workers for working too fast, he was called El Campeon (the Champion)’ for the next thirty years (Bachelor, 2001: 294). Such control is predicated on socialisation and power. As numerous studies have pointed out, in various work the old-timers call the new arrivals obscene ‘settings, names, curse them, point out their negative attributes’ and use insulting labels and jokes to put in their place: on the bottom of the totem pole’, where they can learn bend to the ‘novices ‘to group’s wishes’ (Fortado, 1998: 16). Ugly nicknames function similarly to the sort of humour’ evident in ‘sick ‘Auschwitz jokes’, which according to Dundas (1987, cited in Sev’er and Ungar, 1997: 88) as a ‘serve coping mechanism to deal with bothersome issues such as sexuality, racial tension, violence and guilt’. They can also men’s struggle to deal with their anxiety about the changing role of ‘reflect women’. For Aysan Sev’er and Sheldon Ungar (1997: 88), humour of this sort can also reflect imbalances between men and women’ and help solidify and perpetuate that power ‘power ‘to disparity’. From this perspective, insulting nicknames like the of Belsen’ drew on a ‘Beast Reynolds (2007: 437) arsenal of types of conflict talk’, which according ‘verbal ‘comprise powerful discursive strategies in the everyday negotiation and coconstruction of peer politics … and group social relationships’. This represents an attempt to develop a language that … ‘talk’ sets boundaries and contains possibility for negation, resistance, reinterpretation, the play of ‘the metaphoric invention and imagination’ that can be used to dealing with power asymmetries (Scott, 1996: 167. This, I argue, was precisely how the nicknaming of Mary Lions functioned; it provided a symbolic response to the intrusion of women into the traditionally male-dominated Eveleigh workshops and to the power of one woman whose occupation gave her power over the men’s health and bodies. As will be seen, this response was informed by intersecting and
workers for working too fast, he was called El Campeon (the Champion)’ for the next thirty years (Bachelor, 2001: 294). Such control is predicated on socialisation and power. As numerous studies have pointed out, in various work ‘settings, the old-timers call the new arrivals obscene names, curse them, point out their negative attributes’ and use insulting labels and jokes to put ‘novices in their place: on the bottom of the totem pole’, where they can learn ‘to bend to the group’s wishes’ (Fortado, 1998: 16). Ugly nicknames function similarly to the sort of ‘sick humour’ evident in ‘Auschwitz jokes’, which according to Dundas (1987, cited in Sev’er and Ungar, 1997: 88) ‘serve as a coping mechanism to deal with bothersome issues such as sexuality, racial tension, violence and guilt’. They can also ‘reflect men’s struggle to deal with their anxiety about the changing role of women’. For Aysan Sev’er and Sheldon Ungar (1997: 88), humour of this sort can also reflect ‘power imbalances between men and women’ and help ‘to solidify and perpetuate that power disparity’. From this perspective, insulting nicknames like the ‘Beast of Belsen’ drew on a ‘verbal arsenal of types of conflict talk’, which according Reynolds (2007: 437) ‘comprise powerful discursive strategies … in the everyday negotiation and coconstruction of peer politics and … group social relationships’. This ‘talk’ represents an attempt to develop a language that sets boundaries and contains ‘the possibility for negation, resistance, reinterpretation, the play of metaphoric invention and imagination’ that can be used to dealing with power asymmetries (Scott, 1996: 167. This, I argue, was precisely how the nicknaming of Mary Lions functioned; it provided a symbolic response to the intrusion of women into the traditionally male-dominated Eveleigh workshops and to the power of one woman whose occupation gave her power over the men’s health and bodies. As will be seen, this response was informed by intersecting and
ILPC2010paper-11040.docx