Reflective Piece Research Articles

Curious Travellers: New Journeys for the Home Tour

This short concluding chapter reflects on the work of an ongoing collaborative academic project focused on the C18th home tour. Curious Travellers could be described as a ‘crucible’ project—a space in which different media, different perspectives, and different research skills combine and collide. Currently funded by the AHRC, it is a digital humanities project involving TEI tagging and crowd-sourcing, but its foundation is archival research into manuscripts. It is focused through the influential Tours of Wales and Scotland published by the naturalist and antiquarian Thomas Pennant, yet it seeks to unpick the multiple voices and collaborations behind his texts and to explore their legacy in the journeys and texts of others. The creation of new editions continues to generate new topics and research questions, including Anglophone/Celtic-language interactions; the writings of women tourists; the role of material objects (specimens and souvenirs) and of visual culture in knowledge exchange and production. Increasingly, project researchers are relating their work to broader global contexts of colonialism and environmental history. The diversity of the genre has proved hugely stimulating for a range of audiences beyond academia: community engagement and creative practices have been a key feature from the start. There are, of course, challenges—practical, methodological, financial. This reflective piece will acknowledge the constraints, as well as the possibilities, of being multi-stranded, cross-disciplinary—and intermittently funded.

The Global Classroom in Action: Thirty Years of International Studies at the University of Technology Sydney

2024 marks a significant milestone for the Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (BAIS) and its successor, the Bachelor of International Studies (BIS), at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS): 30 years of pioneering global education and the fostering of international and transcultural understanding. To commemorate this anniversary in this issue of Portal: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, a selection of academic staff, past and present, who have contributed to the program, share their memories and insights through short essays and reflective pieces. This initiative seeks to honour the diverse experiences and pedagogical innovations that have shaped the program’s success over the decades. It also aims to explain the inevitable evolution of international studies at UTS in the wake of the global pandemic whose associated travel restrictions forced a rethink of how UTS might better deliver international studies with an array of new “internationalised/ising” experiences some of which start right here, where we are now.

Tsunamis in the Japan Major: Shifting Tides and Resilience

This reflective piece on the Japan Major at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) marks three decades of the Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (BAIS), now the Bachelor of International Studies (BIS) since 2022. The past 15 years have been especially transformative for the Japan Major, shaped by two significant events: the devastating tsunami on 11 March 2011 and the declaration of a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. Remarkably connected by a single date, these events frame a reflection on resilience, adaptability, and the evolving practices of global education, with student experiences at the forefront. Using the word ‘tsunami’ both literally and metaphorically, this essay explores how such shifts challenge and inspire pedagogical approaches.

The Past is Another Country

This reflective piece explores the formative years of the Institute for International Studies (IIS) at the University of Technology Sydney, considering its approach to global education and immersive learning. Through a critical reflection on the cultural and social context of early 2000s Australia, I recall the collaborative and experimental pedagogies that shaped both students and faculty. By embracing cultural difference, contextualisation, and student-centered inquiry, IIS cultivated a unique educational environment that encouraged exploration beyond conventional academic borders, ultimately laying the foundation for reimagining International Studies in a transformative way.

The lasting impacts of The Walt Disney Company within and beyond the classroom: A case study

This brief and reflective commentary piece discusses a series of outreach workshops entitled ‘Deconstructing Disney: Society, Culture, and Creativity’, which took place at Media City (University of Salford) in March 2023. The workshops were delivered to groups of school-age learners aged 14 to 16, and they focused on the social, cultural and political impact of The Walt Disney Company. Through the workshops, students were able to hone key critical thinking skills and build confidence by sharing viewpoints in a supportive and thought-provoking space. The workshops provided a stimulating and interactive platform in which students could explore the impact of Disney in society and culture, particularly through the lens of Disney films. The activities – which included analysis and discussion of the film clips and playing a game based on opinions about Disney – were both enjoyable and educational for students. By the end, students understood that Disney both implicitly and explicitly shapes our experiences and world-views, and that common stereotypes in Disney films ultimately influence how we perceive ourselves and others.

You….. And Me…..and a Cup of Tea: Eight insights we've gleaned from enlightened masters.

You….. And Me…..and a Cup of Tea: Eight insights we've gleaned from enlightened masters.

Stigma Toward Bipolar Disorder Among Psychiatry Residents: A Pilot Study Utilizing Narrative Medicine and a Video Vignette.

Stigma toward mental illness has been extensively described among health care professionals and has important implications with respect to quality of care. Narrative medicine has the potential to bring about positive impacts on the practitioner-patient relationship and on patient outcomes. The authors carried out a pilot study investigating the impact of narrative medicine on residents' stigma toward bipolar disorder. Psychiatry residents attended four narrative medicine workshops. During the encounters, the residents watched a video vignette displaying stigma-related experiences and life challenges faced by a standardized patient with bipolar disorder and were encouraged to discuss their personal reactions, opinions, and other reflections prompted by the video vignette, as well as to write reflective pieces on the content mobilized by the discussion. Stigma toward mental illnesses was measured through the Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes Scale-Version 4 (MICA v4). A total of 22 psychiatry residents attended the four narrative medicine workshops. Overall, the activity was well received by the residents. There was a small, non-significant decline in the pre- and post-activity MICA v4 scores among residents. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of implementing narrative medicine workshops for psychiatry residents and highlight the need for further studies with larger samples and a control group to evaluate its impact on stigma.

L’ONTOLOGIA TOMISTA TRA ARISTOTELISMO E NEOPLATONISMO

The Thomist Ontology between Aristotelism and Neoplatonism. With this article I share a piece of historiographical-philosophical reflection on the question of the oscillation between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism in Saint Thomas Aquinas: G. Ventimiglia’s synthesis of the path of the controversy on the Aristotelianism or Neoplatonicity of Thomas presents - implicitly - veins of some philosophical and theological thematic issues of the scholastic, neo-scholastic, existentialist and analytical West. My re-presentation of this path aims to push the deployment of the “dangerous” potential of the dualistic historical game in the philosophical and theological context in the Western twentieth century: glimpsing some problematic areas that require overcoming the Hellenic-Roman epistemological duality, and opening current theology to a multicultural and interreligious world vision.

Embedding the Flipped Classroom Approach to Support Student Learning in Animal Handling and Clinical Skills: Practical Classes Throughout a Veterinary Curriculum.

A comprehensive bank of flipped classrooms was developed to help students prepare for animal handling and clinical skills practical classes. Flipped classroom is a type of blended learning. In the context of clinical skills, it is designed to provide students with online learning resources prior to attendance at practical classes. The initiative was catalyzed by the pandemic, and the resources continue to be embedded throughout the curriculum. A team approach was used for the development of the bank, and the design embraced relevant pedagogical frameworks and active learning techniques. Feedback was gathered from a small group of students who completed an online form after each practical class throughout the academic year and wrote a reflective piece at the end of the project. Instructors who delivered practical classes participated in focus group discussions. Students particularly liked flipped classrooms that were well designed with a range of content and interactivity. The main benefits for students of the flipped approach were being more prepared and confident, less anxious, and making better use of in-class time to focus on learning skills. One of the main challenges encountered by instructors was managing a group when some students had not done the prework. A few other issues were mentioned, including when the standardized design template was not followed and the workload involved in continuing to enhance and expand the resources. Teamwork and training were crucial to the successful production of the large bank of flipped classrooms. Sharing our experience with the wider education community, within and beyond our institution, continues to be one of team's aims.

Healthcare ethics and artificial intelligence: a UK doctor survey

ObjectivesTo survey UK doctors on their uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and of their views on the ethics and regulation of AI in healthcare.DesignAnonymous cross-sectional e-survey.SettingAn online survey of UK...

Post-Custodialism, Distributed Custody, and Big Data

This reflection piece describes the outcomes of a research project undertaken by the National Archives of Australia that aimed to gather information from other government archives and selected Australian government agencies about their approach to archiving and preserving large-big datasets in the government sector. Big data collections pose a challenge for government archives around the world. Many of these archives have a role in information management in their government domains and provide guidance and advice to their government agency clients on ensuring the integrity and trustworthiness of data over time. The article examines the nexus between theory and practice, exploring issues related to the post-custodial ideas developed by Terry Cook and others in the 1990s and their practical implementation.

Attachment, shame and empathy in dyadic family therapy

AbstractThe aim of this reflective piece is to explore the under‐recognised contribution of shame to disorganising attachment–caregiving relationships. The first hypothesis is that ‘shame without solution’ is a part of a core and enduring emotional wound central to relational trauma in infancy and associated attachment disorganisation. The second is that dominance and submission hierarchies, order and control are potent defensive adaptations employed to stabilise ‘shame without solution’. Children exhibiting profoundly disturbed behaviours, stemming from intergenerational cycles of trauma and distress, are disproportionately represented in child protection, intensive family support and child mental health services. Despite being set up to support these children and their families, the most distressed mothers too often disengage, feeling blamed even by compassionate therapists who work hard not to alienate them. If the mothers disengage, the mothers and their children are left without professional support. Arising out of this theoretical work are recommendations that support constructive and effective working relationships with these families, originally articulated in Parallel Parent and Child Therapy (P‐PACT; Chambers et al., 2006). The first recommendation is to provide mothers with the support that we want the mother to give the child. This means meticulously avoiding reinforcing the negative self‐view typical of these mothers. The second recommendation is to prioritise empathy for the mother and the mother–child relationship early in treatment. For many practitioners, this second recommendation will conflict with their natural desire to prioritise empathy for the child, especially when the mother's capacity to do so is compromised. Experience and theory support the adoption of these recommendations to avoid perceived blame of the mother (and all members of the family), a critical shift to establishing engagement.

“There’s no us vs. them, it’s just us”: a creative approach to centring lived experience within the AVATAR2 trial

This article describes a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) led creative workshop space held within a clinical trial of a talking therapy for distressing voices (AVATAR2). PPI adds significant value to clinical research and ensures the work is meaningful to patients and their supporters. However, known issues include tokenism, a common power imbalance between PPI colleagues and researchers and a lack of opportunity for PPI to shape the research. PPI has played a key role at all stages of the AVATAR2 trial, including design, recruitment of staff and participants, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. An active and creative group of people was established, with over 30 members flexibly involved across all four sites. PPI group members were from diverse backgrounds, with lived experience of mental health conditions and recovery, and including carers. During this work, PPI colleagues identified that they would value a creative space which would help to promote the study but extend beyond an exclusive focus on trial deliverables. A regular creative workshop was established to support PPI colleagues in their creative work, including material such as poetry, blogs, art and podcasts. PPI colleagues and trial staff have cowritten a reflective piece to share their experiences on the impact of the creative workshops, organised into four themes. We found the workshops to be a powerful tool for forging relationships among trial staff and PPI colleagues, while also fostering personal development. We reflected on how the workshops built up the confidence of attendees and supported demanding trial activities such as public speaking. Finally, we discussed the impact of the workshops on wider trial culture, by upholding the values of the team and challenging the status quo.

Navigating the liminal space: Enhancing film teaching through anonymous feedback, digital collages, and advocacy

This reflective piece focuses on the strategies of designing seminars that foster inclusivity and belonging, mainly when teaching in a liminal space as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). It requires a commitment to understanding diverse student needs, including A-level subjects, learning difficulties, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+ identities, ethnicity, socio-economic backgrounds, and more. Alongside the module convenor’s guidance and departmental procedures, a GTA’s identity and expertise play a crucial role in shaping the classroom atmosphere. My interdisciplinary PhD research, which focuses on co-creating films with participants facing mental health challenges, informs my view of students as co-creators. As a Staff-Student Liaison Committee (SSLC) representative, I am dedicated to upholding students’ dignity, autonomy, and contributions to the university and society while aiming to provide them with the ethical understanding needed to navigate complex 21st-century challenges. After each seminar, I value anonymous student feedback to tailor my content, listening to their needs and questions, and incorporating audiovisual and interactive material to promote participation, especially among quieter students. With this piece, by sharing my lived experiences as a GTA, I intend to contribute to a collective knowledge base and foster dialogue and collaboration among my peers.

Rhetorical action in a liberal international order in crisis: theorising EU and NATO enlargements post-2022

ABSTRACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine has thrust the issue of European Union and NATO enlargement back into the political spotlight. However, it remains uncertain whether established theoretical frameworks are still applicable in today’s rapidly changing world. In response to this uncertainty, this debate section brings together five short reflection pieces, with a response from Frank Schimmelfennig, to assess the relevance of the theory of ‘rhetorical action’ in light of recent developments in European and international politics. How effectively does rhetorical action explain current EU and NATO enlargement processes, as well as broader forms of international cooperation? The authors find strong overall support for the theory’s continued validity. However, they caution that the increasing politicisation of issues, the rising competition from populist, non-liberal forces, and the broader crisis of the Liberal International Order require more careful reflection and specification of the scope conditions that define the theory’s limits.

Wreaths and Remembrance: Commemorating Women’s War Work

On November 11th, 2023, the author laid a wreath on behalf of Canadian First World War nurses at the Cenotaph in London, UK, the first time they were so honoured. What, though, of Canadian civilian war workers, including L.M. Montgomery? This reflective piece considers the connections between Canadian overseas nurses and women war workers in Canada, using Montgomery’s writings to better illuminate those connections. Nurses’ letters demonstrate that they perceived women at home as active war workers. Montgomery’s writings, in turn, show the tremendous efforts women made to support those overseas—and how those at home and overseas shared and coped with many of the same emotional traumas.

Dreaming with Edith Wharton

Abstract “Dreaming with Edith Wharton” recounts the deep emotional connection that Professor Elif S. Armbruster feels with Edith Wharton, a feeling that is solidified by her frequent dreams of and with the author. In this reflective piece, Armbruster shares one particular dream in which she is driving with Wharton around western Massachusetts, in Wharton’s new car, purchased with the proceeds from her recent bestselling novel, The House of Mirth. The two share an uncanny bond with each other as they connect over Wharton’s news of the novel’s success. Armbruster then explores how the reading of The Age of Innocence in her early twenties changed her life, by steering her away from a predictable and conformist life to one based on love and simplicity.

Enabling access: Reflecting on inclusive education practice

AbstractInclusive education is a multifaceted approach that celebrates diversity, acknowledges individual differences and fosters an environment where all students can thrive. This reflective piece delves into key components of inclusive education practice, including embracing diversity, implementing differentiated instruction, fostering collaborative partnerships, creating an inclusive environment and engaging in continuous reflection and professional development. Drawing from over two decades of teaching experience, I seek to highlight the importance of catering to individual needs, building collaborative relationships and nurturing a culture of inclusivity and empowerment which are factors essential in creating inclusion and equity within the classroom. Through embracing inclusive practices, teachers can create learning communities where each student, regardless of their ability or challenges, has the opportunity to succeed.

What Next for Actor Network Theory? Inventing around Latour on a planet in distress

This is a reflection piece on the theme ‘what will happen to actor-network theory (ANT) after Latour?’ We distinguish three scenarios but focus on the one we see as the least probable but most interesting for sociology and related disciplines. With inspiration from the anthropologist Marilyn Strathern, we think of this third scenario as a way of “inventing around” Latour. In this scenario, classical ANT tenets are prolonged and refracted through Latour's later work on modes of existence and critical zones. This mutant ANT is subject to further transformations through encounters with empirical situations and concepts from many other places. We use two brief cases for illustration. The first considers the empirical potentials and possible pitfalls of Latour's modes of existence in relation to the emergence of carbon markets as a form of Anthropocene politics. The second examines recent urban upheavals and transformations in Bangkok through the lens of urban critical zones, which make visible problems of co-existence that shade into pluriversal cosmopolitics because the city is full of beings that are both modern and amodern. These cases point the way to a scenario in which ANT is still unfinished, and far from “uncritical”. It is an “indisciplinary” scenario, where ANT with sociology and adjacent disciplines venture into complex landscapes of planetary ecological disruptions and postcolonial tensions without any false protection from certified theory and pre-defined politics.

Walking Hanoi - Reflections on improvisation, listening and being attached

"Walking Hanoi 2024 - Reflections on improvisation, listening and being attached" is an audio visual piece, which stems from my long standing connection to Vietnam, and specifically to an artistic research project that took place in late March 2024 in Hanoi. It took place as part of an international project - led by VIetnamese researchers, musicians and artists - on thinking through how best to digitise the diverse ethnic minority music in Vietnam. A sound walk, a gamified, ambulatory listening activity, with around 50 international artists/researchers forms the basis for this reflective piece on improvisation, situated listening, on embodied being, identity and the ways we attach ourselves to things, and how things attach themselves to us. In reflecting on improvisation and being, the piece, written, narrated and produced by Franziska Schroeder, draws upon the insights of artists and writers, including Simon Rose, Donna Haraway, Lucy Suchman, Judith Butler, Martin Heidegger to reflect on the situated-ness of the 2 hour street walk in Hanoi. It is a personal reflection, informed by how unspoken, often ineffable knowledge can shape one’s internal perspective. This internal perspective, or ‘insider point of listening’ becomes a central theme in this piece, framing the perception of an improvising self in relation to her tactile and sonic surroundings.