Notion Of Self Research Articles

The Journal Project and the I in Qualitative Research: Three Theoretical Lenses on Subjectivity and Self

From the beginnings of qualitative research in the late 19th century to today, researchers have struggled to make sense of the notion of self or subjectivity; in other words, the I in the research. We ask ourselves: Who is the researcher? How is their notion of self present during research? How is research a site for contested notions of self? Who is the I in qualitative research?

Ethnic Background and Meanings of Authenticity: A Qualitative Study of University Students

Ethnic Background and Meanings of Authenticity: A Qualitative Study of University Students

Hegel, Heidegger, and the 'I'

In scholarly community, there is general agreement that notion of self has become indispensable to contemporary social and political discourse and that specific models of self have specific implications for politics and society. In a superficial sense, everyone knows what it means to be an 'I,' in sense that everyone has a basic practical knowledge underlying use of this indexical utterance, as everyone must learn rules governing use of pronoun 'I' in order to become a speaker.1 However, immediate or common-sense understanding of this idea may imply an account of self that is not fully exhaustive and, more importantly, has practical consequences (for example, regarding one's relationships with others and one's integration into a community) that might or might not be desirable in social or political terms. One of tasks of philosophy is to put such immediate or common sense understandings under scrutiny, to provide a richer understanding of such a subject matter, and to possibly develop an alternative account.Throughout history of philosophy, development of concept of 'I' has been a constant concern. It was Descartes who developed Aristotelian notion of a self-sufficient underlying subject into idea of 'I' as a thinking subject, an idea that gave modern philosophy its peculiar subjectivistic twist. By 'subjectivism' here, I mean philosophical tenet that nature of reality, as related to a given consciousness, is dependent on that consciousness. This subjective account of 'I' is characteristic of modernity and, as observed by Malpas, indissolubly connected with the way in which modernity also seizes upon, and thematizes, objective. In other words, the attempt at a purely 'objective' understanding of world prioritization of physical science) is strictly related to subjectivism (the prioritization of 'cogito').2Even Kant was not immune from this subjective account. According to Kant, experiences must be held together in transcendental unity of apperception: I-think. We can trust our knowledge, provided we admit that we know things as they appear to us (phenomena) and not things in themselves (noumena), which can never be known. In other words, objectivity for Kant does not mean extra-subjectivity but universal and necessary subjectivity.The Kantian notion of thing-in-itself quickly became a subject of dispute. Fichte questioned its very existence-after all, if we cannot know things in themselves, they might also not exist. In his radicalisation of Kantian 'I-think,' however, Fichte built on Kantian idea that I-think is self-consciousness (not only 'I know,' but 'I become conscious that I know') to argue that 'I' must be self-positing and self-determining. Thus, Fichte put into jeopardy very distinction between subject and object on which entire Cartesian and post-Cartesian metaphysics is based.3Now, consider current debates regarding conception of self. Generally, such debates still polarize subjectivist and objectivist readings of 'I' into irreconcilably opposed camps. They both assume, however, a fundamental distinction between subject and object, a distinction on which very possibility of conceiving a 'subjectivist' or 'objectivist' position is grounded.I submit that it is possible to elaborate an alternative account of 'I' that overcomes Cartesian subjectivism and bypasses traditional oppositions between subjectivist and objectivist accounts of self. I also submit that intellectual resources needed to elaborate such an account can be found in philosophical views of Hegel and Heidegger. As this is clearly a very large project, this paper necessarily has a narrow focus and is limited to preliminary work and reflections.HEGEL'S IDEALISTIC OBJECTIVITYAccording to Beiser, German idealism was, from its inception, a reaction to subjectivism. …

The three-ness of three ones

Abstract This article explores processes within a dance practice as research (PaR) case study and draws upon theoretical and philosophical conceptions of the interval and kinaesthetic empathy to discuss relational and emergent processes that have arisen out of three ones (2012). Artistic processes that deal with the embodied experience are prioritized, and commentaries from dancers in the work and from audience members are centralized in a discussion on touch-based, improvisational practice. The subjective perspective and experience of the mover is considered and the discussion further focuses on the between-ness of movement to provoke questions about inter-subjectivity and notions of self and other. I propose that attending to touch-based, improvisational processes elicits a three-ness between the three dancers that offers ways to consider the multiple nature of exchange. I question how gained understandings of relationality through this PaR case study can lead to new understandings of the affective potentiality in our everyday interactions with other bodies and objects and our relationship with environment.

Vitalistic Discourses of Violin Pedagogy in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract The pedagogical treatise is generally understood to be a manual of singing or instrumental techniques that is largely practical in approach, yet a critique of violin tutor books dating from the early twentieth century, especially those written by the renowned violinists Joseph Joachim (writing in conjunction with Andreas Moser), Leopold Auer, and Carl Flesch, reveals an extensive engagement with a range of wider ideologies. In a bid to trump the supposedly deadening effects of both a historicism resulting from the availability of earlier treatises, as well as the overly scientific approach taken by contemporaneous treatises, these violinist-authors embrace metaphysical ideals of mind or vitality, and the result is a model of violin playing founded on the concept of “singing tone,” an idea developed out of nineteenth-century notions of song/melody as embodying a vital essence. As did Wagner, in his 1869 essay Über das Dirigiren, writers play with the idea that theoretical and performative categories, such as tempo, phrasing, dynamics, vibrato, and types of bow stroke, both conflict with each other and find a deeper unity in a subjectivist ideal of tone. The approach of these texts is not explorative, however, so much as a rather defensive championing of the idea of mind or vitality: ideologies of self, health, and nationalism ultimately prevail over an engagement with historical evidence in Moser's discussion of ornaments, and Auer's intolerance of any mitigating influence that might qualify the artist's final word on aesthetic matters is reminiscent of a reductive, Nietzschean ideal of vitality. Nevertheless, writers struggle to reconcile it with the messier realities of performing, as an embodied and collaborative activity, and subsequently what speaks louder in their texts are anxieties over affronts to notions of self, expressed using pathological notions common to the era. Whereas at times writers encourage students of the violin to share in their lauding of vitalistic ideals, more often than not they try to impose disciplinary measures as a means of inculcating them.

Stylised Configurations of Trauma: Faking Identity in Holocaust Memoirs

Exploring a series of fraudulent Holocaust memoirs-Herman Rosenblat's Angel at the Fence, Misha Defonseca's Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust, Binjamin Wilkomirski's Fragments and Helen Demidenko's The Hand That Signed the Paper-, this paper argues that fakes are not some 'bogus Other' (Ruthven 3) of 'genuine' literature but in fact parodic works that reflect on the tenuous nature of both the past and the notion of self. Indeed, the revelation of a fraudulent memoir exposes the investments of a public culture in notions of the real-firstly, in terms of an authentic identity and secondly, in relation to a genuine literary experience. The Holocaust frauds perpetuated by Rosenblat, Defonseca, Demidenko and Wilkomirski, in exploiting an historical phenomena regarded as sacrosanct, highlight and utilise the commodification of trauma in both public and literary arenas, manipulating discourses of victimhood and authenticity in order to interrogate the boundaries of the real and the unreal and, indeed, to reveal the faultlines in literary culture per se. Less interested in literary classifications, however, than in notions of history and identity, this paper contends that the scandals surrounding fakes are fundamental to understanding anxieties about the connection between word and world, and the strange expectation that literature is able to provide access to something 'true'.

Diasporic films and the migrant experience in New Zealand: A case study in social imagination

Drawing upon interviews and focus groups with Asian migrants, this article interrogates responses to ‘diasporic’ films that seek to represent multicultural experiences in contemporary New Zealand. We argue that these responses provide an effective demonstration of the operation of the ‘social imagination’, a discursive process that articulates the fundamental linkage between symbolic representation, community formation and social action. As our respondents narrated the personal meanings that they construct around ethnically specific media, they were compelled to describe known and hypothetical others, to elucidate symbolic and moral codes, and to reveal social empathies and anxieties. In this study, we found that discussions around migrant stories revealed a series of deeply personalised notions of self and place that were always situated in juxtaposition with externalised projections of community formation and the ‘mainstream’ culture. This dynamic reflects what can be conceptualised as the central preoccupations of a ‘diasporic social imagination’. These responses, therefore, constitute a case study of social imagination at work in a multicultural context, underlining the utility of narrative media in providing a public forum for discussing cultural diversity.

‘Mzungu!’: implications of identity, role formation and programme delivery in the sport for development movement

Prevailing academic notions regarding Sport-for-Development-and-Peace (SDP) programmes advocate a ‘transformative vision’ that is hoped to convert the movement from a ‘damaging’ development practice, to one which fulfils its potential and elicits benefits worldwide. Volunteers are perceived to be a fundamental element of this transformative vision. This paper provides insight into the voluntary experience of the SDP movement, placing particular attention towards notions of self, the (re)construction of identity and its impact upon the delivery of a developmental initiative located within a Zambian community. Utilizing an interactionist perspective, the paper identifies three related themes that collectively represent the experiential landscape across which participant views were aired – preconceptions and effect on identity and behaviour; experiences and effect on identity and behaviour; and responses to experiences of identity disruption. Following analysis of these themes, the paper finds that SDP programmes may be enhanced through increased transparency of communication in relation to the role of the volunteer to limit preconceptions and expectations associated with the programme and enable volunteers to arrive in the field better equipped to respond to the challenges of the role.

The Other (Woman): Limits of Knowledge in Beauvoir's Ethics of Reciprocity

ABSTRACT The ethics of reciprocity offered by Simone de Beauvoir is founded upon an irreducible epistemic gap between self and other. This gap is often overlooked by commentators, who have tended to imply that the ethics of reciprocity requires recognition of oneself in the other. I claim that Beauvoir's ethics forecloses such recognition of oneself in the other and reveals that it is at once illusory and dangerous. Recognition in this sense is based upon a false notion of self and constitutes a violation of the alterity of the other. I argue that Beauvoir stages this dangerous form of recognition in her novel She Came to Stay, while her claims about reciprocity in The Second Sex provide an image of a different, more positive recognition capable of respecting alterity. Finally, I claim that the epistemic gap characteristic of reciprocity also holds with respect to one's self-relation.

Darkly Dreaming (in) Authenticity: The Self/Persona Opposition in Dexter

In ‘Darkly Dreaming (in) Authenticity: The Self/Persona Opposition in Dexter,’ Glenn D'Cruz uses Dexter Morgan, the novelised serial killer and Showtime TV anti-hero to examine the connections between self and persona and the discourse of authenticity. D’Cruz foresees a series of challenges for persona studies and considers key concerns ahead, in terms of the critical vocabulary and scholarly agenda and addresses the need for critical genealogy of the term ‘persona’.

Punctuated equilibrium based on a locally ambiguous niche

Punctuated equilibrium, recently regarded as the power law distribution of lifespan, is estimated with respect to self-organized criticality. Previous explanations were based on a global property, such as the selection of species depending on their fitness, however a particular entity defined through such global property cannot be relevant to the notion of “self”. Here, we introduce local ambiguity of a niche with respect to function and define a function network by using two types of maps. Due to the local complex structure of the function network, motif and lateral connections, some species are easily replaced by others, and other species have long lives. Punctuated equilibrium can, therefore, be explained by local ambiguous interaction, which suggests the notion of self and supports the idea of self-organized criticality.

Abdullah Bin Abdul Kadir: Hadijah Rahmat's Focal Point In Malay Literature

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir or Abdullah Munshi is a respected figure who is often associated with his standing as the Father of Modern Malay Literature as compared to Hamzah Fansuri. He has become one of Hadijah Rahmat’s focal point in her works; whether in her academic research or in creative works. Among others, this paper focused on the standing of Abdullah Munshi which explains her leaning towards him. This is gleaned through her academic works, for example on what she has deduced from Antara Dua Kota ( Between Two Cities: Tracing the works of Munsyi Abdullah in and Singapore , In search of Modernity A Study of Concepts of Literature , Authorship and Notions of Self in Traditional Malay Literature or Mengukir Air di Pesisir Sastera Melayu/ Indonesia dalam Arus Jagat . The same applies in the poetry collection Di Tengah Alam ( At the Center of Nature ), the drama Munsyi or Kurnia Alam ( Gift of Nature ) that was crafted by Hadijah Rahmat; the personality of Abdullah Munshi which she attempted to discover. This paper shows the link between the two figures in representing among others the continuity of relationship between Malay literature in Malaysia and Singapore. Keywords: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, Abdullah Munshi, Hadijah Rahmat, Malay Literature, Malaysian Literature, Singaporean Literature

Introduction: Institutions in the Making: Identity, Power, and the Emergence of New Organizational Forms

Thirty years ago, new institutional theory challenged the then dominant functionalist explanations of organizational behavior by pointing to the role of meaning in the production and reproduction of organizational practices (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Meyer & Scott, 1983). But new institutional theory was soon subject to both internal and external criticism for having, among other things, replaced the invisible hand of the market with the invisible hand of culture. In effect, it was difficult for the theory to explain how institutions change and develop in different directions because actors were subjugated to institutions (Powell & DiMaggio, 1991). The result was an oversocialized conception of humanity, in Wrong’s (1961) terms, in which institutions shaped all behavior and, thus, seemed to arise and evolve on their own accord. The criticism has led to various attempts to introduce a theory of action compatible with the main precepts of the new institutionalism (Scott, 1994). One approach has been to argue for a rational actor in a constructed world (e.g., DiMaggio, 1988). A second approach has been to combine the theory of organizations with the theory of individuals by developing a middle-range theory of how processes of interest articulation and organizational decision making have been institutionalized (e.g., Fligstein, 1996). A third approach has been to develop a constructionist view in which actors themselves are historically created and variable, with different notions of self, of identity, and of connection to the group over time (e.g., Meyer, Boli, & Thomas, 1987).

The fruit of liberty: political culture in the Florentine Renaissance, 1480-1550

In the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the republican city-state of Florence--birthplace of the Renaissance--failed. In its place the Medici family created a principality, becoming first dukes of Florence and then grand dukes of Tuscany. Fruit of Liberty examines how this transition occurred from the perspective of the Florentine patricians who had dominated and controlled the republic. The book analyzes the long, slow social and cultural transformations that predated, accompanied, and facilitated the institutional shift from republic to principality, from citizen to subject.More than a chronological narrative, this analysis covers a wide range of contributing factors to this transition, from attitudes toward office holding, clothing, and the patronage of artists and architects to notions of self, family, and gender. Using a wide variety of sources including private letters, diaries, and art works, Nicholas Baker explores how the language, images, and values of the republic were reconceptualized to aid the shift from citizen to subject. He argues that the creation of Medici principality did not occur by a radical break with the past but with the adoption and adaptation of the political culture of Renaissance republicanism.

A Taste for the Transgressive: Pushing Body Limits in Contemporary Performance Art

A Taste for the Transgressive: Pushing Body Limits in Contemporary Performance Art

From virtue ethics to rights ethics: Did the Reformation pave the way for secular ethics?

In chapter four of his book, The unintended Reformation, Brad Gregory argues that ethical thinking since the 1500’s experienced a major shift in emphasis from the teleological concept of a ‘substantive morality of the good’ to liberalism’s ‘formal morality of rights’. He attributes it to the religious upheavals and ‘sociopolitical disruptions’ during the Reformation era. This article probes three elements of Gregory’s argument. Firstly, the article offers a critical assessment of Gregory’s depiction of the Reformation’s stance towards reason. It pays particular attention to the Reformation’s understanding of the effects of sin on the human being’s image of God, reason and the possibility for a shared social ethics. Secondly, this study scrutinises Gregory’s argument that the Reformation created an individualist notion of selfhood in contrast to the Roman Catholic communal notion of selfhood and thereby paved the way for modernism. Lastly, the discussion probes into Gregory’s claim that the Reformation’s ethical paradigm diverged radically from the Latin Christendom paradigm and that this contributed to the subjectivisation of ethics, by replacing a virtue ethics with a rights ethics.

Ideology, Affect, Semiotics: Towards a Non-personal Theory of Personality

Personality theories, as Giordano (2014) argues, often treat Western versions of the self as having universal import. Eastern notions of self, however, offer a dramatically different basis for thinking about what personality might be. This paper, nonetheless, seeks to offer a general framework for theorizing about the epiphenomenon of personality in any culture, asserting that it is an effect of specific histories of ideological practices, semiotic networks and systems, and affect, which engage each other in dialogic and dialectical ways. The interactions of these factors, guided by ideology, regularize behavior and affective dynamics, largely in non-personal ways. Subjects are produced and reproduced from these complex interactions, which are situationally specific and simultaneously transpersonal. The subjects formed through these interactions are the basis for the folk psychology of personality, which treats the transient, varying effects of these interactions as more or less reified qualities that form a basis for the construction of selfhood, however conceived.

On the tacit side of organizational identity: Narrative unconscious and figured practice

It is a paradox of research on organizational identity formation that it cannot take place without reliance upon the expressive acts people use, yet the experience of identity cannot be reduced to such expressions. People are more than they can tell. Drawing from a study of a communication agency and building on notions of self in pragmatism, anthropology, and narrative philosophy, I identify two chief dimensions of tacit organizational identity: (1) the narrative unconscious in the stories that people live by and (2) the related figuring of formative organizational practice, in particular regarding choice of and framing of projects. In the case of organization, an episode revolving around the presentation of the ‘New Bohemian Laws’ provides a window to explore both these dimensions. Implications include a refined methodological approach to identity research. It involves acknowledging ‘feelings of identity’, attending to poetics, tuning-in to refrains and styles, and pursuing a relational subjectivity.

Parental experiences of the “Time Together” home visiting intervention: an Attachment Theory perspective

This paper reports the results of research into parental experiences of the Somerset (UK) “Time Together” home visiting intervention, with regards to its impact on the parent-child relationship. The research was carried out using an Attachment Theory lens in order to understand the qualitative experiences of seven parents of children in the early years who were identified as being socially isolated and/or having difficulties relating to their child. The key findings were that parents experienced a change within their notion of self, seeing their child as a separate self and seeing the world more through their child’s eyes. They experienced a wider range of play activities which brought about greater levels of attunement and enjoyment. The parent and home visitor relationship served to empower parents. A flow diagram was created to illustrate the processes of the research interactions and outcomes. This provides a model of how parents can be supported to experience greater enjoyment within their relationship with their child, and increase their level of social engagement.

A Quest for Identity in Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

Identity or the preoccupation with one’s self constitutes one of the main obsessions of Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) as a novelist. The fundamental argument in this paper is the quest for identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). She portrays characters who try to recognize themselves based on their own inner desires and thoughts. Many signs and hints in the novel demonstrate the main character’s notion of selfhood and identity changes as she is exposed to the new conditions, realities and experiences. At the end of Janie’s journey, she turns into an integrated and self-aware individual through a psychological process. Theoretically, this paper applies Frantz Fanon’s (1925-1961) theories, who dealt with psychological impacts of colonialism on the colonized people. Concerning his critique of the White’s oppression on black people, Fanon focuses his argument on the inadequacy of European rationalism and their disregard of the experience of ‘the other.’ For him colonization is totally a Euro- or White-centered discourse which does not account for or include non-White and non-European discourses. Fanon asserts that black people need to free themselves from the hegemony of White people and become independent. Eventually, this paper shows that Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God, after all her attempts and search for self-realization or her feminine identity, gains a great success in achieving her goals.