Automata and artificial intelligence (AI) have long occupied a central place in cultural and artistic imagination, and the recent proliferation of AI-generated artworks has intensified debates about authorship, creativity, and human agency. Empirical studies show that audiences often perceive AI-generated works as less authentic or emotionally resonant than human creations, with authorship attribution strongly shaping esthetic judgments. Yet little attention has been paid to how AI systems themselves evaluate creative authorship. This study investigates how large language models (LLMs) evaluate literary quality under different framings of authorship—Human, AI, or Human+AI collaboration. Using a questionnaire-based experimental design, we prompted four instruction-tuned LLMs (ChatGPT 4, Gemini 2, Gemma 3, and LLaMA 3) to read and assess three short stories in Italian, originally generated by ChatGPT 4 in the narrative style of Roald Dahl. For each story × authorship condition × model combination, we collected 100 questionnaire completions, yielding 3600 responses in total. Across esthetic, literary, and inclusiveness dimensions, the stated authorship systematically conditioned model judgments: identical stories were consistently rated more favorably when framed as human-authored or human–AI co-authored than when labeled as AI-authored, revealing a robust negative bias toward AI authorship. Model-specific analyses further indicate distinctive evaluative profiles and inclusiveness thresholds across proprietary and open-source systems. Our findings extend research on attribution bias into the computational realm, showing that LLM-based evaluations reproduce human-like assumptions about creative agency and literary value. We publicly release all materials to facilitate transparency and future comparative work on AI-mediated literary evaluation.

ABSTRACT This article re-examines how the ‘new’ Buddhist movements of the Kamakura era (1185–1333) – the opening phase of what we now consider Japan’s ‘medieval’ period – were cast as a counterpart to German Protestantism and how that analogy helped forge a global vocabulary of ‘Reformation’ and ‘Middle Ages.’ Focusing on the scholarship of Hara Katsurō (1871–1924), it reconstructs the intellectual currents that enabled him to place Buddhist figures such as Hōnen (1133–1212) and Shinran (1173–1263) alongside Luther and Calvin, thereby globalizing Japan’s past while coining a native medieval age. In other words, this article argues that Hara’s idea of ‘Reformation’ reflects a broader contemporary trend to situate Japan’s past in relation to European historiography while devising new origin stories of national identity. The study also offers brief insights into the analogy’s afterlives: its postwar refashioning under Weberian modernization theories and persistence in school textbooks and right-wing popular histories.

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the role of the Roberto Hernández Center (RHC) in serving Latine students at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution. We analyze quantitative data (center utilization, student appointments) and qualitative data (listening sessions, key informant interviews) using the RE-AIM framework. We describe the Center’s Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. Findings illuminate the Center’s contributions to Latine students’ personal and educational experiences and provide insights into best practices for multicultural centers supporting this demographic, especially in regions with educational inequities and underrepresentation, amid sociopolitical changes in higher education.

Purpose Acquired brain injury (ABI) profoundly impacts the whole family. This study explores family identity using a relational, strengths-focused framework to understand how families navigate ABI together. Materials and methods Four adult family units, consisting of four survivors of ABI (1–18 years post-injury) and seven family members (aged 24–74), were interviewed together two/three times. Using Narrative Analysis an overall narrative (gestalt) of ABI as an ongoing family life transformation, encompassing both disconnecting and unifying narratives, was construct. Results Six interconnected stories of family identity were identified: (1) Disjointedness in response to the trauma of ABI; (2) Closeness remedying disjointedness with continuity and growth; (3) Incomprehension and disablism in interactions with people; (4) Incomprehension and disablism may be mitigated through understanding, kindness and inclusion; (5) Protectiveness from family members in tension with survivor’s wish for independence; and (6) Humour to lighten the seriousness of ABI. Disconnecting narratives spoke to the challenges of responding to the trauma of ABI. Unifying narratives could bring the family together and help manage the challenges of ABI. Conclusions Integrating unifying and disconnecting narratives may help families to make sense of ABI, and clinical services could embed relational and strengths-based understandings into family support post-ABI.

Building Collective Action Through Plática: Stories of Community, Resistance, and Identity in Art Education

This paper analyses Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library as a postmodern story of identity in the age of multiplicity, hyperreality and hypertextual form. With the protagonist Nora Seed’s journey between alternate lives, the novel contests the idea of an integrated self and depicts identity as ever-flexible, ever-dispersing: a constant act of rewiring. In this context, the article evinces that novel’s multiple and travelling narrative paths work as hypertextual nodal points converging to alternative selves, thus reflecting the instability and anti-linear nature of contemporary identity as theorized by postmodernity physicists such as Jean Baudrillard, Stuart Hall or George Landow up from Kenneth Gergen. The Midnight Library becomes a metafictional and existential matrix, where options unfold into new life paths, entangling simulation and daily existence. Taking into account the structure of the novel, intertexts and philosophical underpinning, this article identifies it as an important work of postmodern fiction that articulates inducted identities of the information age.

This study investigates how media discourse on natural disasters constructs identity and expresses conviction through language. Using Stibbe’s (2015) six stories we live by framework. This research adopts a qualitative methodology based on manual thematic analysis and close reading of 300 news articles—50 each from six global and regional outlets: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Reuters, NBC News, Dawn, and The Express Tribune. The analysis of identity stories reveals that The Guardian and Al Jazeera often portrayed survivors as resilient agents, emphasizing community solidarity and proactive responses. Reuters and NBC News displayed mixed identity framing, combining victimhood with narratives of heroism or institutional action. In contrast, Dawn and The Express Tribune predominantly constructed affected individuals as helpless victims, with limited representation of agency or local resilience. Regarding conviction stories, The Guardian and Al Jazeera expressed high epistemic certainty, directly linking disasters to climate change. Reuters and NBC News offered moderate conviction, with occasional references to environmental causes but limited elaboration. Dawn and The Express Tribune frequently used vague or uncertain language, reflecting weak conviction and limited ecological framing. These findings underscore how media narratives shape public perception of disaster, ecological causality, and moral responsibility, reinforcing distinct discursive patterns between global and regional media.

Abstract: The relationship between Black women and food as a source of community, growth, and self-actualization enjoys a long tradition in African American literature and criticism. Psyche Williams, in Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power traces how Black women created forms of self-expression, independence, and community through chicken. Williams describes this process as a "story of feminist consciousness, community building, cultural work, and personal identity," (Williams 1-2). Williams also draws on the work of Anna Julia Cooper to suggest that the black woman may enter into the "dignity of womanhood" through the kitchen and cooking. According to Williams, a Black woman is able, in the eyes of her community, to enter womanhood via her own ability to recreate and surpass the recipes of those who came before her. One way that black women engage in this community building is by playing what Williams calls "Culinary Dozens," in which Black women playfully but seriously try to "one-up" each other's cooking. Through this game, these women can acknowledge the prowess of their "competitors" while also providing their own unique contributions. I draw on Williams' theory to argue that Crystal Wilkinson's Praise Song for Kitchen Ghosts uses the kitchen and cooking to come to terms with her identity as a black, Appalachian woman. In conjunction with the work of poets such as bell hooks, Wilkinson uses poetry to reimagine the kitchen as a place to confront grief, both personal and generational, and to use that confrontation to re-shape her own identity. When Wilkinson enters her kitchen, she encounters the ghosts of her ancestors in the food she cooks, which creates both a sense of identity and a sense of dislocation. She does not want to abandon her ancestral recipes, but she also realizes that she needs to cook new food. To navigate that dichotomy, Wilkinson plays "culinary dozens" with her mother and grandmother to update her family's recipes. By playing this game, Wilkinson can acknowledge and honor her past but not be bound by it. She keeps the relationship and memories embedded in the food alive while trimming those parts that are physically or emotionally dangerous. Though difficult, she ultimately uses cooking to create a uniquely Black and Appalachian voice and to articulate her identity as Affrilachian.

Bharati Mukherjee writes about Indian women, their conflicts and predicaments against the background of contemporary India. She occupies a unique position among contemporary Indo- Anglican novelists in English. She deals with the middle class Indian woman who represents the overwhelming role of Indian women and the struggle to adjust in it rather than get free from the traditional role. Wife is the story of exile and identity of Dimple, the main protagonist.

Each person experiences the world through a unique conceptual lens, shaped by personal experiences, natural variations, or disease. These individual differences have remained largely inaccessible to cognitive neuroscience and clinical neurology, limiting the development of precision medicine approaches to cognitive disorders. To overcome this limitation, here we develop a new statistical framework to measure and interpret individual differences in functional brain representations. We apply this framework to characterize how different individuals represent the same concepts. Twenty-four participants listened to narrative stories while their brain activity was measured with functional MRI (fMRI). Encoding models were used to recover how hundreds of concepts were represented in each person’s brain. Despite listening to identical stories, participants showed systematic individual differences in conceptual representations. These differences reveal person-specific biases in how concepts are represented in the brain. Individual variability was highest in regions that represent social information. Because these regions are thought to integrate sensory information with personal beliefs and experiences, the observed individual differences may reflect cognitive traits unique to each person. Our work reveals that individual differences are a systematic, measurable principle of conceptual representations in the human brain. By enabling researchers to measure and interpret differences in person-specific functional brain representations, our work establishes a new paradigm for precision neuroscience. This paradigm provides a rigorous foundation for developing fMRI applications in precision medicine to diagnose and monitor cognitive disorders.

Despite legal advances and the depathologization of transgender identities, transgender individuals still face significant barriers and discrimination within healthcare systems. A pervasive lack of training in gender diversity among healthcare professionals often results in uncomfortable, even hostile, clinical encounters, exacerbating physical and mental health vulnerabilities. Consequently, fear of stigma and discrimination leads many transgender people to avoid seeking care, placing their wellbeing at further risk due to delayed or foregone medical attention. To explore transgender individuals' perceptions of healthcare professionals' awareness and responsiveness to their care and support needs in the Valencian Community (Spain). We conducted a descriptive qualitative study with a phenomenological approach in the Valencian Community. Using convenience sampling, we recruited 14 participants. Data were collected between April and June 2022 via in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews. The study comprised 2 sequential phases: An initial focus group session, followed by individual interviews conducted using a snowball sampling technique. We identified 3 thematic domains: T1: Experiences of professional care among transgender individuals; T2: Impact of cisgender-centric regulations within the healthcare system; T3: Gender diversity education needs for healthcare professionals. The transformation of the health system is urgent to ensure inclusive and equitable care for transgender people. According to the interviews, they consider that better training of professionals will improve their care. In addition, they highlight the need to reduce bureaucratic barriers, create specific protocols, and improve access to specialized treatment. Implementing inclusive public policies will contribute to a fairer and more accessible system.

During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, three curators at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) began documenting and collecting non-medical face masks from around the world. Working virtually from their homes in Toronto, Canada, they assembled over 300 masks from across 23 countries, recording stories of making, makers and cultural meaning. Their rapid response collection culminated in a year-long free exhibition, Unmasking the Pandemic: From Personal Protection to Personal Expression (September 2021–September 2022), which presented over one hundred original masks, many handmade, grouped under four themes: ‘Poetry and Protest’; ‘Heroes and Warriors’; ‘Survival and Strength’ and ‘Artistry and Innovation’. This article presents highlights of the exhibition, drawing attention to the exquisite artistry, innovative designs and powerful messaging behind the masks which reflected their makers’ stories of resilience, cultural identity and collective humanity in the face of a global crisis.

The purpose of the article is to identify the distinctive features of the narrative code of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The research methods include historical and literary methods, receptive and comparative methods, and close reading techniques. The study draws on narratological frameworks developed by R. Barthes, G. Genette, W. Schmid. It has been established that the complex narrative structure of the novel is evident even at the lev- el of its framing apparatus: the work is intertwined with an essay originally conceived as a preface rather than as a separate, independent text. Trying to internally distance himself from the depicted events that took place more than 100 years ago, the writer creates the image of an impartial fixer of information that he gets from direct observers, which allows us to speak of multiple narrators. The author’s distancing from the events is achieved through two techniques common in 19th-century European literature: the “text within a text” approach and the technique of mystification. The essay is presented from the perspective of the narrator of the framing story – the primary diegetic / homodiegetic narrator – who is expressed gram- matically in the first-person singular. The woman’s life story functions as a text within a text, attributed to the secondary narrator (the narrator of the internal story), who is a character in the framing narrative but serves as a primary non-diegetic / extradiegetic narrator in the main narrative, positioned outside the fic- tional world and recounting events from a third-person perspective. It is noted that, in establishing a relia- ble narrator, the primary diegetic / homodiegetic narrator assigns the primary non-diegetic / extradieget- ic narrator a name, biographical details, and even official documents. By emphasizing his role as the editor of an authentic story, the primary diegetic narrator acknowledges having invented the characters’ motives and emotions, indicating a blending of perspectives and leaving it to the reader to determine whose view- point is being presented. The events in Hawthorne’s novel are presented from the perspective of a primary non-diegetic / extradiegetic narrator, while the first-person plural appears in the text through various con- structions. Consequently, the form “we” can encompass the author as well as narrators of all types repre- sented in the text. It is highlighted that the main character, Hester Prynne, possesses a remarkable personality and un- intentionally integrates into a world foreign to her with new principles unfamiliar to that society. Because she bears a child out of wedlock, she finds herself socially isolated. In developing the theme of the towns- folk’s psychological and emotional torment of Hester, motifs of her uncanny ability to perceive the sin of others, the ostensible piety, and hidden sinfulness of the entire community – including children – are em- – including children – are em- including children – are em- – are em- are em- ployed. The theme of social isolation of mother and child is linked to the motif of the circle, symbolizing en- trapment and hopelessness. Hawthorne’s fictional portrayal underscores that the social isolation of moth- er and child enabled the emergence of individuals with a new value system within a fanatically religious community. The motif of sin is further intertwined with that of atonement. The novel emphasizes the theme of the relativity of the meaning behind the scarlet letter. If we con- sider that “A” is the first letter of the alphabet, Hester Prynne’s character gains symbolic significance as the woman from whom the story of American identity begins. On the other hand, the word English “letter” can also mean “message,” so combined with the semantics of “scarlet,” the title The Scarlet Letter may be in- terpreted as “The Precious Message,” with the novel itself serving as a message to both women and men settling in a new country. In Hawthorne’s interpretation of the theme of sin’s atonement, the portrayal of the illegitimate child becomes particularly significant. Through the behavior of the girl and her unique interactions with her mother, the novel consistently shows that, even at a young age, the heroine displayed individuality and was capable of standing up to a harsh crowd. It is emphasized that Hester Prynne rejects the Old Testament notion that children should bear the consequences of their parents’ actions. She refrains from imposing an ascetic lifestyle on her daughter, allows her the joys of childhood play, and lets her follow her own impuls- es. In building the images of Prynne as mother and child, the narrator compares the heroine to Divine Ma- ternity, referencing the prophet Nathan, David, and Bathsheba. Subtle references to two fi gures born out- Subtle references to two fi gures born out- Subtle references to two figures born out- side of marriage yet symbolic for humanity suggestively evoke the idea that young Pearl is an apostle of a new, future world free from dogma. In this light, the episode where the girl dances on the gravestone of one of the most respected settlers becomes significant. Her innocent playfulness is perceived as a symbolic rejection or devaluation of everything that the former Europeans are trying to forcibly implant in American society – a past that must fade away to make room for something new. The impersonal note that the law was broken with the girl’s birth, combined with her ultimately fortunate fate, suggests that through their severe judgment, the colonists unknowingly altered the course of life, paving the way for the development of new principles of social existence. Puritan society in The Scarlet Letter is, in part, embodied by the elderly scholar Roger Chillingworth / Prynne, who could be described in modern terms as an abuser. Chillingworth’s character aligns with the Byronic hero type, popular at the time the novel was written. On one hand, he is a knowledgeable scien- tist with a broad perspective and a free-thinking mind; on the other, he is somber and resentful toward a world in which he believes he is unloved due to his physical deformity. His pursuit of a rival begins as a psy- chological puzzle and eventually turns into a cruel game. Scattered throughout the text are details pointing toward the archetypal image of Faust and the recurring motif of the devil in the novel. The character of Ar- The character of Ar- The character of Ar- thur Dimmesdale is perhaps the most complex in The Scarlet Letter. The novel’s depiction of events as mystical and characters as extraordinary, endowed with irration- al abilities and even demonic qualities, directs us toward the aesthetics of Romanticism, which dominated literature at that time. Considering the thematic elements of The Scarlet Letter, it can be interpreted as an effortless didactic story about new feminine values on the American continent. At the same time, the work can be classified as both a romance and a psychological novel that artistically examines how guilt influenc- es a person’s behavior, emotions, and worldview. The use of mystification and the play of authorial masks invite the reader to decide whether such a woman truly existed or if she was fictional.

Abstract Far-right ideology is often analysed as a reaction to political and societal crises. In this paper, I flip this argument and investigate how political and societal crises are narratively constructed to push far-right ideology. Drawing on the case of the New Right, which is primarily invested in a metapolitical struggle for cultural hegemony, I propose two approaches that help to make sense of the normalisation and mainstreaming of the far right. First, I offer a framework towards new-right metapolitics that comprehends metapolitics as strategic and deliberate work to implement specific narratives as hegemonic cultural knowledge. The resulting emergence of narrative communities — collectives whose sense-making draws on the same narratives — is a precondition for mainstreaming discourses. In a second step, drawing on an analysis of new-right periodicals in the scope of the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD), I will outline the three essential and intertwined crisis narratives and introduce a heuristic scheme that contains the narrative core of most far-right discourses. I argue that the New Right aims to foster a distinctive worldview through ad nauseam repetition of thematically different but structurally identical stories of decline. Debunking their patterns and tracing their genealogy may demystify far-right discourses as a limited and stereotypical set of stories that is adjusted to any given event.

The time and place setting of the novel is Muhammadiyah School in Gantung sub-district on the island of Belitung that has implemented inclusive education in the 1980s, despite the absence of an Inclusive Education Law at the time. This research aims to analyze the portrayal of intellectual disability in the novel Laskar Pelangi, because the theme of intellectual disability of the character in the novel has not been found. Employing a descriptive qualitative method, the study conducts interpretive event analysis, supported by data analysis using theories of educational psychology and social psychology. Eight internal conditions associated with the intellectual disability of the character Harun are identified: 1. Exhibits a humorous demeanor while experiencing intellectual impairment. 2. Belongs to an economically disadvantaged community. 3. Sits quietly and smiles continuously during lessons. 4. Repeats the same questions daily. 5. Recounts identical stories every day. 6. Advances to higher grades despite lacking formal academic records. 7. Maintains a consistent smile during interactions. 8. Displays childlike thinking despite physical maturity. Harun’s cognitive deficits are significant, with an inferred IQ score below 70. The success of special needs education cannot be equated with the academic achievements of typically developing students. Inclusive education’s efficacy hinges on governmental policy support, university collaboration, and familial financial capacity.

ABSTRACT This study approaches teacher attrition as a dynamic process that develops over time and in which teachers play an active role and enact their agencies in the light of their identity tensions and craft conscience. In this sense, this narrative inquiry explored how two long-serving teachers make sense of their experiences to quit teaching after serving for nine to 18 years. Their stories unpacked some individual and contextual elements that were interwoven within the procedure that drives the teachers towards their decision to leave the profession. Teachers’ relationships with other stakeholders contributed positively to their professional identity stories, aligned with their heightened craft conscience. However, financial conditions and institutional policies were defining contextual factors that negatively influenced their decisions to quit teaching, as some identity tensions remained unrelieved and consolidated. The implications for developing policies that maintain long-serving teachers in the profession are discussed, and suggestions for teacher education are provided.

This study examines how Indonesian identity is portrayed and negotiated in the well-known Tahilalats digital comic hosted on Instagram. Tahilalats, one of Indonesia's most well-known webcomics, reflects modern societal issues, daily living, and cultural conventions through comedy, satire, and visual narrative. This study intends to investigate how the comic handles topics of cultural identity, generational transitions, and local-global conflicts by analyzing a few chosen episodes and audience interactions by analyzing the themes, characters, and audience engagement within Tahilalats. The results indicate that Tahilalats functions as a dynamic forum for cultural conversation within the framework of digital globalization and as a mirror of Indonesian society. Tahilalats adds to the changing story of Indonesian identity in the digital era with its visual style and engagement tactics. Digital comics can reflect and shape national identity in a rapidly changing cultural landscape.

This paper applies an ecocritical lens to Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, exploring the intricate relationship between nature and American identity. It examines how the novel portrays the dynamic interaction between individuals and their environment, offering a fresh perspective on the influence of nature on personal and collective identities. Through an analysis of the characters, narrative developments, and the consequences of their decisions, the paper uncovers the deeper connections between the American psyche and the landscapes that shape it. Rooted in ecocriticism, the study underscores the role of literature in fostering ecological awareness and demonstrates how nature acts as both a shaping force and a reflection of cultural narratives. This research highlights how environmental factors influence both individual choices and societal values, contributing to a broader understanding of the American experience. Ultimately, the study aims to offer a more nuanced interpretation of the relationship between nature, literature, and the evolving story of American identity, while also recognizing the artistic depth of Wharton’s work.

This study examines the way in which social media platform X (old Twitter) functions as an efficient space of cultural exchange between Southeast Asia and Northeast India, within the broader geopolitical context of India’s Act East Policy. geographically situated at a cultural crossroads, Northeast India has traditionally had historic, ethnic and cultural relationships with most Southeast Asian nations. With old-fashioned diplomacy more and more mixing with web-based types of communication, sites such as X have begun to emerge as key spaces for facilitating cross-border engagement and appreciation—particularly on cultural fronts. Referring to Discourse Analysis and Netnography, this research is attempting to know how state officials (e.g. Ministry of External Affairs, ICCR etc.), cultural organizations, independent artists and even grass root artists are employing X to market products such as local fests, linguistic heritage, common heritage and indigenous knowledge. It also examines how aspects such as tweet threads, hashtags and X-spaces are utilized to narrate stories of cultural identity, engage with Southeast Asian publics, and fashion something akin to a collective memory throughout the region. The researchers note that X is making it possible to create what might be referred to as “micro-cultural diplomacy,” wherein even 280-character tweets can be used as tools of soft power. These brief encounters, even though informal, seem to contribute significantly toward solidifying interpersonal relationships. This is serving to reinforce the broader cultural narratives of Northeast India, which often fail to receive the due attention. This changes the perception of the region from a remote periphery to a cyber link between India and Southeast Asia.

Abstract: What follows is an account of an anthropological journey taken over the course of several decades. This journey involved theories, but also different disciplines, as well as shifts between languages, countries, and continents. The whole process has involved stories of identity (imagined, constructed, or both), changes of place (teaching in seven countries on three continents and in four languages), looking for a safe haven, and my firm belief in the importance of understanding the motives that govern human beings. Anthropological theories arise from specific cultural and social circumstances, and they continue to develop, as well as draw their inspiration, from different historical events. Theories are related to itineraries, and in my case, I find myself completing a full circle as I come back to Brazil—where my professional journey took off more than two decades ago. With all the stops along the way, this was a journey through different perspectives leading to a rather obvious conclusion about understanding others. Contrary to what some believe, understanding others and the multiplicity of cultures and life-forms is not about building bridges, it is about understanding that we all live on the same island.