Narrative Perspective Research Articles

On the Therapeutic Use of Monoclonal Antibodies Against Amyloid Plaques in Older Adults with Down Syndrome: A Narrative Review and Perspective

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21 or T21) and is associated with an increased risk of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), also known as DS-associated AD (DSAD). Individuals with DS typically develop amyloid neuropathology in their late-thirties to early-forties and the mean age of onset of clinical dementia is approximately 55 years. Recent advances in AD clinical research have focused on monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques as a potential therapeutic approach. Therefore, there has been guarded enthusiasm about using anti-amyloid mAbs in the prevention/treatment of DSAD. This narrative review and perspective explores the current understanding of amyloid pathology in AD and DSAD, the rationale for using anti-amyloid mAbs in the treatment of DSAD, and the challenges and opportunities for research toward the application of this therapeutic strategy to older adults with DS.

Between institutions and narratives: Understanding collective action in innovation policy processes

AbstractExplanations for collective action focus on both institutions and narratives. On the one hand, institutional approaches emphasize the role of rules that guide human behavior. On the other hand, accounting for the narratives through which policy actors make sense of their actions helps in understanding strategic behavior. However, applying institutional and narrative perspectives together is daunting, in part because there has not been a common way to integrate the two approaches. In this article, we draw from Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) to elaborate a novel analytical approach that combines ANT with the Institutional Grammar Tool (IGT) and the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). We use IGT's and NPF's analytical categories in a processual perspective to examine how policy‐makers strategically use institutions and narratives to create and stabilize a network of actors in innovation policy processes. We illustrate our approach through an in‐depth analysis of the development of a smart city.

In Ice and Skin: Inuit Kakiniit Birth, Death, and Revival in a Modern Post-Colonial and Politicized Arctic

This paper delves into the profound history of traditional Inuit tattooing practices known as kakiniit against the backdrop of a post-colonial and highly politicized Arctic landscape. The story of the birth, death, and revival of kakiniit is amidst many traces of Indigenous resilience and transformation following rapid socio-cultural changes within communities during assimilatory efforts. Highlighting the narrative perspectives surrounding the birth of kakiniit, this paper serves the history of the artistic storytelling model and form of cultural expression through Inuit cosmologies and ontologies and revisits sites of its cultural preservation and revitalization, interrogating lingering assimilatory perspectives within the Arctic wherein colonial impositions intersect with Indigenous agency. Through the study of ethnographic narratives across age groups and geographies and engagement with contemporary resurgence efforts, this essay illuminates the deep-rooted complexity and dynamic adaptation of kakiniit throughout the ages, navigating its creation, temporary expulsion from Inuit culture and its revival and repurposing as a widely used historical recognition and cultural reclamation practice across Indigenous cultures in the Arctic as an adaptive expression of cultural continuity and resistance in the face of ongoing colonialist ideals.

THREAT CONSTRUCTION IN ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE: HOW FEAR APPEALS ARE CONSTRUCTED IN THE NATURE IS SPEAKING VIDEOS

Fear appeals are a form of discourse that arouses emotional imbalance which triggers a desire to alleviate the ensuing uneasiness. Often, such appeals result in some forms of behavioural changes, at least temporarily. In public discourse, the behavioural changes are expected to be compliance towards the fear appeal advocations. Previous studies reveal that the effect of fear appeals is largely decided by threat-framing strategies (Furedi, 2006). This study examines how threat-framing strategies are constructed to produce fear appeals in public service announcement (PSA) videos. Data for our analysis comprise of 13 PSA videos from the Nature Is Speaking campaign that was launched in 2014. These videos use a unique narrative perspective, with Nature highlighting its superior power and its indispensability to humans. We adopt the Proximisation Theory (PT) proposed by Piotr Cap (2013) to identify instances of threat occurrences. According to PT, a threat occurs when an external agent or force, referred to as “the outside-deictic-centre” (ODC), is conceptualised as crossing the space to invade another central figure in the narrative, referred to in PT as “the inside-deictic-centre” (IDC). Our analysis reveals that through different choices of nouns and pronouns, Nature is constructed as the ODC that threatens humans, the IDC. The threat-framing strategies were often found to be amplified through analogies, assertions, rhetorical questions, and parallel structures. This study adds to our understanding of how fear appeal PSAs are constructed; future research needs to further examine the effectiveness of these PSAs through public surveys.

The Narrative Function of “Soundscape” in Eileen Chang’s Novels in the Auditory Narrative Perspective——Taking Red Rose and White Rose as an Example

Auditory narrative is the expression and writing related auditory perception in narrative works. Eileen Chang’s Novels embody rich sensory narratives and take the auditory soundscape as a typical narrative. Scholar Fu Xiuyan believes that auscultating the soundscape with auditory narrative theory can “re-listen” to the classics and achieve the purpose of admonishing the “deafness” of literary research. Based on the theory of “auditory narrative” proposed by Fu Xiuyan, this paper selects the soundscape in Eileen Chang’s typical novel Red Rose and White Rose to analyze, and further explores the relationship between Soundscape Construction and Character Creation, Soundscape Cutting and Story Building, as well as Soundscape Contrast and Aesthetic Embodiment, in order to further supplement and enrich the new issues in the new field of Eileen Chang studies.

An Overview of Caribbean and African Literary Theories

As it is believed, Africa is the cradle of humankind, where humans also left for other parts of the world during the slave trade and also during World War I and II. At the abolition of the slave trade, many African descendants settled where they could call home, like in the Caribbean islands and other parts of the world, as a result of the ancestral and cultural attachment between Africa and the places where the descendants of the slaves where we could see some similarities in their ways of life. We can see these facts also translate into the African and Caribbean writers' literary works, among other spheres of life. The analyses show that while both literatures share common concerns related to colonial legacy and the quest for identity, they are distinguished by unique historical and socio-political contexts that influence their narrative perspectives. For example, African literature tends to focus more on the effects of colonization and decolonization on the African continent, while Caribbean literature often emphasizes the dynamics of the diaspora and the multiple facets of Caribbean identity. In addition, this study examines the use of language and literary techniques specific to each region, as well as the contributions of major literary figures such as aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Monique Ilboudo, Werewe Liking, Wole Soyinka, Maryse Condé and many others. Finally, this comparison offers a deeper understanding of the richness and diversity of postcolonial literature while highlighting the unique voices and shared experiences of African and Caribbean writers.

Becoming a Teacher Educator in a Social Injustice Environment: A Narrative Perspective

ABSTRACT This article describes the experience of becoming a teacher educator in a context of social injustice. The approach used was qualitative, using autobiographical narrative inquiry. Starting from a timeline, the principal author did a series of field texts and helped himself with memory boxes. Then, considering narrative inquiry as a relational methodology, the authors rewrote the stories of the principal author as a form of narrative analysis. After this analysis, it emphasized four stories: a) Stories about Overcoming Adversity, b) Stories of Personal Growth, c) About Wanting to Be a Teacher and d) Asking for Help. The conclusions support the possibilities the narrative inquiry offers as practical justice and, simultaneously, as an opening to new opportunities in teacher education processes.

Narrative construction of vocational identity in university students: The role of influential experiences and significant others in the framework of cultural psychology

This study sought to understand the process of construction of the vocational identity of university students. Assuming cultural psychology as a theoretical reference, a qualitative methodology was adopted, with a narrative perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants, male and female engineering, and psychology students from two universities in Colombia about their exploration process, choice, commitment, and reconsideration to the career. In the findings the vocational identity emerges as a product of the negotiation of meanings between the personal dimension and the social dimension of individuals, which allows them to intentionally orient their actions towards the achievement of their life goals. In turn, the negotiation between these two dimensions occurs through psychosocial processes derived from the influential experiences and interactions with significant others. These processes facilitate the appropriation of the folk psychology of a socio-cultural context, a background of meanings about occupational and/or educational practices on which the vocational identity is configured. It is concluded that vocational identity is a process in constant formation shaped by a social scaffolding mechanism; namely, support structures that provided by the relational resource in the context of everyday interactions and that assist in the configuration of vocational identity of young people. It has an important organizing function of experiences, emotions, cognitions, and actions in the occupational and educational spheres. The conceptual model validated by the findings allows understanding the process of negotiation of identity meanings and the construction of possible vocational worlds.

Women’s Bodily Redemption in Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road: An Analysis From the Perspectives of Body Narrative and Feminist Jurisprudence

Women’s Bodily Redemption in Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road: An Analysis From the Perspectives of Body Narrative and Feminist Jurisprudence

Addressing diversity: An analysis of German curricula for history

AbstractThis article analyses the extent to which German history curricula address aspects of diversity. The curricula are analysed in terms of whether they include diagnostic phases to identify students' individual interests. It also examines whether the historical experiences of minorities and the agency of subaltern groups are addressed. The extent to which the curricula abandon a Eurocentric perspective and integrate global historical aspects will also be considered. Methodologically, the curricula of two main school types in all German states were analysed by means of a qualitative content analysis. The focus was on curricula for lower and upper secondary schools. The results show that diversity is usually addressed only from the perspective of established narratives. A national and Eurocentric history continues to dominate the curricula. Only a few curricula explicitly address the diagnosis of students' performance and ideas. Finally, the paper discusses the evolving nature of curricula, influenced by societal needs and growing sensitivity to social diversity. It highlights the need for future research on diversity in teacher education and the practicality of implementing complex concepts such as postcolonial thought in the classroom. More empirical research is needed on current curricula and the teaching of history in different regions and types of school.

Language learning space and legitimation of adult second language speakers in the workplace

ABSTRACT This paper explores space in relation to the (il)legitimacy of migrants as second language learners and speakers. Migrants learn the host country’s language(s) in multiple settings, both in language classrooms and beyond in various institutional and non-institutional settings. The workplace is a crucial setting for many migrant language learners. Applying the concept of positioning (Bamberg [1997]. Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.7.42pos; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou [2008]. Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2008.018) to focus group discussions with four female highly educated migrants from Indonesia who recently came to Norway, the present paper explores the meanings and roles of space and place in the legitimacy of Norwegian language learners. As part of the focus group discussions, a city map was used to elicit the participants’ narratives. The findings illustrate that legitimacy as language learners and speakers is constantly negotiated and renegotiated in various learning spaces. Different spaces may be associated with different language ideologies shaping the power structures that affect how learners can be perceived as legitimate or illegitimate speakers. This study contributes new insights into the role of spaces in language learning and legitimisation of second language speakers, in particular, adult learners in a non-English-speaking country.

Amplifying Counterdiscourses: Feminist Narrative Perspectives in Addressing Clergy Sexual Abuse at Covenant Fellowship Church in Champaign-Urbana, IL

Amplifying Counterdiscourses: Feminist Narrative Perspectives in Addressing Clergy Sexual Abuse at Covenant Fellowship Church in Champaign-Urbana, IL

Narrativity and the Idea of Narrative Identity in Law

Abstract How can an extension of the legal perspective with the idea of narrative unity be presented using the law and literature movement? Considering law as a complex semiotic object that is a product (and carrier) of culture makes it possible to see elements of narrativity from a theoretical and legal perspective. This is a significant phenomenon, especially aft er the cultural turn in the humanities. This article presents a problematisation of narrativity in legal discourse and the theory of law. As is well known, the theory of narration and the concept of narrativity have been widely used in the humanities, mainly in literary theory. I propose extending the narrative perspective to law by showing what research directions can be observed when using the concept of narration in the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of law. Finally, I discuss the thesis of narrative identity in relation to law. I adopt the perspective of examining law in the light of literary analysis.

Gender in revelations: Unraveling gendered struggles and revisiting the construction of cultural identity paradigms in Badriyah Al-Bishr's Hend Wa alʿaskar (2006)

This article attempts to explore the intricate workings of gender dynamics in Badriyah Al-Bishr's Hend wa alʿaskar (2006). It investigates how the author challenges traditional gender norms through the representation of female characters who strive for liberation. Al-Bishr lays bare the complexities of gender roles within the Saudi Arabian context. Viewed from the lens of narrative perspective, her text reveals the silenced tales of women on the quest for agency and identity. Through vivid storytelling and rich character narrativization that builds on the stream of consciousness, flashback, anticipation, and disruptive temporality, Al-Bishr crafts a compelling narrative of women's revelations within a patriarchal setting. Drawing on cultural discourse analysis, and feminist social epistemology, the reading of Hend wa alʿaskar attempts to offer a nuanced exploration of how gender, power, and resistance intersect and coalesce together to produce a thought-provoking narrative about the contemporary Saudi Arabian context. The complexities of women's tales intricately weave an ambivalent knot of discourses within the narrative, enriching its depth and challenging conventional interpretations.

The Interwoven Aesthetics and Identification: On Aesthetic Modernity in Frankenstein

Frankenstein is famous for its exploration of humanity in its bizarre plots, but the importance of this work also lies in its aesthetic modernity, which is revealed under the veil of the complementarity of aesthetics and identification. Based on the relevant theories of aesthetics and modernity, this thesis attempts to analyze the aesthetic connotation and literary expression of Frankenstein from both aspects of content and form and to reveal the aesthetic modernity in this novel. The novel exquisitely depicts the desire and reflection of the created “monster” on beauty and identity, exposes the social ills and humanity defects resulting from Enlightenment modernity in the contradiction between the construction of subjectivity and the modern aesthetic shackles, expands the scope and boundary of sympathy in the switch of multiple narrative perspectives, thus constructing a community of compassion in literary creation. As a result, Frankenstein and its research from the perspective of aesthetic modernity have great literary value and significance.

Role of Translation in Global Literary Circulation

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the role of translation in global literary circulation. Materials and Methods: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: The study found that translation not only facilitates the accessibility of literary works to a broader audience but also enhances the global understanding and appreciation of diverse literary traditions. Through translation, works of literature from less commonly spoken languages gain international recognition, contributing to cultural diversity and inclusivity in the literary world. Additionally, translation fosters cross-cultural dialogue and enriches the global literary landscape by introducing unique narrative styles and perspectives. Consequently, the translation of literary works plays a crucial role in shaping a more interconnected and culturally aware global society. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Cultural translation theory, the polysystem theory and postcolonial translation theory may be used to anchor future studies on assessing the role of translation in global literary circulation. To enhance practical applications, stakeholders in the literary community should prioritize collaborative translation initiatives that involve diverse perspectives and expertise. In shaping policy frameworks, policymakers should prioritize funding initiatives that support translation projects for underrepresented literary traditions and genres.

On the Narrative of “Things” in Tobacco Road

American writer E.，Erskine Caldwell’ s novel Tobacco Road depicts the ignorant, backward and miserable lives of poor whites in the American South, revealing the ills of the southern society during that era. In the novel, the boundaries between people and objects are blurred, and people are objectified as victims of land and social oppression. Furthermore, things have an active power in the novel, driving the plot and carrying historical and spatial significance at the same time. The dilapidated houses and deserted farmland symbolise the end of an era and foreshadow social change. By analysing the “things” in the work, we can gain a deeper understanding of the tensions between peasants and natural resources, as well as the injustices in the social structure. The perspective of the object narrative also provides us with profound social and cultural insights into the economic exploitation and cultural oppression suffered by the poor sharecroppers in the South under the imperial rule.

Research on the Current Situation of English Teaching from the Perspective of Multimodal Narrative

This paper reviews the current situation of research on multimodal narrative in English teaching. The study reveals that: 1) Multimodal narrative teaching, as a novel teaching concept, integrates the advantages of both multimodal teaching and narrative teaching; 2) Multimodal narrative teaching not only revitalizes traditionally monotonous teaching methods, but also aids students in the deep processing of learned vocabulary; 3) Multimodal narrative teaching can further enhance students’ understanding and application of English vocabulary, thereby improving their vocabulary learning and positively impacting their overall vocabulary proficiency.

Disease as a Medium: Exploring the Metaphorical Turn and Discourse Changes in Chinese AIDS Films (1988–2023)

ABSTRACT Interpreting the visual and narrative discourse of AIDS in popular culture is pivotal in communication and cultural studies. However, there is a notable research gap concerning the narrative evolution in Chinese AIDS films. This study investigates the shifts in narrative perspectives and visual representations of people living with HIV in Chinese cinema, using conceptual metaphor theory and textual analysis. It identifies a metaphorical transition in societal perceptions of people living with HIV—evolving from “abjection politics” representing them as “criminals” through “compassionate politics” depicting them as “vulnerable” to “touching politics” celebrating them as “heroes.” This transition is intertwined with China's modernisation, mirroring changes in social structures and power relations. The research highlights the relationship between historical context and narrative truth in disease representation by using critical discourse analysis and drawing on Foucauldian power-knowledge concepts. The study reveals how AIDS narratives in film reflect broader socio-political shifts within China's modernising landscape, emphasising the intricate connection between power, knowledge, and disease portrayal. By tracing the discursive evolution in Chinese AIDS films, the research illuminates the dynamics of China's socio-political environment and underscores the multifaceted complexities inherent in disease narratives amidst societal modernisation.

Psychotherapy focusing on dialogical and narrative perspectives: a systematic review from qualitative and mixed-methods studies.

This systematic review identified qualitative and mixed-methods empirical studies on psychotherapy from dialogical and narrative approaches, aiming to address the following questions: (1) How are subjectivity and intersubjectivity qualitatively understood in dialogical and/or narrative psychotherapies studied using dialogical and narrative approaches? (2) How do therapeutic changes occur, including their facilitators and barriers? (3) What psychotherapeutic resources are available for psychotherapists in these types of studies? The articles were selected according to the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the eligibility criteria proposed by the PICOS strategy (participants, interventions, comparators, outcomes, and study design) from 163 records identified in the Web of Science Core Collection databases. The systematic review process allowed the selection of 16 articles. The results provided insights into the understanding of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, change in psychotherapy, its facilitators, and barriers from these perspectives. It also offered some therapeutic interventions that can be implemented in psychotherapies, integrating dialogical and/or narrative aspects. The centrality of dialogical exploration of patient/client resources, therapists as interlocutors fostering client agency, polyphony serving as scaffolding for change, and interconnection with the sociocultural environment are discussed. The integration of this latter topic has been a challenge for these types of studies, considering the active construction of shared meanings. The dialogical and narrative approaches focus psychotherapy on transforming meanings through dialogue and re-authoring stories, evolving within cultural and historical contexts. Thus, this study highlights the relevance of these perspectives in contemporary psychotherapy, emphasizing dialogue in co-creation within an intersubjective framework.