Narrative Material Research Articles

The End of the World in Medieval English Religious Drama

This paper focuses on treatments and prophesies of the last things in late medieval English religious drama. It looks at how the end of the York, Coventry, and Towneley Plays illustrate the multi-media revival of lay catechesis that followed the Council of Constance, while reaching back to the major works of fourteenth-century vernacular theology such of The Prick of Conscience, to express in new and imaginative ways the concatenation of the end of one life and the end of all, of general and particular judgement. The scene is set by reference to the York pageant of Doomsday in the context both of its wider material environment as found in contemporary local stained glass, wills and texts, and of civic patronage. The argument goes on to challenge the traditional divide between biblical cycles and morality plays to show how in a number of instances, plays depicting scriptural history were infiltrated by characters—Christ's torturers in the lost Passion Play from New Romney, the Worms of Conscience in the lost Judgement pageant from Coventry, and the devil Tutivillus in the Towneley Judicium—whose reference points lie as much in tropological allegory as in the narratives of the Bible and apocrypha, and draw on the liturgy of the Church and on sacramental theology to make explicit the old aphorism that Christ is recrucified daily. The paper ends with an exploration of the pageant of The Raising of Lazarus, eccentrically located following the Judicium in the Towneley manuscript. In it Lazarus, the moment he has risen, delivers a long speech on life beyond the grave that eclipses the preceding brief narrative of his death and resurrection, confronting the audience with a visual echo—or anticipation—of the dead rising up on the last day. The thrust of all civic dramatic presentations of the end of the world blend in various imaginative ways biblical and apocryphal narrative material with moral allegory, commentary on contemporary social abuses, and personal catechesis, as all the dramatists, following the pressure for renewal of the lay devotional agenda in the period of their production, provoke their audiences into a state of spiritual anxiety in which the apocalyptic vision is personal, participatory, and probably imminent.

Consumer models of recovery: can they survive operationalism?

Consumer models of recovery: can they survive operationalism?

Exploring the Performance, Semantic, and Cognitive Dimensions of Orality

In this article I contend that particular characteristics of communication found in oral contexts are sufficiently different from those in literate ones to merit special consideration when ministering to oral audiences. My conclusions are based on my description, presented here, of the key features of narrative performance among the Digo people of Kenya's south coast. This description is derived from the application of two theoretical perspectives to a body of traditional Digo stories: Performance Theory and Semantic Structural Analysis. From my research I demonstrate how these features express aspects of orality and enhance the communicational impact of the narrative material.

Fuzzy promises

This article clarifies the commonplace assumption that brands make promises by developing definitions of brand promise delivery. Distinguishing between clear and fuzzy brand promises, we develop definitions of what it is for a brand to deliver on fuzzy functional, symbolic, and experiential promises. We argue (a) that brands deliver fuzzy functional promises through encouraging and facilitating courses of actions that are conducive to the promised functionality; whereas (b) brands deliver fuzzy symbolic promises through encouraging and facilitating ways in which consumers can use brands as narrative material to communicate self-identity. Finally, (c) we propose that brands deliver fuzzy experiential promises through effectively motivating consumers to adopt and play a social role implicitly suggested and facilitated by the brand. A promise is an inherently ethical concept and the article concludes with an in-depth discussion of fuzzy brand promises as two-way ethical commitments that put requirements on both brands and consumers.

Analysis of the circumstances of accidents and impact of transformations on the accidents in a beverage delivery company

The aim of the study was to analyze the narratives in accident files to document the circumstances of accidents in a beverage delivery company, in particular, in regard with the activities performed at the time of the accident and the deviations reported. A second aim was to understand the impact of the transformations introduced by the company on accident patterns. Narrative material from 546 files covering a 7-year period was analyzed. Special attention was given to collecting information on the activities conducted at the time of the accident, including location, foot support base, operation, and material involved. The analysis allowed specifying elements that have good potential for improving handling situations and decreasing accident risks. Three categories of deviation were analyzed: situations reported as particular or difficult, unforeseen events, and dysfunction reported in the activity itself. Results show that several external factors play an important role in the occurrence of accidents. Most of these factors are beyond risk analysis of handling situations. The impact of the transformations on the number, seriousness, and causes of accidents was dramatic. Analysis shows that current investigative risk tools are insufficient in helping management predict how decisions will affect safety. The discussion situates the results within the various theories of musculoskeletal mechanisms of injury.

Exploring the Construct Validity of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale in a Clinical Sample

The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale–Global rating method (SCORS–G; Stein, Hilsenroth, Slavin-Mulford, & Pinsker, 2011; Westen, 1995) measures the quality of object relations in narrative material. This study employed a multimethod approach to explore the structure and construct validity of the SCORS–G. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) was administered to 59 patients referred for psychological assessment at a large Northeastern U.S. hospital. The resulting 301 TAT narratives were rated using the SCORS–G method. The 8 SCORS variables were found to have high interrater reliability and good internal consistency. Principal components analysis revealed a 3-component solution with components tapping emotions/affect regulation in relationships, self-image, and aspects of cognition. Next, the construct validity of the SCORS–G components was explored using measures of intellectual and executive functioning, psychopathology, and normal personality. The 3 SCORS–G components showed unique and theoretically meaningful relationships across these broad and diverse psychological measures. This study demonstrates the value of using a standardized scoring method, like the SCORS–G, to reveal the rich and complex nature of narrative material.

The kibbutz novel as erotic melodrama

Prominent Israeli writers and critics have repeatedly claimed that it is nearly impossible to write a realist social novel in a social reality that is still in the making. The challenge faced by kibbutz writers was even greater, given the great dynamism of the kibbutz as an arena of social experimentation and the incongruity between a positive, common experience, and the personal, gloomy themes expected from “good literature.” In their attempt to overcome these difficulties, most kibbutz writers produced erotic melodramas set against a documentary background. Had they followed Georg Lukács's and Mikhail Bakhtin's advice, they might have made the kibbutz the narrative material of their novels' plots themselves, rather than the “background” of erotic melodramas.

The Art of Being a Social Pedagogue: Developing Cultural Change in Children’s Homes in Essex

As one of the first organisations in the UK to pioneer social pedagogy within its residential service, Essex County Council began working together with ThemPra Social Pedagogy in September 2008. This article describes some of the ways in which social pedagogy influenced the culture and practice in the local authority’s children’s homes. In contrast to other evaluations, most notably Berridge and colleague’s (2011) evaluation of the English government’s social pedagogy pilot project, this paper draws on narrative material gathered over the 3-year project in order to provide insights into attitudinal changes amongst staff teams, to highlight how practitioners developed their understanding of social pedagogy and to offer examples of how teams improved their practice and culture throughout the project. By describing social pedagogic practice as an art form we aim to outline the holistic, dynamic and process-orientated nature of social pedagogy that distinguishes it from the procedurally driven, outcome-focussed practice which has been heralded by new managerialism (Petrie et al., 2006; Smith, 2009). An abridged version of our full project report (Eichsteller & Holthoff, 2012), the article focuses on four areas relating to the art of being a social pedagogue: Haltung, relationships, reflection, and culture.

Los relatos de viaje de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda

En este artículo pretendo ofrecer una perspectiva poco habitual en relación con la escritura de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, la de autora de relatos de viaje. Son tres los escritos de este tipo pergeñados por la escritora, uno editado como Memorias inéditas en 1914 y otros dos publicados en la prensa en 1857 y 1860. Los tres están escritos en primera persona y el primero es, con diferencia, el más intimista. Los relatos de 1857 y 1860 son los menos conocidos debido a su publicación periodística, sobre todo el primero de ellos, aparecido en las páginas del periódico El Estado, en el que hasta ahora ningún crítico había reparado; son una impresiones de viaje escritas en forma epistolar y dirigidas al escritor cubano Teodoro Guerrero. El publicado en 1914 es un relato del exilio que lleva a la autora desde Cuba hasta España, en tanto que los otros dos narran viajes veraniegos de placer; son comunes a ellos la presencia de tradiciones y de episodios históricos, constituyen además un ejemplo de literatura de balneario y de crónica social. En los tres se aglutinan variedad de materiales narrativos a los que concede cohesión la mirada de una narradora romántica que sublima el entorno contemplado y lo reproduce en términos pintorescos e incluso fantásticos, ya que su contemplación se halla mediatizada por la concepción idealizada del pueblo vasco y del entorno natural y por algunos referentes literarios. Con todo ello, dichos relatos de viaje evidencian su condición de género fronterizo, híbrido, de gran diversidad genérica y discursiva, trufados de elementos heterogéneos en una suerte de relato-miscelánea en que la aventura del viajero es un pretexto para hilvanar piezas diversas.

Lost in translation? The role of language in migrants’ biographies: What can micro-sociologists learn from Eva Hoffman?

In her famous memoir Lost in Translation (1989), the journalist and psychoanalyst Eva Hoffman describes her childhood metamorphosis from a Polish into a North American girl by reconstructing her experience with learning a new language. She equates this with loss and acquisition of identities. This article focuses on Hoffman’s interest in language as an identity issue since this is a highly relevant theme for migration researchers, particularly for those working with narrative material. The article explores the role of language in biographical interviews with migrants and discusses language use as an instrument for data collection. It argues that we need to ensure a sensitive and vigilant handling of language in the interview setting, which takes into consideration context, coding, articulation and hybridity. The final part raises questions about the ways in which gender comes into play in migrants’ narratives.

Phoenix arisen: Japan as peaceful internationalist at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics

The dominant discursive narrative at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics was that of Japan as a peaceful internationalist. No longer was it the aggressor and enemy of World War II. The post-war Constitution was the basis for this claim of a new Japan. The deployment of Japanese experiences as the only victims of atomic weapons buttressed Japan's moral claim to a new, ‘peaceful’ identity on the international stage, while providing rich material for domestic narratives of victimhood and suffering. It was a careful and nuanced balancing act – premised on inventing a forward looking Japan that was new and different from its martial past, while at the same time selectively remembering the past, both overtly and subconsciously, to erase problematic portions of it. This new peaceful identity for Japan, and the Olympics as the perfect stage for performing it, filled the discourse from the earliest stages of application to the Games themselves.

School‐to‐work transitional outcomes of a group of Italian school dropouts

PurposeThis study aims to deal with the role of vocational training in developing social inclusion by analyzing the school‐to‐work transitional outcomes of early school leavers whose successful experience in vocational training was documented in previous works.Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises 126 males who enrolled in and successfully completed biennial vocational training courses soon after dropping out of school. The transitional outcomes one year after the qualification as well as the variability of these outcomes in relation to age, degree of success in vocational training, and achievement in the previous schools were analyzed. A phone interview was used to collect data, and a binary logistic regression analysis was applied. In addition, narrative materials were collected through biographical interviews and qualitatively analyzed.FindingsAlthough most subjects obtained a stable job, some critical aspects emerged: at times employment seemed to be the result of a “negative compromise”; several constraints emerged in managing further personal investment in school and learning.Research limitations/implicationsResults support the usefulness of studying social inclusion by adopting a transitional perspective. The main limitations concern the focus on just a few variables that only partially explain the different outcomes.Practical implicationsFindings suggested the need for greater flexibility among school, vocational training, and the world of work in order to promote effective social and professional inclusion through the VET system.Originality/valueThe paper's results indicate that developing social inclusion of early school leavers inevitably demands a transformation in the widespread beliefs about the dichotomy between learning and work.

Recollection of the Native Space as Autobiographical Pretext: Norman Manea, “The Hooligan’s Return”

The paper focuses on the particularities of an auto biographical work, Norman Manea’s The Hooligan’s Return. In this work, the writer uses elements that are considered as defining for this type of writing and dramatic innovations in the way of organising the narrative material. An original idea Manea develops in a metaphorical way is that the native space is subsumed to the language space. This idea acquires complex meanings in this autobiographical text, built by evocation and intertextualization.

Structural approaches to narrative analysis in entrepreneurship research

Narrative is recognized as a credible source of knowledge for scholars engaged in theory building in entrepreneurship. A wide range of methods for the analysis of narrative empirical material have been adopted in research to date. Thus, researchers have a multitude of ways to engage with data, such that investigators new to narrative analysis may face challenges in approaching and framing analyses of their narrative material. This article presents exemplars from two researchers who used structural approaches to uncover contemporary understandings of entrepreneurship in different contexts. Their experiences suggest a framework that scholars embarking on journeys into narrative analysis can use to their benefit.

Studying Relational Chains from Narrative Material

Étudier les chaînes relationnelles à partir d’un matériau narratif : Les chaînes relationnelles sont une approche mal connue des réseaux sociaux, dont on classe habituellement les méthodes d’analyse selon la dichotomie réseaux personnels / réseaux complets. Plutôt que de cartographier les réseaux de façon statique, l’étude des chaînes relationnelles reconstitue les mobilisations concrètes de relations sociales dans des processus d’accès à des ressources ou de mise en relation de personnes. La méthode que nous présentons permet de reconstruire ces chaînes à partir d’un matériau narratif constitué sur la base d’entretiens croisés. Cette méthode est particulièrement adaptée à la saisie des phénomènes d’encastrement des activités économiques dans les réseaux sociaux. Nous la présentons dans cet article à partir de deux enquêtes, l’une sur les relations science-industrie et l’autre sur les créations d’entreprises.

From anecdotes to novels: Reflective inputs for behavioural economics

Thaler's deployment of anomalous anecdotes has helped raise the profile of behavioural economics. This paper explores possible uses of other narrative materials as aids to economic research. After examining the use of anecdotes in economics, the paper reviews opportunities to use a wide range of more extensive reflective materials. Two text-based applications are then presented: the first uses material from consumer magazines, the second draws from novels by David Lodge. Both applications call into question conventional thinking regarding the degree of substitution between product characteristics, while the second is also instructive regarding the processes by which economic activities are coordinated.

Narrative form, ‘impossibility’ and the retrieval of apartheid history

In what ways might we aim to retrieve or ‘treat’ apartheid history? Such a question, posed by the work of the Apartheid Archive Project (AAP), leads to another: what are the challenges that emerge in the use of personal narrative material as a way of retrieving apartheid history? The first section of this paper draws on a number of psychoanalytic concepts (ego-speech, screen memory, secondary elaboration) to identify the methodological limitations in the use of personal narrative material in retrieving apartheid history. The second section explores an alternative possibility for such a task and does so by way of Lacan's idea that a psychoanalytic cure entails ‘the elevation of an impossibility to a higher order of impossibility’. Such an approach emphasizes the value of ongoing symbolic activity in response to given (historical, psychological) ‘impossibilities’ presented by the trauma of apartheid. Multiple narrative attempts at grappling with such impossibilities are valuable not because they succeed in capturing the truth of the past or resolving it. Such repeated attempts at re-articulation are functional, rather, because they provide the basis for a new symbolic matrix, which in turn may enable transformation.

Realism and Utopia: Sex, Writing, and Activism in New Narrative

Realism and Utopia:Sex, Writing, and Activism in New Narrative Rob Halpern (bio) The literary movement known as New Narrative emerged in San Francisco during the late 1970s. The cultural moment was one of engagement and conviction, agitation and uncertainty, as tensions were beginning to flare between new projects and old affiliations in the Bay Area literary scene—Language writing, Feminist writing, Black Arts, Beat poetry, New American Poetics, and others—each asserting a distinct set of aesthetic values and social stakes. New Narrative registers many of these tensions, while offering one response to some unresolved impasses between Gay Liberation, the Avant-Garde, and a New Left that seemed at times unresponsive to the exigencies of sexual politics. Bruce Boone, Robert Glück, and Steve Abbott were the movement's earliest theoreticians and practitioners, and they shared many affinities with other radical writers, including Kathy Acker and Dennis Cooper, who accompanied the group as coconspirators, in friendship and publishing projects alike. Abbott first defined this loose confederacy in his editorial statement for the 1981 New Narrative issue of Soup magazine: "New Narrative is language conscious but arises out of specific social and political concerns of specific communities. . . . It stresses the enabling role of content in determining form rather than stressing form as independent from its social origins and goals."1 Abbott's reference to the movement being "language conscious" quietly acknowledges New Narrative's ties to Language writing, with [End Page 82] whose community it intersected. Although New Narrative evolved together with late twentieth-century avant-garde poetries, it pushed against Language writing's privileging of poetic form, stressing instead the value of storytelling—in both verse and prose—as the means by which to deepen the convergence of writing and politics, while aligning that convergence with the work of gay community building. Boone offers a partisan description of this socio-literary landscape in his short postscript to Glück's Family Poems (1979), "Remarks on Narrative: The Example of Robert Glück's Poetry." Boone writes, "The poetry of the '70s seems generally to have reached a point of stagnation, increasing a kind of refinement of technique and available forms, without yet being able to profit greatly from the energy and accessibility that mark so much of the new Movement writing of gays, women and Third World writers, among others" (29). This characterization of the moment suggests a prehistory of the notorious "poetry wars," which would divide the Bay Area writing scene during the 1980s. In what now reads as a founding document for New Narrative, Boone goes on in his postscript to posit what would become the movement's tenets, arguing for the importance of narrative method for a "movement writing" otherwise thought to be content-driven and mimetic. Boone begins by praising Glück's poems for the way "they remind us of the actual, though often unmentioned function of narration as a device for registering social meaning" (32). He then looks to two mid-century American poets of the New York School, Frank O'Hara and Ron Padgett, as models because they "integrate narrative material as a technique to constitute the poem again socially," stressing "a strongly judgmental or juridical aspect of this narrative function . . . that declines to be 'objective' in any sense that would satisfy us" (32). Taking the work of his New York School antecedents as a point of departure, Boone emphasizes subjectivity as both an effect of subjection and as a social force with the potential to intervene and affect, organize and change. Subjectivity thus emerges in New Narrative not as stable fact, but as a volatile social process full of transformational energies, and narrative becomes one mode of stimulating and organizing such energies. Boone's emphasis on subjectivity speaks to the appeal for New Narrative of Louis Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses," which theorizes ideology as a productive force in the making of social [End Page 83] subjects, a force in excess of its repressive functions. By "productive," I don't mean "positive," but rather instrumental; in other words, for Althusser, subjectivity becomes a function of ideology. In his "Long Note on New Narrative," Glück himself remarks how Althusser...

Hortatory Discourse and Psalm 96

AbstractDiscourse analysis has been applied to numerous narrative texts in the Hebrew Bible, yet its use with poetic texts remains infrequent. This study tests the thesis that hortatory discourse in poetic texts resembles and reflects the structures of hortatory discourse present within narrative material. Frequently the word order and construction of lines within Hebrew poetry have been attributed to poetic style, free variation, or rhetorical structure, among other suggestions, yet this analysis of Psalm 96 suggests that word order may be explained based on the discourse employed in the psalm.

Conquest and Controversy: Intertwined Themes in the Islamic Interpretive Tradition

Narrative materials in classical Muslim commentaries on the Qur!! n included stories of the prophet of Islam in confrontation with representatives of other religious communities. In the case of the exegesis of Q 3:64, a verse which has been used in recent years as a call to interfaith dialogue, commentators told two di erent stories of encounter between Muh!ammad and Christians. Both stories, in their own ways, developed themes of theological controversy and political conquest. # ey sought to demonstrate the authority of the prophet of Islam to determine the truth about Jesus and to challenge foreign rulers to “submit.” # e stories also made the case that through the events of the life of the prophet of Islam and the Muslim Conquest, as described in the Muslim historical tradition, God was at work in the world. By telling these stories, exegetes projected a memory of military domination and an assertion of spiritual superiority.