Sense Of Narrative Research Articles

Bettering Our Stories about Stories about Nature

Both environmental historians and ecocriticism scholars are in the business of simultaneously analysing the stories we tell about the human-nature relationship and creating those stories. Using the case of Kiki, an Aldabra giant tortoise on display in the Muséum national d’Historie naturelle in Paris, I present three potential text types in museum displays which lend themselves to new ecocritical readings: museum labels, biographical displays, and material remains. Ecocritical approaches to the genres of scientific texts and animal biographies and the developing field of material ecocriticism prove useful for making sense of the complex narratives of environmental history. Reaching out to ecocriticism approaches can make the stories I tell as an environmental historian better.

‘Scotland's different’: Narratives of Scotland's distinctiveness in the post-Brexit-vote era

While Scotland has been portrayed as an outlier in the context of Brexit, we know relatively little about how ordinary people in Scotland, including a growing migrant population, make sense of this (political and media) narrative. In order to address this gap, in this article I look at everyday narratives of Scotland's distinctiveness in the post-Brexit-vote era among the long-settled population and Polish – and to a lesser degree other European Union – migrants in the East End of Glasgow. By drawing upon scholarship on everyday nationalism and imagined communities, I explore discursive claims which romanticise Scotland as different and ‘welcoming’ of immigration and position it in binary opposition to England. How is Scotland produced as different in the context of Brexit? How are these stories used to re-imagine increasingly diverse Scottish society? In what ways are they being employed by migrant communities?

Sentence Role in the Historical Discourse of the “Concise Russian Church History” of Metropolitan Platon (Levshin)

Introduction. The article deals with the problem of emergence of analytical conclusions in Russian historical science at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on the historiographical analysis of the text of “Concise Russian Church History” of Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) the author makes an attempt to demonstrate that scientific analytics is formed in the historical discourse through authors sentence, the deductive excursus created by the author in the process of making a text and providing the discovery of the pragmatic sense of the narrative. On the basis of the purpose of sentence in general text linguistics, the author makes an assumption that such a sentential generalization finds its way into the historical work of Metropolitan Platon through the orthodox homiletics, making the structure of authors narrative similar in a sense and purpose to a sermon. Methods. The research is based on the hermeneutic research method supplemented by the comparative historical and linguistic methods of text research. Applying the historiographical methods results in analyzing the sense and purpose of sentences in the text of historical composition of Metropolitan Platon. Analysis. The article describes a number of coincidences of some sentential generalizations suggested by Metropolitan Platon with sentences included in Karamzins “History of Russian State”. In particular, the researcher remarks the meaning coincidences of authors sentences in evaluating Russian paganism as well as in characterizing Russian society shortly before and after the Mongol-Tatar invasion. He emphasizes some differences in using authors sentences in these texts, analyses the reasons of these differences, finds out a place of sentences in every composition. Results. Finally, the researcher makes a conclusion that in spite of any differences in using sentential generalizations, in these compositions of Platon and Karamzin they form a summarizing part of their historical discourse as an inherent side of their writing styles in presenting historical material. Such a sentence becomes the first step in the formation of scientific analytics, allowing historians of the early 19th century to rise above information of the source, divide information flows, instill scientific discoursivity to the narrative, give conceptual importance to authors conclusions.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY OF D. B. HART

Philosophy for Hart, is a continuation of theology in another way, it is a self-denial of theology, which is carried out by the European tradition to find itself. All philosophy and all its problems are a search for solutions to theological problems. For Hart, as for Balthazar, theology is thinking about being and its properties. The task of the thinker is to create a theological language, an alternative to the rhetoric of postmodernism. Theology is a language that is both a theory and a discourse. Hart’s theological reflections combine the hermeneutics of texts with metaphysical reflections on meanings that make sense of a religious narrative. Hart tries to overcome metaphysics in theology, wants to think after metaphysics, to create theology after "after the death of God".

Trans TV dossier, III: Trans TV re-evaluated, part 1

When we organised the conference on Trans TV at the University of Westminster in 2017, our aims were both to bridge frequently fragmented discussions of contemporary televisual industries, audiences, fandom, representation and content, and to probe whether in the age of internet-distributed streaming television there were more spaces for expressions of diversity than had previously been the case during the network television era, or even in the still recent but already surpassed rise of cable channels like HBO and AMC as producers of original content. Had we, in fact, passed from the age of ‘Difficult Men’ (Martin, 2013) – to use Brett Martin’s term to capture both cable anti-heroes and showrunners associated with the rise of cable TV original programming – to a much more diverse set of difficulties traversing multiple ethnic, gender and sexual identities. Certainly this is not a question of leaving behind the troubling or problematic questions, as numerous critiques of these shows have indicated, including in previous dossiers; it is rather a question of going beyond the normative, both in terms of models and concepts of broadcast television and in the sense of heteronormative narratives and characters.

The Last Laugh: The Agency of Alternative Aesthetics in the Work of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Women Photographers

In a 1995/2004, work entitled Last Laughs, Destiny Deacon ‘amateurishly’ captures a trio of flash, young, ‘laughing’ women of ‘ambiguous’ racial background playing up for the camera. The social and political challenge of this image establishes a standpoint position of photographic practice that reflects the work of other contemporary Australian Indigenous women photographers and indicates a continuum of practice that includes positions of reconciliation and diplomacy, confrontation, humor and parody. In their process of returning the colonial gaze, reframing and reinterpreting the archives and history of aboriginal photography and generating alternative information about aboriginality, the photographers often invent and employ alternative aesthetics in their work. Such alternative aesthetics often reflect an Aboriginal perspective based on a circular, non-linear sense of time and narrative, which dislodges assumed photographic values and provides agency for active viewing – viewing that demands a change of perception. This paper gives an overview of a decade of photography by Indigenous Australian women that illustrates their operational practices.

Cosmogonic or creation myths A mythical, philosophical and theological interpretation of the diverse cosmogonic myths: In conversation with Charles Long

Cosmogonic myths, also referred to as creation myths, are theological and philosophical explanations of ancient myths of creation within a religious Homo sapien hamlet. In the context of this article, the word myth is attributed to the extravagant quixotic interpretation in anecdote (in both visionary and narrative sense) of what is accomplished or ceased as a key or essential phenomenon. The terms or language concepts of cosmogonic or creation invoke the start of things, whether by the desire and action of a surpass Actuality, by emergence from some eventful Actuality or by an additional alternative process. Mystics, scientists, philosophers and theologians of today set forward a method, to my mind, of pluralistic interpretation of the whole understanding and interpretation of a cosmogonic and creation myth that includes a variety of Actualities (deities or gods), in the world, according to basic Western and Eastern religious and rational classifications. These rational classifications have a phenomenological epistemic impact and even a certain righteousness of whoever wants to believe whatever of creation. Let it be …, as it should be ontological (showing the relations between the concepts [myths] and categories [criterion of these myths] in a subject area [a variety of philosophies or religions] or domain [places where these myths are experienced]) and epistemological (relating to the theory of knowledge [how these myths evolved in the thought processes of sapiens], especially with regard to its methods [e.g. sacramental], validity [the genuineness and lawfulness of these myth’s], scope [the extend thereof] and the distinction between justified belief and opinion) and be positive for theologians as objects and religious sapiens as subjects.

Vulnerabilitätsmetaphern und Narrativierungsstrategien in den ›Offenbarungen‹ und der ›Vita‹ Elsbeths von Oye

Abstract Due to highly unstructured, redundant, and ambiguous descriptions of bloody self-flagellations by the writing self, the ›revelations‹ of Elsbeth von Oye present themselves as a challenge for research. Elsbeth’s ›vita‹ however seeks to eliminate those bewildering elements and repositions many textual passages. Considering both texts, this article examines the approaches for narrative transformation as well as the deliberate refusal of making narrative sense. While the reorganization of the material in the ›vita‹ has a strong impact on the creation of a narrative sense, the ›revelations‹ seem to purposely decline narrative patterns to build a concept of holiness, which orientates towards legendary texts.

Corporalidad y conciencia de sí. Acercamiento a ‘La alemana’ de Gustavo Escanlar

El presente documento explora lo que ha venido a denominarse como ‘la nueva narrativa uruguaya’ y rastrea, a largos trazos, las identidades, las voces, los contextos e imaginarios que, haciendo acopio de la tradición literaria atribuida a Felisberto Hernández y Juan Carlos Onetti, propende a la recuperación de los tugurios como plataforma de sentido narrativa y, con ella, a una marcada propensión a perfilar personajes cuya vitalidad degradada construye una atmosfera limítrofe. En el compendio de novelas a las que se alude se instaura una sensibilidad atípica cuya ambición estética se manifiesta en la transgresión y el desdibujamiento de lo oficial y lo legítimo. Es así que de manera concreta importa el rostro transgresor como metáfora de los espacios marginales: el personaje como entramado identitario en el que se conjugan la cotidianidad, el deseo, la violencia, la corporalidad y lo amoral. Para tal comprensión del personaje se realiza un acercamiento al femenino protagónico de la novela La Alemana (2009) del escritor uruguayo Gustavo Escanlar (1962-2010).

Inviting Ethnographic Conversations to Inspire Design: Towards a Design Research Method

In this study, we explore how designers made sense of user narratives that are generated through casual conversations in the context of discursively informed design. Our aim is to propose a method for utilizing these narratives in idea generation process. To do this, we designed a special process at which 13 designers voluntarily participated: First, we provided the designers with user narratives and gave them a design task we previously formulated. Then, we asked them to read and identify the contents that stimulated any design ideas accordingly. After that, we had conversations with the designers on the narratives, the design ideas they generated and how they related them altogether. Finally, we conducted a qualitative content analysis on the outcomes of this process and developed a method to help designers in systematically interpreting user narratives through four different categories of design implications.

The development of the uses ofha / ha vái / ha sma váiwith or without the narrative perfect and language layers in the old Yajurveda-Saṁhitā texts

AbstractIt is well known that the perfect with the particlehais used in the narrative sense in the younger Vedic prose. In the older Vedic prose,Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā(MS),Kāṭhaka-Saṁhitā(KS) andTaittirīya-Saṁhitā(TS), there is a certain distribution of past tense categories: the imperfect for the gods myths and the perfect for the past of the period of predecessors. It is supposed that the latter use of the perfect was extended to the area of the former use of the imperfect.In this paper, uses of the particlehain the three Yajurveda-Saṁhitā texts will be examined. The results suggest that the different uses ofhacharacterize different language layers in these texts. The following points are of special interest:1)haandha váiwith the present verb often characterize a logical consequence derived from the context; hence, they mean “namely, in conclusion”. Many examples of this use are found in MS, but fewer in KS and TS.2)ha sma ( ā́ )with the present indicative indicates a repeated and habitual action in the past. In MS, it is almost always used with āha (functionally present) and indicates a ritual opinion of predecessors: “(A predecessor, i.e. Aruṇa Aupaveśi or Keśin Satyakāmi) used to say.” KS and TS have examples with verbs other thanāha.3)hawith the perfect hardly appears in MS, but KS and TS have many examples.4)ha vai ... uvācain KS corresponds toha sma (vā́)āhain MS in the parallel passages. This may be the origin of the narrative use of the perfect.It may be concluded that the language of KS and that of TS are close to each other and that the language of MS has different features from them, even though it is generally supposed that MS and KS belonged to the same branch but TS to another. Moreover, linguistic innovations occurred not always gradually, but through certain innovative authors. This may provide a new perspective for clarifying the relations between the three texts and their process of composition.

“I think at first glance people would not expect me to be interested in science”: Exploring the racialized science experiences of high school students of color

AbstractThe underrepresentation of high school students of color in advanced science courses and the need to increase racial diversity in science fields is well documented. The persistence of racial disparities in science suggests that factors influencing participation include and extend beyond those currently being explored. This study explores how high school students of color make sense of racialized narratives about who does and can do science in circulation in society and their lives, and how this shapes their positioning and identity construction in science. Using interviews and surveys this study examines youths' accounts of their racialized science experiences, including how they envision scientists, make sense of racial disparities in the science community, and navigate their positioning in science. In addition, this study examines how youths' sense of their science ability, as a salient aspect of science identity, shapes the forms of navigation accessible to them, and thus, the futures they imagine in science. By sharing the complexity of students' sense making and the tensions they express as they negotiate their personal goals, science experiences, and messages they receive from racialized narratives, findings highlight the disproportionate work youth of color in this study do, as well as their resilience to navigate racialized narratives in science. This research sheds light on the experiences of high school students of color at a time in their schooling when they are making decisions about who they can become and the possible futures available to them. Implications from this study promote centering race within a critical, sociocultural, and ecological context when exploring identity construction for youth of color in science. Furthermore, findings underscore the need to create learning experiences that provide opportunities for youth of color to author narratives for their own possibilities of belonging and becoming in science in order to support inclusive pathways.

Preaching to episodic ears: Practicing a dramaturgical homiletic

This article is a critical attempt to develop a homiletic methodology for preaching to the episodic self of the 21st century. The British philosopher Galen Strawson contends that postmodern people today do not regard themselves as living out their lives in a diachronic or narrative sense, but rather in an episodic-existential sense. This episodic-existential way of perceiving one’s life has recently posed a significant challenge to the current preaching practice that is mostly composed and delivered from the pulpit through a narrative. This article provides a considerate response to that episodic-existential challenge. Specifically, the article proposes a dramaturgical narrative form of preaching, in close collaboration with Paul Tillich’s existential theology, as a creative alternative to the conventional narrative way(s) of preaching.

The seventh art? Art cinema and Ingmar Bergman from an audience perspective

ABSTRACT Art cinema is a contested concept within film studies. Making use of Ingmar Bergman and his films, most of which can be classified as art cinema, I explore art cinema as an interpretative strategy for audiences. First, I explore the concept theoretically and in relation to Bergman and his work. Next, I explore how historical audiences have used the concept in relation to Ingmar Bergman. Participants in Sweden (n = 21) and Belgium (n = 27) make sense of incoherent or incomprehensible narratives in relation to what is known about Bergman contextually. Applying art cinema is historically and culturally specific, and often to “show off” a certain cultural position.

Confronting Medicine's Dichotomies: Older Adults' Use of Interpretative Repertoires in Negotiating the Paradoxes of Polypharmacy and Deprescribing.

To address the risks associated with polypharmacy, health care providers are investigating the feasibility of deprescribing programs as part of routine medical care to reduce medication burden to older adults. As older adults are enrolled in these programs, they are confronted with two dominant and legitimate accounts of medications, labeled the medication paradox: medications keep you healthy but they might be making you sick. We investigated how the medication paradox operates in the lives of older adults. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed with older adults aged 70+ to identify the various paradoxes that seniors live through regarding their medications and the narratives that they engage to negotiate these contradictions. Older adults were found to have established interpretative repertoires to make sense of the incongruent narratives of the medication paradox. In this article, we demonstrate older adults' efforts to carve out their unique place in the dichotomized institution of medicine.

Happy ever after? Making sense of narrative in creating police values

ABSTRACT This paper explores how New Zealand Police used story-telling as a crucial driver of co-creation in order to affect a major culture change. Using evidence from over 240 semi-structured interviews, our research challenges current thinking about police cultures and shows how allowing members of an agency to develop and share reflective narratives can promote attachment to new cultural values, through sensemaking. In so doing it extends current literature on co-creation and co-production, and the impact of story-telling on power relationships in organizational culture. It suggests that the crafting and sharing of stories enables value-attribution in a co-creative environment.

Narrative self and high risk for schizophrenia: remembering the past and imagining the future

ABSTRACTWe examined the narrative self of those at high psychometric risk for schizophrenia (HR). Eighty undergraduate students wrote personal narratives about a turning-point event in their life, and about a possible future. The turning-point narratives were coded for topic, specificity, event valence, valence of causal coherence link, overall level of causal coherence, and agency. The future narratives were coded for the number and valence of goals, topic of goals, and specificity of goals. Word count was applied to all narratives. The HR group expressed lower levels of agency and a trend of lower levels of causal coherence when narrating turning-point events. When imagining their futures, HR participants produced shorter narratives and showed a trend of having fewer goals. Including the dimensions of both the turning point and the future narratives revealed that the HR group membership was best predicted by lower levels of agency and of causal coherence in the turning-point narrative, and fewer words in the future narrative. Narratives differed specifically in those few elements that are critical for the achievement of narrative continuity. Consistent with the theory, people at high risk for schizophrenia already present, to some extent, an impoverishment in their narrative sense of self.

Sameness and difference in narrative modes and narrative sense making: The case of Ramsey Campbell’s “The Scar”

Abstract The article discusses basic questions of narrative studies and definitions of narrative from a historical and conceptual perspective in order to map the terrain between different narratologies. The focus is placed on the question of how fiction interacts with other realms of our lives or, more specifically, how reading fiction both involves and affects our everyday meaning making operations. British horror writer Ramsey Campbell’s (b. 1946) short story “The Scar” (1967) will be used as a test case to show how both narrative modes of representation and the reader’s narrative sense making operations may travel between art and the everyday, from fiction to life and back. We argue that the cognitively inspired narrative studies need to pair up with linguistically oriented narratology to gain the necessary semiotic sensitivity to the forms and modes of narrative sense making. Narratology, in turn, needs to explore in detail what it is in the narrative form that enables it to function as a tool for reaching out and making sense of the unfamiliar. In our view, reading fictional narratives such as “The Scar” can help in learning and adopting linguistic resources and story patterns from fiction to our everyday sense making efforts.

Letter from the Guest Editor

Letter from the Guest Editor

EMERGING ADULTS LEADERSHIP IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH FAMILY STORYTELLING: A Narrative Approach

The purpose of this article is to introduce a narrative framework for leadership education as a lens for exploring how emerging adults make sense of their leader identity development. This narrative framework, called Communicated Narrative Sense Making (CNSM), looks at identity through storytelling processes. Emerging adults in higher education have different experiences and come to a new awareness of themselves in a context in a variety of ways. Part of this development process is establishing an identity as a leader. We propose a narrative framework as an approach for exploring the experiences and sense-making processes of leader identity development in emerging adults.