In groups you will choose one specific gesture out of the ones suggested:
Trace its lineage paying attention to:
the different contexts that is being performed in (digital spaces, physical, together with others,)
the bodies that perform it
its evolution
& your thinking process (mental derive)
Question to investigate:
1. Where & when does this gesture appear?
2. What is the history of this gesture? Did it evolve through time?
3. What is the cultural meaning of this gesture? Did it evolve through time?
4. In which other contexts does this gesture appear?
5. How did the gesture travel from one body to another one (becoming contagious)?
6. How does the gesture have different meanings depending on the body that perform it (ages, body ability, gender, race, class) ?
CREDIT YOUR SOURCES!
Use hyperlinks to link to original content or add the reference on the caption.
THINK OF DIGITAL DERIVE!
Does the design require you to follow a specific choreography?
How can you use it to your advantage?
PROPOSED GESTURES:
Taking a selfie
Kicking a ball
Offering someone your sit on public transport
Stretching (yawning)
offering someone your seat on public transport
Wikipedia: Priority seats
Priority seats have been designated in public transport vehicles by certain transport operators to allow elderly, disabled, pregnant women and the injured to ride public transport with an equal degree of access and comfort as other people. Priority seats can be found on various public transportation, including the mass transit railways, buses, minibuses, and trams. The slogan "Please offer your seat to anyone in need" is often displayed beside the seat. The elderly, disabled, pregnant, and injured have priority to take these seats. In most cases, there is no regulation[1] to restrict the use of priority seats, but people are expected to offer their seats to those in need.
Under the principle of "Barrier Free Environment", the idea of "priority seats" was first introduced in northern Europe .[2] Providing unimpeded, effortless access and ideal living environment to all people is the final goal. Over the past centuries, the idea of priority seats spread to Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Korea. These three are the most significant examples, owing to their cultural emphasis on politeness that teaches the younger generation to offer seats to the elderly. Failing to do so would be regarded as disrespectful. Countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and China have similar traditions. In addition, railways in some countries – for instance the Southern[3] and Great Northern routes[4] in England – allow qualifying passengers to apply for and obtain priority seat cards which they can show to fellow passengers to prove their eligibility.
research
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/give-up-your-seat-to-a-pregnant-woman-its-the-right-thing-to-do/news-story/459bce9222bb41400864ed9e510ff4cc
PREGNANT women deserve a seat on public transport. There should be no question about it.
If you are occupying a seat and are capable of standing when a clearly pregnant woman enters your carriage or bus, it really should be a no-brainer. Offer her your seat.
But for so many, it’s obviously not a no-brainer, because on a regular basis you see it happening. What changed in the world to make it acceptable to be this way? People really seem to not care anymore.
And before you say “it’s feminism’s fault”, just back up a bit.
There’s nothing in feminism that says you shouldn’t help out a fellow human being when they clearly need it, and you won’t find a feminist in the world who objects to a pregnant woman being offered a seat. But it rarely happens these days. Rebecca Gordon is six-months pregnant and takes two trains in Melbourne to get to work every day.
She’s had to adjust her work hours to avoid peak hour to ensure she gets a seat. She can’t face the embarrassment of having to ask for a seat four times a day, and she can’t rely on her fellow travellers to do the right thing so it’s easier to start work earlier.
“People look at you then really quickly look back down at their phones so they don’t have to stand up,” she said. “Even when they’re in the seats marked for pregnant or disabled people.”
Question: is there a change over time?
Question: It is a gesture that shows good social norms and thinking about people around you, but can it also be something negative?
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks
On Thursday, December 1, 1955, the 42-year-old Rosa Parks was commuting home from a long day of work at the Montgomery Fair department store by bus. Black residents of Montgomery often avoided municipal buses if possible because they found the Negroes-in-back policy so demeaning. Nonetheless, 70 percent or more riders on a typical day were Black, and on this day Rosa Parks was one of them.
Segregation was written into law; the front of a Montgomery bus was reserved for white citizens, and the seats behind them for Black citizens. However, it was only by custom that bus drivers had the authority to ask a Black person to give up a seat for a white rider. There were contradictory Montgomery laws on the books: One said segregation must be enforced, but another, largely ignored, said no person (white or Black) could be asked to give up a seat even if there were no other seat on the bus available.
Nonetheless, at one point on the route, a white man had no seat because all the seats in the designated “white” section were taken. So the driver told the riders in the four seats of the first row of the “colored” section to stand, in effect adding another row to the “white” section. The three others obeyed. Parks did not.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Eventually, two police officers approached the stopped bus, assessed the situation and placed Parks in custody.
Question: what gesture do people actually use?
Question: How does the gesture have different meanings depending on the body that performs it.
Tips on how to best offer a seat on the subway:
"Easy peasy. When in doubt ask if they would like to sit down because you are going to stretch your legs. Of course you'll have to give up the seat anyway but 9 times out of ten people will take it."
"I love this topic. I've been in the same position and it's just so awkward! You want to do the right thing but you don't want to accidentally insult someone. I'm now in my 7th mth of pregnancy (#2) and I can tell you of an incident from when I just barely showing. A kind man wasn't sure how to offer his seat to me so he just looked up at me and without even referencing my budding belly, said "you look like you could use a seat today, please take mine". Then he got up and sort of made everyone shift to specifically make sure I got the seat. There's a chance he didn't even know I was pregnant, but I was VERY grateful for the seat and the manner in which it was offered. I plan to do the same if ever there is doubt about whether someone really "needs" it or not. So often, even now while i'm VISIBLY pregnant, people often look away or stare at their phones to avoid giving up their seats. I never want to be that kind of person, so better to accidentally offer it to someone who doesn't need it than to NOT offer it to someone that really does."
"I try to make eye contact with the person and very quietly ask if they would like a seat using hand motions. I have had many people say "no thank you" but never have I had anyone upset with me for offering. I don't consider myself elderly or infirm, and I'm not presently pregnant, but if offered a seat on the train, (usually because I have a loud child asking me if I want to sit, they will sit on my lap), I am almost always very happy and grateful to take the seat!"
"It's better to offer, than not. People will tell you if they don't need it. I have yet to see someone on the subway say that they are offended for being offered a seat."
"My best experience of this last week in Boston from a lady on the T 'Would you like a seat - I think you're further along than me!'. Of course no one else stood up. I managed to instigate a reshuffle to get us both a seat - turns out she was right -due 1 month after me. I usually just ask if someone would liek the seat - they can always say no! I was offered a seat a couple of times at least 6 months after my daughter was born. Not terribly flattering but I certainly wasn't offended!"
"I also love this topic, and wonder about the following: what to do when someone probably or definitely would like a seat, and no one is offering it, but I am standing, too. Should I assume that person is too embarrassed to ask for a seat (as I always was during pregnancy) and ask on their behalf? One time, when I was visibly pregnant, a woman did this for me and I was a little bit embarrassed but mostly really glad she did it... not even so much because I needed the seat but because it really annoys me when people are selfish and don't get up, and I appreciated that she called them out (which I never would have done on my own behalf). Twice recently I was tempted to do this (once for a small child traveling with her babysitter and once for a woman I was almost 100% sure was pregnant, by the way she held her hand on her smallish belly) but both times decided not to -- partly because I don't like drawing attention to myself on a crowded subway (who does?), but also because I'm not sure if it's any of my business. In both cases, as soon as a seat eventually opened up, they eagerly took it. Curious what others think!"
"Thanks for the suggestions/comments everyone. My hesitation to offer a seat when I'm not 100% certain they'd want it has been colored by working with an elderly woman who walked very slowly with a hunched over back and cane. She was very nice and well-respected, but the poor souls who offered to help her - boy would they be in for it! She was a very proud woman who hated accepting help. Anyway, it sounds like based on the feedback it's best to offer a seat if your gut says the person may need it. Not to get too technical, but what age range is considered elderly?"
"Even though I never had the guts to ask for a place to sit when I was pregnant, now I realize how helpful that would be to people who don't want to offend based on appearance and yet would love to cede a place to someone in need. And with the exception of the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy, the times I most needed to sit were in those early months when nothing was showing but just getting my exhausted nauseated body out of bed, much less on public transport, was a Herculean task. Londoners really have this figured out. Pregnant tube riders can request a "baby on board" pin that signals the situation to fellow riders. It still might be awkward in the first trimester, but I like the idea. Has such a thing ever been tried here?"
"I wished my first trimester had been more obvious because that's when I REALLY needed a seat. One time I leaned over to a man and said, "I don't feel well, do you think I could sit?" and he was halfway down the car before I even finished asking. ; )"
"Chivalry and politeness is never offensive! I love it when someone offers me a seat, even if i don't take it."
"I’m “elderly” and have never ever been offended when someone asks if I want their seat, in fact I don’t really understand what the possible offense would be in the offer. often I gratefully accept the seat, but sometimes if I have only a few stops and prefer to stand I simply say thanks and decline. I think its not as if you’d need to even give a reason for offering, just ask would they like to sit down. micky shorr g’ma, great aunt"
Some statics from a little research in the New York subway (MTA)
If you have a chance to talk to some elderly Japanese people, you’ll see it’s not just about being polite, sometimes it’s about handling appropriate social skills!
Cheophamm, a Japan Info reporter writes:
I asked my neighbor – (an elderly lady who is also my landlord) about what I saw when I used public transportation and she explained that whenever she gets on the bus and someone offers her a seat, she would come up with the thought: “Ahhhh, am I becoming so old that I need a young man to give me his seat?” This would remind her, “You’re getting old!” I myself once suffered the same awkwardness when I offered my seat to a woman and her children in the bus, but the result was, no matter how much she kept saying thank you to me, she resisted sitting on that seat.
In other words, it’s not like people didn’t offer, but the elderly person didn’t accept.
JAPAN
THE SAME GESTURE, ALL OVER THE WORLD
Am I really THAT old?
Do they really need to be on THIS train?
One of the major reasons people in Japan don’t give up their seat to the elderly, or mothers with children or other people with seat priority, is the crowdedness of the trains.
Especially in busy Tokyo trains get virtually impossible to get into during rush hour. People who have to be on that train to get to work or school have been known to not give their seat to the elderly or other people who normally have priority. The rationale behind it being that the elderly usually are not rushing off to work, so they should get on a later train. “Do they really need to be on THIS train?”
A similar mentality is that, since businesspeople are the ones who are working nonstop, they are the ones who deserve the priority seat. While naturally not everyone thinks like this, it’s not uncommon to see tired businesspeople sitting on the train while ignoring an elderly person standing right in front of them.
A seat on a Tokyo train is such a prize in fact that there has recently been a story of people going so far as to BUY A SEAT from another passenger. This was pre-organized with the person selling his seat online. He would get on the first stop of a busy line, let the buyer know of the car number and seat, and the person who bought his seat for the day would approach him, show proof on their phone of payment and a seat exchange would occur.
SWEDEN
You could just sit anywhere and you’ll be fine, right? Uhmm…. Here are some guidelines for starters:
A. There are seats designated for the elderly and they are usually in the front part of the bus. Unless you’re an elderly person, do yourself and everyone a favour and don’t sit there.
B. There are spaces designated for baby strollers, wheelchairs etc. Unless you use a stroller or a wheelchair, move along to the next part of the bus.
C. If there’s an empty seat next to you, do refrain from putting your bag on it – seats are for people!
D. Do free up your seat if you see a pregnant woman or an elderly person who has nowhere else to sit.
E. Unless completely necessary, do not make attempts of small-talk with the person next to you that you don’t know. Listen to music or read a book instead.
https://studyinsweden.se/blogs/2016/01/15/public-transport-sweden-bus-seating/
It is smart to take the “A” seats because then you don’t have to get up/move when the bus is full and someone wants to reach the seat next to you. It is simply easier to sit there, if there is a free “A” spot. And ultimately, if you take the “A” seat you will be sitting alone at least for a portion of the ride.
This is actually how it works here! I like it – no muss, no fuss.
https://www.worldresearchlibrary.org/up_proc/pdf/1714-15351659836-9.pdf
CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF 22 VERSIONS OF “PRIORITY SEATING” SIGNS
Offering someone your sit on public transport
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13aqFpjneZM&ab_channel=InsideEdition
Do New Yorkers Actually Give Their Seat Up For a Pregnant Woman?
A bit more of the AMERICAN DREM
USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cECJzUlVryA&ab_channel=NewYorkPost
HOW TO MAKE IT CONTAGIOUS?
ARM BAND
STICKER
LIGHT
SAME GESTURE
DIFFERENT WAYS
POSTER
FLYER
NEW GESTURE AND COREOGRAPHY
Problem constantation: there's a grey area where people want to offer their seat but there's a fear of offending the people in the situation. The second group is fine with offering the seats and has no problem with asking so. The third group is not aware of offering a seat to anyone at all.