Representation Of Actors Research Articles

Basque Pelota and Europeanization: The Actions and Representations of Actors Involved in Two Cross-Border Projects in a Euroregion

ABSTRACT This article investigates Europeanization from the perspective of actors involved in the organization of cross-border projects promoting an autochthonous sport. It studies two projects involving Basque pelota, a sport historically played on both sides of the France-Spain border. Both projects were launched by entrepreneurs, in the sociological sense, within the EGTC area of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Euskadi Navarra Euroregion. The study identifies the characteristics of these local actors who have bet on their sport and on the cross-border concept. The intercultural experiences enabled by the projects and the increased frequency of consecutive sports exchanges have created a transactional space of Europeanization at the local scale desired by the EU but have not achieved the Europeanization expected from the Euroregion system. The transnational Basque dimension remains relevant, principally between France and Spain.

Human trafficking in nairaland digital community: A corpus-assisted critical discourse study

Human trafficking in Nigeria as a topical issue has enjoyed more sociological interrogation with very scant attention in linguistics and discourse. This paper applies a corpus-assisted critical discourse study to examine representative posts on human trafficking in Nigeria (2019 to 2022) retrieved from the Nairaland digital community. Using the Sketch Engine corpus tool and social actors representation model, this paper investigates how different constructions were deployed by participants to represent human trafficking, human traffickers and traffick victims in Nigeria. Findings suggest four constructions oriented to negativity: prostitution/commodification of sex, abuse of underage for sexual satisfaction, maltreatment of others for huge labour, dismembering of humans for occultism and health-assurance. Participants deployed role allocation, nominalisation, and others to negatively evaluate human traffickers, especially as economic usurpers, exploiters, and fraudsters, while the traffick-victims were represented as naïve, non-violent, armless, defenceless and (in)active recipients of the activities of the human traffickers. The dominant negative constructs manifested implicitly and explicitly through tagging, negative comparison, appeal to sentimentalities, and expression of detest, while the positive constructs of victims manifested through pity and appeal to humanity. Online participants attack the political class, and declare their ideological stances on human traffickers in Nigeria, making efforts to project suppressed stances.

Multistakeholder Initiatives and Sustainability? A Governance Analysis using the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO) as a Case Study

AbstractThis paper examines the Multistakeholder initiative (MSI) “German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO)”. MSIs represent arenas in which heterogeneous actors from governments, businesses and civil society come together to achieve sustainability goals that they cannot achieve otherwise. The self-defined goals of GISCO are first, to improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers and their families; second, to conserve and protect natural resources and biodiversity; and third, to increase the share of sustainably produced cocoa. Although all stakeholder groups share these goals, they have different agendas and conflicting interests. Despite numerous case studies, no theoretical basis has been established on the functioning and success of negotiations in MSIs. Therefore, the question arises as to how the governance of an MSI can be captured empirically to explain (un)achieved outcomes of the collaboration. The contribution of this paper is the development of a theoretical framework and its application to the case study. Minutes of 84 meetings and 18 qualitative expert interviews were analyzed by social network analysis and qualitative content analysis using MaxQDA to identify (a) influential actors, (b) collaboration structures and (c) processes as well as (d) topics discussed to explain (not) achieved outcomes regarding the self-defined goals. The results provide detailed insight into the governance of an MSI. The MSI helps members to extend their individual networks and to learn from each other, but quickly reaches its limits in achieving the self-imposed common goals. One reason for this is the lack of representation of actors from the Global South, despite addressing environmental and living conditions there in two out of the three GISCO goals. Furthermore, it is shown that the structures and processes of decision-making within the MSI are designed in such a way that a lack of hierarchical directives, sanctions and other decision-making mechanisms makes negotiation-based compromises difficult. Consequently, the power of each stakeholder group to use their veto right to delay or prevent the changes required to achieve common goals cannot be overcome.

Intersemiotic Translation: Mat Dollah’s Batik Paintings of the Malay Folktale “Puteri Gunung Ledang”

In translation studies, intersemiotic translation, which is the transference of a verbal sign system to a non-verbal sign, vice-versa or between two non-verbal modes, is a dynamically creative form of translation often involving literary works. Intersemiotic translations make it possible for written source texts to be brought to life in various artistic ways; they can usurp the power of the written word to transfer sense and meaning through unforgettable images from one culture to another. Folktales, documented in writings, have been translated into many different forms, such as in performing arts, animations, paintings, and illustrated books. This article examines the intersemiotic translation of the evergreen Malay folktale, “Puteri Gunung Ledang” or “The Princess of Mount Ledang” recreated in the form of batik paintings by the batik artist, Mat Dollah. The first specific objective of this study is to identify the variant and invariant features in Mat Dollah’s representation of the folktale by comparing his batik paintings to its original written account. The second objective is to investigate Mat Dollah’s skopos or purpose for recreating the folktale in his batik paintings in the ways that he has represented it. Six selected batik paintings of the folktale are analysed using Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) multimodality approaches in visual grammar focusing on social actor representations and viewer networks (2008), colour (2011) and modality to fulfil the first objective. Transcripts from an email interview with the painter are analysed to fulfil the second objective. In this study, Vermeer's Skopos Theory underpins the overall discussion. The findings show that one invariant core links the batik paintings to the written source text. Next, the skopos or purpose of the artist in producing these recreations in his own unique ways is strongly influenced by his personal experience, his work as an artist, and his perspectives of the world. Two key insights can be surmised about intersemiotic translations from these findings. Firstly, it is the translators’ intent that determines the translation strategies used, ultimately shaping the final translated product. Secondly, this makes the translator’s presence highly visible in intersemiotic translations.

“Auxiliary” Jobs? French Women’s Multiple Entry pathways into Diplomacy, 1900–1947

ABSTRACT Since Emily Rosenberg’s call to avoid writing a history focused solely on the careers of exceptional women, publications on the feminisation of international relations have diversified dramatically. This article adopts a broad sociological definition of diplomacy as a socio-professional sphere that is not confined to category A civil service jobs, but that encompasses all the activities involved in the functioning of the diplomatic sphere. It draws upon perspectives opened up by a ‘subaltern’ approach to diplomacy and by the New Consular History. This study challenges the dichotomous approach between the diplomatic professions and the auxiliary professions of diplomacy, conveyed by the taxonomy of administrative sources and by the representations of the diplomatic actors themselves. Without having the title of junior civil advisor, some women abroad or in the central administration have held political responsibilities available to them. Finally, in the case of France, this article confirms the importance of female involvement in the Resistance as a factor of integration for 10 women, and even of career acceleration for the few women already present in the Foreign Ministry before the Second World War.

Social Actors Represented at the Press Conference on the Case of Chaka Zulu

In June 2022, people in the United States, especially celebrities were shocked by the news of the murder. The manager of actor and rapper Ludacris, Chaka Zulu, was accused as the murderer. With that accusations, he receive various negative reaction from the public. Chaka’s legal team immediately held a press conference to sway public opinion and in that occasion, it could be found social actor representation. Among the many pieces of research regarding social actor representation, research that investigate spoken discourse is rarely carried out. Therefore, this study aims to investigate exclusion and inclusion strategies used by lawyers when representing social actors in press conference. This study uses van Leeuwen’s social actor representation theory (2008). It uses a descriptive-qualitative method to ensure clear data analysis. The data were obtained from the FOX 5 Atlanta YouTube channel. This study reveals that lawyers use exclusion and inclusion. The lawyers used more inclusion than exclusion. Moreover, the most frequent sub-inclusion strategy is role allocation, as active and passive roles allow lawyers to show who is guilty and who is not. Meanwhile, the most frequent exclusion strategy is suppression, it allows lawyers to eliminate actors and emphasize others. Future studies is recommended to explore other van Leeuwen approaches. Future studies can also use other spoken discourse as research topics, for example press conference with public relation or others.

Representation of Female Actors from the Perspective of Female Writers in the Novel “Hati Suhita”

Representation of Female Actors from the Perspective of Female Writers in the Novel “Hati Suhita”

Polarisation in Venezuelan presidential tweets

Abstract The Venezuelan Presidential Crisis emerged as a unique polarising political scenario in January 2019, when Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly, proclaimed himself interim president of the country, despite the victory obtained by Nicolás Maduro in the May 2018 presidential elections. Considering this context and the role of social media in the spread of polarisation, the present manuscript examines how metaphors and social actor representations act as divisive discursive tools in the tweets of Maduro and Guaidó. To do so, a corpus of tweets posted by these politicians during the first year of the conflict (2019–2020) is analysed, adopting a target-based approach (Stefanowitsch and Gries 2006) to identify the polarising metaphors and a socio-cognitive framework (Darics and Koller 2019; van Leeuwen 2008) to study the social actor representations. The results reveal that these discursive devices help both leaders to construct their social identities, legitimise themselves, delegitimise the other and reproduce their polarising ideological schemas.

Triangulating visual and textual corpus-assisted discourse analysis to study social actor representations: the case of Saudi women in the British and Saudi news media

Investigations of social actor representations across media present a large and important body of research in corpus-assisted discourse studies (cads). However, most studies focus exclusively on one mode, the text, whilst other modes of communication (for example, visuals) are either considered partially or not at all. Whilst insights from textual analyses are invaluable in revealing salient and nuanced patterns of social actor representations in the media, visual accompaniments can reinforce particular ‘angles’ creating lasting perceptions for readers and viewers. Though some approaches exist to study considerable numbers of images, visual media data can be complex rendering them difficult to be studied alongside textual cads. This paper uses a triangulation of visual and textual cads analysis to explore social actor representations in media texts and images. It does so by focussing on the representations of Saudi women in the UK and Saudi news media within the context of evolving women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The study shows how such triangulation can be conducted in a doable and systematic way and how it can enrich cads research on discursive representations of social actors across contexts.

Conflicts within the neoliberal state? The limited representation of renters in Israeli housing policies and debates

Following housing protests in 2011, Israeli politicians advanced a program to create a massive supply of rental housing and enact new rental regulations. A few years later, the focus shifted to a program that encouraged homeownership. We analyze newspapers’ coverage of this process, and the representation of actors, location and of social, spatial, and physical themes. We investigate whether, and how, the discourse reflected or challenged the prevalence of property interests and the neoliberal ideology. Our findings show that despite early tensions and debates, throughout the process, renters and their issues received limited representation, while the discourse highlighted market means and images, and the population that could buy and invest. Eventually, the media interest in the program was replaced by fascination with homeownership and investments. In this vein, rentiership – the option to become owner-investors – was highlighted as the state’s popular solution for the housing crisis. We conclude that in this context, rental reforms are unlikely to garner significant social support.

Snyder and Habermas on the war in Ukraine: a critical discourse analysis of elite media discourse in Germany

ABSTRACT This article presents a critical qualitative study of two opinion articles, written by two eminent scholars (Jürgen Habermas and Timothy Snyder), on the German government’s hesitant arms supply for Ukraine during the first phase of the Russian war of aggression in 2022. The main aim of the article is the uncovering of the discursive practices of critique performed by two major public intellectuals. This case study thus allows insights into the simplistic representation of the Russo-Ukrainian war in German elite media discourse. The analysis focuses on actor representations and topic limitations and manipulations in the two op-eds. It is shown that both Habermas and Snyder use characteristic ways of social actor representations in their texts which exhibit their allegiances. Furthermore, both of them limit and change topics at the meso- and macro-levels of their texts in order to make their arguments sound. In closing, the critical potential of linguistic discourse analysis is shortly addressed by arguing that the context sensitive application of the categories for analyzing discourse can uncover the internal norms to which authors orient which makes them open for a critical analysis.

The Commodification of Religious Rituals: Representations of Political Actors in Indonesian Elections

Elections in Indonesia are closely linked to religion, with politicians using religion as a medium to appeal to voters. In addition, the increasingly widespread commodification of religious rituals in Indonesian politics confirms that religious symbols in campaigns are still part of democratisation. This research aims to explain how to understand the phenomenon of Islamic religious commodification in the context of democracy in Indonesia, starting from the use of religious symbols, forms of commodification, and their implications. This research uses a descriptive qualitative method to analyse the commodification of religion by three Indonesian politicians running for the Indonesian presidential election 2024. Data was collected from Instagram, with 1,154 posts indicating the commodification of religion. The data was analysed using document searches and experts' views and combined for descriptive analysis. The commodification of religious rituals in Presidential Elections in Indonesia has transformed spiritual values into political interests, using religion to gain support and establish a leadership identity. The three politicians have intertwined religious symbols and relationships with clerics, resulting in Islamic populist ideology and identity politics. This has led to the polarisation of society and the recruitment of politicians for electoral purposes.

COVID-19 and figures of blame: Discursive representations of blame for COVID-19 and its impacts in UK online news

As publics have attempted to make sense of the COVID-19 crisis and its longer-term impacts there has been an inevitable search for blame. Emergent research on the attribution of blame has focussed exclusively on the initial outbreak, with insufficient attention paid to how countries have responded to the pandemic. Our study adopts a longitudinal approach, examining the figures of blame that emerged across the UK’s experience of COVID-19, including subsequent waves of COVID-19. By sampling articles from three online UK news outlets (BBC; The Guardian; Mail Online), we analyse the linguistic elements and discourse strategies that contribute to the representation of specific actors as figures of blame in news coverage of COVID-19. To identify actors and their representations we focus on three elements: (1) direct, indirect or implied reference to an actor; (2) an expression of anger, resentment or frustration towards this actor; (3) textual and discursive features that nominate agency for their actions or inaction for a negative outcome. Our analysis shows that three prominent figures of blame emerged across the period of analysis. The primary actor represented as a figure of blame was the UK government. This, we argue, differs from the initial phases of the outbreak where there was an emphasis on externalising blame. We also found, however, that the public and the individual were constructed as figures of blame. For the latter it was through an emphasis on personal responsibility in the adoption of preventative behaviours and in following COVID-19 restrictions. We conclude the paper by exploring the significance of these findings for the communicative dynamics of the pandemic.

Perceptions of the Agency and Responsibility of the NHS COVID-19 App on Twitter: Critical Discourse Analysis.

Since September 2020, the National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 contact-tracing app has been used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. Since its launch, this app has been a part of the discussion regarding the perceived social agency of decision-making algorithms. On the social media website Twitter, a plethora of views about the app have been found but only analyzed for sentiment and topic trajectories thus far, leaving the perceived social agency of the app underexplored. We aimed to examine the discussion of social agency in social media public discourse regarding algorithm-operated decisions, particularly when the artificial intelligence agency responsible for specific information systems is not openly disclosed in an example such as the COVID-19 contact-tracing app. To do this, we analyzed the presentation of the NHS COVID-19 App on Twitter, focusing on the portrayal of social agency and the impact of its deployment on society. We also aimed to discover what the presentation of social agents communicates about the perceived responsibility of the app. Using corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis, underpinned by social actor representation, we used the link between grammatical and social agency and analyzed a corpus of 118,316 tweets from September 2020 to July 2021 to see whether the app was portrayed as a social actor. We found that active presentations of the app-seen mainly through personalization and agency metaphor-dominated the discourse. The app was presented as a social actor in 96% of the cases considered and grew in proportion to passive presentations over time. These active presentations showed the app to be a social actor in 5 main ways: informing, instructing, providing permission, disrupting, and functioning. We found a small number of occasions on which the app was presented passively through backgrounding and exclusion. Twitter users presented the NHS COVID-19 App as an active social actor with a clear sense of social agency. The study also revealed that Twitter users perceived the app as responsible for their welfare, particularly when it provided instructions or permission, and this perception remained consistent throughout the discourse, particularly during significant events. Overall, this study contributes to understanding how social agency is discussed in social media discourse related to algorithmic-operated decisions This research offers valuable insights into public perceptions of decision-making digital contact-tracing health care technologies and their perceptions on the web, which, even in a postpandemic world, may shed light on how the public might respond to forthcoming interventions.

“ChatGPT says no”: agency, trust, and blame in Twitter discourses after the launch of ChatGPT

AbstractChatGPT, a chatbot using the GPT-n series large language model, has surged in popularity by providing conversation, assistance, and entertainment. This has raised questions about its agency and resulting implications on trust and blame, particularly when concerning its portrayal on social media platforms like Twitter. Understanding trust and blame is crucial for gauging public perception, reliance on, and adoption of AI-driven tools like ChatGPT. To explore ChatGPT’s perceived status as an algorithmic social actor and uncover implications for trust and blame through agency and transitivity, we examined 88,058 tweets about ChatGPT, published in a ‘hype period’ between November 2022 and March 2023, using Corpus Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, underpinned by Social Actor Representation. Notably, ChatGPT was presented in tweets as a social actor on 87% of occasions, using personalisation and agency metaphor to emphasise its role in content creation, information dissemination, and influence. However, a dynamic presentation, oscillating between a creative social actor and an information source, reflected users’ uncertainty regarding its capabilities and, thus, blame attribution occurred. On 13% of occasions, ChatGPT was presented passively through backgrounding and exclusion. Here, the emphasis on ChatGPT’s role in informing and influencing underscores interactors’ reliance on it for information, bearing implications for information dissemination and trust in AI-generated content. Therefore, this study contributes to understanding the perceived social agency of decision-making algorithms and their implications on trust and blame, valuable to AI developers and policymakers and relevant in comprehending and dealing with power dynamics in today’s age of AI.

Health systems resilience in fragile and conflict-affected settings: a systematic scoping review

BackgroundHealth systems resilience (HSR) research is a rapidly expanding field, in which key concepts are discussed and theoretical frameworks are emerging with vibrant debate. Fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) are contexts exposed to compounding stressors, for which resilience is an important characteristic. However, only limited evidence has been generated in such settings. We conducted a scoping review to: (a) identify the conceptual frameworks of HSR used in the analysis of shocks and stressors in FCAS; (b) describe the representation of different actors involved in health care governance and service provision in these settings; and (c) identify health systems operations as they relate to absorption, adaptation, and transformation in FCAS.MethodsWe used standard, extensive search methods. The search captured studies published between 2006 and January 2022. We included all peer reviewed and grey literature that adopted a HSR lens in the analysis of health responses to crises. Thematic analysis using both inductive and deductive approaches was conducted, adopting frameworks related to resilience characteristics identified by Kruk et al., and the resilience capacities described by Blanchet et al.ResultsThirty-seven studies met our inclusion criteria. The governance-centred, capacity-oriented framework for HSR emerged as the most frequently used lens of analysis to describe the health responses to conflict and chronic violence specifically. Most studies focused on public health systems’ resilience analysis, while the private health sector is only examined in complementarity with the former. Communities are minimally represented, despite their widely acknowledged role in supporting HSR. The documentation of operations enacting HSR in FCAS is focused on absorption and adaptation, while transformation is seldom described. Absorptive, adaptive, and transformative interventions are described across seven different domains: safety and security, society, health system governance, stocks and supplies, built environment, health care workforce, and health care services.ConclusionsOur review findings suggest that the governance-centred framework can be useful to better understand HSR in FCAS. Future HSR research should document adaptive and transformative strategies that advance HSR, particularly in relation to actions intended to promote the safety and security of health systems, the built environment for health, and the adoption of a social justice lens.

Dispositifs d'autoformation en période post-covid dans les lycées camerounais

Thanks to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cameroonian government recommended self-learning for students. This involves developing learners' self-training outside the classroom by integrating multimedia into their teaching practices. In line with this objective, various measures have been put in place to enable students to acquire knowledge and develop skills independently. With an action-oriented aim, this work focuses on the analysis of the different devices deployed for the operationalization of this self-training. From this perspective, this research would like to study the transition from the exclusively transmissive paradigm to the paradigm of hetero-direction of learners while taking a look at the representations of the main actors. It emerges from the analysis of the questionnaires administered and the interviews conducted that very few establishments and target learners make use of the systems put in place for the individualization of knowledge inside and outside the classroom. The self-learning process put in place by the Government is a complex system still in its infancy, but evolving and therefore perfectible.

Person in the modern theatrical life of Ukraine: A journalistic perspective

The purpose of the paper is to determine the peculiarities of representation and self-presentation of modern theatre actors of Ukraine through the prism of media coverage, in particular those specialized in the cultural sphere. The following scientific methods were used to investigate the issue: descriptive, analytical, inductive-deductive, survey, content analysis. The result of the study of the issue of a person in modern Ukrainian theatrical life through the prism of journalistic coverage of this sphere is the analysis of the conscious accentuation of attention on issues of all-Ukrainian importance by representatives of the theatre industry in Ukraine and beyond. As a result of the study of the issue of the theatrical realities of Ukraine in the journalistic discourse, the main aspects, to which the masters of the Ukrainian theatre attach importance, were determined. According to the results of a survey conducted among representatives of Ukrainian cultural journalism and representatives of the performing arts, an important role in the creative activity of a modern theatre person is the coverage of Ukrainian life, in particular, the realities of war, on the artistic stage.

Reconstructing #NotMyPM from the #backdoorgovernment: a social actor analysis of Muhyiddin Yassin

In March 2020, Muhyiddin Yassin assumed power following Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation. However, his rise to office triggered significant backlash, with the hashtag “NotMyPM” trending on Twitter, reflecting widespread public discontent. This sentiment was rooted in the perception that his ascendancy contravened the people’s mandate and the democratic values upheld in Malaysia, resulting in his government being dubbed the ‘backdoor government.’ Amid the dual challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and a pivotal moment for democracy, this paper contends that a strategically constructed portrayal of Muhyiddin Yassin possesses the capacity to sway public sentiment directly or indirectly, thereby reshaping negative perceptions of his government. Drawing on van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic Social Actor Representation (SAR) framework, we analyze the strategies employed by the local news sites in their portrayal of Muhyiddin Yassin when reporting his first speech as prime minister on the second Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) in March 2020. The findings unveil a consistent utilization of distinct linguistic features and strategies across various online news platforms, effectively contributing to the cultivation of Muhyiddin Yassin’s image as a responsible and trustworthy leader.

In-group and out-group identity construction in extremist discourse: a critical multimodal approach

ABSTRACT ISIS has seemingly been successful in mobilizing advocates from heterogenous backgrounds. Such diversity is symptomatic of the organization’s heavy investment in strategic messaging and identity construction to gain legitimacy. This study examined the multimodal discursive properties of ISIS’s narrative in its communique, Dabiq. It undertook a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of the representation of in-group and out-group actors implementing Van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic inventory. The results showed that the in-group members are deliberately specified, hence foregrounded, and at the same time, the diversity among them is highlighted as an inseparable hallmark of ISIS’s movement. Therefore, no racial, geographical, or cultural line was drawn apropos its participants to ensure more inclusion. Conversely, the perceived enemies are framed as diverse yet homogeneous entities textually through generic references and addressing them collectively regardless of their potential dissimilarities and visually by categorizing them through religiously, culturally, or nationally distinguishable features. It acts as a legitimation tactic by which striking against one enemy justifies striking against others. The combination of these strategic multimodal framing tasks serves as a propaganda tool for ISIS to intensify polarisation, enhance in-group participation, and ultimately facilitate mobilization.