Transformation Of Discourse Research Articles

Circular economy and the separated yet inseparable social dimension: Views from European circular city experts

Circular economy has received significant attention worldwide for its potential to reconcile ecological limits and economic development. Europe, in particular, has made it a policy focus for achieving its climate ambitions. However, to date, the circular economy remains a loosely defined concept with competing discourses of technocentrism and holistic societal transformation. As the former prevails, its neglect of the social dimension raises concerns about the circular economy's social sustainability and feasibility. Therefore, this study explores how the relationship between the circular economy and the social dimension is perceived by experts directly engaged in the current circular transition process. By uncovering their experiences and perceptions, this study aims to offer empirical insights for the future development of the circular economy. Through qualitatively exploring the views of 14 experts across 11 European cities with a clear circular vision, this study found that although the social dimension is not a primary focus or fundamentally connected with the circular economy, it plays a fundamental role in the transition process and is simultaneously an impacted area. However, there is a significant gap between the ideal social environment required for circular transition and what the current transition can facilitate. As such, the future of the circular economy may be precarious unless it shifts from a technocentric tendency to more holistic, transformational approaches.

Authoritarian environmentalism 2.0: An incremental transition of environmental governance in China

The recent policy practice in China has shown nuanced differences from previous accounts of authoritarian environmentalism. The emerging discourse of green transformation shows dual tendencies for (re-)centralizing and decentralizing environmental institutions. Our understanding of authoritarian environmentalism in China requires an update. We review the recent policy practice and the scholarly literature to advance a modified framework of authoritarian environmentalism. Using the Central Environmental Inspection Teams and emissions trading schemes as examples, we highlight the coordinated practice of strengthening state control while strategically using mass mobilization and market mechanisms. We argue that non-state actors and bottom-up tools are being absorbed into the politics of (re-)centralization. The centralizing state accommodates a limited range of participatory and decentralizing elements in an attempt to modernize the governance system. Our modified framework recognizes the mutually reinforcing authoritarian and liberal elements, and sheds light on the broader trends of environmental governance in China.

Extending the process frontier of digital transformation: A flow‐oriented perspective

AbstractStrong interest in digital transformation to increase business value calls for new and improved theorising of the digital transformation process. Traditional perspectives fail to address the complex socio‐technological challenges and entanglement of actions at multiple levels that characterise the process. This research adopts a flow‐oriented perspective to extend the process frontier of digital transformation. This entails analysing the lines of action that intertwine to form storylines of digital transformation. Drawing on a multilevel longitudinal qualitative study, the research offers three valuable contributions: First, the paper advances the discourse on digital transformation by introducing the heretofore unrecognised phenomenon of transitional moments. Second, by introducing a novel taxonomy for lines of action, the paper demonstrates the evolving nature of the digital transformation process, surpassing conventional rational‐system model interpretations. These two contributions broaden the process frontier of digital transformation by underscoring the dynamic and continuous nature of digital transformation, emphasising its non‐linear progression, and rejecting the notion of an idealised direct path to a predefined goal. These two additions to the digital transformation discourse lay the foundations for our third contribution, which is a set of proposed research approaches for future investigations into digital transformation, regardless of research focus, phenomena, or domain.

Disruption, transformation and silos: medical humanities and the management gurus

To disrupt, to transform and to break through silos are common sense aims for the medical humanities and other interdisciplinary endeavours. These keywords arise because of the influence upon the...

‘Mattering’ the circular economy: tackling the Achilles’ heel of sustainable places via adopting a critical-relational perspective

Abstract The transition towards a circular economy (CE) is seen as vital for developing sustainable places. CE is used as a new buzzword, as well as an inducement to innovate and change socio-economic practices, by a diverse set of actors to meet sustainability and other goals. Genuine transformation, we argue here, requires those practices to seriously alter discourses and metrics. We adopt a material critical-relational perspective, drawing on the assemblage notion of (counter)actualisation. Our contribution is both conceptual and empirical. Conceptually, we develop an assemblage-based framework featuring practices, discourses and metrics. Empirically, we apply this to national CE policy and local initiatives in the Netherlands. Our results point out both passions and challenges to come to a genuinely transformative discourse and use of metrics.

The things students don’t say: theorising Narrative Identity to understand non-traditional students’ experiences in higher education

AbstractA persistent challenge for Australian higher education policymakers and researchers has been to understand why policies and practices have met with limited success in widening the participation and attainment of non-traditional students. This paper explores theorising Narrative Identity as a constructive methodological framework for understanding non-traditional students’ experiences in higher education. Using this approach, I critically analyse the contrasting experiences of three non-traditional students who successfully transitioned to university via an enabling program but who had significantly different (and unanticipated) levels of engagement and success in their studies. ‘Transformation’ emerged as a recurring theme in students’ perceptions of becoming academically capable students. Applying a social constructionist lens, I explore the intersections and interactions between discourses of disadvantage and transformation within the context of neoliberal higher education structural discourses. Interview data conveys students’ changing values and behaviours, revealed in their rejection of prior ‘not capable’ identities and performance of their new ‘capable student’ identity. Students’ understandings of self provide insights relevant to the sustainability of their ‘capable student’ identity and, therefore, the quality of their engagement and success. The paper concludes with a consideration of Australian higher education policy and urges greater consideration of identity challenges faced by non-traditional HE students.

Speculative foresight: A foray beyond digital transformation

AbstractAs the discourse regarding digital transformation has developed, we see an opportunity to extend the concept of becoming digital into an as‐of‐yet unrealized future. By examining the foundational assumptions of digital transformation, we reveal two frontiers that expand the current transformation discourse into futures where their implications and outcomes will reside. A conceptual frontier suggests that we begin to conceptualise the worlds in which future organisations and people observe digital technologies and their enactments as an unexceptional and quite mundane aspect of their daily lives. We initiate conceptualising being digital as an outcome of the transformations our current research studies. A second analytic frontier embraces world‐making in current theorizations and the development of future‐leaning conceptualization of alternative worlds. Speculative foresight is an approach for staging new concepts and relationships, critiquing current research practice and theory boundaries, and creating novel and generative theorizations. An example speculative foresight scenario illustrates onto‐epistemic assumptions and ambiguities in current theories of digital transformation regarding how future ethics will be conceived. The implications and limitations of this approach are discussed in the context of the need for IS research to develop orientations that can contribute to understanding digital transformation processes and both positive and negative transformation outcomes that will constitute yet unrealized futures.

Actors mainstreaming nature-based solutions in cities: A case study of Melbourne’s change agents and pathways for urban sustainability transformations

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are implemented across multiple cities worldwide and feature as promising solutions in local and global agendas. As solutions that can deal with interlinked urban challenges, NBS are being taken up by cities in different geographies and are considered to be mainstreaming. The process, referred to as mainstreaming, and how this can be achieved needs to be better understood, which is identified as a research gap. In this paper, we examine the roles that actors can undertake that contribute to the mainstreaming of NBS in cities. The aim is to understand the roles that urban actors, especially those within local governments, assume in the process of NBS mainstreaming to mobilise and implement novel and innovative strategic solutions for cities. This topic is explored in a case study of the metropolitan Melbourne region in Australia, where urban forest strategies are gaining traction in local governments for addressing urban resilience concerns. We present how the roles different actors assume contribute to the (re)shaping, building, and/or transformation of institutions to attain climate and ecologically resilient cities. The main contribution of this paper is a pathways framework that illustrates how sustainability norms can move through the mainstreaming process, facilitated by the roles that actors undertake – to champion, advocate, and realise transformative discourses and actions within urban politics and urban practices. Our key findings are framed as success factors of mainstreaming agencies and pathways underpinning transformation, which are: commitment longevity, innovative capacity, collaborative mindset, and on-ground delivery.

When a “Feminist” Government Tackles Gender-Based Violence: A WPR Approach to the Speeches of Canadian Cabinet Ministers (2015–2019)

Abstract Ending gender-based violence was a central promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's self-declared feminist government. Executive speeches about gender-based violence provide clues about what types of feminist ideas undergird the 42nd Parliament. Was carceral feminism advanced, by focusing on punishment? Or neoliberalized feminist ideas, by focusing on the market? Or social justice feminist ideas, by focusing on systemic change? Applying the concept of governance feminism and using Bacchi's WPR approach, this article investigates how gender-based violence is problematized in English- and French-language House of Commons debates in the 42nd Parliament by the cabinet. The speeches problematize gender-based violence as preventable and caused by systemic issues, but this transformational discourse is undermined by a focus on strengthening carceral responses and limiting human potential to economic productivity. Feminist ideas about gender-based violence were adopted, relying on carceral and neoliberalized feminist ideas. The Trudeau Liberals’ campaign for change was discursively undermined.

Role of the National Archives of South Africa in promoting human rights

Purpose This paper aims to explore the role played by the National Archives of South Africa in human rights promotion and protection. The study examined the challenges that archivists encounter when undertaking archival functions, such as acquisition, appraisal and access provision, that contribute to forming documentary archives crucial for human rights promotion and protection. Design/methodology/approach A review of literature dealing with acquisition, appraisal and access was used in this research. It was supplemented with interviews. Findings This paper provides recommendations of benefits in the field of archives management with a focus on the areas of acquisition, appraisal and access. The transformational discourse in the jurisdiction of archives management challenges archival institutions to be active players in selecting historical and cultural archives’ significance that is significant in human rights protections. However, despite judicial requirements that recommend the importance of archives, there is evidence that archival functions such as appraisal, acquisition and access are not being fully used, resulting in national archives institutions that are subject to irregularities that contribute to an unbalanced archives collection. Research limitations/implications The paper was limited only to the National Archives of South Africa. Practical implications The paper makes practical implications concerning the acquisition, appraisal and providing access to human rights records. Social implications Sufficient funding resource allocation ought to be provided to advance human rights promotion. Originality/value This paper offers informed recommendations to address the challenges of acquisition, appraisal and access provision of archive materials. The availability of archives materials reinforces the community by aiding to protect legal rights and prevent human rights violations. It was, thus, necessary to establish whether the National Archives of South Africa is actively building the archives collections that are important for human rights promotion and protection.

Essentially different or equally the same: uncovering sport coach discourses about coaching girls

ABSTRACT Gendered discourses espoused by youth coaches have the potential to both reinforce gender essentialism or blind coaches to girls’ needs. This qualitative study utilised a multi-national, online survey to examine youth sport coach discourses about coaching girls. A gender-focused critical discourse analysis was conducted from open-ended survey responses from 148 youth sport coaches. A range of gendered coach discourses emerged including gender essentialist stereotypes of perceived physical, psychological, and social differences between girls and boys, and gender-blind/neutral comments which erased gendered experiences were the most common discourses. Gender-sensitive, gender-responsive, and gender transformative discourses were less common, but have powerful potential to disrupt gendered, masculine-shaped norms in sport. Based on the data, coach discourses often positioned girls as different and deficient or overlooked the salience of gendered structures in sport. A gender transformative approach is necessary to challenge entrenched gender structures, practices and hierarchies.

A balancing act: radicality and capture in institutionalising reflexive governance for urban sustainability transitions

Over the past two decades, urban actors have sought to foster long-lasting change towards sustainability through reflexive governance. Related activities, including transition labs, arenas, experiments, and roadmaps, have been problematised for disparities between using a discourse of transformation and radicality while failing to materialise radical action and succumbing to ‘projectification’ – meaning that the impact of an intervention tends to evaporate after the initial experiment impulse. Enabling a transformative legacy of such interventions requires institutionalising reflexive governance arrangements, i.e. a process of integrating these arrangements as part of the existing institutional set-ups while maintaining ‘radical’ elements. Particularly as the focus in certain urban transitions shifts from emerging and supporting niche practices towards institutionalising new ways of working and breaking down regime structures, it becomes paramount to better understand such processes. Based on a comparative empirical analysis of six European cities, we explore how these cities attempt to institutionalise reflexive governance and take stock of the tensions encountered, particularly to what extent cities manage to safeguard their radical ambitions, or whether these become ‘captured’ in the process. Other highlighted tensions are a focus on internal dynamics, a struggle around voluntary structures and accountability, and a challenge of keeping momentum with new actor constellations while trying to address complexity and uncertainty. We conclude by putting forward three recommendations for how reflexive governance processes may increase their impact: through prioritising institutional embeddedness in and outside of the local authority; creating transparency around how governance arrangements are adjusted and modified throughout the process for accountability; and renewing commitment periodically to ensure continuity and commitment from actors involved.

Persian comedy whispers out loud: a critical discourse analysis of Persian televised stand-up comedy

This paper probes into the Iranian society through the ‘discourse access’ that Persian stand-up comedy provides. It is posited that Persian humorous discourse can be an effective and relatively safe communication toolkit to speak truth to power and address cultural deficits. Hence, it may be an insightful ‘point of entry’ into the below-the-surface construct of various social wrongs (e.g. social class inequality, cultural illiteracy). In particular, Persian stand-up comedy, as a young and burgeoning genre of Persian comedy, seems to be reliably reflecting such concerns in Iran. Within the general framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA), this article inspected into a corpus of stand-up comedy performances by the Iranian participants of the first and largest televised stand-up comedy contest in Iran. The corpus included 11 stand-up comedians and 14 performances from the three seasons of the contest (2016–2022). The reflexive thematic analysis of the stand-up routines unmasked a wealth of social criticism which is discussed under four major themes of ‘economic stress’, ‘social class inequality’, ‘more equal decision-makers’ and, ‘agents of change’. The paper elaborates on Persian stand-up comedy as a potent driving force within the society to effect individual and social changes. It contends that Persian comedy can greatly contribute to discourses of awareness and transformation within the Iranian society.

Discourse of trauma and transformation of memory in the novel of J. S. Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

The article is devoted to considering the peculiarities of trauma discourse in the context of dynamics and transformations of individual and collective memory based on the material of the novel by the modern American writer J. S. Foer “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. Sociocultural dynamics of the first quarter of the 21st century causes significant changes in the spheres of collective imagination and memory, which finds its expression in the literary discourse, one of the significant types of which is currently the discourse of trauma. In turn, the category of trauma acquires universal status in modern humanitarianism. This determines the relevance of the research topic. The purpose of the article is to consider the discursive specificity of J. S. Foer’s novel «Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close» in the context of trauma, individual and collective memory. The subject of consideration is the peculiarities of the representation of trauma in the context of the transformation of memory in the novel by J. S. Foer. The novelty of the study consists in the attempt to distinguish the discourse of trauma related to the peculiarities of the narrator’s vision of reality and the socio-cultural determinations of trauma that affect the entire society, that is, to isolate the universal discourse of social trauma in the novel compared to individual trauma. The task of the research: to analyse the specific features of the discourse of trauma in J. S. Foer’s novel; find out the correlation between trauma discourse and transformations of individual and collective memory; to justify the universal nature of the trauma discourse in the novel. Historical-cultural, hermeneutic and discursive methods were used in the research process. The discourse of trauma in the novel acquires universal features and concerns all the narrators of the novel, who form its plot. The visual component that forms the visual-symbolic narrative of the novel actualizes the synesthetic perception of the trauma and its totality, spread not only to the family of the main character, but also to the entire society. At the same time, the graphic and visual experiments and findings of the author allow us to interpret the text as a complex postmodern and metamodern whole. The trauma discourse in the novel captures the transformations of individual and collective memory, which are aimed at restoring the functionality of the existence of people and communities on both the cognitive and emotional-affective levels. The discourse of trauma acquires features of totality, while remaining rational and avoiding signs of self-obsession, which enables catharsis as life after and with trauma. The symbolic nature of the processes taking place in the collective consciousness and imagination represents itself through the transformations of discourse, which record the transformations of memory. Prospects for further research are outlined by the possibility of considering the discourse of trauma in a wider cultural, linguistic and sociological context.

Rebalance power and strengthen farmers’ position in the EU food system? A CDA of the Farm to Fork Strategy

The Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy at the heart of the European Union’s Green Deal set out to create a “just transition” towards a sustainable food system, with benefits for all actors. We conducted a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to explore discourses around power in the food system and farmers’ position in the communication and implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy. Discourse analysis encapsulates various scientific methodologies for deciphering the meaning behind the creation and communication of different forms of language and identify power dynamics, amongst other aspects. We identified two prior discourses in one of the objectives of the European Union’s new Common Agricultural Policy (2023-27). Our analysis found that the discourses, namely “rebalance power in food system” and “strengthening farmers’ position in value chains,” are marginalized in favour of an innovation-investment discourse, indicative of greater financialization and technologization based on techno-finances fixes in transforming the European Union agri-food system. We argue that entities representing agri-business interests have been influential in the policymaking process and voices representing smallholder and medium-sized farmers’ transformational discourses have been excluded.

“DIGITAL PHILOSOPHY”: THE PROBLEM OF USING TERM IN SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY

The author is analyzing the modern socio-philosophical discourse of Internet transformation of the modern world and raises the issue of correct use of term “digital philosophy” in scientifi c publications. Using hermeneutic and system methods, the author concludes that modern social philosophy departs from traditional historical context of using the term to new global meaning for the description of modern digital being.

Revealing diversity among narratives of agricultural transformation: insights from smallholder farmers in the Northern Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

The discourse of transformation, as currently adopted in policy arenas, has given scarce attention to diverse knowledges, plural pathways, and politics. Narratives about change and agricultural transformation in African landscapes are diverse. However, failure to recognise diversity among narratives of the predominant food producers—smallholder farmers—in planning and policy processes limits potential to achieve just agricultural transformation. To progress understanding on diverse knowledges, plural pathways, and politics of agricultural transformation in this paper we present smallholder visions of future farms and their narratives of agricultural transformation in an African landscape subject to rapid ecological and livelihood change. We present smallholder narratives of transformation alongside those promoted by national and private-sector blueprints, and critically reflect on the social justice of transformation. From nine participatory workshops conducted with smallholder farmers in the northern Kilombero Valley of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), four main narratives of transformation were identified: (1) land ownership, (2) expansion of agricultural activities, (3) diversification, and (4) access to water for irrigation. The view of transformation presented by smallholders appears incompatible with national blueprint policies and plans. Despite “win-win” narratives of transformation and the outgrower scheme approach to expansion of sugarcane cultivation promoted by SAGCOT, the national government and the Kilombero Sugar Company, we found that land ownership and expansion remains challenging for smallholders in the present and represents a key aspiration for the future, along with diversification and access to adequate amounts of water for irrigation. These visions of bigger, more diverse farms with access to water, are not necessarily compatible with the expansion of sugarcane cultivation in the area and does not appear, as yet, to be sufficiently recognised in sugarcane expansion plans, creating potential to exacerbate injustice. Given this lack of recognition, smallholders advocate for a stronger role in protecting their interests as citizens in relation to the SAGCOT private-public partners. We demonstrate the need for greater effort among actors in rural African landscapes to realise and recognise the diversity and contextuality of envisaged desirable futures in plans and polices, and the importance of progressing understanding on inclusive planning and policy-making processes to achieve inclusive negotiation leading to more just transformation pathways.

A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer: How to Deal with Uncertainties of Explanation

This article addresses cases of remarkable recoveries related to healing after prayer. We sought to investigate how people who experienced remarkable recoveries re-construct and give meaning to these experiences, and examine the role that epistemic frameworks available to them, play in this process. Basing ourselves on horizontal epistemology and using grounded theory, we conducted this qualitative empirical research in the Netherlands in 2016–2021. It draws on 14 in-depth interviews. These 14 cases were selected from a group of 27 cases, which were evaluated by a medical assessment team at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. Each of the participants had experienced a remarkable recovery during or after prayer. The analysis of the interviews, which is based on the grounded theory approach, resulted in three overarching themes, placing possible explanations of the recoveries within (1) the medical discourse, (2) biographical discourse, and (3) a discourse of spiritual and religious transformation. Juxtaposition of these explanatory frameworks provides a way to understand better the transformative experience that underlies remarkable recoveries. Uncertainty regarding an explanation is a component of knowing and can facilitate a dialogue between various domains of knowledge.

Developing a theory of full democratic consolidation: Exploring the links between democracy and digital transformation in developing eastern European countries

This paper analyzes the impact of the adoption of an information system on the consolidation process of a fully democratic system for eastern European countries. The interactions between the adoption of e-management policies and democracy are examined as a strategic approach to managing future, dynamic organizations. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fsQCA) were conducted to assess the combined effect of the conditions. The fsQCA analysis considered a sample of 26 case studies of eastern European countries with post-communist, in transition regimes as the unit of analysis.During the research the factors that were necessary or sufficient to consolidate a full democratic system in developing countries were detected, analyzed, and explained. The output is presented as a result of applying the strategic approach given by the current sociotechnical transition based on improving the management of societies through information technology capabilities. The objective is to consolidate the output in developing countries given the institutionalization of a society’s e-management core value system. As a response to the current crisis and detected anomalies (IS, Globalization and Power Concentration) in democratic consolidation theory this research empirically demonstrates the need to create a technology-based system with the goal of presenting high performance and capability to support the heavy processing of economic, societal, and political challenges among businesses, citizens, and governments as the main actors in a democratic system. As a result of the research a ‘Theory for Full Democratic Consolidation through IS’ is proposed based on the ‘magic’ pathway or model developed using a qualitative, comparative analysis methodology.The novelty of this research lies in the fact that in contrast to the current academic literature, it turns the consolidation of the democratic system and its components into a result while the process’s approach is offered by the strategic approach offered by the transformative discourse of information technologies.

The transformative potential of Seed Commons: Applying the social-ecological transformation framework to agri-food systems

In this paper, we argue that small initiatives can contribute to larger transformations if they challenge and unmake incumbent unsustainable paradigms, and we demonstrate how the application of the social-ecological transformation framework helps to operationalize the analysis of paradigm shifts across different levels of transformation. Empirically, we assess the contribution of Seed Commons initiatives to agri-food systems transformations, taking the case of the organic breeding association Kultursaat e.V. At the macro level, the analysis reveals that the paradigms of ‘materialistic culture and growth’, ‘control and autonomy of humans over nature’ and ‘expert knowledge and specialization’ are deeply embedded in the dominant agri-food system. Kultursaat challenges them by promoting alternative narratives such as agroecology, food sovereignty, farmers' rights and resilience. At the micro and meso level, we apply a set of evaluation principles that reveal the transformative character and partial transformative impact of Seed Commons. Applying the framework to agri-food systems can bring an enhanced theoretical understanding of dynamics of change into the agri-food transformation discourse, link small-scale initiatives to wider processes of transformation, and provide a systematic research approach to enhance comparability across case studies. The framework is well suited to bring together even evolving transformation literatures.