Official Narratives Research Articles

The Epistemic Contrivance of National Identity: A Multi-Disciplinary Analysis of Elite Narrative Fabrication in Pakistan

This article rigorously examines the complex etiology of elite narrative fabrication in Pakistan, a phenomenon characterized by a profound disjunction between official state discourse and verifiable national performance across critical indices of economy, human rights, internal security, and human development. Drawing upon a syncretic theoretical framework encompassing defensive realism, ontological security theory, securitization theory, sociological perspectives on propaganda, and cognitive psychology, this study explicates the mechanisms through which a dominant elite, particularly the military establishment, constructs and perpetuates a reified national identity. This analysis introduces the novel concept of "Epistemic Autarky of the Elite" to denote the deliberate creation and maintenance of an insulated knowledge ecosystem, wherein official narratives are perpetually reinforced, contradictory evidence is systematically suppressed or reframed, and public perception is meticulously engineered to ensure cognitive consonance and political compliance, thereby insulating elite power from accountability derived from objective reality. Through an empirical analysis of recent incidents and macro-level data, this exposition demonstrates how this fabricated reality serves to legitimize an unsustainable grand strategy, manage internal anxieties, and secure political compliance from a discursively conditioned populace. The study further proposes "Ontological Dissimulation" as a specific practice within this autarkic system, referring to the deliberate fabrication of a state's autobiographical narrative to maintain a coherent, albeit fictive, sense of self and mitigate anxieties.

Normalising university graduate unemployment in China: governing through employability and moral exemplarism

ABSTRACT This study critically examines how the discourse of employability is mobilised in China as a technology of governmentality to manage graduate unemployment during a period of acute youth unemployment. Using Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ approach, it analyses official narratives from a state-affiliated WeChat platform that promotes employment in entrepreneurship, grassroots work, and the military. The analysis reveals how neoliberal and neo-socialist governmentalities converge to produce self-responsibilised and morally aligned subjects whose personal attributes and career choices are shaped to advance the state’s metanarratives of national strategy and developmental goals. While these narratives normalise precarious employment and obscure structural inequalities, the study also identifies silences and forms of resistance that challenge this governmentality. Moreover, by comparing Chinese and Western contexts, the paper demonstrates how employability serves as a governmental technique with distinct rationalities and effects across different political systems.

Family photographs at the intersection of vernacular and official memories: Remembering Han migration to Xinjiang

This study investigates the photographic memory of governmental-led Han migration from central China to Xinjiang since the 1950s. Going beyond the state-driven official narrative of the Han people joining the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) as ‘borderland constructors’ in the nation-building process, this study uncovers a mnemonic landscape by exploring the vernacular memories of Han migration through memory practices used to engage with treasured family photographs. Drawing on John Bodnar’s discussion of the relation between vernacular and official memories, this study treats family photographs as memory objects and analyses family photograph practices in multi-generational Han families. This study used 45 interviews with 15 families on their practices for engaging with family photographs documenting the migration to reveal how these photographs mark significant life moments and achievements of resettled individuals and connects personal experiences with national history while facilitating generational transmission. Drawing on original contributions grounded in empirical data from ethnographic interviews, this study examines the distinctive dynamics of vernacular and official memory in Chinese nation-building as encapsulated in these family photographs.

The unthinkable e-waste: uncover the dual narrative of the afterlife of electronic devices in China

ABSTRACT The global crisis of e-waste is intensifying, yet existing studies often remain confined within human-centered frameworks of e-waste management, overlooking the vast, complex, and sometimes “unthinkable” environmental and social impacts that extend beyond conventional environmental management narratives. This essay fills that gap by examining the ideology within media narratives surrounding the e-waste crisis in contemporary China. Through comparative critical discourse analysis, this study reevaluates the media representation of e-waste industry’s embedded ideology of technological solutionism. Drawing on Timothy Morton’s insight into the unthinkable nature of ecological crises, this paper introduces the concept of “Unthinkable e-waste” to reveal the complex eco-social dynamics of e-waste in China. Focusing on the dual narratives of Guiyu and Huaqiangbei in Guangdong Province—Guiyu as an e-waste dumping ground and Huaqiangbei as a center for the second-hand electronics market—this study explores two dimensions. First, it examines how early twenty-first-century activist documentaries portrayed Guiyu’s informal e-waste industry as a “grey space” of environmental degradation. Second, it analyzes the evolution of official narratives in Huaqiangbei, which frame China’s second-hand electronics industry within a “bright space” that emphasizes economic growth and innovation. By critically analyzing those visual and cultural representations of seemingly contradictory narrative, this research reveals the risks inherent in ideological reliance on technological solutionism. Ultimately, it underscores the need to critically engage with the contradictions in China’s e-waste narratives, encouraging a reimagining of e-waste as an ambiguous material and fostering a deeper sense of kinship with it.

Breaking the Mold: Brazil's Foreign Policy Insights

ABSTRACTBrazilian foreign policy studies have traditionally focused on the institutional role of Itamaraty, often overlooking the influence of academia in shaping diplomatic debates. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has historically led policy formulation, academic actors have contributed with intellectual frameworks that shape diplomatic strategies. This article examines how the relationship between these two spheres has evolved and identifies key moments of engagement and conflict. The study employs a qualitative, historical analysis based on process tracing, examining four critical periods of Brazilian foreign policy through academic literature, policy discussions, and interviews with diplomats and scholars. The findings suggest that academic contributions have reinforced official foreign policy narratives in moments of alignment, whereas in periods of divergence, they have challenged state‐led frameworks and informed changes in Brazil's international positioning. This study highlights the complex interplay between intellectual production and diplomatic practice, offering a more nuanced understanding of the forces shaping Brazil's global strategy.

Beyond words: decoding power structures and rhetorical legitimating categories within Xinjiang White Papers (2003–2019)

Abstract Political discourse is a persuasive device used to gain public support, and official counterterrorism narratives are no exception. Drawing on theoretical convergence between Critical Terrorism Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in their understanding of discourse as a persuasive tool, this research aims to demonstrate the utility of discourse analysis in deciphering the political ideology sustaining official counterterrorism rhetoric. Through quantitative diachronic observation of key terms (terrorism, separatism, and extremism) and the systematic codification of Xinjiang White Papers (2003–2019), this research applies van Leeuwen’s (2008) model of social practice analysis, participant representation, and legitimation categories to reveal the specific rhetoric tools ultimately aimed at securing the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) political legitimacy. This article builds on CDA theory by linking discourse and political practice, reflecting on the pragmatic consequences of implicit power structures within official counterterrorism discourse, involving in this case the CPC and ethnoreligious groups in Xinjiang.

Coverage of protests in Mozambique on professor Adriano Nuvunga's Facebook page: cyberactivism as a tool for mobilization and democratic resistance

Professor Adriano Nuvunga's Facebook page has emerged as an essential platform for covering protests in Mozambique, highlighting the potential of digital activism for mobilization and democratic resistance. In a context where traditional media often fail to reflect popular aspirations, Nuvunga leverages the digital space to expose abuses of power, report incidents of police repression, and shed light on the weaknesses of Mozambique’s democratic system. The professor’s approach is characterized by horizontality and closeness to the population, enhancing the visibility of social causes and encouraging public engagement. The page serves as an information channel and a space to foster active citizenship and build solidarity networks, as demonstrated in the six analyzed videos, with links in the table below. However, digital activism faces significant challenges like censorship, governmental repression, and misinformation. Despite these hurdles, Nuvunga’s efforts strengthen the fight for social justice and the democratization of information, offering an alternative to official narratives and amplifying the voices of marginalized citizens. Thus, digital activism is crucial in building a more inclusive and democratic society in Mozambique, underscoring its impact on the country’s political and social landscape.

Emotion Norms and International Securitization in Foreign Policy Analysis: The Official Russian Narratives on the Ukrainian-Russian War

Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) literature overlooks the role of emotion norms and narratives towards international audiences in the securitization process. This article addresses these two under-explored aspects of the securitization framework in FPA. First, it investigates the role of the international audience, a crucial yet largely under-theorized component in securitizing moves. Second, it analyzes the emotion norms intertwined with speech acts that construct the Russian Federation’s position towards international audiences by leveraging various emotions. In doing so, this research deconstructs the speeches of Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Vasily Nebenzya, on the Ukraine-Russia war, targeting international audiences, particularly at the UN. It also explores how securitizing moves are linked with emotion norms to frame the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russophobia in Nebenzya's narratives at the UN in 2022, before and after the Battle of Kyiv.

Reordering human waste. Public restrooms as a sign of socialist modernity in China

ABSTRACT The infrastructure of human waste management, from public restrooms and sewage systems to the cleaning squads that work to keep this profane substance in its proper place according to notions of public hygiene, makes a place modern. While a mundane aspect of social life, this infrastructure is deeply political, for it establishes not only a spatial organization for excrement but also a social order. Thus, for example, proximity to waste reflects low social status and can even be a source of stigma. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) featured this infrastructure in two examples of propaganda, the play Dragon Beard Ditch by Lao She depicting the reconstruction of an open sewer in Beijing by the government and the official commendation of a model dung worker named Shi Chuanxiang promoting the collector of human waste and restroom cleaner as a national hero. In this study, I analyse these cultural texts to show how the infrastructure of human waste materially and symbolically embodied a public culture of socialist modernity, which was a hybrid between Western ideals of modernity with the specifically socialist politics in the local historical context. The infrastructure of human waste management, I argue, manifested the CCP’s power to establish spatial and social order and helped legitimize the regime by showing it to be engaged in modernizing the nation. By my interpretation, the state sought, through Dragon Beard Ditch and the official narrative of the dung worker Shi, to frame the public interpretation of the infrastructure as the government’s concern for the Chinese people’s welfare and a socialist effort to elevate the working class.

To accept or not to accept? Discrepancies between declared and actual actions of the Polish government towards immigrants

Abstract The increase in the number of immigrants in developed countries is a response to the needs of their economies. At the same time, there is growing public resistance against the admission of immigrants. The migration policies implemented by the governments of these countries are the product of the interplay of different interest groups with often conflicting goals. This article uses the semantic field method to examine the official governmental narrative on the measures taken towards international migrants in Poland. The object of the study is all documents we found on the online government websites gov.pl for the period 2020–23. We confronted this narrative with the actual actions taken by the government, reflected by the changing number of foreigners legally residing or working in Poland between 2013 and 2023. We found that the descriptions of the government’s actions towards migrants published on the government websites clearly contradict the actual actions of the government. At the level of declarations, the government opposes the admission of migrants, focusing its message on the Polish-Belarusian border and migrants from Africa and Asia, and declaring Poland’s defence against their influx. In reality, the number of foreigners from these parts of the world obtaining residence or work permits in Poland is increasing exponentially. In this way, contradictions between different interest groups are reconciled, and the victims of such a policy are the migrants themselves. The word ‘migrant’ in Polish society has become a stigma.

Cold War Visual Legacies

This special issue explores the enduring visual legacies of the Cold War, an era of stark ideological division and intense geopolitical struggle, whose reverberations continue to shape contemporary crises. While debates persist on whether the Cold War officially ended with the dissolution of the USSR, recent global events – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resurgence of militarism, and escalating conflicts in Gaza – underscore its lingering impact. Through a transnational lens, the contributors examine how photography, as both a tool of state propaganda and resistance, has documented and influenced the political dynamics of this era. The issue extends prior research, transitioning from hemispheric Latin American contexts to a broader exploration of solidarities and revolutionary histories in East, West, and Southeast Asia, as well as other global regions. Key contributions include analyses of private archival practices that challenge official narratives, such as Soviet ‘dembel’ albums’ revealing soldier experiences and Afghan refugee collections critiquing propagandistic depictions of Afghanistan. By focusing on the circulation and recirculation of visual media, these studies illuminate shifting meanings and the role of photography in constructing memory. The contributors also investigate state-driven photographic networks. For instance, socialist bloc agencies collaborated on exhibitions promoting ideological unity, while Cold War-era Korean and Southeast Asian photographers crafted anti-communist visual solidarities. These projects expose internal contradictions within both ideological camps and highlight the complexities of visual diplomacy. Additionally, the role of photography as a medium for resistance is exemplified by the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s archives, which foster resilience and community under occupation.

How Bangladeshi Students Toppled a Government

In August 2024, a mass uprising in Bangladesh toppled the government of Sheikh Hasina after violent crackdown against a student movement demanding reform of quotas for public sector jobs sparked anti-government protests. In power for 15 years, Hasina had become increasingly authoritarian. But her divisive rhetoric, Internet blackouts, and use of force failed to suppress youthful opponents wielding memes and graffiti to spread the spirit of revolt. Now that some student leaders are in the transitional government, they face the test of delivering on those viral calls for democracy rather than just co-opting their style into a new official narrative.

​​Data on the Mind:​ How the Data on the Use of Force in Psychiatry Interacts with Professional Judgment

Psychiatric clinicians and managers increasingly use data to monitor the use of force on psychiatric patients. In this study, we describe how Danish authorities simultaneously emphasise a need for close data monitoring and tell a story of failure: rather than reducing force, they claim that data monitoring of mechanical restraint has simply replaced this type of force with other types. We show here how the official narrative of failure is based on highly selective data practices. It inadequately conveys the efforts of the psychiatric staff, with potentially negative implications for the development of clinical judgment. While the authorities and many clinicians support continued data monitoring, we argue a need to rethink the role of data in relation to force and to better appreciate how data practices affect understandings of expertise. We base our analysis on policy papers and official reports on monitoring practices in Denmark, secondary analysis of data from these monitoring practices, as well as observations from and qualitative interviews with clinical managers, administrators and clinicians. By engaging these policies and practices, we point to a need for a new form of anthropological engagement with the data politics currently shaping psychiatric expertise.

‘Atheists in the front pews’: religious change and continuity in Lithuanian postcommunist transformation narratives

ABSTRACT In my contribution, I examine vernacular memories of Lithuanian Catholics about the religious revival that paralleled many changes during the period of postcommunist transformation. Based on analysis of 40 biographical interviews, I explore the most salient accounts of religious change and continuity in relation to the official narrative about the Catholic Church suffering and resisting under communism. Drawing on the discursive psychology theoretical-methodological approach, I elucidate the social actions performed in autobiographical memory-making: dissociation, judgement, justification, expressing a sense of injustice, navigating the forgiveness dilemma, and managing continuity. Additionally, this article explicates how remembering is structured by hegemonic memory in three different ways. My interlocutors fully embraced, expanded upon or questioned the official narrative. I also demonstrate how memories are shaped by informants’ personal backgrounds and how they build on Catholicism as a social norm.

The Revisiting Ghosts in Morrison's Paradise

The purpose of this paper is to examine Toni Morrison's use of the spectral narrative in the novel Paradise and the role of the spectre in the novel. In the novel, both the town of Ruby, which is called a ‘black man's paradise’, and the convent, which is regarded as a place of sin, are infested with ghosts, which are not only supernatural beings, but also symbols of historical violence, collective trauma, and unresolved social problems, which represent repressed memories and ignored voices. Morrison employs the ghost narrative as a radical literary device to explore historical violence, trauma, and the possibility of future healing. The ghosts in the novel act as historical witnesses, challenging the official narrative of history by narrating silent memories. At the same time, the ambiguity and indeterminacy that characterise the spectre of the spectre subvert the traditional linear temporal narrative, pointing to the possibility of an unwritten future: the destruction of the town of Ruby represents the failure of the utopian isolation of African Americans, whereby self-exclusion can never be the solution for the hauting past , and may instead breed new groups of violence. And the open ending of the Convent is in response to Morrison’s exploration of how to reconcile and live with the haunting ghosts in contemporary society. The ghost narrative that the novel employed not only challenge the official narrative of history, but also provide a path to explore and imagine those unresolved hoistorical ghosts in contemporary society.

Depoliticization, Colonialism, and the Imperative to Disrupt Denial; Comment on "The Rhetoric of Decolonizing Global Health Fails to Address the Reality of Settler Colonialism: Gaza as a Case in Point"

This article builds on Engebretsen and Baker's editorial to explore recent developments in medical neutrality, the depoliticization of healthcare, and political intervention in the context of the war in Gaza. We examine how international health organizations have increasingly, though insufficiently, taken a political stance, criticizing the detrimental structural forces affecting Palestinians' life and health. Concomitantly, many Israeli healthcare professionals and organizations have shifted from a declared neutral stance to endorsing the state's official narrative. Additionally, we analyze the connections between settler colonialism, Israeli and U.S. policies, medicine, and international health organizations. While the discourse of decolonization provides valuable historical context for understanding the ongoing oppression of Palestinians, it often obscures critical issues, particularly the atrocity of the October 7 attack. We conclude by discussing the shift from literal denial to interpretive and implicatory denial, emphasizing the role of international health professionals and organizations in confronting these pervasive forms of denial.

Yuanyuzhou 元宇宙: yesterday, today, tomorrow. Historical roots, current visions, and future dynamics of real-world integration in the Chinese governmental narrative on the Metaverse

ABSTRACT As one of the most searched buzzwords on the Chinese Internet in 2021, the ‘Metaverse' (yuan yuzhou 元宇宙) has gained significant momentum in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), attracting the attention of entrepreneurs, politicians, and scholars. To contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon, the present paper provides a historical overview of the Metaverse, highlighting, through a de-Westernized lens, the peculiarities of its development within the specific historical and political context of the PRC. For this purpose, it combines a historical approach with qualitative thematic analysis, examining the Chinese official discourse on the Metaverse, mainly through the scrutiny of governmental papers. Specifically, this study tries to answer the question of how the Chinese official narrative on the Metaverse is being constructed and how it is evolving. In doing so, the essay starts by reconstructing the pre-history of the Chinese Metaverse; then, it focuses on the analysis of plans and action schemes implemented both at the central and national levels, especially in the municipality of Shanghai. The analysis demonstrates how the development of the Chinese Metaverse is in line with previous development goals of the government digital agenda and how its implementation is at the crossroads of technological-cultural progress, regulatory control, and ideological challenges.

Imagine air: Global commons, ‘ecological civilization’, and citizen visions beyond carbon markets in China

In global environmental governance, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions often involve turning pollution rights into commodities, essentially privatizing the air. Policies like carbon pricing and market approaches are considered effective solutions, especially within capitalist systems, and continue to rely on logics of the tragedy of the (atmospheric) commons. In China, the Communist Party proposed environmental policies aligning with capitalist development principles under the concept of ‘ecological civilization’. However, the perspectives on the ground differ from the government’s plans. Citizens, including sci-fi enthusiasts and eco-utopian thinkers in both rural and urban areas, have their own visions for a shared future that go beyond the narrow focus on economic growth, markets and pricing. Contrary to official narratives, interviews, social media discussions and popular artworks reveal that many envision the future ‘ecological civilization’ with clean air as commons for the more-than-human world. I argue that anthropological perspectives must attend to such creative spaces in which political subjects become enfolded in the commons, without eclipsing their potential to reinforce class divisions and social inequalities in environmental aspirations.

Can conspiracy theories ever be plausible? The role of narrative rationality in the assessment of online conspiracy theories

Abstract Conspiracy theories (CTs) represent a persistent challenge in evaluating major events, as they often employ fallacious forms of narrative reasoning and persuasion to posit conspiratorial agency and motives. While many CT narratives conflict with logic and reason, a minority may possess a degree of plausibility. But by what standards can plausibility of a CT be measured? This article introduces concepts from legal storytelling, rhetoric and cognitive linguistics to expand Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm framework, enabling auditors to critically engage with the rhetorical dynamics of CT narratives. Through an analysis of official and alternative narratives surrounding the death of a Russian spy, this article demonstrates how, in a similar way to the role of jurors in criminal trials, auditors may either join the rhetor in co-creating a coherent and plausible narrative, or end up challenging the rhetor by identifying problems and thus planting the potential seeds of rival accounts.

From Shinto Sect to Religion: The De-Shintoization of Tenrikyo

This article explores the identity negotiation of Tenrikyo during the post-World War II period by focusing on the way and extent to which it redefined its relationship with the state, nation, and Shinto traditions at discursive, representational, and material levels. According to the official Tenrikyo narrative, its teachings were restored to their “original state” after the end of World War II. In this process, many aspects of the doctrinal discourse that had previously been associated with Japan-centered interpretations were replaced with abstract or spiritualistic counterparts. The initiative of restoration marks a departure from its prewar past regarding doctrinal discourse and religious rites. Tenrikyo also underwent a process of dissociation from its identity as a Sect Shinto organization, which it had maintained until the late 1960s. Tenrikyo’s disaffiliation from Sect Shinto traditions resulted in “selective dissociation,” which reflects the lasting—albeit reduced—impact of Shinto traditions on the material formation of Tenrikyo’s sacred space. Using the complex process of Tenrikyo’s dissociation from its past, this article addresses the question of how minority religions negotiate their marginality by constantly maneuvering their discursive and social locations in relation to what is viewed as a “proper” religion in changing sociopolitical circumstances in Japan.