Multiple Voices Research Articles

How do dialogical group sessions work for mothers of young children with parenting challenges in Japan?

ABSTRACT Purpose Parenting support is a pressing issue in Japan. The application of open dialogue (OD)—an alternative treatment for mental illnesses—to parenting support has generated considerable interest. This study aimed to describe the participants’ experiences shared during a dialogic group session based on OD principles for mothers of young children facing parenting challenges. Methods Five mothers with parenting concerns participated in five continuing group sessions over a half-year at a parenting support centre in Japan. The data comprised participants’ utterances and feedback in each session, along with semi-structured individual interviews conducted after all sessions. Results Qualitative descriptive analysis revealed six themes: “From initial surprise to growing ease with dialogue without a theme,” “Talking and listening without interruption or judgement,” “Reflections by the facilitators: insightful or uncomfortable?,” “Learning to talk about difficult things,” “Offering empathic advice without imposing opinions,” and “Multiple voices helped deepen their thoughts and reflections.” Conclusions The participants discovered how to listen to others without judgement and verbalize thoughts that would otherwise have remained unvoiced. The sessions also enabled them to understand their families and themselves better. The dialogical group sessions demonstrated new possibilities for more open, mutually supportive communication.

Polyphony as a Transformative Factor in Solopreneurship Education of Language Specialists

This article aims to demonstrate that the notion of multiple voices (polyphony) is a powerful educational idea that can bring value to translator education programmes. Based on a class dedicated to entrepreneurial functioning of MA students in translation, the article strives to show how polyphony can be entrenched in class content and classroom dynamics. It is argued that polyphony can empower students’ polyphonic approach to career choices. The empirical part discusses the responses from the class participants in 2023 concerning their perception of the modes of work they find most attractive. Conclusions outline areas for enhancements in class content and classroom dynamics.

Polyvocality as a communicative strategy in Korean–Black business interactions

ABSTRACT This research analyzes and explains the use of multiple voices in a beauty supply store as an intercultural communication process that plays a particular role in adjusting the participants’ relationships. This study explores the alternation of language between the Korean American business owner and his Black neighbors to meet the following research objectives: (a) to examine how a store owner uses polyvocality to mitigate tension, (b) to investigate how his interlocutors react to his shift in language, and (c) to explore how the voicing of these “figures of personhood” represents the negotiation of their relationships. I argue that the participants in these particular intercultural interactions employ various discursive strategies to build rapport and avoid conflicts. However, despite their long-term and personal relationships and the application of multiple voices, sources of conflict such as racial hierarchy and socioeconomic disparities remain unresolved.

A importância do aprofundamento teórico-metodológico na formação docente e nas produções de materiais didáticos dialógicos no curso de Letras

The Bakhtinian approach has been present in Brazilian official curricular documents since the 1990s. However, its pedagogical appropriation has been guided by the linguistic structure to the detriment of social interaction (Faraco, 2009), demanding efforts in Portuguese school subject teacher training. In this article, the objective is to show how the dialogic discourse theory deepening can contribute to teaching materials production, based on Portuguese language major training experience at the University of São Paulo in 2020. In this experience, the theoretical-methodological approach includes the concepts of speech genres (Bakhtin, 2016 [1952-1953]) and theme (Volóchinov, 2018 [1929]) and on the production of didactic proposals aligned with the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC) (Brasil, 2018) and with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Unesco, 2017). In this work, we analyze the proposal “Gênero do discurso e produção de texto: editorial” [“Speech genres and text production: editorial”], identifying the authors' observance of Bakhtinian discursive referents: i) sphere/field of human activity; ii) speech genre; iii) its relative stability; iv) multiple voices in statements; v) thematic totality. The results indicate dialogical quality in the material with the presence of elements that express social dynamics, confirming the relevance of theoretical deepening and its practical application in undergraduate teacher training.

“Unreal city”: Juxtaposition of Calcutta-past and Kolkata-present in Sarnath Banerjee’s The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore the construction of the cityspace in Sarnath Banerjee’s graphic novel The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers (2007). It argues that such an analysis of Kolkata would help to better understand the unique spatiotemporal identity of the city. The study employs a close reading of Banerjee’s graphic narrative to comprehend how it depicts Kolkata as a city suspended across space-time. The analysis includes examining the use of multiple authorial voices, representation of time periods, and the strategic utilisation of visual elements to convey political themes, and even to regulate the narrative flow. The paper asserts that Banerjee’s graphic novel presents Kolkata as a simulacrum, blending past and present timeframes to construct a dialectical existence of the city. It adds to the existing discourse by highlighting the significance of economic and political realities in shaping perceptions of space, in addition to socio-cultural factors. The paper also emphasises the importance of indigenous perspectives in interpreting the text, particularly in relation to Kolkata’s unique postcolonial character.

Learning Spaces of Higher Education for Postdigital Citizens

AbstractCitizen science research is often interdisciplinary, responsive to public concerns and inclusive of community knowledge. It can also involve multiple voices coming together to address ‘wicked’ problems. In this paper, we introduce CmyView, a visual and creative methodology that is suitable for research projects in citizen science, particularly those focusing on learning spaces. CmyView’s conceptual framing is informed by research in embodied cognition, digital heritage, networked learning, and the postdigital. The paper discusses the CmyView methodology, as grounded on five core actions: walking, capturing, sharing, connecting, and documenting via public participation. We argue that the CmyView methodology and its accompanying app can offer an innovative way to understand, manage, document, engage with, and study the social and educational significance of learning spaces through community participation.

그림책으로 읽어보는 어린이의 몸과 건강: 푸코의 지식, 권력과 담론을 기초로

Objectives This study aimed to analyze how picture books discuss and represent children's bodies and health, as well as to uncover their underlying meanings, utilizing the concepts of knowledge, power, and discourse by the post-structuralist M. Foucault. Methods To achieve this, a discourse analysis was conducted using Foucault's techniques of discipline, surveillance, and normalization on 132 picture books selected through the search of the National Library for Children and Young Adults. Results The findings revealed that these picture books reflect the standards and norms set by our society regarding children's bodies and health. They utilize the authority and status of specialized knowledge in fields such as medicine, nutrition, psychology, and sports science to regulate children's bodies by presenting different arrangements of healthy or vulnerable bodies and establishing hierarchical knowledge to secure a standardized body position. The multiplicity of voices, including the voice of narrators, illustrations, and the voice of adult readers, intertwined with gazes between characters, exerted the power of reward and punishment, allowing child readers to self-regulate regarding their bodies and health. Moreover, the ideal characteristics of children's bodies and health were reinforced through powerful discourses structured around expectations, commands, conventions, norms, declarations, and linked to broader societal discourses such as risk and deficiency, differentiated by age and gender. Conclusions The meaning and discourse surrounding children's healthy bodies were discussed within the context of how societal discourses, including risk and deficiency discourses based on age and gender, also regulate children's bodies and health. Picture books by adopting a narrative form can become a mechanism of power that (re)produces and disseminates knowledge and discourse about children.

From teacher to school principal. Analysis of an identity transition process / De profesor a director de escuela. Análisis de un proceso de transición identitaria

The transition from teacher to school principal has been shown to be a professional challenge, and even though the research has identified the challenges involved, little is known about how the way it is approached determines the identity change it entails. We used a longitudinal design with a single case and multimodal data to describe the identity transition of a novice principal in his first year in this role. Based on the dialogic perspective, we describe his position on the critical incidents and analyse the episodes of identity transition and their function in his adoption of the new role. The analysis enabled us to identify the negotiation among the multiple voices (positions) when the principal was faced with challenges. The results show that some incidents opened up episodes of negotiation and repositioning that lasted over time, hindering him from effectively resolving the incidents and consequently taking on the new role of principal. The results have implications for the design of training that fosters the resolution of challenges through repositioning processes and the exploration of dialogic strategies that favour the construction of professional identity.

Social Ecologies in Court

Rather than explore personal identity from the perspective of Western philosophical traditions—which tend to regard ‘persons’ as human individuals endowed with reason, as the likes of Aristotle and John Locke would have it—this article will introduce personhood as a state of being that is, at once, variegated, culturally constructed, and notably interspecies. By drawing on three ethnographic case studies (North India, Papua New Guinea, and the Amazon), it will outline some of the ways in which ‘persons’ are shaped and reshaped through shared meaningful interactions with(in) their natural environments, hence understood differently from one culture to another. In doing so, it will show how anthropology’s distinct way of accounting for and championing cultural heterogeneity (i.e., through ‘intercultural-glocal glasses’) can bolster religious studies, for as much as the former challenges Eurocentric assumptions that have beset the latter, usually expressed as dyadic categories (e.g., human- and other-than-human entities). I propose that this cross-disciplinary dialogue—seeking to heed pluri-ontological deixis, or bringing multiple voices and life-worlds to the deliberating table—is a timely methodological move for diversifying beyond the apodictic propositions held about personhood, not only in religious studies, but also in legislative frameworks more widely.

Care Experience, Mental Health and Social Media: Implications for Practice from Conversations with Professionals and Care Leavers

There is increasing need to strike a balance between minimizing online risks and encouraging independence and freedom of interaction amongst the young adult population, particularly those with preexisting vulnerabilities. This paper presents the findings from a study exploring how professionals working with care leavers understand social media and perceive their role in recognizing and responding to the online needs of this group. Qualitative data was collected during focus groups, arts-based workshops, and interviews with 17 professionals. Thirteen young adults with experience of leaving the care system in Scotland also provided insights into the impact of social media on their mental health and personal relationships. These multiple voices highlight that professionals could improve their understanding of social media platforms by moving away from risk management and harm minimization to adopt more individualized ways of enhancing online relationships. These views are reiterated by care leavers who perceive social media interactions as both a source of support and a cause of anxiety during complex transitions. Drawing upon the health and social work literature suggests that professionals should work in partnership with care leavers to establish training that acknowledges lived experiences and prioritizes resilience and social capital in the development of positive online interactions.

Application of AI-Assisted Painting Creation Based on AIGC Background

Image generation in generative artificial intelligence has become a hot AI technology in today's new media era. With the civilian development of AI drawing, AI painting is widely used for painters, helping them improve their production efficiency and product quality, and providing them with more design materials and design ideas. But at the same time, the original ecological market environment of art painting has produced confusion, resulting in a substantial reduction of the threshold of the art market, followed by a large number of contradictions and difficulties. There are still a lot of problems waiting to be solved in the auxiliary application of AIdrawing, and there are multiple voices in the definition of its contribution to art, but the development potential of AIdrawing in the AIGC environment is undoubtedly huge. This paper will start from all aspects of its auxiliary application, through examples to help us continue to learn positively, promote its auxiliary application, and promote the faster and better development of the art field.

Towards an affects of care: a cross-national study of university caring practices during COVID-19

ABSTRACT This paper joins the conversation around care and maintenance through an account of affects of care in architecture. Affect and its binding power allows us to trace how care releases bodies, including the architectural body, into performative potentials – affect produced, exchanged and accumulated in care work. We present an empirical study across two universities (architecture studios) that provide insights into the complexities of caring and facilitating care by listening in to the multiple care-taking voices and care-engagements, within the context of COVID-19. We draw out the intimacies or bindings that are generated by and through such care acts in three interrelated ways: affective-material tinkering, stuttering temporalities and promise of care and its loss. In conclusion, we suggest how caring for a building is far from uniform and offer some future direction as to how an affects of care account can be helpful in studying diverse modes of (being in) the world of care in/through the built environment.

Urban planning as ‘great dialogue’? Developing polyphonic planning practices in a process of hybrid participation, case Viiskorpi, Espoo, Finland

ABSTRACT This article delves into participatory urban planning practices through the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of polyphony. We explore how polyphonic planning, which requires multiple voices in a dialogue and representations revealing various perspectives, can be achieved in a hybrid participatory planning process. Our action research, conducted as part of an actual planning process, reveals that while hybrid participation can foster dialogue and increase polyphony, it requires participatory knowledge sharing, public assessment of planners’ interpretations, and a clear definition of concepts. We also suggest improving the vertical dialogue between planning levels.

Between Form and Emptiness: An Exploration of Buddhist Theme in the Novel The Book of Form and Emptiness

This article examines the role of Buddhist ideas in Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness, with an emphasis on the central concepts of form and emptiness. Using qualitative methods, this study involves an in-depth analysis of the novel's text to explore how Ozeki integrates Buddhist teachings in the narrative and characters. In the novel, the concept of “form is emptiness, and emptiness is form” is not only a philosophy, but also reflects the dynamics of the characters' lives. Through the depiction of experiences and internal conflicts, the author highlights how Buddhist practices serve as tools to deal with personal and social challenges. This study found that Ozeki effectively utilizes multiple narrative voices to illustrate the complexity of spiritual beliefs, while creating space for readers to reflect on the application of the teachings in a modern context. Moreover, Buddhism has broader potential than just a spiritual dimension, it also enriches the literary experience by providing emotional depth and philosophical reflection. This article emphasizes that fiction serves not only as a form of entertainment, but also as a powerful medium for Buddhists to share wisdom and address contemporary issues, such as identity crisis, loss, and social uncertainty. As such, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between literature and spirituality, as well as opening a dialogue on how literature can be a means to understand and deal with the complexities of life in a modern context.

Decapitating God: Revolution in Victor Hugo’s Le Livre des Tables and Dieu

ABSTRACT Hugo’s experience of seances in exile is closely bound up with his protest at the Second Empire and this article studies the visionary images of revolution which appear in the transcripts of these dialogues with the dead, published as Le Livre des Tables. It compares a particularly ambivalent image, of revolution as a decapitation of God, to a passage in Dieu, a related poetic text of the same period, in order to examine the role played by metaphor and multiple voices in Hugo’s depiction of the relationship between the civic and the cosmic, between progress and spiritism.

The Virtuous Character In The Novel "Al-Ruz" By Hossam Khawam Al Yahya

This study seeks to shed light on the concept of the virtuous character in the novel (Al-Ruz) at two levels: the mono-typical, and the complex, transformative, by presenting the course of events specific to the character, of which the character is the primary focus in moving it, which requires examining the path of this character’s transformations or fluctuations between goodness and goodness. And evil or virtue and vice. As well as revealing its patterns and levels of presence in terms of simplicity or typicality, complexity or composition, in a way that reveals its references and social, humanitarian and moral backgrounds, in a poor, backward society - as depicted in the novel - which is the village of (Imam Askar) located on the western bank of the Rose River.The novel follows the approach of modern novels in its adoption of multiple voices, or collective heroism, in terms of depicting the social agency influencing the course of events, away from the stereotypical image of depicting the single heroic character, which placed all the work’s characters on the same level in terms of influence and effectiveness.

Making transdisciplinarity work for complex systems: A dynamic model for blending diverse knowledges

The world is increasingly characterized by a paradigm of interconnectivity within a complex system, so that impact to any single element or location is likely to cause unanticipated, unequal, and disruptive impacts elsewhere. As society has become more complex, the intractable problems of our global community have also become complex, interconnected, dynamic and nonlinear. Potential solutions to complex global issues will not be identifiable through efforts associated with any single discipline. Boundary-spanning collaborations and collective action are required to create the necessary paradigm shifts. In response to this need, this paper presents a transdisciplinary framework designed to blend different knowledges and resources via a non-hierarchical, self-organizing collaboration. This boundary-spanning process fosters the integration of diverse scholarly expertise, artistic expression and lived experiences to engage broad audiences in knowledge exchange. As illustration, a virtual art + science exhibition produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, Long COVID: We Are Here! is examined. The exhibition, co-created by six artists and six scientists, curated multiple voices, skills, talents and artefacts to explore perspectives of an emerging global health and social problem. This paper scrutinizes the design process, production, and outcomes of the exhibition as a model for engaging with complexity, at multiple scales; as a method of knowledge sharing and new knowledge creation, of disseminating empirical knowledge to a broad audience, and for enabling and catalyzing transformative and sustainable pathways for social change.

In Search of Unheard Voices: Monologism in U.R. Anantha Murthy’s Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man

Women are frequently oppressed by patriarchal ideals, leading to their voices being marginalized in society. The research elaborates on how the male characters representing hierarchical structures suppress the central female characters, to remain silent or prevent them from expressing themselves, as depicted in Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (1976), a translation of the Kannada novel Samskara (1965) authored by U.R. Anantha Murthy. The novel Samskara (1965) is translated into English as Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (1976) by A. K. Ramanujan. A patriarchal society is portrayed in Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (1976), where rituals and superstitious beliefs take precedence over compassion. Chandri, the only female character, has a major role yet speaks the least, sometimes being overpowered by the male characters. Hence, irrespective of their socioeconomic status, women are subjected to societal, economic, and physical exploitation. The purpose of this paper is to analyse, from a Bakhtinian standpoint, the representation of women's voices in monologism discourse. This research critically examines the portrayal of female characters in Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man (1976), highlighting how they are reduced to submissive figures under the control of dominant males. While the female characters have limited dialogue, overshadowed by the presence of male characters, they still manage to make a significant impression on the readers. In his narration, the author presents the ramifications of societal regulations in an authentic circumstance from a singular perspective (monologic) as opposed to employing multiple voices (dialogic). The paper clarifies the current state of women's voices with the novel, which is set in traditional India where gender norms were dominant and female dissent was banned. A prevalent theme in contemporary society, intersectionality in gender is portrayed in the novel. Thus, the article sheds light on the contemporary gender empowerment movement and the significance of empowering women's voices in all aspects of life.

A conceptual analysis of gendered energy care work and epistemic injustice through a case study of Zanzibar’s Solar Mamas

Energy and climate transitions bear an inherent risk of replicating historically embedded unjust gendered norms in the current energy regimes. Positioning our work within critical feminist scholarship, our study emphasizes the embedded nature of energy technologies within respective socio-economic, institutional and cultural contexts. We use a combined lens of care and epistemic injustice to examine the case study of Solar Mamas in Barefoot College Zanzibar, highlighting the nuanced interplay of power relations in decentralized energy transitions. This approach helps comprehend and value gendered energy care work as involving skilled labour in everyday life. Our findings illustrate the need for energy transitions research, policy and practice to be deeply informed by lived experiences, diverse practices of care within the energy webs and valuing of multiple voices. We argue that interventions prioritizing care and knowledge in decentralized, locally managed energy provisioning have the potential to disrupt established gender relations.

Preliminary adaptation of the systems thinking for everyday work cue card set in a US healthcare system: a pragmatic and participatory co-design approach

IntroductionHealthcare is a highly complex adaptive system, requiring a systems approach to understand its behaviour better. We adapt the Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) cue cards, initially introduced as...