title: The phylogenesis of palaeoarts, and their coevolution in relation to artification

authors: Allegretti, Pietro

abstract: In this thesis, I investigate the hypothesis of artification developed by Ellen Dissanayake and its relevance for developing an account of the evolutionary trajectory of art-making in humans and hominins. 
The debate about the evolution of art-making has produced many theories of how arts evolved in humans’ deep past. One of the most promising views is the hypothesis of artification, that suggests that artworks evolved in ritual ceremonies as an enactment of the hominin predisposition to make bodies, objects, and vocalisations perceptually striking. I suggest that artification’s antecedents can be traced back to Australopithecines’ mother-infant interaction. I provide an argument in support of characterising artification as a cognitive toolkit that first evolved as an attention-getter mechanism, and art-making as a set of culturally accumulated practices exploiting this toolkit that evolved following coevolutionary trajectories with socio-cognitive niches in later hominins. I conclude that artification has a mosaic evolution, and that the first instances of art-making can be tracked back to the Early-Acheulean ≈ 1.7 mya.

text: The phylogenesis of palaeoarts, and their coevolution in relation to artification In this thesis, I investigate the hypothesis of artification developed by Ellen Dissanayake and its relevance for developing an account of the evolutionary trajectory of art-making in humans and hominins. 
The debate about the evolution of art-making has produced many theories of how arts evolved in humans’ deep past. One of the most promising views is the hypothesis of artification, that suggests that artworks evolved in ritual ceremonies as an enactment of the hominin predisposition to make bodies, objects, and vocalisations perceptually striking. I suggest that artification’s antecedents can be traced back to Australopithecines’ mother-infant interaction. I provide an argument in support of characterising artification as a cognitive toolkit that first evolved as an attention-getter mechanism, and art-making as a set of culturally accumulated practices exploiting this toolkit that evolved following coevolutionary trajectories with socio-cognitive niches in later hominins. I conclude that artification has a mosaic evolution, and that the first instances of art-making can be tracked back to the Early-Acheulean ≈ 1.7 mya.

year: 2026

title: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree.

authors: Hayfield, Nikki

subjects: gender roles

abstract: Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

text: "Never say never?": Heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women's accounts of being childfree. Feminist scholars have identified a “motherhood imperative” in Western cultures, when heterosexual women are understood to both want and to have children. However, social shifts have resulted in a decrease in pronatalism as well as an increase in social recognition of the parenting desires of same-sex parents. Despite a resurgence of interest in childfree identities, research to date has predominantly focused on heterosexual women’s explanations for being childfree and their experiences of marginalization. Our aim in the current study was to explore how childfree heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women negotiate their childfree lives and identities in the context of their personal and social relationships within changing cultural contexts. Data from 23 interviews with women in the United Kingdom, who responded to a call for childfree participants, were thematically analyzed. We constructed two themes: (1) Never say never? Negotiating being childfree as ever precarious, which shows how women constructed being childfree as requiring constant revisiting and renegotiating to maintain and (2) An ordinary life: Constructing being childfree as rational and reasonable, in which we identify the rhetorical efforts of participants to establish their being childfree as an ordinary, reasonable, and rational position. We conclude that for these women, childfreedom was constantly in flux and that maintaining a positive childfree identity required considerable identity work in order to manage intimate personal relationships and wider friendships.

year: 2019

title: Maori and psychology: Indigenous psychology in New Zealand

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Maori

abstract: Maori have their own approaches to health and well-being, which stem from a world view that values balance, continuity, unity and purpose. The world view is not typically thought of as 'psychology', yet it is a foundation for shared understandings and intelligible action among Maori. Maori behaviours, values, ways of doing things and understandings are often not visible nor valued. However, through these opening years of the twenty-first century, psychologists are slowly turning their attention to addressing this invisibility with the explicit agenda of building 'indigenous psychologies'

text: Maori and psychology: Indigenous psychology in New Zealand Maori have their own approaches to health and well-being, which stem from a world view that values balance, continuity, unity and purpose. The world view is not typically thought of as 'psychology', yet it is a foundation for shared understandings and intelligible action among Maori. Maori behaviours, values, ways of doing things and understandings are often not visible nor valued. However, through these opening years of the twenty-first century, psychologists are slowly turning their attention to addressing this invisibility with the explicit agenda of building 'indigenous psychologies'

year: 2007