Narrative Construction Research Articles

Food (di)lemmas: disentangling the Italian Local Food Policy narratives

Recently, food-related policy initiatives have proliferated, such as food strategies, food plans, food councils, food districts and food communities, just to name the more relevant ones. Far from being systematically defined and logically systematized, these concepts often overlap or are used as synonyms. The paper has systematically traced the current trends showing how these concepts are used in the current debate, the theoretical background on which they are grounded and the public policies they call for, following a threefold approach: (1) a literature analysis to establish the state of academic research on food systems in its multidimensionality; (2) a review of the existing national legislation to detect the utilization of food policy-related lemmas in the normative; (3) a computational linguistic analysis applied on institutional documentation to explore how cities and territories are using concepts and definitions in the grey literature. The results show that the construction of narratives around the topic of food systems planning is experiencing a momentum, with particular emphasis on principles, background premises and governance aspects. In this context, the risk of marginality for the agricultural sector in such discourses and narratives is highlighted.

A Brief Analysis of the Perfect Integration of Narrative Elements and Space-time Construction

As a comprehensive art, film often has the dual attributes of time and space. "Time and space" is one of the most special and free features of film, and it is also the basic element and main content of film narrative, and it is also the necessary condition for the audience to establish the imagination space. From the perspective of narratology, this paper will analyse the text of several domestic films in terms of their thematic narrative space-time construction and the design features of narrative elements, study the specific integration and practical application of lens narrative and space-time construction, and through the examination and analysis of the film's thematic content, reveal the imaging expression and thinking mode of different films, so as to help people better understand and explore the narrative art of different contemporary films. Structure. The construction of film narrative space-time should become a basic instinct of creative practice, conveying the performance of narrative space-time in specific works and clarifying the diverse forms and nature of the film and television means presented, as well as putting forward further effective suggestions on the time-space dimension and elemental shaping of film narrative in line with the requirements of the times, and endeavouring to incorporate this kind of experience into the creation of more specific film narrative practice in the future. The film will also endeavour to incorporate such experiences into the creation of more specific film narrative practices in the future.

Media Framing of African Refugee Migration to Europe: An Analysis of Narrative Constructions From Selected Global Media Houses in 2023

The framing of migrants from Africa to Europe on the global media is complex and quite obscure. The manner in which media tells a story is quite critical as it has the potential to influence the discernment of the public from different parts of the world. The main goal of the study was to examine how the global media houses portrayed African migrants to Europe in 2023.This was guided by two specific objectives:To examine the global media outlets' coverage of African refugee migration to Europe and to analyze the language used by the media to describe African refugees, assessing for bias, stereotypes, or stigmatization. The study was guided by the framing theory. The study employed a qualitative method design to conduct a detailed analysis of media framing surrounding African migration to Europe. Data was collected from all the global media houses with a sampling frame from three major media houses which included: The Cable News Network (CNN), The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Eastern Africa. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings indicated that, how global media houses cover the migration of people from Africa to Europe exposes the intricate narrative formed by a variety of both negative and positive views. While the CNN and BBC comprise varied perspectives to the issues, The Eastern Africa gives insight into the regional circumstances surrounding the migration problem as well as the humanitarian concerns. Across all the examined media houses (CNN, BBC, The Eastern Africa), there is an inclination towards portraying the African migrants in negative light, underscoring their impact on destination states. There were instances of Bias and stereotypes that could potentially lead to stigmatization. The study recommended that there is need for balanced reporting from media houses, there needs for some ethical considerations in reporting and that media houses should mainly focus on their role of creating awareness and advocacy.

Between choices and decisions. Genetics in homoparental families through surrogacy in Argentina.

Comprehensive access to medically assisted reproduction procedures and techniques in Argentina has been assured by National Law No. 26,862 since 2013. This Law does not include surrogacy procedures, and the lack of specific regulation shifts practices to a paralegal setting. In this context, planned parenthood by male couples through surrogacy is performed through actions that convey demands for access rights and active State policies. For these couples, the argument is that surrogacy is the only option to have a child with a genetic bond with at least one of the two parents and recognize both filiatory bonds. This work results from field work in progress with parents from the Province of Buenos Aires running this practice in Argentina. Based on in-depth interviews, we attempted to rebuild personal experiences and analyze the meanings that the narratives construct regarding their parenting, the biological connections in establishing or defining family relationships, and the importance of genetics in constructing and maintaining affiliations.

Not Just a Commercial Voyage: A Cultural-Historical Perspective of the East Indiaman Compton's Voyage to Bombay (1723–26)

AbstractThis essay aims to give an account of the untold and unexpected events faced by the crew of the Compton, one of the East India Company's vessels that set out on a routine trade voyage from Deptford to Bombay in April 1723. Under the command of Captain William Mawson, scrupulous compiler of the logbook, the ship proceeded along the known routes indicated by the East India Company (EIC) charts, and through the passages recommended by the navigation manuals. Finding consonance with recent research suggestions on “alternative histories” of the EIC, this article brings to light the narrative potentialities of the logbook, which is therefore considered not only a technical device, but also a tool for reconstructing the actual experience of navigation. This is the approach of the historical geodatabase of European global navigation Global Sea Routes (GSR), which bases its research method on ship's logs and other primary sources produced by the practitioners themselves. In order to provide a richer account of the known history of the EIC's shipping in the early modern age, this essay will analyse Mawson's logbook, highlighting its peculiarities as a container for a wealth of information useful for creating a narrative construction.

Literature Spaces problematizations in Uma Jornada Como Tantas, of Francisco Dantas and Essa Gente, of Chico Buarque

The aim of this study is to discuss aspects of Brazilian neoregionalism in contemporary literature, problematize the literary space based on Brazilian neoregionalism, which emerges as a new trend in literature, and finally analyze how fictional and subjective spaces are configured and singularized in neoregionalist works: Uma Jornada como Tantas (2019) by Francisco Dantas and Essa Gente (2019) by Chico Buarque. The research is categorized as bibliographic and is based on the theoretical perspective of the following authors: Braga (2017), Bachelard (1993), Ozíres (2007), Brandão (2013), and Tuan (2015). First, the necessary foundation was sought to characterize how fictional and subjective spaces directly influence the characters’ identity formation, influencing their emotions, decisions, conflicts, and constitutions. Next, na attempt was made to understand how the characters’ subjectivities are directly linked to the space in which they are inserted. Finally, analyses of spaces in neoregionalist works were conducted, meticulously observing their composition in the characters’ identity formation, as well as how they act not only in the physical environment but also in the narrative construction, since the space is constructed through dialogues among the characters, their memories, experiences, and subjectivities, characterizing a certain place based on their experiences.

The backrooms and liminal spaces: Explorations of a digital urban legend

Urban legends form an important part of socio-cultural narratives of shared fears and anxieties, and their presence online has developed similarly. This contribution explores the online urban legend the backrooms and examines its narrative construction offering possible reasons for the popularity and participatory aspect of the backrooms. Appearing on 4chan in May 2019, the backrooms represent an endless liminality. A diegetic analysis of 16 videos produced by Kane Parsons provides a sequential deconstruction of narrative elements within the backrooms, particularly the elements that exist within the fictional world of the narrative. A concurrent semiotic analysis examines the backrooms videos seen as an interrelated narrative. Narrative construction in the backrooms necessitates liminality alongside notions like video games, nostalgia, postmodern thought, and the vaporwave art/music aesthetic to reveal the backrooms as a digital chronotope. Findings reveal a clearer understanding of liminal spaces in the backrooms and relate how games and play address the narrative construction of the backrooms.

EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY OF MEMORY AND POETRY IN RIVE GAUCHE CINEMA: A STUDY OF MURIEL AND HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR

This article examines the interrelations between memory and poetry, focusing on the films Hiroshima mon amour and Muriel, directed by Alain Resnais. It explores how memory and poetry are intertwined in the narrative and formal construction of these films, using logical principles shared between the two fields. The analysis of fragmentation, invention and associationism present in the cinematic narratives, reveals how memory and poetry influence personal identity and artistic creation. These films serve as outstanding examples of how cinema can explore the depths of human consciousness through the conscious use of memory and poetry.

Post-Conflict Urban Landscape Storytelling: Two Approaches to Contemporary Virtual Visualisation of Oral Narratives

Armed conflicts and resulting displacement disrupt people’s sense of place, leading to an imbalance in the people–place relationship, exaggerated by rehabilitation efforts that overlook the sense of place among conflict- and displacement-impacted communities. A continuous landscape narrative that extends from pre- to post-conflict times contributes to recreating the essence of lost landscapes and therefore reconnecting their sense of place. Focusing on a Syrian city that hosted internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the aftermath of the Syrian conflict, this study aims to structure a virtual landscape and narrative depiction of conflict-impacted landscapes. This study proposes a storytelling approach for narrative construction and an AI-powered visualisation approach to revive the image of the elusive landscapes. This study utilised qualitative research methods through in-depth, semi-structured interviews for data collection and an online survey for exploring the perception of virtual landscape images generated with AI text-to-image models (DALL.E 2 and Bing Image Creator). This study indicates that narratives, supported by AI visualisation, are reliable for comprehending landscape transformation and changes in the sense of place. The two approaches can serve as rehabilitation initiatives in post-crisis settings to recall images of elusive landscapes to save them from being lost forever.

Not so ‘dumb money’? Constituting professionals and amateurs in the history of finance capitalism

This article examines the historically contentious relationship between the financial market and the public as discussed in academic literature, financial journalism and prescriptive how-to invest handbooks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although financial markets thrive off active public participation, speculating at stock and commodity exchanges has been a sanctioned ritual reserved for a privileged minority. We argue that the financial establishment’s intent to control market access through financial entry-barriers (such as exchange membership fees and margin requirements) has been part of a bigger story we need to understand: a history of delegitimating uninitiated ‘lay speculators’ through the construction of exclusionary narratives about unfit amateur investors and morally corrupt publics. We conceptualize this process as an ongoing and delicate boundary-making exercise contributing to a market participation discourse that has been characterized by a set of reductive binaries, such as those of insider–outsider, professional–amateur and speculator–gambler. We show, however, that attempts to delineate popular participation in financial markets through these binaries have been complicated by the idea that besides being a force of market instability and collective irrationality, the public was a largely untapped source of liquidity. We argue that today’s discourse on public participation in financial markets resuscitates these simplified narratives and propose a more nuanced view of non-professional market participants being both destabilizers and liquidity-providers.

Re-attaching to coal in a Climate Emergency: The case of the Whitehaven mine

This paper draws on the concept of ‘attachment’ to examine pro-coal sentiment in Whitehaven – an English town at the centre of global political controversy because of a plan to open a coal mine in the area. Drawing on fieldwork data, I show that pro-mine persuasions among some residents are underpinned by a process of ‘re-attaching’ to coal. I argue that the case of the Whitehaven mine is a warning about how fossil fuels might re-emerge as promissory objects in other parts of the world, even when a transition away from fossil fuels has been completed. Paradoxically, the very disorientations and deepening traumas that climate change is causing threaten to spur on the rise of fossil fuel (re-)attachments. The paper also examines how pro-coal discourses linked to wider vested interests are received in a context where coal exists as ‘afterlife’. Consequently, local actors construct narratives that legitimise new coal extraction by (re)articulating discourses of delay. My findings are thus a reminder of the need to guard against over-valorising ‘the grassroots’, arguably a risk in environmental justice scholarship. I conclude by calling for further empirical research on the way attachments to high-carbon objects are (re/de)composed, an urgent task given the need for rapid societal decarbonisation – one which has received very little attention to date.

Africans in China, Western/White Supremacy and the Ambivalence of Chinese Racial Identity

Abstract This article seeks to provide further insights into understanding the construction of Chinese identity by bringing the West/white into the picture of Afro-Sino racial relationships. It contends that the Chinese have internalized Western/white superiority through a long historical process, starting with the Western invasion in the 19th century and continuing with the construction of the contemporary historical narrative of the “century of humiliation.” This internalization and its ramifications can be observed in Chinese public discourses as well as diplomatic practices. Together with Western/white superiority, the Chinese also adopted a social Darwinist, competitive world view, using Western modernity as the yardstick by which to rank different peoples and societies in a racial hierarchy. Chinese racism against Africans is thus a projection of a harsh self-judgement. Unlike white supremacy in Western racial thinking, “Chinese supremacy” is often coupled with an inferiority complex.

Harmony in Motion: Sustainable Cultural Tourism and the Water Narrative along the Singapore River

The Singapore River precinct, beyond its role in promoting economic development as a tourist area, holds a more significant and enduring significance in establishing Singapore's national cultural image externally and deepening domestic cultural identity internally. This paper scrutinizes the sustainable development of cultural tourism along the Singapore River, with a particular emphasis on the construction of a water narrative. The study delves into the role of public art installations in showcasing Singapore's achievements in water resource management. By intertwining art with the city's unique cultural background and commitment to environmental sustainability, these installations not only enhance Singapore's global reputation but also stimulate public awareness. The narrative emphasizes Singapore's history of achieving water independence, shaping a distinctive cultural background that attracts tourists. While recognizing the effectiveness of public art, the paper calls for further examination of its potential to inspire environmental concern and the need to balance historical accuracy in shaping Singapore's image. This research provides valuable insights into the dynamic relationship between public art, cultural representation, and sustainable tourism development.

State’s Legitimisation of Violence through Strategic Narration: How the Kremlin Justified the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

ABSTRACT The use of violence by state actors in political conflicts is often legitimised through the development of strategic narratives. The social construction of such narratives arguably relies on polarised storytelling centred on notions such as national heroism on one side and ‘perpetration against the nation’ on the other. The Kremlin’s official justification of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 provides an illuminating example of this process of strategic narration. Relying on widely accepted cultural templates, Russia’s state institutions and officials put forward a narrative focused on Russia’s alleged heroic mission in Ukraine and the delegitimisation of the Ukrainian government and its external supporters as ‘ultimate perpetrators’. This highlights the proactive framing role that state actors may have in developing a discourse legitimising violence.

Thérèse Radic’s A Whip Round for Percy Grainger (1982) and the Archive on Stage

Thérèse Radic’s play A Whip Round for Percy Grainger: A Serious Comedy in Two Acts was premiered in Melbourne in 1982, as part of the celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Australian composer and pianist Percy Grainger (1882–1961). This article explores this play in the context of Grainger’s autobiographical projects—including his extensive autobiographical writings and the autobiographical museum he built at the University of Melbourne—as well as within the dynamics of Australian theatre in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This article argues that Radic’s presentation of Grainger, his life, and music, was mobilized at a particular moment of cultural introspection in late twentieth-century Australia to aid in the exploration and critique of contemporary national and cultural currents. Radic’s work is situated first within presentations of ‘documentary theatre’ and historical biography on stage, and then in contemporary Australian theatre’s response to the ‘new nationalist’ movement, while also considering how her representation of Grainger is informed by his own construction of an autobiographical narrative.

Deconstructing Misinterpretations: Exploring Islam and Eurocentrism in Nadeem Aslam's The Wasted Vigil

This qualitative study explores the depiction and interpretation of Islam in Nadeem Aslam's work The Wasted Vigil by, focusing on the notions of Said (1978) and Amin (1989) whose significant insights into the ideas of Othering, Orientalism, and Eurocentrism inform the analysis of the narrative. As a part of textual analysis, the paper uses thematic analysis as general method of research to explore the mechanisms in which Aslam's narrative construction is used to distort the historical events, Islamic philosophy, and practices. The analysis shows that Aslam's portrayal of Islam operates from a Eurocentric perspective, exoticizing the Islamic faith and perpetuating stereotypes that undermine its genuine nature. Additionally, the study emphasizes how Aslam's portrayal of Islam and his narrative decisions depart from authentic Islamic texts, including the Quran and Hadith, sustaining a narrative that portrays Islam as fundamentally superstitious and archaic religion. The results show that these distortions contribute to a cultural gulf that hinders a positive communication and comprehension between Western culture and Islamic dogma by reinforcing Eurocentric stereotypes.

Cultural-linguistic diversity in Italy and Sweden? A sociomaterial analysis of policies for heritage language education

ABSTRACT In this paper, we critically discuss the impact of policy documents on the construction of national narratives on the provision of support for cultural-linguistic diversity in education systems in two European countries. The analysis focuses upon a selection of national policy documents that deal with the planning and provision of HLE since the 1990s. We take critical pedagogy and sociomateriality as theoretical lenses to investigate educational policies on HLE. Thus, this study critically traces the ways in which language ideologies are enmeshed with legislative, political and educational discourses by following an inductive and retroductive process, wherein key-concepts, themes and critical configurations of HLE are mapped, compared, re-assembled and discussed in terms of a complex system. The analysis shows that the (non-)provision of HLE shapes the educational space and the value references and world views that prevail and are (re)produced in it. Emerging deficit perspectives, linguistic assimilation and marginalisation processes limit the path towards more inclusive and equitable educational institutions and practices.

Naeseon Ilche and Nazi medievalism: making nation, history, and film

ABSTRACT The present study aims to compare the cinematic propaganda of colonial Korea and Nazi Germany, revealing how the two countries used film to construct narratives of nationalism. Furthermore, this study will aid our recognition and understanding of the similarities and differences between victims and aggressors in spreading nationalist propaganda. Despite the similarities between the colonial Korean and Nazi German film industries in spreading nationalist propaganda, there are significant differences between these two countries’ ways of promoting national values: the colonial Koreans adopted transcolonial nationhood (i.e. the strategy of integrating nations), whereas the Nazis excluded minorities, such as Jews. Therefore, dichotomous evaluations of the victim and the aggressor are inconsistent with existing standard interpretations. Colonial Korea, generally known as having experienced the trauma of colonization, also engaged in cinematic fabrication and the weaponization of history, as Nazi Germany did. Propaganda films in both colonial Korea and Nazi Germany played a significant role in reconstructing their national identities. Regarding the cinematic reinvention of these national identities, we should eschew the artificial dichotomy between victims and aggressors.

Narrating Conspiracy Theories: A Paradoxical Ethics of Otherness, Propaganda and Mistrust

Reflecting conspiracy theories in contemporary fiction actualises conspiratorial thinking as a specific sociocultural phenomenon and narrative. Four symptomatic novels – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s Utopia, and Stephen King’s The Institute – have been analysed from a conspiratorial perspective to illuminate the most efficient ways of shaping the human perception of reality. For this purpose, the following conspiracy elements have been delineated to be the basis of the novels’ poetics: otherness, propaganda, and mistrust. They affect the authors’ strategies of storytelling in the books written in the era of the end of truth. Following an interdisciplinary approach that primarily includes the method of narrative construction and semiotic analysis, the article focuses on the conspiracy elements for plotting the selected novels and explicates conspiracy narratives for manifesting the paradoxical ethics of truth as fiction. Conceptualising this idea in the sociocultural context confers to such a kind of literature a new ethical dimension.

Reterritorialize, Baby

ABSTRACT: “Reterritorialize, Baby,” is an investigation of Torrey Peters’s recent novel, arguably the most popular novel written in the English language by and about a transgender person. This inquiry breaks down the novel according to a new conception of minor literature, borrowing some of the basic structure of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s original design, while considering the specific ways in which trans minor literature challenges not only heteronormative conceptions of identity, epistemology, and labor, but also the ways in which each of these is built into the tradition of the Western novel in modes that reflect phobic public conceptions of family, community, progress, and work. The article works through a series of deterritorializations and ultimately proposes that some of the work Detransition, Baby does is actually that of reterritorialization: remapping, extracting, and subsequently proposing new and disidentifying contexts and frames for subjects. Whether these reterritorializations represent a “new frontier” for fiction or an alternative manner of subject formation and narrative construction, trans minor literature is at a tipping point, presenting some of the most varied and incisive literature being generated on this continent today. This inquiry offers a hermeneutic for considering both one of its landmark works and its future prospects.