Discourse Surrounding Research Articles

Ideological Construction In Digital News Media: Discourse Surrounding The 2024 Election

Ideological Construction In Digital News Media: Discourse Surrounding The 2024 Election

“A Blessing and a Curse”: The Impact of Sociopolitical Events and National Discourse Surrounding Sexual Violence on College Campuses

Abstract Purpose Examining the influence of policy change and socio-political factors is paramount for contextualizing and addressing sexual violence. The purpose of this paper is to provide findings from a secondary qualitative analysis of the impacts of national and local high-profile events on the dialogue and actions surrounding violence prevention and response on college campuses. Methods Data from mcBEE, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded project exploring the adoption and implementation of violence prevention programming on multiple college campuses in the United States were used for this analysis. Data include responses from 60-min telephone interviews with key informants (i.e., campus personnel in administrative roles or connected to violence prevention programming efforts) between 2017 and 2019. Results Interviews (n = 68) revealed that high-profile events (i.e., Title IX legislation, news coverage of sexual assault cases, and the #MeToo and It’s On Us movements) increased dialogue about violence prevention and response on some campuses, while others experienced activism and advocacy surrounding sexual assault, including greater accountability and response from campus leadership. Some participants connected national political discourse (i.e., the 2016 presidential election, Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court) to increases in violence perpetration and decreased reporting and help-seeking behaviors after sexual assault. Conclusions Sociopolitical events and shifts in national dialogue surrounding violence affect perceptions and behaviors among students, faculty, staff, and overall college campus communities. Identifying potential impacts of national events can inform future prevention and response efforts and mobilize campus communities toward meaningful change.

An Analysis of Discourse Surrounding Oral Contraceptives on TikTok [ID 2683389

INTRODUCTION: The lack of comprehensive sex education in U.S. secondary schools has created large knowledge gaps in reproductive health, leading many adolescents and young adults to turn to social media platforms, such as TikTok, for information about contraception. This cross-sectional study aims to provide a descriptive content analysis of the quality and reliability of oral contraceptive health information on TikTok. METHODS: One thousand TikTok videos listed under various search terms related to oral contraceptives were screened. Data including engagement metrics such as views, likes, comments, saves, and shares were recorded. Video content, including contraceptive methods discussed, efficacy, tolerability, and side effects, was recorded. Two reviewers independently used a modified DISCERN criteria and Global Quality Scale (GQS) to assess the quality and reliability of information for each video. According to the IRB, this project has been approved and exempt from further review. RESULTS: Five hundred seventy-four videos were analyzed after applying exclusion criteria. Videos had a median length of 27 seconds and received a median of 166 views per day. Video creators were 83.3% female and 58.7% White. 49.8% of videos discussed adverse effects, whereas only 27.5% discussed positive effects. The mean modified DISCERN score was 1.63±1.062 and the mean GQS score was 2.28±1.374. Health care professionals had significantly higher DISCERN and GQS scores than non-health care professionals; however, they received fewer views and likes on their videos (P<.001). CONCLUSION: TikTok videos related to oral contraceptive health had low quality and reliability of information. The majority of videos were made by non-health care providers, and the most common topic discussed was adverse effects of contraception. Videos made by health care professionals contained more reliable contraceptive information but received less engagement than videos made by non-health care professionals. Health care providers should consider the prevalence of poor quality information about oral contraceptives on social media when counseling and educating patients about reproductive health.

Hegemonic Discourses Surrounding United States’ Leadership in Post-Ebola Development in Liberia

Abstract This study examines the hegemonic discourses surrounding USAID’s leadership in post-Ebola Liberia between 2015 and 2020. Using documents and critical discourse analysis, the study finds that USAID’s overarching goal of empowering Liberians, especially women, was primarily on humanitarian grounds. However, the study revealed the significant extent to which ideological and political economic assumptions influenced USAID’s prioritization of Liberia in the fight against Ebola in West Africa. These findings call for advancing research on the concept of national interest in international development discourse and practice, as well as the political economy of aid to sub-Saharan Africa from a neocolonialist lens.

Understanding Family Courts System in India

This article ventures into the evolving discourse surrounding of the power, procedures and working of the family court. The thorough analysis of the family court act and the powers conferred to the family courts under the act is analyzed through this paper. A family court is a specialized court created to address legal issues resulting from familial relationships. The family court follows less strict rules of operation than regular civil or criminal courts. It is distinguished by unique intake procedures that weed out possible cases that don’t actually need judicial attention.

Advancing Enterprise Data Strategies: Integration and Optimization of SAP HANA for Backup and Disaster Recovery

This research paper delves into the integration and optimization of SAP HANA, in enterprise data centers with a focus on strategies to ensure backup and disaster recovery (DR). SAP HANA, which is an in memory database brings about a transformation in how data's stored and processed. It offers real time analytics, predictive modeling and advanced analytics capabilities. The paper discusses the utilization of SAP HANA in both on premise and cloud environments while highlighting the need to strike a balance between speed, scalability and challenges such as data security and system integration. Emphasizing the importance of backup and DR protocols it underscores their role in protecting data integrity and ensuring uninterrupted business operations even during high risk situations. Through exploration of methods and technologies for backup and recovery this study aims to enhance efficiency in handling data within the realm of SAP HANA. By shedding light on implications related to deployment of SAP HANA – regarding data security measures and operational resilience – this research contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding, in memory databases within enterprise settings.

The Development of the Discourse Surrounding ‘Social Improvement’ during the Anglo-Irish Trade Dispute, 1695–1800

The idea of social improvement, including the concept of ‘reciprocity’, had substantially been developed in the Anglo-Irish trade disputes since the late seventeenth century. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, commentators became more sceptical of ‘reciprocity’. The Irish reception of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations must be situated in this historical context, and the article explores the implications of the relevant discourses for John Robertson's concept of Enlightenment. Like in Scotland, ‘improvement’ was considered significant in eighteenth-century Ireland. Nevertheless, political economy played different roles in the two nations because of their different political systems and circumstances. Many, including Adam Smith, believed that political and constitutional, rather than economic, reforms would be more crucial to improving Irish society.

Guiding Environmental Messaging by Quantifying the Effect of Extreme Weather Events on Public Discourse Surrounding Anthropogenic Climate Change

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change promises to bring existential changes to human society in the coming years. One such example of these changes is the increasing frequency of extreme weather capable of causing significant damage. Despite this, many Americans are acutely unaware of the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events, perhaps because of a lack of direct messaging about it. This study analyzed the effects of natural disasters on climate change discussion sentiment and volume through news media and Twitter posts. The study hypothesized that specific major natural disasters would lead to increases in the number of climate change–related Twitter posts and news articles, as well as more positive climate sentiment, indicative of belief in the severity of global warming. Through an analysis of almost 35 million climate change–related tweets and 300 000+ news articles, along with the collection of over 130 million natural-disaster-related tweets published in the United States between 2010 and 2020, media volume rose an average of 10% around specific extreme weather events, corroborating the first aspect of the hypothesis. The ratio of positive to negative sentiment tweets, however, decreased, suggesting the tendency of extreme weather to elicit more response from climate change deniers than supporters. Thus, increased climate change discussion around major natural disasters represents a missed opportunity for continuing to drive forward climate change messaging and awareness in the United States. Significance Statement Extreme weather events threaten Americans’ lives and livelihoods. In turn, anthropogenic climate change has been shown to amplify the frequency and intensity of these weather events, creating uncertainty for communities across the country. Despite the proven connection between climate change and natural disasters, public messaging often fails to leverage anxiety over extreme weather to drive support for environmental action. This study sought to quantify the media relationships of climate change and natural disasters to inform awareness strategies.

Public Discourse Surrounding Suicide during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of Twitter Posts over a One-Year Period.

Many studies have forewarned the profound emotional and psychosocial impact of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. This study thus aimed to examine how individuals relate to suicide amid the COVID-19 pandemic from a global perspective via the public Twitter discourse around suicide and COVID-19. Original Twitter tweets from 1 February 2020 to 10 February 2021 were searched, with terms related to "COVID-19", "suicide", or "self-harm". An unsupervised machine learning approach and topic modelling were used to identify topics from unique tweets, with each topic further grouped into themes using manually conducted thematic analysis by the study investigators. A total of 35,904 tweets related to suicide and COVID-19 were processed into 42 topics and six themes. The main themes were: (1) mixed reactions to COVID-19 public health policies and their presumed impact on suicide; (2) biopsychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on suicide and self-harm; (3) comparing mortality rates of COVID-19, suicide, and other leading causes of death; (4) mental health support for individuals at risk of suicide; (5) reported cases and public reactions to news related to COVID-19, suicide, and homicide; and (6) figurative usage of the word suicide. The general public was generally concerned about governments' responses as well as the perturbing effects on mental health, suicide, the economy, and at-risk populations.

Lesbians in Modern Day Britain: A Corpus-Based Study of The Discourses Surrounding Lesbians in the Spoken BNC2014 and the British Press

This paper explores the language used to discuss lesbians in both informal spoken British English and written British news media. The research draws on two data sources: the Spoken BNC2014 and a specialised corpus of 1.2 million words from newspapers written between January 2017 and December 2017 inclusive. Discourses (re)produced in both informal conversations and the mass media are ways of sustaining and maintaining ideological stances towards groups marginalised due to their sexuality (see Baker, 2014; Gupta, 2016). In this paper, I argue that the discourses surrounding lesbians found within both corpora are problematic and archaic. I discuss two prominent discourses in spoken British English (that lesbians are typically seen as masculine, which in turn is judged negatively, and that lesbianism is a choice), two prominent discourses in written British English (that lesbians are a threat to children and that lesbianism is a marked identity which is delegitimised), and one discourse which overlaps across both corpora (that all gender, sexual, and romantic minorities are a homogenised group). The discourses in both corpora appear to be damaging to how lesbians are viewed in general society and tend to mask underlying homophobic ideologies.<br /><br />

Displacing Political Islam in Indonesia

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the narrative of Islamic nationalism in twentieth-century Indonesia, focussing on the experience of, and discourse surrounding, the self-identified Islamist Darul Islam movement and its leader, S. M. Kartosuwiryo (1905–1962). I offer a narrative of the independence struggle that counters the one advanced by Indonesia's Pancasila state, and allows us to capture subtleties that old discussions of separatism—with their assumption of fixed centres and peripheries—cannot illuminate.The article unfolds three historical threads connected to ideas of exile and displacement (physical and intellectual), and the reconstitution (successful or failed) that followed from those processes. Starting from the political circumstances under which Kartosuwiryo retreated to West Java after the Dutch reinvasion of 1947—in a form of physical exile and political displacement from the centre of politics to the periphery, from a position of political centrality to one of marginality and opposition—I then transition to an elaboration of Kartosuwiryo's ideology. His political strategy emerges as a form of voluntary intellectual displacement that bounced between local visions of authority, nationalist projects, and transregional imaginations in order to establish the political platform he envisioned for postcolonial Indonesia. Lastly, I argue that the elision of Islam from the reconstructed narrative of Kartosuwiryo's intentions, characterised as separatist and anti-nationalist, was a key aspect of Indonesia's nation-building process. It is my final contention that official Indonesian history's displacement of Kartosuwiryo's goals away from Islam and into the realm of separatism allowed for two reconstitutive processes, one pertaining to political Islam as a negative political force, and the other to Kartosuwiryo as a martyr for Islam.

Beliefs and Networks: Mapping the Indian Climate Policy Discourse Surrounding the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015

ABSTRACT The media represents a discursive site with actors trying to influence the discourse on a particular subject. The paper delves into an exploratory analysis of the policy discourse around climate change in India during the 2015 Paris Agreement by tapping into the data from the print media. Employing Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) and drawing theoretical insights from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), the paper aims to highlight the dominant policy beliefs and the prominent actors in the Indian climate policy sphere. The findings exhibit a firm agreement on the scientific reality of climate change, along with a continued emphasis on the historical responsibility of the developed countries. The transition to renewable energy is widely accepted, but coal phase-out and sustenance of nuclear power is a contentious issue. The study uncovers a consistent belief system underlying the climate change discourse in India and the challenges in the path towards future energy transition.

Language Teacher Identity and English Education Policy in Japan: Competing Discourses Surrounding “Non-native” English-speaking Teachers

This paper examines English teacher identity of Japanese “non-native” English-speaking teachers through a multi-layered analysis of discourses and identity. Informed by poststructuralist views of identity, it explores dominant discourses surrounding “non-native” English-speaking teachers by analyzing their portrayal in national English education policy in Japan. This analysis is combined with qualitative data analysis of interview accounts of five Japanese high school “non-native” English-speaking teachers, which allows for examination of the interrelation between dominant discourses and their teacher identities. The data analysis demonstrates how the policy documents portray “non-native” English-speaking teachers, framing them within two competing discourses: the discourse of teaching professionals vis-à-vis students and the discourse of “nonnative” teachers vis-à-vis imagined “native” speakers of English. This discursive portrayal corresponds to the “non-native” English-speaking teacher identity illuminated by narrative accounts from the participant teachers, manifesting the paradoxical and conflicting nature of teacher identity. The discussion concludes with implications and recommendations for English education policy design and teacher education with a heightened sensitivity to identity.

‘Test, Test, Test!’: Scarcity, Tinkering, and Testing Policy Early in the COVID-19 Epidemic in France

This article follows the introduction of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests in France. It shows how, at the intersection of science, medicine, politics, and policy-making, the test, trace, and isolate (TTI) strategy played out during the first months of the pandemic against a backcloth of multiple shortages. In so doing, the authors move beyond trite explanations (such as ‘French public health’s backwardness’) to highlight how successive policy inflections affected the national response to the pandemic. The piece analyses the shifting French political discourse surrounding (scarce) COVID-19 tests while exploring ad-hoc regulations and guidelines as well as the intense ‘bricolage’ that they triggered in the field of clinical medicine. The authors contend that the limitations of the testing infrastructure in France during the first half of 2020 shaped the decision to resort to lockdown. The research article sheds light on two coexisting registers of professional uses of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays—a ‘public health use’ and a ‘clinical use’—and highlights the changing political and social relevance of these two registers, with scarcity as a major determinant of these changes. One of the striking aspects of the introduction of COVID-19 tests in France therefore lies in the enduring gap between the dynamics of the epidemic and the dynamics of testing. In this respect, the French situation is neither extreme nor unique, which makes this case study a relevant basis for the international comparison of testing practices in different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social Exclusivism Versus Cosmopolitan Acceptance: Competing Constructions of ‘Australian Values’ in Discourse Surrounding People Seeking Asylum

ABSTRACT Australia is highly polarised about its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, with the available literature indicating that public, political, and media discourse routinely constructs them as culturally incompatible with the broader society. These discourses present refugees and asylum seekers as undesirable ‘others’ and in turn, their deservingness of protection becomes contingent upon arbitrary notions of who gets to belong (and why). Rhetoric about what it means to be Australian pervade these discussions, however little is known about the various linguistic functions these ideas serve. This paper presents the findings arising from Critical Discourse Analysis of interviews with 24 Western Australians. Findings revealed that notions of ‘Australian values’ were regularly called upon to further arguments that both deny and advocate for the nation's acceptance of people seeking asylum. While some constructed ‘Australian values’ as incompatible with asylum seekers’ cultural practices and beliefs, others asserted that open, compassionate, and charitable treatment of people seeking asylum is a key facet of ‘being Australian’. Examined with consideration of the literature on Social Exclusivism and Cosmopolitan Acceptance, I discuss the discursive features of these contrasting ideas, emphasising key implications for both societal and scholarly understandings of Australia’s ongoing asylum debate.

Fantasy Football and the Discourse Surrounding Violence against Women

The discourse surrounding professional football players and violence against women developed alongside an evolving NFL that increasingly valued fantasy sports participants for their heightened engagement and investment. Fantasy-specific sports information companies emerged to equip fantasy ‘owners’ with information and advice to best manage their virtual rosters, including strategies for navigating players’ legal troubles and possible suspensions. The NFL has faced significant criticism for its response to cases involving domestic violence and sexual assault, but fantasy football’s role in containing this perceived crisis has received less attention. Analysing fantasy sports from a historical perspective reveals the ways in which fans have been compelled to think through (or gloss over) these issues. Specifically, fantasy football advice on the popular fantasy sports website Rotoworld from 2003 to 2013 reveals a pattern of reimagining real-world violence, and particularly violence against women, as a problem that can be understood and activated purely in terms of fantasy sports. Reducing the costs of this violence to the world of virtual gameplay discourages social consciousness, diminishes the capacity for productive dialogue, and erases the lived experience of survivors.

Sounds Like Misogyny: Voicing Cross-gender Roles in Anime and Discourses Surrounding Female Fandom on 2channel

Sounds Like Misogyny: Voicing Cross-gender Roles in Anime and Discourses Surrounding Female Fandom on 2channel

The Madrasa in Indonesia (Authority, Knowledge and Discourse Surrounding its Development)

&lt;p class="06IsiAbstrak"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="06IsiAbstrak"&gt;The focus of this paper is the madrasa in Indonesia and its development which is examined from the perspective of Michel Foucault regarding their authority, knowledge and discourse.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;The madrasa’s performance, which is still relatively low and unable to compete with public schools or pesantrens (Islamic Boarding Schools), will be examined from this perspective. This paper departs from the study of literature with a historical-sociological approach. The sources of the data come from the literature related to the history and development of madrasas. From Foucoult's perspective, the performance of the madrasa--which in its development shows a decline trend and is of relatively low quality and less competitive compared with general schools or pesantrens-- is closely related to power, knowledge and discourse factors. My argument is supported by the evidence that there is no an established “blueprint” for the supervision and development of madrasas in Indonesia, in contrast to schools or pesantrens. Likewise, the problem of interplay of madrasa policies in the integration of the national education system has put the madrasa in the midst of domination of schools and pesantrens, especially in the midst of society since the appreciation and level of community participation in the madrasa are not very encouraging. In addition, there is an opinion among the public which perceives the madrasa as the second educational institution after schools or pesantrens. This opinion is, of course, supported by empirical data, such as research from Nur Hamzah (2017) and Sukino (2017) which examined the madrasas in West Kalimantan Province, and revealed the poor quality of some madrasas in this area, which in my opinion is the "top of the iceberg" of the madrasa, especially in the outermost, interior and underdeveloped areas of Indonesia.&lt;/p&gt;

Conceptualizing Change: A proposed Shift in Global Discourse Surrounding Disability in Language Teaching

This editorial proposes a conceptual and instructional shift surrounding educating English learners with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world, yet in many classrooms across the world, they often lack the opportunities and support needed to be successful. This is especially apparent in English as a second or foreign language classrooms, where students with disabilities need first to be included and then provided with structured and systematic supports to be successful. We suggest that an initial shift in the way that we think about disability is a necessary first step. This can then be supported by using Universal Design for Learning as a framework to reduce barriers in instruction and increase access and success for English learners. This editorial also introduces five articles, which aim to further the discourse and understanding of how to support individuals with disabilities learning English across countries and contexts.

Opposing Discourses Surrounding Type 2 Diabetes in Eastern Appalachian Kentucky.

Type 2 diabetes disproportionately affects individuals in Appalachia. This study investigated discourse among friends and family with different diabetes risk levels in Central Appalachia. Eighteen semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with Appalachian Kentuckians. Thematic analysis revealed 2 dialectic tensions centered on disease management (health as a personal problem vs diabetes management requiring social support) and disclosure (openness vs closedness). Health professionals should consider the powerful influence of speech with respect to family relations and support, along with the need to communicate early, clearly, and often in a manner that emphasizes family, friends, and connectedness.