Participation In Discussions Research Articles

Zeitwesen: Autobiographik österreichischer Künstlerinnen und Künstler im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Gesellschaft 1900–1945: Eine Studie zu Alfred Kubin, Oskar Kokoschka, Aloys Wach, Erika Giovanna Klien und Margret Bilger by Birgit Kirchmayr

Reviewed by: Zeitwesen: Autobiographik österreichischer Künstlerinnen und Künstler im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Gesellschaft 1900–1945: Eine Studie zu Alfred Kubin, Oskar Kokoschka, Aloys Wach, Erika Giovanna Klien und Margret Bilger by Birgit Kirchmayr Jacqueline Vansant Birgit Kirchmayr, Zeitwesen: Autobiographik österreichischer Künstlerinnen und Künstler im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Gesellschaft 1900–1945: Eine Studie zu Alfred Kubin, Oskar Kokoschka, Aloys Wach, Erika Giovanna Klien und Margret Bilger. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2020. 466 pp. The fascinating study Zeitwesen was launched after Birgit Kirchmayr curated the exhibition "Kulturhauptstadt des Führers: Kunst und Nationalsozialismus in Linz und Oberösterreich" in 2008. Struck by the sparsity of the years under National Socialism in the artists' biographies, the historian set out to investigate artists' auto/biographical reflections and presentations of themselves as artists as well as their participation in contemporary discourses. To gather an appropriately varied corpus of auto/biographical texts, Kirchmayr combed [End Page 148] lexica, artists' monographs, and exhibition catalogues. Because she wanted to study artists who would have all experienced the major upheavals in the first half of the twentieth century as well as societal changes, she sought subjects who were born roughly between 1880 and 1900. In addition, Kirchmayr looked for variation among her subjects, such as rural versus urban dwellers, conservative artists versus those who embraced modernity as well as both male and female artists. In addition to the above criteria she notes that personal preference played a role in her final selection. The five artists—Kubin, Kokoschka, Wach, Klien, and Bilger—prove to be well chosen, offering the author rich and varied material for her in-depth analyses. Before Kirchmayr delves into the autobiographical texts, she presents a thorough and lucid overview of the wide range of theories guiding her study. This includes scholarship on traditional autobiography, letters, and diaries, the intersection of gender and autobiography, and collective and individual identities. She also reflects on the genesis of the primary sources, which speak to the artists' self-images. Three extensive chapters, each well researched and insightful, follow this substantial and lucid framing. I concentrate my comments on the chapter "KünstlerInnen über sich," in which Kirchmayr deals with all of the artists. In her discussion of Kubin and Kokoschka, Kirchmayr draws on Carl Pletsch's biography of Nietzsche, in which he argues that the philosopher led an auto-biographical life, by which he meant that the philosopher lived in anticipation of future biographers. She shows that like Nietzsche, Kubin and Kokoschka display characteristics of men who lived autobiographical lives. However, the two diverged in their methods of constructing themselves as artists. Kubin, a passionate reader of artists' biographies and autobiographies, penned his first autobiography in 1911 at the age of thirty-four and then in the years to follow constantly added to it. Kokoschka, realizing the importance of biographical monograms for an artist's notoriety, sought to influence his biographer by dictating what should be included in his life's story. Here, Kirchmayr draws on Liz Stanley's The Auto/biographical I, which argues that the genre distinctions between biographies and autobiographies is often nebulous. In the section on Aloys Wach, Kirchmayr again turns to Stanley to bolster her argument that the letters, diaries, and "biographische Notizen" of this lesser-known artist too reflect the blurred genre borders between biographies and autobiographies. She reads these texts as both Wach's biographical notations of his daily life as well as autobiographical reflections. [End Page 149] For example, in daily entries he often commented on an earlier time rather than chronicling the events of the day. As an even clearer example of the murky genre distinctions between biography and autobiography, Kirchmayr points to Laurenz Kilger's biography of Wach, which was based entirely on the author's own notes. In contrast, the women in this study did not consider their lives nearly as worthy of biography, nor did they lead autobiographical lives, both of which seem reserved for the male artist. Kirchmayr nonetheless finds auto/biographical texts, which provide her with much insight. As Erika Giovanna Klien did not write a conventional autobiography or a diary, Kirchmayr turns Die Klessheimer Sendboten, a text that she...

Prosjektarbeid i barnehagen – mellom bekvemmelighet og medvirkning

This article analyzes observations from staff meetings in three different kindergartens that use a project-based approach as a method of working with children. Interviews with the educational leaders supplement the observations. The aim of the study has been to investigate how staff members talk about their work in their meetings. The article shows how the conversations evolve through four phases of a project-based method, from the first observations of children's interests, through a prelude that surprises the children, triggers that keep the interest alive, until the grand finale that ends the project. During this process, we have identified four different discourses that, in different ways, set premises for how projects evolve. We have called these a participatory discourse, a wonder discourse, a convenience discourse, and an output discourse.

Sociolinguistic aspects of German “sambo” discourse

The article is devoted to the study of the sociolinguistic aspects of the German-language sambo discourse. The research focuses on the sports space of the discourse of sambo, human communication, social institutions, rituals in sports, and the symbolism of the sports space. Sport is seen as a social phenomenon; the characteristic features of sports discourse, the predestination of the nature of communication in German sports discourse, the role and intentions of participants in sports discourse as the main figures of interaction in the communicative space are determined; the specificity is analyzed and the characteristic features of the intersection of institutional discourses are revealed; we identify and explain the significance, semiotics and scripting in the German-language sports discourse. The main aspects that contribute to the formation of social space, sports communication and that determine the formation of sports space are revealed. Video materials in German and printed publications with German terminology were used as research and analysis material. By analyzing research materials, a complex methodology is needed, namely the use of contextual analysis, discourse analysis and functional analysis of units of German-language special vocabulary.

Axiological aspect of confrontational communicative strategies in american political discourse

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the axiological aspect of confrontational communicative strategies is realized in American political discourse. The problem of intensified conventional and destructive elements in American political speech requires thorough linguistic investigation as political discourse is becoming more subjective and negative. The evaluation category allows discourse participants to construct some hierarchy of objects based on the “good vs. bad” predicates. The author analyzes different types of evaluations and their realizations in confrontational strategies, e.g. instrumental, technical, conductive, utilitarian, medical, hedonic evaluations. The paper puts special focus on construction of evaluation act, which includes the subject of speech, the object of speech and the predicate. The subject of speech is expressed through personal pronouns, appeals to authority or majority. The object of speech can be specified directly (using, for example, proper nouns, familiar constructions and verbal labels) or indirectly (using deixis). The predicate is expressed through nouns, adjectives, modal and emotional verbs and infinitives. The negative evaluation comprises such typical means as modified personal pronouns, contextual metaphors, pun, indexical phrases etc., which are used for confrontational speech tactics of mockery, discrediting, exposing, prosecution, negative analysis and vulnerability.

Understanding Meaningful Exchanges: Mathematics Discourse Analysis and Complexity Thinking

The focus in this paper is on the analysis of student-centered discourse through applying a discourse analysis tool that I developed to analyze data from an elementary mathematics classroom. The purpose of the analysis tool is to understand the impact of the complex learning system on the emerging classroom discourse. The minimum conditions for complexity created an invitational space for students that allowed interactions and meaningful exchanges to flourish through exploration of mathematical concepts and collective participation in classroom discourse. The analytic lens provides the teacher with a tool to understand more clearly the dynamics of meaningful exchanges identified as sharing, building, exploring and blocking.
 Keywords: Classroom discourse; mathematics education; complexity

Singular <i>they</i> in context

There is a growing experimental and theoretical literature on singular they, much of it focusing on the nature of the antecedents it takes (Foertsch & Gernsbacher 1997; Bjorkman 2017; Doherty & Conklin 2017; Prasad 2017; Ackerman et al. 2018; Ackerman 2018a; Ackerman 2018b; Conrod 2018; Ackerman 2019; Camilliere et al. 2019; Conrod 2019; Konnelly & Cowper 2020). We conducted two experiments which, in contrast to earlier studies, manipulated whether the gender of the referent of singular they is known to the discourse participants and whether there is a linguistic antecedent for singular they. We found that the presence of an antecedent ameliorates the acceptability of singular they—even in a context where the gender of the referent may be known to the hearer. We interpret this novel finding as revealing how a linguistic antecedent can signal the irrelevance of gender in a discourse and thereby licenses singular they. We also find a trend, inversely correlated with age, toward higher acceptability of even deictic singular they in gender known contexts, partially bearing out findings in Bjorkman (2017), Conrod (2019), and Konnelly & Cowper (2020) about innovative users of singular they.

POLITICAL METAPHOR AS A MEANS OF LINGUISTIC REPRESENTAION OF DONALD TRUMP’S IMAGE IN MASS MEDIA

The article under discussion has focused on the peculiarities the conceptual metaphor usage in the speeches of the 45th and current president of the United States Donald Trump. The topicality of the investigation is predetermined by the steady increase of professional interest of political discourse participants, mass media in particular, in the choice of effective instruments of political and ideological relations coverage with a simultaneous public request for quality of the politically directed content. The differentiation of political metaphor features and its functions in publicistic discourse is essential for the exploration of efficient linguistic means of impact on the political mediatext audience. Grounding on the empiric material analysis (leading English-language mass media) the linguistic factors of the leader of a democratic country political image formation have been considered. The characteristics of the use of metaphor as a multilingual means of a politician mass media image formation based on the contemporary mass media have been outlined. The article suggests a complex study of the use of political metaphor in the texts of English-language mass media with the emphasis on the leading tendencies of the political utterance metaphorization within the framework of the contemporary political discourse. The major types of conceptual metaphor, facilitating the political image formation, have been studied.

Pre-service Teachers’ Collaborative Learning Experiences in a Science Content Course

Developing an in-depth understanding, skills, and level of comfort to teach through inquiry requires that pre-service teachers themselves learn through an inquiry-based approach that would allow them to explore various dimensions of such an approach. Productive discourse and collaboration, involving extensive interactions among students, constant and mutual exchange of ideas, and higher-order thinking are critical components of inquiry-based learning. Further research is needed to understand the dynamics of collaborative experiences and the process by which science is learned in collaborative team contexts, particularly with teacher candidates who will be responsible for implementing such approaches in their future classrooms. This qualitative study aimed to explore the dynamics of inquiry-based learning experiences of two teams of elementary pre-service teachers in an introductory science content course. Analysis of observation data indicated that although the team engaged in a less structured activity engaged in slightly more productive communication, both teams experienced inequitable levels of involvement by different team members. Team members assumed different roles and varying degrees of participation and engagement in discourse. Our research indicated possible challenges of collaborative interaction and discourse which are critical to consider as teacher educators and researchers. It is imperative that science content and methods courses offer pre-service teachers opportunities for direct experience and explicit instruction on effective means of productive interactions and discourse.

Communicating metaknowledge to L2 learners: A fragile scaffold for participation in subject-related discourse?

In this article, I highlight how two teachers seek to scaffold second language learners' use of language and engagement with texts in Grade 1 and 6. The aim is to explore the communication of metaknowledge in classroom discourse, more specifically, the communication of knowledge about language and metacognitive reading strategies. Two teachers participated in the study, and data were gathered through observa-tions, voice recordings, and the collection of teaching materials. Bernstein's sociology of education is operationalized to reveal different aspects of framing during teaching activities in second language teaching and geography. Drawing upon systemic-functional linguistics, I show how metaknowledge was fore-grounded by the teacher in ways that sometimes de-emphasized the subject-related texts and concepts expected to be at the center of the teaching. An important empirical finding is that the foregrounding of metaknowledge such as features of the language and cognitive reading strategies in teaching can result in a pseudo-visible modality of pedagogy that provides insufficient scaffolding for dealing with subject-related texts and participating substantially in classroom discourse. Implications for teaching are discussed.

Movement and Song Idiom Traditional to Enhance Early Mathematical Skills: Gelantram Audio-visual Learning Media

Movement and Song Idiom Traditional to Enhance Early Mathematical Skills: Gelantram Audio-visual Learning Media

Frei Luís de Sousa d’Almeida Garrett. Pour une approche pragmatique du texte dramatique

"Frei Luís de Sousa by Almeida Garrett: a pragmatic analysis of the theatre dialogue. In this article, we analyse, from a pragmatic point of view, the dialogue of the play Frei Luís de Sousa by Almeida Garrett and its translation made by Maxime Formont at the beginning of the 20th century and published in Livourne. We focus on the strategies used by the participants in the theatre discourse in order to consolidate and sometimes even to renegotiate their interpersonal relationship. Our main interest concerns the use of nouns and pronouns in the 1st Act. For a better understanding of the socio-historical context of this play, we propose a short introduction to the 19th century, in Portugal. We also present and analyse some important para-textual pieces of information that accompany the translation made by Maxime Formont. Keywords: translation, theatre discourse, politeness, pragmatics, Almeida Garrett."

Planning and implementing a targeted polio vaccination campaign for Somali mobile populations in Northeastern Kenya based on migration and settlement patterns

ABSTRACT Supporting the global eradication of wildpoliovrisu (WPV), this project aimed to provide polio and measles vaccines to a population frequenty missed by immunization services and campaigns, ethnic Somali children living among mobile populations within Kenya’s Northeastern Region. Additionally, nutritional support, albendazole (for treatment of intestinal parasites) and vitamin A were provided to improve children’s health and in accordance with regional vaccination campaign practices. To better understand movement patterns and healthcare-seeking behaviors within this population, we trained community-based data collectors in qualitative and geospatial data collection methods. Data collectors conducted focus group and participatory mapping discussions with ethnic Somalis living in the region. Qualitative and geospatial data indicated movement patterns that followed partially definable routes and temporary settlement patterns with an influx of ethnic Somali migrants into Kenya at the start of the long rainy season (April–June). Community members also reported concerns about receiving healthcare services in regional health facilities. Using these data, an 8-week vaccination campaign was planned and implemented: 2196 children aged 0–59 months received polio vaccine (9% had not previously received polio vaccine), 2524 children aged 9–59 months received measles vaccine (27% had not previously received measles vaccine), 113 were referred for the treatment of severe acute malnourishment, 150 were referred to a supplementary feeding program due to moderate acute malnourishment, 1636 children aged 12–59 months were provided albendazole and 2008 children aged 6–59 months were provided with vitamin A. This project serves as an example for how community-based data collectors and local knowledge can help adapt public health programming to the local context and could aid disease eradication in at-risk populations.

Critical Discourse Analysis In Indonesia Lawyers Club (ILC) "RKUHP CONTROVERSY" On TV ONE

On 25 September 2019, Indonesia Lawyers Club (ILC) have made themes Rancangan Kitab Undang Undang Hukum Pidana controversy or RKUHP controversy. ILC discusses several chapters that invite the pros and cons in the interpersonal community of the article concerning the insult to the President and Vice President, article on the possession of supernatural powers to commit a criminal offense, article on poultry breeding, article on demonstrating contraceptives, articles on abortion, and other. In the critical paradigm, the use of language in the media is intentional and has a specific purpose. Seeing this, researchers are interested in seeing the discourse built in the talk show. The researchers used a critical discourse analysis technique model (Teun van Dijk) and found that ILC built a discourse that article RKUHP serves the interests of the Government. The RKUHP intervenes in the privacy of the community, and RKUHP discriminates against certain groups. This discourse also shows the definition and positioning of the ILC position on the participants of the production discourse. ILC placed Karni Iliyas as the dominant moderator so that his reality could be accepted by the public as truth. using the technique of text analysis, social cognition, and context, researchers found a discourse built by ILC confirming the view that the RKUHP invites pros and cons in society. Researchers have also found that the ILC conversion of the RKUHP is influenced by government interests.

Fieldwork on epistemic authority markers: What we can learn from different types of data

AbstractEpistemicity in language encompasses various kinds of constructions and expressions that have to do with knowledge-related aspects of linguistic meaning (cf. Grzech, Karolina, Eva Schultze-Berndt and Henrik Bergqvist. 2020c. Knowing in interaction: an introduction.Folia Linguistica[this issue]). It includes some well-established categories, such as evidentiality and epistemic modality (Boye, Kasper. 2012.Epistemic meaning: A crosslinguistic and functional-cognitive study. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton), but also categories that have been less well described to-date. In this paper, I focus on one such category: the marking of epistemic authority, i.e. the encoding of “the right to know or claim” (Stivers, Tanya, Lorenza Mondada & Jakob Steensig. 2011b. Knowledge, morality and affiliation in social interaction. In Stivers et al. 2011a). I explore how the marking of epistemic authority can be documented and analysed in the context of linguistic fieldwork. The discussion is based on a case study of Upper Napo Kichwa, a Quechuan language spoken in the Ecuadorian Amazon that exhibits a rich paradigm of epistemic discourse markers, encoding meanings related to epistemic authority and distribution of knowledge between discourse participants. I describe and appraise the methodology for epistemic fieldwork used in the Upper Napo Kichwa documentation and description project. I give a detailed account of the different tools and methods of data collection, showing their strengths and weaknesses. I also discuss the decisions made at the different stages of the project and their implications for data collection and analysis. In discussing these issues, I extrapolate from the case study, proposing practical solutions for fieldwork-based research on epistemic markers.

Аттрактивная функция метафоры в современном англоязычном и русскоязычном финансовом дискурсе

Статья посвящена сопоставительному анализу метафорических высказываний в англоязычном и русскоязычном финансовом дискурсе. Экономика и финансы, будучи взаимосвязаны, разделяют информацию, при этом финансовый дискурс, содержащий сведения о потоке денежных средств, финансовых рынках, доходах, налогах и кредитах, формируется в рамках экономического дискурса. Для концептуализации событий в мире финансов как экономической категории, выражающей существующие в обществе отношения и объединяющей все экономические связи, возникающие в процессе зарождения, распределения, перераспределения и применения денежных потоков, употребляются метафорические выражения, что объясняется стремлением автора дать оценку финансового положения в социуме не при помощи «сухой информации» с обилием цифр, а в образных выражениях. Установлено, что в исследуемых текстах широко используются концептуальные метафоры со сферой-источником «Мир животных». В статье отдельно анализируются фреймы «Птицы» и «Хищники», основанные на метафорическом переносе, свойстве ассоциативности метафоры. Метафоризация финансового дискурса выполняет аттрактивную функцию, привлекая внимание читателей экспрессивностью описываемых событий, проблем в современной экономике. Метафоры, построенные на основе ядра «Мир животных», в яркой форме раскрывают процессы, происходящие в современной финансовой системе, способствуют реализации авторской интенции. В статье представлены характеристики выявленных метафор как ассоциативного механизма для передачи образов политических деятелей, предпринимателей и экономистов, участников финансового дискурса, и осуществления ими денежно-кредитной политики. Проведенное исследование на примере англоязычного и русскоязычного дискурсов позволило подтвердить положение о фундаментальности и универсальности метафоры, проявляющейся в структуре различных языков.

Peningkatan Kesadaran Hukum Tentang Konservasi Lingkungan Bagi Masyarakat Watutela

Watutela group of farmers and ranchers, who are very vulnerable to various problems of forest destruction. Lack of public understanding of the prohibition of illegal logging of forest trees in forest areas (Grand Forest Park). Seeing this situation, the increase in legal awareness, especially understanding of the legal obligations to conserve forests with the status of a grand forest park area. The method of implementing the activity begins with field observations, then makes contact with the head of the RW for administrative purposes, determining the time for activities and invitations to prospective participants in focus group discussions. The participatory discussion method was carried out in the afternoon. It can be said that the level of understanding of the community in the sense of complying with the provisions of forest conservation is still low, after the activity appears perceptions and attitudes that are in line with the provisions of conservation so that a commitment is built to maintain the sustainability of the forest while still benefiting (symbiosis mutualism).

Comparing Collaboration Fidelity between VR, MR and Video Conferencing Systems: The Effects of Visual Communication Media Fidelity on Collaboration

Video/audio conferencing systems have been used extensively for remote collaboration over many years. Recently, virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) systems have started to show great potential as communication media for remote collaboration. Prior studies revealed that the creation of common ground between discourse participants is crucial for collaboration and that grounding techniques change with the communication medium. However, it is difficult to find previous research that compares VR and MR communication system performances with video conferencing systems regarding the creation of common ground for collaborative problem solving. On the other hand, prior studies have found that display fidelity and interaction fidelity had significant effects on performance-intensive individual tasks in virtual reality. Fidelity in VR can be defined as the degree of objective accuracy with which the real-world is represented by the virtual world. However, to date, fidelity for collaborative tasks in VR/MR has not been defined or studied much. In this paper, we compare five different communication media for the establishment of common ground in collaborative problem-solving tasks: Webcam, headband camera, VR, MR, and audio-only conferencing systems. We analyzed these communication media with respect to collaborative fidelity components which we defined. For the experiments, we utilized two different types of collaborative tasks: a 2D Tangram puzzle and a 3D Soma cube puzzle. The experimental results show that the traditional Webcam performed better than the other media in the 2D task, while the headband camera performed better in the 3D task. In terms of collaboration fidelity, these results were somehow predictable, although there was a little difference between our expectations and the results.

An approach to assess actors’ preferences and social learning to enhance participatory forest management planning

Forest management planning is often challenged by the need to address contrasting preferences from several actors. Participatory approaches may help integrate actors’ preferences and demands and thus address this challenge. Workshops that encompass a participatory approach may further influence actors’ opinions and knowledge through social interaction and facilitate the development of collaborative landscape-level planning. Nevertheless, there is little experience of formal assessment of impacts of workshops with participatory approaches. This research addresses this gap. The emphasis is on the development of an approach (a) to quantify actors’ preferences for forest management models, post-fire management options, forest functions, and ecosystem services; (b) to assess the impact of participatory discussions on actors’ opinions; and (c) to evaluate the effect of social interaction on the actors’ learning and knowledge. The methodology involves a workshop with participatory approach, matched pre- and post-questionnaires, a non-parametric test, the Wilcoxon Signed-rank test for paired samples, and a self-evaluation questionnaire.We report results from an application to a joint forest management area in Vale do Sousa, in North-Western Portugal. Findings suggest that workshop and participatory discussions do contribute to social knowledge and learning about forest management models. Actors debated alternatives that can address their financial and wildfire risk-resistance concerns. Also, during the participatory discussions, actors expressed their interest in multifunctional forestry. These findings also suggest an opportunity to enhance forest management planning by promoting landscape-level collaborative forest management plans that may contribute to the diversification of forest management models and to the provision of a wider range of ecosystem services. However, more research is needed to strengthen the pre- and post-questionnaire approach, giving more time to actors to reflect on their preferences, to improve methods for quantifying social learning and to develop actors’ engagement strategies.

Community radio stations’ programmes and the promotion of peaceful co-existence in Nigerian rural societies: assessment of Fulani herdsmen and farmers conflicts in selected parts of southwest, nigeria

A country with enormous dialects such as Nigeria, is likely to be confronted with diversified problems strong enough to militate against her unity and peaceful co-existence. Undoubtedly, such societies need a medium such as community radio which is capable of presenting one of the best ways of reaching the grassroots with attitude change and development messages for socialization. The study adopted survey and interview methods using questionnaire and interview guide as data collection instruments. The paper was anchored on the Development media Theory and Diffusion of Innovation Theory respectively. The paper employed simple random technique to derive the study sample size of 300 respondents from the universe population and the selected community radio stations, 250 copies of the questionnaire were returned and validated for the study final analysis. Descriptive statistics with the Statistical Products and Social Services (SPSS) version 21 were utilized for data analysis. The findings showed that the community radio stations programmes are effective in promoting peace culture between the Fulani-herdsmen and Farmers. It revealed that Oyo State is most influenced by community radio stations’ programmes among the selected states. It established that political intervention, infrastructural problems, language barrier, ownership and control are the major challenges confronted by the community radio stations. In addition, it indicated that there were collaborations though not too huge between government and the selected stations. The study concluded that community radio stations’ programmes are relevant approach for engendering peaceful co-existence among the Fulani-herdsmen and Farmers as proved by the study. It established that the programmes ensure viable community development and facilitate common understanding among participants of development initiatives. The study recommended that indigenous languages programmes should be increased tremendously to positively affect rural development programmes. Also, pluralism and diversity in the radio stations’ programmes should be re-designed to enhance cultural integration and advancement of indigenous languages. In addition, government should step up actions in assisting community radio stations’ operators by funding rural programmes through placement of advertisements. Finally, government at various levels should come up together in advocating for rural populace active participation in the rural development discourse via decision making.

The Roles and Practices of Civil Society Actors in Police Reform in Kyrgyzstan: Activism, Expertise, Knowledge Production

ABSTRACT The increasingly complex and differentiated field of security sector and police reform has given rise to extensive research into such processes, but also the stalemate and contradictions they are facing. Recent analyses have shown how civil society actors can successfully influence reform and hold authorities accountable, but are also facing limits in terms of their own expertise, capacity and representativeness. This article presents new evidence of interactions between civil society, state authorities and international organizations on the basis of participatory fieldwork and public discourse analysis in the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. Taking particular interest in practices, expertise and knowledge production, I show how the organization in focus, an NGO network promoting alternative approaches to police reform, had to live up to different roles in trying to effect change: that of activists who mobilize popular support; of experts who apply novel, participatory community security approaches in piloting communities; and lastly, that of knowledge producers providing evidence of the need for reform. These roles and practices, and their implications for the network’s reform impact are critically assessed and, in conclusion, developed into the need for future research.