Multiple Truths Research Articles

The Origins of the Alleged Correlation between Vaccines and Autism. A Semiotic Approach

ABSTRACT Our approach to the epistemology of post-truth is based on the idea that to fully comprehend any post-truth, going back to its origins (i.e., to the moment in which some faulty interpretations start to spread) can be not only relevant but illuminating. One of the most renowned cases of post-truth concerns vaccines and their alleged relationship with autism. It all started in 1998, when The Lancet published a study suggesting a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and some symptoms of autism. The case is relevant both because it is at the origins of contemporary anti-vaccinism and because it took twelve years to fully disprove what in 1998 was presented as a scientific truth: this means that the boundary between truth and falsehood has been blurred for a long period of time. For this purpose, we have applied the semiotic methodology to 20 articles from The Independent, 20 from The Telegraph, 20 from The Guardian, and 20 from The Daily Mail, published between 1998 and 2010. Unexpectedly, many elements that can be seen as ‘post-truth seeds’, such as conspiracy theories and the joint presentation of multiple truths, have been found even in the most scientifically accurate newspapers.

Embracing complexity and humility in rangeland science

• More often than not, there is untapped potential for win-wins between livestock production and conservation. On the other hand, it is impossible to achieve every objective everywhere, all the time. Sometimes the tradeoffs are real. • We need to spend less time searching for general rules and more time embracing the complexity and context-dependence within rangeland science. • Rather than writing off findings that do not fit our current worldview, we should challenge ourselves to broaden our views in ways that reconcile multiple findings or multiple truths. It is possible we are all partly or mostly right, and we just need to figure out why, how, and in what contexts. • There is value in doing research in a way that focuses on really listening to and respecting multiple perspectives so that the results we produce not only qualify as facts, but also as truths that many people can buy into and get behind.

The fear of multiple truths: On teaching about racism in a predominantly white school

In a post-truth world, it is imperative for educators to help students sift through the various views of both historical and current events. Critical race theory (CRT), a controversial theoretical framework directly critiquing white supremacy and incorporating the histories of historically marginalized communities, is a useful tool for helping students develop their own understanding of history and the world. However, research shows that social studies educators of white students are unprepared to use CRT. Antony Farag shares his research into white teachers’ use of CRT and describes what happened when his predominately white school attempted to launch an elective course build on critical race theory.

Pocket Maps and Public Poetry in the English Renaissance. Katarzyna Lecky. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. vi+277.

Pocket Maps and Public Poetry in the English Renaissance. Katarzyna Lecky. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. vi+277.

Constructing information experience: a grounded theory portrait of academic information management

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss what it means to consider the information experience of academic information management from a constructivist grounded theory perspective. Using a doctoral study in progress as a case illustration, the authors demonstrate how information experience research applies a wide lens to achieve a holistic view of information management phenomena. By unifying a range of elements, and understanding information and its management to be inseparable from the totality of human experience, an information experience perspective offers a fresh approach to answering today's research questions.Design/methodology/approachThe case illustration is a constructivist grounded theory study using interactive interviews, an original form of semi-structured qualitative interviews combined with card-sorting exercises (Conrad and Tucker, 2019), to deepen reflections by participants and externalize their information experiences. The constructivist variant of grounded theory offers an inductive, exploratory approach to address the highly contextualized information experiences of student-researchers in managing academic information.FindingsPreliminary results are reported in the form of three interpretative categories that outline the key aspects of the information experience for student-researchers. By presenting these initial results, the study demonstrates how the constructivist grounded theory methodology can illuminate multiple truths and bring a focus on interpretive practices to the understanding of information management experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThis new approach offers holistic insights into academic information management phenomena as contextual, fluid and informed by meaning-making and adaptive practices. Limitations include the small sample size customary to qualitative research, within one situated perspective on the academic information management experience.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the theoretical and methodological contributions of the constructivist information experience research to illuminate information management in an academic setting.

How many truths are there? Reconciliation and agonistic dialogue in the former Yugoslavia

ABSTRACT In this paper, we offer a possible interpretation of reconciliation in the former Yugoslav area. In a conflicting past and not-reconciled region, it is presumed that the truth should be the main pillar of reconciliation. However, according to our empirical analysis of 146 reconciliation projects implemented in the period between 2002 and 2015, there are many interpretations of truths in the region which are opposed to each other. These interpretations are the result of different national political constructions, supported by the dominant structures of the societies in question. Accordingly, instead of insisting on a single factual truth, we propose the introduction of the ‘agonistic dialogue’ principle, where multiple truths would coexist, thus turning former war enemies into political adversaries in the post-conflict setting.

Digging Wells, Divining a Curriculum of Hope in Slipping Fidelities

Joanna Macy (2009) suggests that a shift toward a life-sustaining civilization includes reassessing values and relooking at perceptions of reality. In this editorial, the metaphor of divining is used to explain the creation of hope in the grief-filled epoque of the Chthulucene. Authors in this issue collectively ask: How do we live together? How do we see the world? How do we make meaning? How do we tell truths? How do we make a better world? Imagination is the self and the world merging and emerging, entanglements of making that challenge our commitments and obligations as researchers. As we conduct research, we are constructing new life worlds, dreaming and shaping futures. In this editorial, I’m thinking about hope, of metaphorically digging wells, committing to the difficult work of moving through layers of barriers toward the originary whys, and knowing there are multiple truths and needs. In this process we can come to places of relation, understanding, self- and world-healing.

Hashtag favela: Instagram, space and identity in urban Brazil

Instagram is a virtual, multi-authored platform that symbolizes geographic realities by allowing its users to capture time-and-space-specific characteristics through photographs or videos. As opposed to the selective reproduction of dominant discourses, Instagram users collaboratively produce multiple truths based on their own personal perceptions and experiences. Considering that favelas in Brazil are some of the most stigmatized, misrepresented and misunderstood places in the world, this article follows the term ‘favela’ (#favela) to better understand how it is being used by the masses in 2019. Ultimately, this article analyses the space and identity of ‘favelas’ in urban Brazil by dividing our findings into three separate categories: (1) ‘hashtag favela as advertising’, (2) ‘hashtag favela as tourism’ and (3) ‘hashtag favela as everyday’. We found that although Instagram promotes the ability of favela residents to represent themselves, #favela continues to be co-opted by outsiders. Interestingly, when the term is co-opted by outsiders, its meaning is transformed from a physical space or neighbourhood into one of the many types of commodities to be bought and sold.

‘What happened to the truth is not recorded’: Anticipating the Shift from Postmodern Consumer Culture to Post-Truth in Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot

This paper will explore the concept of “fakeness” in Julian Barnes’ Flaubert’s Parrot. Defining “fake” as something “formed by or adapted to an artificial or conventional standard,” I will show how Barnes’ novel exposes the “fakeness” of historical knowledge. Utilizing Linda Hutcheon’s theories regarding postmodern literature—as well has Hayden White’s theories regarding historiography—I will analyze how Flaubert’s Parrot fakes literary biography, historical documents, academic conventions, female voices, and even the novel itself. This paper shows how Flaubert’s Parrot exposes the weaknesses in our understanding of history, as well as our willingness to believe in problematic historical narratives. More than this, my paper will show how Barnes’ novel ultimately succumbs to the narrative conventionality that it claims to subvert—illustrating how it is impossible to escape factitious conventions if one wants to impart a sense of meaning. Flaubert’s Parrot serves as a case study within the fields of deconstruction, narrative theory, and historiography—showing how problematic historical accounts can easily mime conventional academic standards and be readily accepted by readers. My study of Flaubert’s Parrot is particularly relevant with regard to our “Post-Truth” political era, as it shows how the quest to include multiple truths in the historical narrative can be taken advantage of in order to include lies. Flaubert’s Parrot emphasizes Linda Hutcheon’s claim that our understanding of history is based upon unreliable “traces” and “relics,” and is susceptible to being radically altered by the addition or subtraction of historical “relics” (Hutcheon 119). Although Flaubert’s Parrot problematizes our system of historical knowledge, its ultimate submission to the conventional novel form shows that it may be impossible to escape from the factitious conventions that shape our modes of knowledge.

Introduction to Narrative Phenomenon Model: A Framework for Mapping War Stories that Travel through Generations

This article relies upon cultural trauma theory for the basic understanding of storytelling in a post-traumatic situation and presents its findings based on researcher’s own observation of a post conflict situation of decade long armed conflict in Nepal. It introduces a communication model to explain the storytelling phenomenon that emerges during and after any violent situation and that exists through newer generations. First, the article discusses some theories related to trauma stories and sociology of generational differences. Second, it proposes Narrative Phenomenon Model as a new tool that can map the journey of trauma stories created by those exposed to war or violent events. Third, it discusses how narratives get created, modified or transformed into multiple truths.

Searching and Researching for Located Narratives as Data of the ‘Other’

In social science research, methodology plays a significant role in constructing and shaping knowledge; the domain of methodology is equally contested and politicised. Therefore, studying gender and disability has been challenging, as it carries a Western, masculine and objective context. The paper tries to argue that the notions of gender and disability demand a more contextualised and embedded methodologies, which can highlight the possibility of multiple truths and situated knowledge of the marginalised. It also voices a need for a more indigenous methodology to address the questions on gender and disability in India; however, it does neither reject the western canons of work nor the non-indigenous researchers but opens up a more embedded way of thinking.

Internet y postmodernidad: un soporte de comunicación tan necesario como irreverente en la actualidad. Necesidades pedagógicas

Una herramienta de comunicación como Internet ha supuesto una revolución descomunal en nuestro mundo globalizado. Sólo en unas décadas, la “Red de redes” se ha erigido en protagonista absoluto en el ámbito de las interrelaciones virtuales. Y dicha tecnología, que facilita el acceso e intercambio de información a millones de personas, se ha fraguado en nuestro contexto sociocultural de la Postmodernidad. El resultado es una concepción infinita de perspectivas a nivel comunicativo. La realidad queda frecuentemente a merced de esas subjetividades, capaces de influir en amplios colectivos humanos según ciertos intereses. Por tanto, junto a la constatación de la eficacia y necesidad de Internet, este trabajo pretende analizar el porqué de la validez de dichas verdades múltiples, que han superado los principios objetivables de la Modernidad (según el supuesto progreso de la Razón). Al respecto, resulta fundamental examinar fenómenos como la post-verdad o el uso malintencionado de las redes sociales, que distorsionan la autenticidad de situaciones sociales y políticas de gran calado. Para ello, ha sido de gran estima extraer nociones esenciales de otras publicaciones, escritas o virtuales, que lo abordan con rigor. Igualmente, de gran utilidad es analizar determinadas informaciones en la Red, que obedecen a la irreverencia de unos intereses prefijados. La conclusión deriva en una reflexión necesaria sobre las alternativas de opinión que coinciden con el individualismo que emana la Posmodernidad, con Internet como aliado. De primer orden es la urgencia de seguir apostando por una educación a todos los niveles sobre un fenómeno ilimitado.

A research methodology in the service of critical thinking: Hermeneutic approach in the post-truth era

The hermeneutic methodology is an analytical and dialectical approach that is irreplaceable for the development of critical thinking. In the post-truth era, the traditional interpretation of text has given way to more complex interpretative instances in which audiovisual content is the basis of new narratives and new knowledge. Qualitative methodological research has always claimed socio-historical and temporal prominence in the analysis of social phenomena. Accepting this premise, hermeneutics is presented as a plausible methodological research strategy for analyzing the representation of a social fact. Specifically, the aim of this research is to show the potential of hermeneutic analysis by examining two opposing versions of the terrorist attack that took place at the headquarters of the satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in 2015. To conduct this analysis the researcher has used the hermeneutic methodology of suspicion (Gadamer, 1960/2004). A main conclusion is that the Internet has become a catalyst for multiple truths in the post-truth era. The Internet is an exhaust pipeline where critical thinking is expounded. The Internet, in short, is a space of resistance where people are able to question the mainstream media’s versions and interpretations of events as imposed by the elite Davos Class.

Commentary: Paradigms, Axiology, and Praxeology in Medical Education Research.

This supplement includes 11 research papers accepted by the 2018 Research in Medical Education Committee. In this Commentary, the authors draw the attention of medical educators and researchers to questions about the researcher's philosophical paradigm. Such questions fundamentally guide research-the choice of conceptual frameworks, methods, and methodology. The authors provide a brief overview of research paradigms and the related concept of axiology and praxeology in medical education research. The authors map the 11 accepted research articles, describing the researchers' stated or implied worldviews and the impact on chosen methods. The authors close by encouraging researchers to state the research paradigm behind their research, comment on how they ensured that the methods used displayed consistency with that paradigm, and highlight the value the research adds to everyday education.

From Carlyle’s Hero to Conrad’s Depraved: Hermeneutics of Morbidity in Heart of Darkness

Abstract The author of this paper lays out a system of hermeneutics based on the idea of morbidity aimed at checking the commitment (or the lack thereof) of individual subjects to Victorian ethics. The system stems from Thomas Carlyle’s political agenda based on his concept of “hero worship”. The system is then deployed in order to probe into the purported morbidity of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. According to the author of this paper, the character of Marlow represents a curious mixture of the heroic archetype proposed by Carlyle, combined with new critical standpoints from other philosophical programmes (specifically Nietzsche’s) proposed at the end of the nineteenth century. Firstly, the author of this paper tackles the prototype of the hero (a sort of medium between reality and Divine Truth) Thomas Carlyle posited in his On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841). The author of this paper then describes how Marlow shares some of the hero’s features (most notably social responsibility and work ethic), but fails to embody the main trait of Carlyle’s “great men”, namely, their ability to recognize Divine Truth. Indeed, rather than asserting the existence of the Truth, Marlow’s narrative reveals the existence of multiple truths, thus creating a sort of politically morbid revision of Carlyle’s formula.

Seek and you shall find… multiple truths.

Seek and you shall find… multiple truths.

Recounting Huronia Faithfully: Attenuating Our Methodology to the “Fabulation” ofTruths-Telling

If telling the truth is considered vital to research methodology, what happens in methodological spaces where “telling the truth” is futile? In this article, we examine the limitations, possibility, and even desirability of normative forms of empirically verifiable truth-telling and the potentialities for storied or fabulated truths with regard to knowledges that have historically been dismissed by their audiences as unreliable and even deceptive. To do so, we draw from critical theory, and Deleuzian theory in particular, to offer a detailed theoretical framework for understanding the notion of fabulated truth. We then turn to our own research to describe a project that embraced the potential of fabulation as a deeply generative methodological practice in regard to better understanding experiences of trauma. This project, which involved working alongside people with intellectual disabilities who have survived institutional incarceration, used fluid arts-based methods to help engage the affective force of trauma to story multiple truths about an otherwise unspeakable history.

The Trouble(s) with Transitional Justice: David Park's The Truth Commissioner

David Park's The Truth Commissioner (2008) tells the story of a fictional truth commission, established in the wake of the Northern Irish Troubles. To date, one of the most striking things about Northern Ireland has been its reluctance to engage in any wide-ranging, public process for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. The Truth Commissioner diagnoses this specific moment in Northern Irish history. This article examines Park's engagement with three key issues, often overlooked by advocates of truth telling initiatives: the emergence of multiple (often incompatible) truths, the ambiguous nature of victimhood, and the gender bias of traditional truth recovery mechanisms.

This Is My (Post) Truth, Tell Me Yours Comment on "The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy".

This is a commentary on the article ‘The rise of post-truth populism in pluralist liberal democracies: challenges for health policy.’ It critically examines two of its key concepts: populism and ‘post truth.’ This commentary argues that there are different types of populism, with unclear links to impacts, and that in some ways, ‘post-truth’ has resonances with arguments advanced in the period at the beginning of the British National Health Service (NHS). In short, ‘post-truth’ populism’ may be ‘déjà vu all over again,’ and there are multiple (post) truths: this is my (post) truth, tell me yours.

Kenmerke van ’n kerkorde van betekenis vir ’n geloofsgemeenskap in ’n postmoderne konteks, met spesifieke verwysing na die werk van Zygmunt Bauman

Characteristics of church ordinances with meaning for faith communities in a postmodern context, with spesific reference to the work of Zygmunt Bauman. Postmodernity changed the function, content and structures of church ordinances. This is a reality that cannot be denied by faith communities. New possibilities arise. Every ‘absolute truth’ can be formulated in a different way. Multiple truths suggest multiple possibilities. Plurality does not create chaos and risks anymore, but implies richness. Success and achievement have become relative to relations and the meaning of relationships. Individuals and small groups have discovered their own worth and identity. The disgust for rules has become the energy for the venture into new meaning. According to Bauman, the choice for humanity, including the church, is between ethics and morality. The individual’s responsibility to every Other is clear. Respect for diversity is the challenge. A new search for identity and meaning, as found in relationships is what characterises our time. Rules will not be of any help; the understanding of every Other’s story is important. The concepts to take into consideration are meaning, integrity, relativity, diversity, communication, justice and identity. A church ordinance of meaning should have the following characteristics: room for experimentation, complementary straights, room for people to be heard, authority carried by truth, a liturgical character, minimum geographical limits, room for diversity, structures that serve and an open view on offices. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The study identify new arguments in the debate regarding the formulation and implimentation of a church-order. In the current context of postmodernity, where power and instruments of power are challenged, the debate regarding church polity finds itself at a critical point. The study suggests that the current definitions and models of church-orders are not beneficial to the church regarding her mission in the world anymore. The researcher is of the opinion that the changes suggested, are possible and needed. The academic discipline of church polity will have to take note of these, in order to stay relevant in a postmodern context. In formulating the arguments, the researcher made use of sosiological perspectives.