2014/12/obama-movie-first-date-cast-1201309705/">film about the Obamas</a> which will dramatise their famous first date one summer afternoon in 1989 is planned. The news has unsurprisingly set tongues wagging and left some mouths agape. Is it not cheap and tawdry to mix high office with box office? You might think so, but if you do, credulous reader, think again. </p>
<p>Some imagine that the rot set in with the famously cinematic presidency of John F Kennedy. Kennedy deliberately and self consciously cultivated a film star image. He was known to associate with the Hollywood elite including Frank Sinatra and, of course, Marilyn Monroe. His sister married “Rat Pack” member Peter Lawford. Ted Sorensen, Kennedy’s main speech writer, portrayed Kennedy as a headline star. </p>
<p>In addition to the grooming and stage lighting used to enhance Kennedy’s cinematic profile, Sorensen penned lines that central casting would die for. Most famously, he had Kennedy, in his inaugural address, speak in the tongue of a latter-day Caesar, by declaring to the crowd and, more importantly, to the TV viewing public at home: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66878/original/image-20141210-6027-p4nnvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John F Kennedy (with his back to the camera), Robert Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe, May 19, 1962.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A long alliance</h2>
<p>But Kennedy by no means set the ball rolling. In fact, Washington DC has been star-struck for nearly a century. Long before Camelot, the presidency was inflected by a cinematic brand of leadership. Since the days of Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover and FDR at least, the line between the presidency and the film studio has sometimes been a thin one. </p>
<p>In the early 20s Harding was carefully orchestrating film coverage of visits to the White House by movie stars such as Mary Pickford. These were vote-getting opportunities. The impression was conjured that Harding and Pickford were old familiars who enjoyed regular <em>tête-à-têtes</em>. The president and his advisers had turned poachers, intent on grabbing a bit of the glamour from the Hollywood silver screen and making it rub off on them. </p>
<p>Harding was hardly singular in this respect. Later in the decade, Hoover regularly invited Hollywood moguls and movie idols of the jazz age to the White House. He posed with them in photographs and film reels to gain public attention and approval. </p>
<p>Roosevelt continued the practice, and also learned much from the theatrical cult of presidential personality pioneered by his Uncle, Theodore Roosevelt. FDR was arguably the first president to consciously play the role of national leader in an actorly way, using the tricks of Hollywood to enhance his persona. His presidency was characterised by close-up addresses to the American people, and he deliberately limited the vocabulary he used in his fireside chats with radio listeners so as to maximise audience impact. His trade-mark use of the phrase “my friends” established the sort of cosy, screen intimacy that was familiar to viewers of Hollywood Westerns and urban big city mortality tales. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PXY7TkrPPzI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Hollywood echoes</h2>
<p>And this tango between Hollywood and the White House has continued to more recent times. When Bill Clinton famously declared to the camera during the fall out from the Monica Lewinsky scandal “I did not have sex with that woman”, it might have been a deleted scene spoken by Dustin Hoffman from the smash-hit <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079417/">Kramer vs. Kramer</a>. In George W Bush’s so-called “Bullhorn speech” delivered while striding through the rubble of the World Trade Center after 9/11, he confided to the crowd: “I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” It might have been a line from Bruce Willis in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Die Hard</a> franchise.</p>
<p>So might it be more audacious, but the idea of a movie telling the story of when Barack met Michelle joins a long line of American party politics. It makes full use of the power of the Hollywood machine to build political capital. The effect aimed for is presumed intimacy. By humanising the president through screen devices of various sorts, audiences identify with the leader. They may be more likely to cast their votes for him and his party, when the time comes. </p>
<p>You might think this objectionable because it creates an illusion of emotional closeness. But routinely, party politics trades in – and exploits – illusions of personal closeness. Just as Jean Baudrillard controversially and famously declared that “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place”, you can be sure (when and if it comes), that the cinematic version of when Barack met Michelle will not observe the letter of history. It will bear the director’s touch of crowd pleasing sentimentality and the longueur of tinsel town. </p>
<p>We see our leaders with our eyes, but we view them through a screen. It is naïve to suppose that presidents and their advisers do not know that their public persona is acutely televisual and cinematic. Political power depends upon attention capital – and nowhere understands attention capital better than Hollywood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Rojek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A film about the Obamas which will dramatise their famous first date one summer afternoon in 1989 is planned. The news has unsurprisingly set tongues wagging and left some mouths agape. Is it not cheap…
Chris Rojek, Professor of Sociology, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/31626
2014-09-16T01:43:11Z
2014-09-16T01:43:11Z
To close the gender pay gap we need to end pay secrecy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58834/original/4582ctdt-1410490768.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If women knew how much more their male colleagues were being paid we might have a better chance of closing the gap.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women in full-time work take home A$283.20 per week less than their male counterparts, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, which puts the <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/Gender_Pay_Gap_Factsheet.pdf">gender pay gap</a> at 18.2%. Put another way, Australian women have to work an extra 66 days each year to take home the same amount as a man. More disturbing is that the gender pay gap is increasing. Ten years ago the gap was 14.9%.</p>
<p>During that time pay secrecy policies, under which employees are prevented from discussing their pay with colleagues, have spread. In a 2009 <a href="http://cbr.sagepub.com/content/41/6/14.abstract">report</a> 50% of organisations were found to be discouraging employees from sharing pay information by giving them a verbal warning. A further 3% of organisation leaders said they would punish employees if they shared pay information.</p>
<p>Keeping pay secret contributes to the gender pay gap. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency analysis shows the pay gap is largest when pay is secret – in an individual agreement (20.6%) and almost non-existent when pay is set publicly by an award (-2.5%). In between awards and individual agreements are collective agreements. Under a collective agreement base pay tends to be public but payments over and above (e.g. performance payments) are secret. The gender pay gap is 16.9% when pay is set by a collective agreement.</p>
<h2>Three ways pay secrecy contributes to the gender pay gap</h2>
<p>Organisations are able to pay employees <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/588738?uid=3737536&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104680337923">as they think</a> without having to justify the pay to employees. </p>
<p>Under pay secrecy, conscious or unconscious bias and stereotyping can affect pay decisions. Managers are able to apply criteria that have an adverse impact on women, such as using “face time” (time in the workplace) as a measure of employee value to the organisation.</p>
<p>The information asymmetry between the employer and the employee makes it difficult for women to compare their pay to similarly situated employees. In the absence of information women cannot challenge illegal practices by organisations or seek better pay elsewhere.</p>
<p>Second, pay over and above base pay is typically based on employee performance. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrm.1021/abstract">Research</a> shows women are less likely to get a high performance rating relative to their male counterparts. In fact, they are more likely to receive critical feedback. </p>
<p>A more recent (2014) <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/08/26/performance-review-gender-bias/">study</a> found that 58.9% of the performance reviews received by men contained critical feedback, compared with 87.9% for women. And the criticisms were often based on personality. “Watch your tone”, “stop being so judgmental” showed up in 2.4% of the critical reviews received by men and in 76% of the critical reviews received by women. </p>
<p>The pro-male bias in performance ratings is particularly <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1021652527696">prevalent</a> when women are in jobs traditionally carried out by men and the performance rater has strong gender stereotypes. When performance ratings are used to determine pay, women receive smaller amounts of performance pay than their male counterparts. </p>
<p>Third, money goes to those who negotiate better. Pay secrecy requires individual employees to play a greater role in the pay determination process, for example negotiating their performance rating or the amount of performance payments.</p>
<h2>Negotiation matters</h2>
<p>Women are socialised not to negotiate – they assume they will be recognised and rewarded for good performance. A 2003 study entitled <a href="http://hbr.org/2003/10/nice-girls-dont-ask/">“Nice Girls Don’t Ask”</a> found that 57% of men negotiated their pay while only 7% of women negotiated. Women are more likely than men to accept the first offer. Managers, believing that women will accept less than men typically make <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=czMVSuPmyLwC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=Reputations+in+negotiation+Wharton&source=bl&ots=VasFE89fJg&sig=XpoZlX-ad2QCM4L4zlUYTaSPfnI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_1ISVOezI4K9ugTU14CwBg&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Reputations%20in%20negotiation%20Wharton&f=false">lower opening offers</a> to women.</p>
<p>When women do negotiate, they frequently adopt an <a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/pdf/Kray_&_Thompson_ROB.pdf">accommodating style</a> that is less likely to deliver the economic benefits of the more competitive negotiation style adopted by men. Women who do negotiate may be labelled as “bitchy” or “pushy” resulting in them being ostracised or excluded from important information. Being less liked <a href="http://jom.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/12/29/0149206311431307">results</a> in lower performance ratings and lower wages.</p>
<p>The current Australian government takes the view that organisational accountability will reduce the gender pay gap. The Workplace Gender Equality <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/minimum-standards/what-are-minimum-standards">(Minimum Standards)</a> Instrument 2014 will apply to employers with 500 or more employees from October 1, 2014. Minimum standards represent the standard expected to achieve a particular objective. In order to meet the minimum standard, an employer must have a policy or strategy in place that specifically supports gender equality in relation to equal remuneration between women and men.</p>
<h2>Closing the gap requires more than reporting</h2>
<p>Australia has had equal pay laws since the 1970s and these have been ineffective in eliminating the pay gap. It is hard to see how the reporting of pay data is likely to have any impact on the gender pay gap. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, of the 563,412 businesses in operation at June 30 2013, only 3,598 businesses employed 200 or more people. Most employers will not have to comply with the Minimum Standards Instrument.</p>
<p>A more effective approach is to remove restrictions of the sharing of pay information. The US and the UK have introduced provisions to promote pay transparency.</p>
<p>In the US in April, President Obama issued an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/08/obama-takes-executive-action-to-lift-the-veil-of-pay-secrecy/">executive order</a> designed to reduce the gender pay gap. Obama ordered federal contractors to let their employees share salary information with one another and to disclose more details about what their employees earn. </p>
<p>The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was passed by Congress in 2009, meaning in the US employees subject to pay secrecy policies are allowed to seek compensation for the full duration of discrimination. This is because women may be subject to pay discrimination for many years before finding out and taking action.</p>
<p>In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 makes pay secrecy provisions unenforceable against employees who make or solicit a “relevant pay disclosure”. Women cannot be treated unfairly when they attempt to establish whether there is a difference between their pay and that of a colleague, based on any discriminatory grounds.</p>
<p>Removing gender pay inequity in Australia requires greater pay transparency.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Brown receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
Women in full-time work take home A$283.20 per week less than their male counterparts, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, which puts the gender pay gap at 18.2%. Put another way, Australian…
Michelle Brown, Professor, Human Resource Management, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/30501
2014-08-14T00:22:30Z
2014-08-14T00:22:30Z
Michael Brown, Ferguson and the nature of unrest
<blockquote>
<p>The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time … I know the events of the past few days have prompted strong passions, but as details unfold, I urge everyone in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country to remember this young man through reflection and understanding. We should comfort each other and talk with one another in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>– <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/08/12/statement-obama-calls-michael-browns-death-heartbreaking/">Statement</a> by US president Barack Obama on the passing of Michael Brown, August 12, 2014.</em></p>
<p>Many Americans share president Barack Obama’s sentiment regarding the death of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/12/ferguson-missouri-shooting-michael-brown-civil-rights-police-brutality">18-year-old Michael Brown</a> in Ferguson, Missouri. This is clearly indicated in the deeply felt hurt experienced by so many and the massive swell of moral support people of all backgrounds offered to the young man’s parents in recent days. </p>
<p>But to suggest that all, or even most, Americans feel the same would be severely misleading. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/08/13/bill_o%E2%80%99reillys_ferguson_disgrace_host_spews_sick_lecture_to_michael_browns_family/">Some</a> citizens, drawing on media-fed imagery and timeworn stereotypes of young black men, have gone so far as to suggest that the unarmed teenager’s tragic death at the hands of a Ferguson police officer was self-inflicted, of his own doing, deserved and the result of his defiance of state authority. </p>
<p>A young man with a promising future notwithstanding, too many in the United States view the disputed events that led to Brown’s death as the reasonable, albeit unfortunate, consequence of his errant behaviour.</p>
<p>These views are not necessarily based on ignorance or even racial animus. However, it must be made clear, these features remain entrenched themes of contemporary American culture and life. The devaluing of Brown’s life is informed by a form of marginalisation that refers to the condition of those whom the broader society chronically excludes from economic networks and networks of care – or what American legal scholar Richard Delgado describes as being <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=eW3ct3cCbigC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=richard+delgado+beyond+love&source=bl&ots=sXd3WJZglI&sig=6ogB2LY6LbbBD_BwuqZpr3-q-UM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mu7rU5GYFYri8AWO7IKwAw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=richard%20delgado%20beyond%20love&f=false">“beyond love”</a>. </p>
<p>Missouri in general and the St Louis metropolitan area in particular has a long history of this kind of exclusion. A New York Times editorial on Brown’s death, for instance, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/opinion/racial-history-behind-the-ferguson-protests.html?_r=0">describes</a> “the history of racial segregation, economic inequality and overbearing law enforcement that produced so much of the tension now evident on the streets” of Ferguson, a suburban town of 21,000 people. The editorial goes on to note that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>until the late 1940s, blacks weren’t allowed to live in most suburban St Louis County towns.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Property over life</h2>
<p>In addition, a core American cultural value that gives <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/property-rights-versus-human-rights-challenging-the-super-wealthy/28945">priority to property rights over human rights</a> informs such indifference towards the lives of especially young black men and women. This is evident in the almost immediate media shift from the focus on what some regard as the state-sanctioned murder of Brown, whose lifeless body was left exposed, lying on the open boulevard for over four hours, to an <a href="http://www.ksdk.com/picture-gallery/news/crime/2014/08/11/photos-ferguson-riot-damage/13885193/">over-emphasis</a> on the loss of property in Ferguson in the aftermath of his death. </p>
<p>In this instance, the importance of property is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/police-militarization-ferguson-2014-8">evident</a> in the roll-out of body-armoured police, the deployment of tanks and police cars to barricade citizens, and the wanton firing of tear gas and rubber bullets into peaceful crowds. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"499755746691919872"}"></div></p>
<p>In effect, these domestic military manoeuvres in an overwhelmingly black neighbourhood were in no way intended to protect the lives of its residents but rather its property.</p>
<p>Even Obama’s words betray this sentiment. His reference to “strong passions” and emphases on “reflection and understanding” and on talk “that heals, not in ways that wound” is in tacit reference to the days of unrest that followed Brown’s death. But these wounds and so-called violence in response to Brown’s death were directed at the economic institutions and patterns of oppression and racial violence that figure so prominently in the marginalisation of many of Ferguson’s residents. </p>
<p>The violence that the authorities would be prudent to attend to are the very structural forces that oppress the youth who have responded en masse to the senseless death of one of their own. For sure, there are many older adults, sincere, concerned and operating in good faith, who have joined them. </p>
<p>The waning generations too must partner with their daughters and sons in transforming the conditions under which America continues to bury its young. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garrett Albert Duncan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The death of Michael Brown is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and his community at this very difficult time … I know the events of the past few days have prompted…
Garrett Albert Duncan, Associate Professor of Education and of African & African-American Studies in Arts & Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/22509
2014-01-29T04:06:02Z
2014-01-29T04:06:02Z
State of the Union: Obama’s timely answer to Americans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40082/original/hnsc4tpq-1390966709.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has US president Barack Obama seized on the right issue at the right time by targeting income inequality in his State of the Union address?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Larry Downing</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just over half a century ago, after his presidency began with the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba, John F. Kennedy sought out advice from his recently defeated rival, Richard Nixon. The two men had a special affinity for international affairs and tended to regard domestic politics as something of a chore.</p>
<p>As the two men conferred about the botched uprising against Fidel Castro, the young US president reflected on the importance of global politics and the dreariness of issues closer to home. Who gives a damn about the minimum wage, a sardonic Kennedy asked. Only he didn’t say “damn”.</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/28/full-text-of-obamas-2014-state-of-the-union/">State of the Union address</a> this year, US president Barack Obama answered Kennedy’s rhetorical question. He cares about the minimum wage – and he is hoping that millions of other Americans care, too.</p>
<h2>Obama tightens his focus</h2>
<p>At first glance, and by Kennedy’s standard of importance, Obama’s annual message was small and narrowly focused. He offered no big proposals, no sweeping promises of change. There was a nod to Michelle Obama’s <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/315777-michelle-obama-credits-lets-move-with-declining-childhood-obesity-rates">campaign against childhood obesity</a>, a pledge to retrain military veterans and spouses, a pat on the back for his healthcare reforms and a political evergreen, a vow to simply the nation’s tax code.</p>
<p>Oh yes, he announced that he would issue an executive order to raise the minimum wage from its current, scandalously low rate of US$7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. A big deal? Not exactly. The move is limited to employees of future federal contractors.</p>
<p>So it would be easy to dismiss Obama’s fifth State of the Union address as inconsequential, just-another-laundry-list speech to be forgotten by tomorrow, as most of these annual messages are. </p>
<p>Such an analysis would fit all too neatly into the conventional narrative of the Obama presidency: the energy and hope of his election are long gone. Yes, he got health care passed (no small achievement), but after that? It has all been incrementalism, hardly the stuff of transformative presidencies.</p>
<h2>Why the speech matters</h2>
<p>But here’s why Obama’s speech was important, even if it was not particularly memorable. His invocation of income inequality, implicit in his argument for a minimum wage increase, is a milestone in contemporary American politics. In recent years, those who talked about the growing gap between the super-rich and the rest of the nation were condemned as socialists (in America, this is considered the ultimate put-down).</p>
<p>Equally noteworthy is the method Obama has chosen to achieve his goal. He is not going to go to Congress to ask for its approval. Such a move, he knows, would lead only to further dysfunction. Instead, he said he will order the increase on his own.</p>
<p>That’s the sort of move one might expect from a president with high approval ratings, a president who could challenge Congress knowing that he had the people on his side.</p>
<p>But Obama simply doesn’t have the public on his side. His <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/28/obamas-approval-number-is-near-his-lowest-as-he-delivers-state-of-the-union-address/">approval ratings</a> have dipped below 50%, just a year after the start of his second term. History suggests that those numbers are destined to dip even lower as he becomes irrelevant in 12 months or so, as attention turns in earnest to the 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>In that sense, Obama’s decision to go it alone on what could become the signature issue of his second term - the minimum wage and, implictly, income inequality - is a bold move veiled in bland, bureaucratic language.</p>
<h2>America’s change of attitude</h2>
<p>Hours before the president began his speech, the well-respected Pew Research Centre <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/27/despite-recovery-fewer-americans-identify-as-middle-class/">released a poll</a> showing that only 44% of Americans consider themselves to be middle class. That’s astonishing. It indicates that Americans are beginning to understand the consequences of years of tax policies favouring the super-wealthy, and of trade policies favouring the removal of middle-class jobs to Third World nations.</p>
<p>Obama is not ahead of the income inequality issue. Activists, labour unions and politicians such as Senator Tom Harkin (and even the great folksinger Pete Seeger, who <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94-20140128-31kss.html">died</a> on Monday in New York) have been warning about the consequences of the nation’s growing income disparities.</p>
<p>But Obama’s embrace of minimum-wage politics is an indication that he is willing to risk his shrinking political capital on an issue that until recently was regarded as the province of far-out lefties: income inequality.</p>
<p>So perhaps this speech will reignite the Obama presidency. It won’t be because of the speech’s rhetoric, which was pretty ordinary. It will be because, for the first time in several years, Obama has seized on the right issue at the right time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Golway does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Just over half a century ago, after his presidency began with the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba, John F. Kennedy sought out advice from his recently defeated rival, Richard Nixon. The two men had a special…
Terry Golway, Director, Center for History, Politics & Policy, Kean University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.