Critical Interpretation Research Articles

INTERPRETING THE LANGUAGE OF INFERENTIAL EPILEPSY IN EMILY DICKINSON’S POETRY

<p>This paper explores the possibility that Emily Dickinson was living with a form of epilepsy. It uses research by contemporary neurologists, who have differentiated how patients with epileptic seizures, and patients with non-epileptic seizures, use language features to describe their subjective seizure experiences. The features of language used by patients with epilepsy have been applied to the reinterpretation of a series of Emily Dickinson’s poems that appear to be related to neurological experiences, especially ‘inner’ poems focusing on the operations of the “Brain”, “Thought”, “Mind”, and “Consciousness”. Further contemporary research into the auras of seizures, identified four signs that could stay in a person’s memory if they remained conscious during a simple partial seizure (SPC). These are “suddenness, passivity or automatism, great intensity, and strangeness”, which provided insights into Dickinson’s ‘inner’ poem, Fr340, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,”. The identification of the sensory manifestations of auras, such as, Somatosensory, Visual, Auditory, Vertiginous, Olfactory, and Psychic auras, has also helped to clarify aspects of Dickinson’s ‘inner’ poems, especially Fr355, “It was not Death, for I stood up,”. The autobiography of the Welsh writer, Margiad Evans, identified language use arising from epileptic episodes, including the response of ‘giggling’, and the appearance of a ‘double self’, which revealed a close association to Dickinson’s language use in a range of poems. The application of research into autoscopy and “Déjà” experiences, and their appearance in poems, strengthened critical reading interpretations as expressions of inferential epileptic experiences. Finally, the poems featuring neurological experiences are seen to possess empirical dimensions that might help to explain Dickinson’s consultations with Dr Williams in Boston during 1864 and 1865, as a quest for a diagnosis and remedy for the disruptions to her consciousness.</p>

‘I Dance, I Revolt’

Abstract During the intensification of migration and border politics throughout Europe in the mid-2010s, displaced Syrians fleeing war to seek asylum and a livable life were simultaneously welcomed as vulnerable strangers who could contribute to European economies and societies and perceived as threats to the imaginaries of a homogenous Europe. This essay critiques the logic embedded in this narrative, namely that migrants are a social factor external and destabilizing to Europe, through a critical interpretation of Syrian choreographer Mithkal Alzghair’s work, Displacement (2016). This provocative dance work pivots on Alzghair’s reimagining of dabke, Syria’s celebrated folk dance, in which he deconstructs the social relations and embodied aesthetics of popular dabke practices to forge a political critique of Syrian authoritarianism and forced migration. By crafting a repertoire of movement that critiques the aesthetic and political ideologies on which it is based, Displacement arguably disrupts the postcolonial imaginaries of national identity and place that have historically ensconced folk dance in Syria and in Europe, respectively, and transforms the possibilities of what cultural heritage connotes, represents and signifies for Syrians and Europeans. Instead, the destabilizing work of embodied performance reveals how instability is endemic to European spaces and society. Through the convergence of performance theory and praxis, this essay demonstrates how Displacement stages live, perpetual, repetitive, and embodied motion in ways that open a space for artists and audiences to collectively engage with a fractious period and reconfigure the complex relations of power and representation situated between Syria and Europe.

Proving gender and sexuality in the (homo)nationalist Greek asylum system: Credibility, sexual citizenship and the ‘bogus’ sexual other

The aim of this article is to analyse and critique Greek authorities’ expectations for a ‘credible’ account in queer asylum claims. As some of the caseworkers’ accounts portray, through 16 semi-structured interviews, in order to be deemed ‘credibly queer’ applicants are expected to have passed through a painful, discursively narratable process of self-realization and have suffered enough in their ‘queerphobic and oppressive’ countries of origin. At the same time, they are supposed to find safety and protection in Greece, following a linear ‘affective journey’ from oppression to liberation, happiness and pride. However, as this research argues, decision-makers do not always comply with normative expectations but, simultaneously, through their performative assessments, they go beyond them. This way, they do not only reproduce but they often resist the homonationalist discursive framework that governs intelligibility in the asylum process; a framework founded on Eurocentric and white-centred presumptions of the ‘good and happy sexual citizen’ and the ‘bogus sexual other’. By drawing on this situated, from below critique, as well as on postcolonial feminist and queer theory, this article seeks to open up racialized, classed and gendered, normative definitions of queerness to different possibilities that do not conform with neoliberal sexual politics and urges for a more critical interpretation of the Refugee Convention.

Feeling lucky: young adults, housing struggles, and the neoliberal politics of entitlement

This paper critically examines why young adults characterize themselves as ‘lucky’ when describing their housing experiences, often when those experiences reflect considerable struggle. We explore this narrative as it emerges in conversation with 29 young adults living in Toronto, Canada. Results of the analysis indicate that some young adults employ the narrative of luck to describe structural forms of privilege they experience within the housing system, while others make use of this narrative in ways that reflect their sense of disentitlement to housing. A critical interpretation of these findings suggests that these two narratives, while used by different groups of individuals, both reflect and reinforce a broader discourse of neoliberalism within the housing system. Specifically, our analysis highlights how the narrative of luck obscures structural inequalities that condition access to safe, secure and suitable housing, while simultaneously reinforcing a neoliberal ideology of (dis)entitlement to housing. We conclude our analysis by considering the implications of this narrative for the immediate- and long-term housing struggles of young adults.

Financial Accountability in East Java's Health Service: Examination of Asset Recording and Reporting

This research aims to analyze the implementation of financial recording and reporting of government assets by the East Java Provincial Health Service. The research method used is a case study with a qualitative descriptive approach. The data used in this research are cases related to implementing policies and procedures for financial recording and reporting of government assets. Overall, the qualitative approach in this case study allows the author to gain an in-depth understanding of the Implementation of Financial Recording and Government Asset Reporting in the East Java Provincial Health Service through critical analysis and interpretation of relevant cases. The research results show that the agency has adequate policies and procedures regarding financial recording and government asset reporting. This shows the seriousness and commitment of the regional government in carrying out transparent and accountable financial management.

Brigadas médicas estudiantiles con enfoque de atención primaria en salud: experiencia en Isla Múcura, Caribe, Colombia 2021

IntroductionMedical students brigades contribute to expanding extracurricular spaces for community-based training practices. Material and methodsIn order to describe the experience of the medical brigade with a Primary Health Care approach carried out on an island in the Colombian Caribbean in 2021, a descriptive-level experience systematization study was conducted. The health team consisted of 27 volunteers, including medical students and doctors from 12 universities in different regions of the country. An 8-member team was integrated for the research. A systematization plan was developed and allowed the historical reconstruction and critical interpretation of the experience. ResultsForty-nine households and 305 individuals were characterized at sociodemographic and epidemiological levels. 112 medical consultations and 4 health education workshops were provided. Reflection was made on the challenges of medical education and the need for a paradigm shift that positions Primary Health Care as a transversal axis in medical training. ConclusionThis type of initiative allows to strengthen skills and competencies for medical practice, while also providing opportunities to develop leadership skills and values such as altruism, social justice, and working in interdisciplinary teams.

Evaluation of identification methods for cryptic Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) specimens: combining morphological and molecular techniques.

The potential for population genomics to elucidate invasion pathways of a species is limited by taxonomic identification issues. The Oriental fruit fly pest, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) belongs to a complex in which several sympatric species are attracted to the same lure used in trapping and are morphologically cryptic and/or reported to hybridize. In this study, we evaluated the taxonomic ambiguity between B. dorsalis and 2 major cryptic species, based on morphological expertise and 289 target specimens sampled across the whole distribution range. Specimens were then subjected to DNA sequence analyses of the COI mitochondrial barcode and the EIF3L nuclear marker to evaluate the potential for molecular identification, in particular for specimens for which morphological identification was inconclusive. To this aim, we produced reference datasets with DNA sequences from target specimens whose morphological identification was unambiguous, which we complemented with 56 new DNA sequences from closest relatives and 76 published and curated DNA sequences of different species in the complex. After the necessary morphological observation, about 3.5% of the target dataset and 47.6% of the specimens from Southeast Asian islands displayed ambiguous character states shared with B. carambolae and/or B. occipitalis. Critical interpretation of DNA sequence data solved morphological ambiguities only when combining both mitochondrial and nuclear markers. COI discriminated B. dorsalis from 5 species; EIF3L and ITS from another species. We recommend this procedure to ensure correct identification of B. dorsalis specimens in population genetics studies and surveillance programs.

Postcolonial Pessimisms and Alternative Spatial Practices: Critical Interpretation of the concept of the Third Space through the Case of Fatahillah Square, Indonesia

Abstract Spatial practice is at the core of postcolonial geography's response to the geography of colonialism. However, the methodology of postcolonial spatial practice is linked to pessimisms within the postcolonial debate. This study aims to overcome pessimisms of postcolonialism by analysing a case of postcolonial spatial practice through literature review, expert interview, and field study. The case under investigation is Fatahillah Square in Jakarta, which has been transformed through postcolonial spatial practices from a space that symbolised the tragedy of colonialism into one of culture and art. Here, the characteristics of Homi K. Bhabha's “third space” are apparent, but this case may also be interpreted as an extension of the concept. Through the hybrid and emancipatory plurality of its spatial practice, it refutes the pessimisms of postcolonialism and calls for further postcolonial practice and analysis.

A life-changing process when living with chronic kidney disease: A qualitative study.

Patients with chronic kidney disease and their family members experience a number of lifestyle changes caused by the illness. The value of advance care planning includes understanding health status and options for future care, communication between close family members, and identification of wishes and preferences for care and treatment in relation to family and everyday life. Explore how patients with chronic kidney disease and their families experience everyday life and how they experience having to make choices about treatment. An explorative study using a qualitative method with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Twelve patients with chronic kidney disease without kidney replacement therapy who were considering their treatment options and eight family members. Individual semistructured interviews with a narrative approach were conducted between August 2021 and March 2022. The data were analysed using Ricoeur's interpretation theory on three levels: naïve reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation and discussion. One main theme was generated: Family dynamics in a life-changing process. From this, three subthemes were derived: Living in an ordinary life placed in a waiting position, The dilemma of readiness to share and Feelings of being left alone. There are changes in family roles and in identity and a desire to maintain the known and ordinary life. Living with chronic kidney disease as a part of daily life is managed differently in the family, which can lead to feelings such as sadness, frustration and loss of shared life and resilience.

Teaching transferable skills in teamwork, accountability, goal setting, writing, and problem-solving in a non-major microbiology lab: the unknown bacteria experiment redefined.

College to Career is a phrase that we often use to describe the skills and abilities that students should achieve while preparing for college and/or careers. To help prepare our students for their future careers, we developed a microbiology laboratory curriculum based on factors identified to improve college-to-career readiness. These factors include content knowledge, analyzing and interpreting data, accountability, goal setting, and teamwork. At the core of the design are inquiry and problem-based learning. This approach allows students to actively engage in the scientific process while collaborating with classmates and learning technical and transferable career skills. The curriculum includes microbiology laboratory skills, including plating, serial dilutions, and biochemical tests, with integrated opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, analysis and interpretation of data, teamwork, goal setting, decision-making, and scientific writing.

ФУНКЦИЯ ЭКФРАСИСА И МЕТАЭКФРАСИСА В ПОДКАСТАХ О ПЛАСТИЧЕСКИХ ВИДАХ ИСКУССТВА

The article for the first time distinguishes between the functions of ekphrasis, narrative ekphrasis and metaekphrasis in Russian podcasts about plastic arts on the example of eight episodes dedicated to painters and architects. Episodes of podcasts “Art for Guys”, “Talk About Art”, “About History and Art. Project YaAndArt”, “Walls have ears”, “Art and Facts” have become the empirical material of the research. By reviewing the content of episodes, it is proved that polyfunctionality is inherent in both ekphrasis, including its narrative version, and metaekphrasis. In particular, the examples given in the text of the article illustrate how the problem of limited visuality of audio narratives is solved due to ekphrastic descriptions. It also analyzes the construction of narrative ekphrasis in relation to artifacts with a plot and non-plot basis and indicates the contradiction between the elements of fiction in the speech of the presenters and the verifiability of art history knowledge. Finally, the manifestation of meta-ekphrasis is considered from the point of view of comparing works of art within the same type and between different types, critical interpretation of the author and description of ideological, political-critical, social-constructive contexts.

Al-Qur’an Portrays Women’s Bodies: Critical interpretation of verses on existence, freedom, and morality

The oppression of women often stems from the body and the way a person or tradition interprets it. From ancient times to the present, the history of women's bodies has always been about the history of oppression; that is, about the fate of women's bodies in the face of patriarchal culture. When women's bodies often become symbols of various forms of oppression, then liberating women must start from their liberation efforts that are embodied in patriarchal biased interpretations, both formal and cultural interpretations. At this point, there is a need for an interpretation that departs from other possibilities in understanding verses related to women. The focus of the study presented in this paper is trying to criticize the interpretations related to the verses of existence, freedom and morality of women interpreted through Merleau Ponty's phenomenology of perception. This stems from the author's basic assumption, when the Qur'an is understood as rahmatan lil alamin, it is impossible for the Qur'an to produce discriminatory interpretations.

Discipline and Punish: A Study Exploring the Adoption of NPM-Inspired Accounting Reforms in the Provincial Governments in the Solomon Islands

This presentation aims to illustrate part of my findings which capture the adoption of New Public Management (NPM)-inspired reforms at the provincial government level in the Solomon Islands. The overall aim of the study was to examine the adoption of two NPM-inspired accounting reforms (cash-based IPSAS – or International Public Sector Accounting Standards – and performance-based budgeting) and a participatory budgeting system in the Solomon Islands. The paucity of attention given to Public Sector Accounting Research (PSAR) in socio-cultural settings in developing countries motivated this study. Drawing on Foucault’s disciplinary power (Foucault, 1977) the study demonstrated how accounting as a ‘calculative infrastructure’ was able to transform the provincial governments in the Solomon Islands. The study applies the interpretive methodology that integrates with a critical theory to interpret the data (Chua, 1986b; Power & Laughlin, 1992). A total of 60 semi-structured interviews were held at both levels of government (national and provincial). Documents were also gathered, including historical data. Thematic analysis was employed and was guided by Foucault’s principles of critical interpretation. The presentation concludes by highlighting how accounting as a ‘calculative infrastructure’ plays an instrumental role in mediating conflict between political groups. In doing so, the study supports prior calls for an in-depth analysis of neoliberal reforms such as those inspired by the NPM in order to better understand the manifold implications of accounting in a wider social context.

The urban poor and everyday states in an Indian metropolis

AbstractThis article examines an incident of fire in a squatter settlement in Delhi to understand the interaction between the urban poor and the state. Following the incident, the Delhi government undertook different welfare measures for the affected residents. These included immediate relief in the form of temporary tents for the families, a proposal to build proper houses for them, and compensation checks as direct monetary support. The empirical materials presented in this article show how state interventions tend to suffer from deficiencies of knowledge, trust, and bureaucratic effectiveness. Thus, they do not commensurate with the apparent intentions behind them. Each of these welfare measures engendered an entanglement of the urban poor in the state that affects their relationship to the law, urban space, the local economy, and bureaucratic structures. Analyzing the unfolding of the everyday state on the ground, I suggest that a squatter settlement's dynamic and entangled relationships with the state make it a unique site for analysis of the state from an urban perspective. Critical interpretations of their interactions and the discourses they engender are key ethnographic resources for understanding the dynamics of inequality in contemporary cities.

Perceptions of haemodialysis nurses regarding patients' and families' loss and grief.

The experience of loss and grief in patients' lives with life-long treatment in haemodialysis, and in their families' lives is a major cause of mental health problems. In practice, nurses often describe a lack of time and limited knowledge of how to provide nursing care in situations of loss and grief, thus finding out from nurses' perspectives of what competencies they need to provide care would be useful for the development of nursing practice. To develop knowledge in a nursing perspective of competencies to provide care for patients and their families, who experience grief linked to loss due to kidney failure, haemodialysis and/or death. The study took a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted 12 nurses caring for patients receiving haemodialysis with no kidney transplantation option and family members. Ricoeur's interpretation theory involving naïve reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation and discussion was used for analysis. Four themes emerged of nurse's experiences: (1) patient's loss and grief in everyday life, (2) dealing with supportive conversations when caring for patients, (3) families' losses are resulting in grief reactionsand (4) importance of close relationships when caring for families. To nurses, patients on haemodialysis and their families have multiple loss and grief experiences. Nurses' working in kidney care need to develop competencies to support patients and families to cope with grief and loss. Further research is needed to develop these competencies and then to implement in education and practice.

Kant and Marburg School

After the completion of I. Kant’s “Copernican” turn in metaphysics, all subsequent European philosophy to one degree or another was under his influence. The purpose of the article is to consider the reception and transformation of the Kantian theoretical philosophy by the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. It is necessary to analyze the reasons for H. Cohen's and P. Natorp’s interpretation of Kant's criticism. To do this, one should consider (i) internalist and (ii) externalist factors in the formation of the Marburg School. Neo-Kantianism, on the one hand, emerged as a response to materialism, naturalism, and post-Kantian German idealism. In addition, the Marburg School was strongly influenced by the change in the scientific paradigm in mathematical natural science at the end of the 19th century. The justification by the Marburgers of Kant’s a priori doctrine presupposed thematization, first of all, of: a) purity of thought; b) systematic unity of thought and experience; c) the orientation of philosophy to the “fact of science”; d) transcendental method. As a result, the Marburg School interpreted the Kantian concept of the unity of consciousness; abandoned the principle of synthetic (real) unity of consciousness in favor of systematic (logical) unity; substantiated the purity of scientific thinking; put forward the requirement of orientation of philosophy to the “fact of science”; developed the concept of the origin of thinking (Ursprung); abandoned the idea of “givenness” of the subject of knowledge and proved its “assignment”; changed the understanding of the essence and functions of the transcendental method; put forward the concept of thinking as “generation” (“production”); formulated a new understanding a priori. The changes that took place in the 19th century in philosophy, mathematical natural science and mathematical sciences led to a sharp activation of constructivism. It can be concluded that Kant’s epistemological paradigm was realistic constructivism. Pure constructivism became the paradigm of the Marburg School.

Instrumentally Inclusive: The Political Psychology of Homonationalism

Can nativist attitudes condition support for LGBT+ rights? The sustained advance in pro-LGBT+ attitudes in the West often contrasts with the greening of anti-immigrant sentiment propagated by nativist supply-side actors. We argue that these parallel trends are causally connected, theorizing that exposure to sexually conservative ethnic out-groups can provoke an instrumental increase in LGBT+ inclusion, particularly among those hostile toward immigration. Leveraging experiments in Britain and Spain, we provide causal evidence that citizens strategically liberalize their levels of support for LGBT+ rights when opponents of these measures are from the ethnic out-group. In a context where sexuality-based liberalism is nationalized, increasing tolerance toward LGBT+ citizens is driven by a desire among nativist citizens to socially disidentify from those out-groups perceived as inimical to these nationalized norms. Our analyses provide a critical interpretation of positive trends in LGBT+ tolerance with instrumental liberalism masking lower rates of genuine shifts in LGBT+ inclusion.

Ideological Categories in the Discourses of World Health Organization on Covid-19

On 31 December 2019, WHO received information from National Health Commission concerning the outbreak of Covid-19 which was identified by the Chinese authorities. The WHO depends to a great extent on its announcements and instructions on Chinese authorities’ declaration. Consequently, positive and negative announcements and strategies are adopted in dealing with this pandemic. This causes a great extent of fear and confusion for people around the world despite all the efforts that WHO to pass this crucial period successfully and safely. The present study is one of the first studies that seeks to offer critical discourse analysis, description, interpretation, and explanation of ideological categories of institutional discourse, and more specifically of WHO on Covid-19 by using Van Dijk’s Three-Dimensional Model of Ideology (2004). It is found that WHO focuses on certain ideological categories such as repetition, actor description, authority, hyperbole, burden, evidentiality, and number game more than other categories. It is also found that these ideological categories should be based on scientific, psychological, cognitive, social, and cultural perspectives and not just numbers, authority, hyperbole, etc. because they are used to persuade different people around the world with different cultures and they may affect those people lives positively or negatively.

Критика «традиции» в контексте «психоаналитического метода» экзегезы О. Древермана

The paper examines the functions of “tradition” in the Catholic critical discourse basing on the works of one of the most provocative catholic authors of the second half of the 20th century. The meaning of “tradition” in Catholic theology seems to be rather vague; however, in the works of the 20th century theologians it is possible to trace two most general aspects of the concept: tradition as transcendent truth, given by God, and tradition as order, custom or teaching, created by people, historical in its character. The transcendent core of tradition has a strong positive connotation, while its historical aspect can be subject to critique. The two aspects are used both by the adherents of a conservative policy, and by the supporters of church reform, which testifies to a certain flexibility of the term. Eugen Drewermann, one of the most notable modern critics of the Catholic Church, uses the notion in a negative sense, which magnifies the critical potential of his argument. This critical effect does not result singularly from the definition of “tradition” Drewermann gives in his texts. In order to explicate the specific way the author uses the term and to reconstruct its critical potential, the article analyzes the notion of “tradition” functionally: basing on the author's three-volume thesis, Structures of Evil, where he combined biblical exegesis with current psychoanalytic knowledge, and Depth Psychology and Exegesis, the book where Drewermann continues to develop his innovative exegetical method. This approach makes it possible to trace how the notion acquires negative connotations: by excluding the transcendent aspect from the field of its denotations, by discussing religion in terms of psychoanalysis, as well as by linking tradition to such negatively connoted terms as “fear”, “neuroticism”, “external” and contrasting it to the “objective”, “internal”, “natural” and “true”. Eugen Drewermann’s critical interpretation of tradition based on the psychological understanding of religion in fact deprives Christianity of its transcendent origin and delegitimizes the modern institutional form of Catholicism: which allows the author to radicalize the question of the extent to which the Church is liable to change.

Researching for justice: using meta-ethnographic synthesis to develop knowledge for research for social transformation

ABSTRACT In a special issue article on ethnographic synthesis from 2017, Karen Borgnakke addressed some of the challenging methodological questions and dilemmas associated with meta-ethnography by ethnographic researchers. The article compared meta-ethnography with evidence-based models for measuring learning effects in education, but highlighted that the founders of meta-ethnography, Noblit and Hare, described the methodology and its aims quite differently to this. Rather than the aggregation of findings, the aim was to, in the interests of social justice and social transformation, generalise findings from individual research based on critical interpretations of several ethnographic products. Using a qualitative synthesis of meta-ethnographic research from ethnographies on Sweden’s school system, the present article examines this aim further. It tries to generate and communicate knowledge about how ethnographers of education can engage in research to fulfil commitments connected to social justice and transformation. In short, it attempts to describe what this research can look like.