Beirut Looks - Racial Capital, National Aesthetics, and the Female Body

贝鲁特的面貌——种族资本、民族美学和女性身体

• 批准号: 1916678
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1916678
• 关键词: Beirut; Looks; Racial; Capital; National

This study investigates fashion and commercial models' embodiment of racial and linguistic capital within Beirut's fashion modelling industry. Taking the example of Beirut as the fashion metropolis of the Middle East, this study explores the impact of conflicting hegemonic neocolonial narratives of racialized and nationalized aesthetics on female Lebanese models as aesthetic labourers. Rooted in Lebanon's colonial history and ethno-religious diversity Beirut's fashion industry is strongly marked by conflicting racial and national aesthetic ideals, mirrored by the diverse bodily appearances of Lebanese models. This research asks how models, as active labourers and in charge of their bodily transformations, possess agency to either reproduce, but moreover resist and disrupt hegemonic aesthetic ideals, and thus challenge overarching racial and national hierarchies within the Lebanese fashion industry. It will shed light on the techniques with which models volitionally consume, manage, and employ bodily and linguistic symbols imbued with racial meaning as essential parts of their self-commodification and self-presentation.The proposed methodology consists of a mixture of participant observation, as a way to conceive embodied knowledge and as a base for subsequent interview questions. Visual ethnography, i.e. models' video diaries, will help to interpret the very practical visual constructions of models' 'selves'. Structured and semi-structure interviews with models and agents will help gain a deep understanding of models' bodily practices, and linguistic patterns. The use of language(s), namely Arabic, English and French, by models within their work space, during interviews, and video recordings will be unpacked through conversation analysis to understand the verbal (re)productions of racial, national and personal model identities in talk-in-interaction.This project is motivated by prior ethnographic research on modelling practices in the fashion industry of Amman, and research about national identity and dress, and racial capital in Cairo. Further, it is informed by extensive writing and researching about fashion, the body, and aesthetic labour. Through years of living in the Middle East and being multilingual myself, I have developed high sensitivity to the strategic use of visual and linguistic metaphors employed by fashion professionals to express racial and national background and ideological orientation. In addition, my work as a fitness instructor in Amman has revealed crucial shifts in bodily female beauty standards in the Arab world, symbolizing the disruption of imperialist aesthetics promoted by 'Western' fashion industries.Embedded in a Bourdieusian approach to fashion as a field of cultural production, this study builds on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's works on embodiment to dissect the discursive nature and transformative power of bodily practices. Further it draws on literature on the female body as a representative medium of racial and national identity.This project will contribute to knowledge about the underexplored domain of aesthetic labour in the Middle East and it's racial and linguistic implications.Key LiteratureBernard, H. (2006) Research Methods in Anthropology. Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Lanham: Alta Mira Press.Bourdieu, P. (1993 [1984]) Sociology in Question. London: Sage.Entwistle, J. and Wissinger, E. (2012) Fashioning Models: Image, Text and Industry. London et al.: Berg. Mallat, S. (2011) More Than Just Another Pretty Face? Understanding Motivations for Plastic Surgery Among Lebanese Female Youth. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Beirut, American University of Beirut, Master of Arts.Merleau-Ponty, M. (1981) The Phenomenology of Perception. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Sidnell, J. (2009) Conversation Analysis: Comparative Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

这项研究调查了贝鲁特时装建模行业中时装和商业模型对种族和语言资本的体现。以贝鲁特为中东的时尚大都市的榜样，这项研究探讨了霸权新殖民叙事叙事的影响，对种族化和国有化学的美学对黎巴嫩女性模式作为美学劳动者的影响。植根于黎巴嫩的殖民历史和民族宗教多样性的贝鲁特时装界的植根于种族和民族美学理想的强烈标志，这是黎巴嫩模式的各种身体外观反映的。这项研究询问模型是如何作为活跃的劳动者和负责其身体转型的模型，拥有代理商来繁殖，但此外，抵制和破坏了霸权美学理想，从而挑战了黎巴嫩时尚行业内总体的种族和国家等级制度。它将阐明在自愿消费，管理和采用具有种族意义的身体和语言符号的技术中，作为其自我商品化和自我表现的重要部分。所提出的方法包括参与者观察的混合物，是一种构思体现知识的方法，作为构思知识和后续面试问题的基础。视力民族志，即模型的视频日记，将有助于解释“自我”模型的非常实用的视觉结构。与模型和代理商的结构化和半结构访谈将有助于深入了解模型的身体实践和语言模式。 The use of language(s), namely Arabic, English and French, by models within their work space, during interviews, and video recordings will be unpacked through conversation analysis to understand the verbal (re)productions of racial, national and personal model identities in talk-in-interaction.This project is motivated by prior ethnographic research on modelling practices in the fashion industry of Amman, and research about national identity and dress, and racial capital in Cairo.此外，通过广泛的写作和研究时尚，身体和审美劳动来了解它。通过多年的生活在中东和多语言上的生活，我对时尚专业人士采用的视觉和语言隐喻的战略使用提高了高度敏感性，以表达种族和民族背景和意识形态方向。 In addition, my work as a fitness instructor in Amman has revealed crucial shifts in bodily female beauty standards in the Arab world, symbolizing the disruption of imperialist aesthetics promoted by 'Western' fashion industries.Embedded in a Bourdieusian approach to fashion as a field of cultural production, this study builds on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's works on embodiment to dissect the discursive nature and transformative power of bodily实践。此外，它借鉴了关于女性身体的文献，作​​为种族和民族认同的代表性媒介。该项目将有助于了解中东美学劳动及其种族和语言含义的审美劳动的知识。定性和定量方法。 Lanham：Alta Mira Press.Bourdieu，P。（1993 [1984]）有问题的社会学。伦敦：Sage.entwistle，J。和Wissinger，E。（2012）时尚模型：图像，文字和工业。伦敦等人：伯格。 Mallat，S。（2011）不仅仅是另一个漂亮的脸蛋吗？了解黎巴嫩女性在整形手术的动机。社会和行为科学系。贝鲁特，美国贝鲁特大学，艺术硕士。 Routledge和Kegan Paul：London.Sidnell，J。（2009）对话分析：比较观点。剑桥：剑桥大学出版社。