Helen Fisher on Love on Ted

Last year we conducted our first study on love. I am surprised how long it took me to fully turn to love, given that much of my work is on sexuality. In any event, in 2011 we did a small study on love: "Coloured men in love" we called it.

This year we are doing another study on the subject. We have added another positive emotion: happiness. "Love and happiness in black men's lives" is what we are calling it. 

These two projects I am conducting with Candice Rule and Mandisa Malinga respectively, our 2011 and 2012 interns.

A third project we are undertaking in collaboration with colleagues at the University of the Western Cape, Dr Lindsay Clowes and Professor Tammy Shefer. We collected data with the help of students in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies and hope to start analysing the data soon. 

This is the context why Helen Fisher's talk on Ted (http://blog.ted.com/2006/09/06/helen_fisher_on/) is of interest. Helen Fisher is a biological anthropologist. Her books include "Why we love". In this wide-ranging talk, she outlines the bio-chemical foundations of love (and lust), and discusses the natural talents of women, and their new significance in the modern world. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 24:13).

Tammy Shefer, scholar of sexuality and gender, at Traditions 2: Everyday Lives of African Men, Ethiopia 28-30 November 2011

Here is a short video clip of sexuality and gender scholar Tammy Shefer, former director of Women's & Gender Studies Department and Deputy Dean of Arts at the University of Western Cape, South Africa. Professor Shefer was a delegate at Traditions 2: Everyday Lives of African Men, held in Ethiopia on 28-30 November 2011, where she spoke on the paper 'Caring for Change'. She was asked to express her reflections on the event by feminist peace scholar and clinical psychologist Shahnaaz Suffla of the University of South Africa-Medical Research Council's Safety and Peace Promotion Research Unit. The video edited by Mandisa Malinga.