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Abstract:
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"How becoming!" we say (though often with a subtle ironic twist) when someone says or does something that we find is suitable or appropriate for him- or her or the situation in which he or she is. And while it may be old-fashioned, the phrase is also used when the clothes people are wearing make them look attractive. By pronouncing: ‘how becoming!’ we condone the appearance, the saying or the doing by making a reference to the appropriateness of somebody’s attire, words and deeds. However, the appropriateness is situated in that it is based on cultural conventions of a particular time and space, and simultaneously produces culturally accepted boundaries around what denotes culturally intelligible identities or subject positions (parallel to suggesting that something is "for the likes of you/us" versus "not for the likes of you/us" (Bourdieu, 1990:55-56)). |
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