Narratives Of Hope Research Articles

Family experiences of urban transformation: entangled bodies, hopeful imaginations and embodied utopias

ABSTRACT We offer an analysis of embodied utopias, the everyday ways in which children, young people and their families experience urban transformation – urban change which has been imagined, designed and planned to be utopian. Lavasa, a private sector, hill city development in the Indian state of Maharashtra, is one such utopian vision. We use the lenses of citizenship, control, precarity and performance to show how participants embody utopia. In sites of major infrastructural change, development can take years, if not decades. Thus, children are spending their whole childhoods navigating utopian urbanism. We expose a series of intersecting vulnerabilities, impacting on participant mobility, education and livelihood. Despite this, we find a hopeful narrative where participants positioned their bodies as part of urban change. Our focus on embodied utopia complicates understandings of neoliberal utopian urbanism.

(Re)inspiring Narratives of Resistance: COVID-19, Racisms and Narratives of Hope

In 2020, COVID-19 took many people by surprise, as did the intercontinental waves of protest triggered by the casual racist murder of George Floyd by a US policeman. The years of 2020 and 2021 will undoubtedly be remembered for massive, unexpected disruptions that require new social normalities to be negotiated. These social disruptions were triggered by unexpected viral pandemics and viral video footage. Yet they built on already existing, entrenched inequities marked by the intersections of racialisation/ethnicisation, social class and gender. It was common, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, for politicians and commentators to espouse a narrative that COVID-19 “does not discriminate”. This is, of course, true. However, the research analyses that followed showed that both COVID-19, and the measures taken to arrest it, exacerbated already existing social inequalities. This paper draws on two narratives of the racialized impact of COVID-19 to examine the ways in which the authors mobilise intertextual narratives to protest against racism and call for resistance to the racisms they identify. The paper argues that, while the authors do not overtly position themselves as calling for change, their narratives are crafted in ways that resist current constructions of their racialized or religious groups.

Reconsidering Cartesian dualism and selfhood in Love, Death & Robots

This paper argues that the first season of the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots offers a representation of how consciousness might evolve outside of the body when it is downloaded into a techno-body, and how it transcends the limits of the biological body. Using posthumanism as a framework, the essay demonstrates how this process interrogates and critiques the ‘human’ condition and focuses on the idea of the boundary collapse between the human and the posthuman. The series also provides a hopeful narrative of cyborg liberation through rebellion against humans. The essay establishes the impact and critique of emerging technologies on the body and political agency in the series. Having examined the Cartesian mind-body split and Heidegger’s concept of Dasein, this paper argues that the cybernetic beings of Love, Death & Robots strive to transcend the embodiment constraints and develop a sense of individuality and free will. The paper also discusses how the blurring of the human/animal boundaries portrayed in the series supports a transgressive politics that underpins the first season of Love, Death & Robots. Additionally, the paper endeavors to depict how the series represents an ‘ontological turn’ and how the posthumans retain their selfhood and individual agencies even when they constantly transcend their subjectivities.

Munther Isaac. The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Narrative of Lament and Hope

No abstract is available.

Narrative Retellings: Stylistic Approaches

Narrative Retellings: Stylistic Approaches

Creating new climate stories: Posthuman collaborative hope and optimism

This paper considers an evolving project about climate change that will explore using collaborative creative writing strategies to emotionally support and engage writers, primarily focusing on how narratives of hope and optimism might counter affective responses of anxiety, and the resultant solipsistic inertia or surrender. We ask: what role could collaborative fiction play in helping to create positive futures that emotionally strengthen us to manage what may come and what already is? We outline the inspiration and background to our project and begin to theorise justification for applying posthuman approaches to the question of reimagining climate fiction. We review a number of collaborative climate change projects located outside of traditional writing but still drawing on narrative storytelling, and consider how our project – which focuses on genre fictions – might add to the horizon point; one that is not delusional, but also does not lead to dystopian despair.

Politics and Pentecostalism in Australia

Abstract Pentecostalism and politics are, for better or worse, no strangers. In 2018, Scott Morrison became the first pentecostal prime minister in the history of Australia and, possibly, in the English-speaking world. He then led the Liberal Party to a resounding election victory in 2019. As a result, Morrison was dubbed the “Miracle Man” after his acceptance speech referred to divine intervention in the electoral results. Since then, there has been regular, negative speculation on links between Morrison’s pentecostal faith and policy positions. This article provides a counterposition that several elements of the pentecostal worldview have the potential for positive impact in politics and may explain aspects of Morrison’s electoral success. We argue that Morrison effectively leveraged his pentecostal experience and convictions to advantage through strong leadership, practical pragmatism, marketing acumen, and a narrative of hope. Here, in a morass of indecision and “policy-free” political elites, was someone who believed in something.

Left in the Dark: Regimes of Affect and Political Passivity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s the Remains of the Day

ABSTRACT In one of the latest commentaries on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Remains of the Day (1989), it is explained that the novel’s protagonist Stevens is a true monster who “has embraced antisemitism and fascism throughout his career” and it is also underlined that although “there is no question about Stevens’s emotional repression … this trait has little to do with his racism and refusal to intervene morally in Darlington’s household.” The present paper aims to offer an alternative reading of the political agency and passivity of the novel’s protagonist Stevens with the help of affect theory. This paper will read The Remains of the Day and its protagonist primarily by looking at their relationship with sense reception, motion, and emotion, and show that the apathy and affective restraint experienced by Stevens as an English butler underlies his political passivity. Such a reading will also enable the readers to perceive Ishiguro’s work as a hopeful narrative affirming the power of affect in the matters of political emancipation and agency.

Effects of media stories of hope and recovery on suicidal ideation and help-seeking attitudes and intentions: systematic review and meta-analysis

There is strong evidence that suicides increase after media stories about suicides by celebrities, particularly those that highlight the suicide method (the Werther effect). Much less is known about the Papageno effect-the protective effects of media stories of hope and recovery from suicidal crises. A synthesis of the retrievable evidence is lacking. We aim to summarise findings from randomised controlled trials about the effects of stories of hope and recovery on individuals with some degree of vulnerability to suicide. For this systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis, we searched PubMed (including MEDLINE), Scopus, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Google Scholar published from inception to Sept 6, 2021, without language restrictions. We included trials that reported suicidal ideation (the primary outcome) or help-seeking attitudes or intentions (the secondary outcome) and tested a media narrative of hope and recovery. Studies were excluded if they did not feature a clearly positive story of hope and recovery, or had a control group exposed to suicide-related stimulus material. We contacted the lead or senior authors of all original studies to obtain participant-level data for this study. The primary analysis was restricted to individuals with some vulnerability to suicide. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials. The study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42020221341. Our search yielded 7347 records. 3920 records were screened by title and abstract, and 25 full-text records assessed for eligibility. There were eight eligible studies with 2350 participants for which individual participant data were sought. For suicidal ideation, six studies met the inclusion criteria for the primary analysis. Follow-up responses were available for 569 (90%) of 633 participants who were randomised with high vulnerability (345 [55%] allocated to the intervention group and 288 [45%] to the control group). The pooled standardised mean difference (SMD) indicated a small reduction in suicidal ideation of -0·22 (95% CI -0·39 to -0·04, p=0·017; six studies) in the intervention group. For help-seeking attitudes and intentions, four studies met the inclusion criteria and follow-up data were available for 362 (86%) of 420 participants (247 [59%] allocated to the intervention group and 173 [41%] to the control group). The pooled SMD showed no evidence of a difference between the groups (SMD=0·14, 95% CI -0·15 to 0·43, p=0·35; four studies). Low levels of cross-study heterogeneity effects were observed for both analyses (I2=5% [suicidal ideation] and I2=36% [help-seeking attitudes and intentions]). We found no evidence of publication bias. Media narratives of hope and recovery from suicidal crises appear to have a beneficial effect on suicidal ideation in individuals with some vulnerability, but there is insufficient evidence regarding help-seeking attitudes and intentions. These findings provide new evidence about narratives for suicide prevention. None.

Trajectories of hope/lessness among men and women in the late stage of a life sentence

Drawing on Snyder's ‘hope theory’ as a conceptual framework, this article examines the hope narratives of men and women at the ‘late stage’ of a life sentence. The article aims to bridge the existing gap between jurisprudence and sociological accounts on hope and life imprisonment by extending this debate to men and women serving reducible life sentences in England and Wales, for whom release is not guaranteed but assumed to be attainable. Through focusing on the individual ways in which the spectre and procedural elements of release shape narratives of hope and hopelessness, this article agrees with Vannier that recent human rights debates have fallen short in terms of subjectively understanding the complex relationship between ‘hope’ and ‘release’ for life-sentenced prisoners. It concludes by highlighting the necessity of procedural legitimacy in reducing uncertainty and promoting and maintaining hope among this group.

Blank Squares: A Narrative of Disillusionment and Hope

Blank Squares: A Narrative of Disillusionment and Hope

Conflict and Narratives of Hope: A Study of Youth Discourses in Kashmir

Conflict and Narratives of Hope: A Study of Youth Discourses in Kashmir

Conflict and Narratives of Hope: A Study of Youth Discourses in Kashmir

Conflict and Narratives of Hope: A Study of Youth Discourses in Kashmir

Book Review: Munther Isaac - The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope

Book Review: Munther Isaac - The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope

Solidarity in Place? Hope and Despair in Postpandemic Membership

AbstractInitially portrayed as the “great equalizer,” the COVID-19 pandemic has proved anything but. This essay recounts the sobering social disparities and vulnerabilities that the pandemic has exposed, especially when it comes to the inequalities that are baked into existing membership regimes, before turning to narratives of hope and democratic renewal. My discussion shines a spotlight on the relationship between borders, (im)mobility, and struggles for recognition and inclusion that have long been central to the practice of citizenship. Focusing on pathways to the acquisition of full membership status for those who are currently denied it, I will deploy logics and policies that have already begun to take shape in different parts of the world, with the goal of amplifying their effects and multiplying their scale. I identify three possible trajectories for postpandemic recovery, two of which offer ways to enhance equality of status and public standing by enlarging the circle of membership: first, through contribution (or what I will term “jus contribuere”), and second, by highlighting what we might call “solidarity in place.” The third reaction, which we might call the “stratification of membership,” pulls in the opposite direction by sharply redrawing the lines—legal, economic, social—that have distinguished insiders from outsiders, and exacerbated patterns of stratification and inequality of status and opportunity that predate the pandemic.

Crafting Emotions: The valence of time in narratives about the future of Europe in the Council of Europe (1949)

How are emotional narratives used to mobilise support for or opposition against policy ideas about the institutional set-up of European integration? This article systematically examines the first General Debate of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in 1949, which featured as a laboratory for the rise and demise of various blueprints for European integration. This article makes a threefold contribution. First, it introduces a narrative approach that combines the valence of emotions with their temporal dimension. Second, it demonstrates how these emotionally charged narratives of hope, redemption, fear and sacrifice provide the affective glue of an emerging (transnational) emotional community that cuts through nationality and political colour. Third, taking a historical approach this article points at the need to historicise the role of emotions in European integration.

"We're Not Moving Forward": Carers' Demand for Novel Research and Effective Interventions for Psychotic Disorders.

The lack of access to effective interventions for psychotic disorders places a considerable burden on informal caregivers. At the same time, the convergence of clinical neurosciences and next-generation genomics has the potential to transform psychiatric care. This article presents findings from a qualitative study. I conducted focus groups with carers of a person suffering from psychosis. I investigated how carers conceptualise the ethical issues arising from novel neurobiological approaches to psychosis. On the one hand, carers pictured a narrative of hope. They strongly demanded novel research and effective interventions that might help their ill relative to recover and lead a flourishing life. On the other hand, carers were frustrated at their present situation and feared that technological innovation might produce more harm than benefits. I argue that carers' moral outlook can be best understood by referring to an ethics of care. This study suggests that investigating carers' perspectives on sensitive ethical issues is vital to ensure that the needs of those who suffer from psychosis are appropriately met.

Promising precision medicine: how patients, clinicians and caregivers work to realize the potential of genomics-informed cancer care

This paper examines the emerging field of molecular oncology, in which targeted treatments are sought for patients who have exhausted standard cancer therapies. Drawing on an ethnographic study at a U.S. academic medical center, and building on recent theoretical work examining potentiality as a site where expectations, meaning and value are produced, I describe efforts to translate genetic information into extended life for patients. Clinicians, patients and families performed various types of largely-unrecognized labor that invested precision medicine with potential even when life-prolonging therapies remained elusive. Their future-making work was enabled and constrained by the structural conditions of U.S. health care. In this context potentiality was a generative force that was harnessed to the interests and inequities of a market-driven health system, raising important questions about who is able to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from emerging innovations and narratives of hope.

Effects of suicide prevention videos developed by and targeting adolescents: a randomized controlled trial

Suicide prevention videos featuring young people’s personal narratives of hope and recovery are increasingly used in suicide prevention, but research on their effects is scarce. A double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the effects of a suicide prevention video featuring an adolescent mastering his suicidal ideation by getting help on 14 to 19-year-olds. N = 299 adolescents were randomly allocated to watch the intervention video (n = 148) or a control video unrelated to mental health (n = 151). Questionnaire data were collected before (T1) and immediately after exposure (T2), and 4 weeks later (T3). Data were analyzed with a repeated-measures ANCOVA. The primary outcome was suicidal ideation, assessed with the Reasons for Living Inventory for Adolescents. Secondary outcomes were help-seeking intentions, attitudes towards suicide, stigmatization of suicidality, and mood. There was an immediate beneficial effect of the intervention on suicidal ideation (T2 mean change from baseline within intervention group MChange = − 0.16 [95% CI − 0.20 to − 0.12], mean difference compared to control group MDiff = − 0.09 [95% CI − 0.15 to − 0.03], ηp2 = 0.03), which was not maintained at T3. Participants reported significantly higher help-seeking intentions, which was maintained at 4-week follow-up. They also reported a sustained reduction of favorable attitudes to suicide. Effects on suicidal ideation were mediated by identification with the featured protagonist. Adolescents appear to benefit from suicide prevention narratives featuring personal stories from peers on coping with suicidal ideation and help-seeking.Trial registration DRKS00017405; 24/09/19; retrospectively registered.

Understanding Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Rejection of Hope

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me is written as a letter to his son, but serves many roles: a collection of personal experiences as an African American man, a history of black people’s exploitation and oppression in America, and advice for navigating the country and its historical, systematic, expansive and deeply embeddedd racism. Readers and critics have noted the pessimism of the work, as Coates writes pragmatically and coldly with no optimism about the potential to end the racist oppression of black Americans. This essay analyzes Coates’ rejection of hope by parsing through the audiences he addresses and the respective messages underlying his work. First, the essay considers how Coates urges readers to think critically about the hopeful narrative of the American Dream and see how it obscures the racism underlying and determining both white Americans’ economic, political and social successes, as well as the struggles and cyclic obstacles afflicting black American communities. Using literary analysis, the essay argues that Coates’ rebuke of the American dream is meant to be addressed towards white Americans, as they are more susceptible to accepting its tempting and convenient narrative. Coates provides his son and the black American community with a different critique of hope; he shows the futility of maintaining optimism about the achievement of racial equality when that outcome depends on their nation and white peers who demonstrate no interest in ending the racist structures and systems that privilege them. Coates’ argument is clarified in the essay by framing it as a form of literary theorist Lauren Berlant’s conception of cruel optimism. Ultimately, by exploring the nuance in Coates’ pessimistic work, the essay reveals how Coates’ rejection of hope is both an effective message in addressing his various audiences and a justified sentiment, particularly given the high cost of holding on to hope for black Americans.