Sociocultural Narratives Research Articles

Bilbordizacija ulazaka u grad - predio i rekadrirani identitet

The paper investigates the billboardization of city entrances and the impact of this phenomenon on the integrity of the city and its cultural identity. The initial hypothesis is that the accumulation of billboards within city entrances creates visual pollution that causes multiple problems regarding the city's culture, especially when it is located in a protected area. The paper strives to indicate the neglect of this space in the current urbanistic and socio-cultural narrative, and point out the newly formed region of reframed identity through the concept of the image of the city. The research moves through a case study of the Adriatic highway, the Jaz - Kotor section, namely the buffer zone of the protected Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor, in Montenegro. The aim of the paper is to point out the image of the city and to emphasize this urban space as a factor that disrupts the cultural identity of Kotor.

The American psychological Association's practice guidelines for men and boys: Are they hurting rather than helping male mental wellness?

Introduced in 2018, the American Psychological Association's (APA) Practice Guidelines for Men and Boys was intended to provide helpful direction for practitioners when seeing male patients. This followed in the tradition of other practice and clinical guidelines for clinical work with specific identity populations. However, the practice guidelines for men and boys quickly became controversial given concerns that the guidelines were disparaging of men and boys, particularly those with traditional values and sought to impose progressive or feminist gender norms and ideologies rather than remaining focused on clinical wellness and empathy. This review finds that, though the guidelines were offered in good faith, many of the critiques are likely valid. Specifically, the guidelines failed to acknowledge significant evidence for biological influences on gender (e.g., hormonal, and hypothalamic influences on gender identity and gendered behavior), were unintentionally disparaging of traditional men and families, and were too closely wedded to specific sociocultural narratives and incurious of data not supporting those narratives. It is concluded that there are reasonable concerns that the current guidelines may do more harm than good by dissuading traditional men and families from seeking counseling.

All roads lead to Rome? Talent narratives of elite athletes, musicians, and mathematicians

ABSTRACT Public accounts about world-class athletes, musicians, and mathematicians often include notions of the highly talented child that then develops into a successful performer in a more or less straightforward manner. However, a large corpus of scientific literature indicates that talent development trajectories are highly diverse and idiosyncratic. Analysing the experiences of the high-achieving individuals themselves might add an additional perspective to our understanding of how talent develops over time. In this regard, the stories that individuals tell about their talent development can provide in-depth accounts of their experiences but also of individual and societal beliefs about talent and its development. The current study intends to examine the talent development stories of athletes, musicians, and mathematicians. Cross-domain talent research might help to culturally contextualise developmental processes. In this regard, our aims are twofold. First, we aim to examine how high-achieving individuals story their talent development pathways. Second, we aim to identify cultural ideas about talent in the individual stories. In total, we interviewed ten elite athletes, ten professional musicians, and ten elite mathematicians. We employed a thematic narrative analysis and a structural narrative analysis. We identified five types of talent narratives on developmental pathways: searching for the spotlight, straightforward career, overcoming obstacles, riding the waves, and applying effort. These types of narratives were observable across performance domains. Despite the idiosyncratic nature of developmental pathways, athletes, musicians, and mathematicians appeared to be impacted by similar sociocultural narratives about talent and its development when constructing their personal talent development stories.

A conceptual framework of contemporary luxury consumption

Defining “luxury” as expensive and exclusive products and brands that are differentiated from other offers based on their exquisite design and craftmanship, sensory appeal, and distinct socio-cultural narratives, this conceptual paper integrates the established view of wealth-based luxury with an alternative perspective focused on luxury competencies. These competencies include expertise, aesthetic taste, and sensitivity to luxury symbolism and are developed by learning and enjoying the unique luxury features relating to design and craftmanship, sensory appeal, and socio-cultural narratives. The relationship between the wealth-based and competencies-based perspectives is examined for consumption goals; considerations, choice and usage; and consumption outcomes. After identifying individual and societal moderating factors (socio-economic status and self-related factors as well as the effectiveness of social status symbols and the power structure of society), future research issues and research propositions are presented. This paper concludes by advising luxury managers to develop competencies-based strategies to address contemporary luxury challenges.

A social learning approach to carbon capture and storage demonstration project management: An empirical analysis

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an essential technology option for limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Demonstration is an important engineering measure towards large-scale CCS promotion. Implementing a demonstration project is a complicated process of system engineering management that involves a large number of strategic decisions. It is critical to investigate the potential knowledge-generating and decision-making processes embedded in the CCS demonstration, as well as to learn from past successes and failures. Learning-oriented approaches used to be primarily concerned with technical costs, which sparked a lengthy debate regarding the economic viability of CCS projects, but little attention was devoted to the social aspects of project implementation. Based on historical evidence on CCS demonstrations globally, this study developed a data-driven social learning model with high accuracy in estimating the chances of project success, combined with19 socio-technical characteristics. Our results imply that project performance (79.8%) is more relevant than policy incentives (12.8%) and media hype (7.4%) in explaining previous CCS triumphs. Among the seven policy-level characteristics, tax credits and regulatory legislation have grown in importance over the last 20 years, while the significance of grant subsidies has gradually waned. Furthermore, we found that modest hype assisted in the completion of planned projects, notably carbon dioxide storage projects. The sociocultural narrative of CCS does not yet have a set ending. This highlights the significance of telling compelling CCS stories in steering the future trajectory of technology and the low-carbon energy revolution.

Storying sports injury experiences of elite track athletes: A narrative analysis

ObjectiveTaking a social and cultural perspective, this study extends research in the field of sport injury psychology by storying elite track athletes injury experiences to identify dominant socio-cultural narratives that structure their tales. MethodsFifteen elite track athletes participated. Data collection spanned 18 months and involved two methods of collection: life-story interviews and timelining. A total of 42 interviews were collected. Dialogical narrative analysis was used to identify the narrative typologies. ResultsSix narrative typologies were identified: Resilience, Merry-Go-Round, Longevity, Pendulum, Snowball, and MoretoMe. ConclusionThis study extends the sport injury psychology evidence-base by highlighting how socio-cultural practices and processes influenced the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of athletes throughout the full spectrum of injury. By creating and sharing narratives of injury, we can expand the opportunities available to athletes to enable them to make sense of their injury experiences in diverse and meaningful ways.

When Xenophobia Spreads Like a Plague: A Critical Pastoral Theological Reflection on Anti-Asian Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT As the coronavirus pandemic exponentially mushrooms across the globe, xenophobia comes after it almost immediately. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 began, Asians and Asian Americans have been subject to various types of anti-Asian violence. From a pastoral theological perspective, this social phenomenon is deeply troubling because Asians and Asian Americans continue to be victimized by racial biases and social prejudices. How should we then address this communal crisis theologically? I answer this question by uncovering the hidden stereotypical, sociocultural narratives that have historically contributed to scapegoating people of Asian descent. In doing so, I critically appropriate René Girard’s social analytic framework and theological insights, especially engaging in his ideas such as mimetic desires, the scapegoat mechanism, and the sacralizing of violence. I argue that to dismantle and shift the scapegoating narrative, it is imperative for the racially victimized and socially marginalized to resist the toxic mechanism of victimization in solidarity.

Rewriting “That Story:” Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and Margaret Atwood

This paper examines the strategies Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and Margaret Atwood employ in their revisionist mythmaking project to disclose and denounce the detrimental impact of patriarchal norms and institutions on women and gender equality. The poets rewrite classical myths and fairy tales this time to tell the stories of those who have been excluded from historical and sociocultural narratives. The new stories of Sexton, Duffy, and Atwood unsettle gender stereotypes with humorous and purposely bathetic plot twists and enable women to reject secondary roles historically attributed to them. Female characters in the poems reclaim their power through literary (re)creation by confronting male domination and internalized guilt over feelings of incompetence. This paper proposes that these revisionist strategies may help to forge an independent identity for women, artists and non-artists alike, and to generate the necessary critical response against the oppressive discourse of patriarchy.

Sociocultural narratives and the anthropomorphic power of agency in a semiotic landscape

We take the conflation of space, time and the sociopolitical ideology in the newly independent Zambia as a transformative semiotic capacity predicated on notions of resemiotisation and metamorphosis of artefacts that are seen through the naming and names of hostels at the University of Zambia (UNZA). Borrowing from theories of semiotic assemblages and multilingual memory, the article seeks to show how Kaunda’s United Independence Party and the government’s ideologies permeated the linguistic landscape of the University of Zambia, in which the university becomes a copy of copies in order to engender a notion of home, school, nationhood and Pan-Africanism. By using names which represent the pride of Zambia, we show how Kaunda creatively emplaced on an institution a sense of nationhood which transcends ethnic enclaves and traditional affiliation and membership. We conclude by pointing out how, in hindsight, hostel names successfully reject fixity within a historical party ideological entrapment, and note rather, with the passage of time and admission of new actors to the space, the semiotic landscape of UNZA has continued to evolve to meet the current semiotic situation.

Engaging the unengaged: Understanding residents’ perceptions of social access to urban public space

Social access to urban parks is an understudied phenomenon encompassing the interplay between the physical conditions of urban neighborhoods and green space with the socio-cultural and historical relationships urban residents have developed with these familiar places. Understanding social access can help inform planners and designers who would like to ensure that measures taken to increase investment in and proximity to urban green space also result in increasing use of that green space by neighboring community members – a key premise in achieving intended benefits such as improved health and well-being. This study uses selected ethnographic field methods supplemented with semi-structured interviews to advance the concept of social access. In-depth narratives are shared to demonstrate the nuanced ways in which urban residents construct meaning in nearby urban green space and how that influences their perception and use of these places. The paper outlines the key dimensions of social access – people, activities, novelty, and ability – as well as five underlying historical and socio-cultural narratives used to describe these dimensions. The thorough documentation of the complexity inherent in social access suggests increased attention from researchers, designers, and planners is warranted to a) expand notion of access to urban green space beyond proximity, such as incorporating programming and cultural identity and b) support efforts to use innovative community engagement strategies beyond traditional evaluative methods (e.g. visual preference) to capture the layers of perspective held by urban residents.

Community stakeholder and opinion formation toward end-of-life planning in Chinese community in Australia

We examine the role of stakeholders in constructing new socio-cultural narratives of advance care planning in the Chinese community in Australia. Applying the communication theory of opinion leader(ship) and drawing on data from 41 interviews and field observation notes, we explore how stakeholders establish their authority and perform their expertise. Data analysis shows stakeholders have gained their opinion leadership status through demonstrating their ability to link the Chinese cultural values of family harmony and parental duty and the notions of self-empowerment and independence in official advance care planning promotions in Australia.

A perspectiva da abordagem qualitativa narrativa de cunho sociocultural: possibilidade metodológica na pesquisa em educação

A partir de uma discussão teórica, este artigo busca apresentar reflexões sobre a abordagem qualitativa narrativa de cunho sociocultural, como possibilidade metodológica na pesquisa em educação. Para isso, inicialmente, a proposta é introduzir a discussão tecendo algumas considerações sobre a pesquisa qualitativa, para, posteriormente, abordar sobre a possibilidade de investigação pela abordagem narrativa sociocultural. Sendo assim, o objetivo principal é refletir sobre algumas concepções teóricas desta perspectiva de investigação. Trata-se de uma abordagem que vem contribuindo para o avanço das pesquisas em educação, principalmente em relação às temáticas que envolvem o estudo sobre aprendizagem docente, atividade docente de estudo, construção do conhecimento pedagógico, desenvolvimento profissional, trajetórias e saberes docentes na educação básica e superior. Portanto, as investigações baseadas nessa abordagem possibilitam a compreensão do processo de transformação, sob seu aspecto histórico e de mudança, no qual os sujeitos que narram estão envolvidos.

A Rational Continuum: Legal and Cultural Abortion Narratives in Trump’s America

Since Trump has taken office, the right to abortion is under threat. The composition of the Supreme Court can change quickly, giving the President opportunity to appoint justices he views as like-minded. This article examines Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address and the anti-abortion sentiments contained within in conjunction with the rights to personal privacy and reproductive choice established and maintained by US Supreme Court cases Roe v. Wade (1973), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016). This article posits that the legal status of abortion on a federal level is resolute, but socio-cultural narratives produced by the evangelical, conservative right threaten to undermine the legitimacy of those rights. Significantly, the attempted erasure of the right to privacy established in Roe signals a distressing trend, one that can be qualified as a general loss of self-determination over one’s body.

Normalising abortion: what role can health professionals play?

BackgroundDespite being a common gynaecological procedure, abortion continues to be widely stigmatised. The research and medical communities are increasingly considering ways of reducing stigma, and health professionals have a role...

Социокультурные мифы КНР и Тайваня (конец 1950-х гг. — настоящее время)

<p>В статье исследуются социокультурные нарративы в парадигме основных национальных мифов Китая. Являясь специфическими онтологическими системами, социокультурные мифы выполняют функцию сглаживания социальных противоречий в определенном обществе и адаптируют своих последователей к изменяющимся историческим обстоятельствам. Будучи модульными системами, они легко входят в повествование глобальных и долговечных национальных мифов «Китай — великое государство и семья народов, каждый из которых обладает своей спецификой и самобытностью» и «Китай и Тайвань — единая гражданская нация, имеющая общих предков в лице основоположников китайского мира». Также они обеспечивают нормальное восприятие изменяющейся действительности.</p><p>Возникновение таких нарративов связано с ситуацией кризиса и социальной нестабильности. Современные китайские социокультурные мифы являются производными от порождающего национального мифа и содержат переносимый модульный компонент, например, в виде базовых понятий конфуцианства, актуализируемых к модернизированному обществу КНР и КР, зафиксированных в оригинальном китайском письме. Этот модуль эффективно применим в продуктах репрезентации как мифов, так и национальных идей и инициатив китайского правительства. Благодаря емкости содержания и эргономичности плана выражения, модульные компоненты базовых социокультурных нарративов включены в агитационную продукцию и легко узнаваемы.</p><p>Характерной чертой продуктов неомифологии является также их абсолютное соответствие форме научных парадигм, хотя мифопотребители по-прежнему склонны принимать на веру повествование мифа, не подвергая его эмпирической проверке.</p>

Perspectives on Sexual Power, #MeToo.

My story illustrates how a power dynamic altered my own behaviors, how gender biases about sexual misconduct contribute to inequities within academia, and the importance of providing safety and validation to victims of sexual misconduct. As faculty now, I pay attention to power dynamics with trainees, colleagues and patients, recognizing that even voicing differences of opinions can be difficult from a disempowered position. The powerlessness I experienced, freezing then yielding, can occur in any setting that does not provide safety and support for the expression of diverse and contrasting perspectives. Changing cultural norms related to power within academia requires all of us to think differently about ourselves and others continuously as we all carry implicit biases [11]. From a women’s mental health perspective, all physicians should recognize that emotional pain often derives as much from sociocultural narratives that invalidate lived experiences as from the actual traumatic events. Sexual aggression from my supervisor rendered me powerless as a trainee; this common experience limits both professional successes and damages the health of women in our society.

A Socio-Cultural Narrative of Homes for Older People in Eswatini: A Wellness Perspective

This paper presents a narrative of socio-cultural perceptions of homes for old people in Eswatini and their impact on indigenous and cultural norms of the old generation who are the beneficiaries of these homes. On top of establishing that there is a paucity of published research on elderly care and support in Eswatini, the paper argues that the majority of old people still reside in the rural areas where indigenous socio-cultural values are strongly held. It also establishes evidence of growing economic shocks and rising inequality, all heightening old-age vulnerabilities. The government has not sufficiently responded to the needs of older people even with the constant advantage of the low population of older people in Eswatini. The paper argues that Eswatini needs interventions that are culturally appropriate for successes to be recorded in all aspects of development. It advocates for the UNESCO (1995-2012) model that calls for interventions that are culturally appropriate, gender and age responsive, grounded in human rights and involving people affected by the interventions. There is need for a care and support system that permits the elderly to remain in their homes. Keywords: Older people, homes, Eswatini, socio-cultural, narratives DOI : 10.7176/JCSD/51-02 Publication date :September 30 th 2019

Analyzed Selfie: Stereotype Enactment, Projection, and Identification Among Digitally Native Black Girls

This article explores identity development among adolescent Black girls in the context of digitized social media environments. In the age of Web 2.0 technology, Black girls are able to project their image and verbiage to articulate self. In this conceptual article, the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) framework is used to understand the identity development of intersecting racial and gender identities among Black adolescent girls. This process of identity development is deemed in relation to and through enactment of sociocultural narratives (stereotypes) of a pending Black womanhood. We consider the psychological implications for mental health and wellness for identity development among digitally native Black adolescent girls, as it occurs publicly and against the backdrop of the constant, dynamic, and interactive social and consumptive media. Implications for clinical work to guide psychological intervention with adolescent digitally native Black girls will be presented.

The narrative strategies of B2B technology brands

PurposeWith the rise of digital media and content marketing, business-to-business (B2B) technology firms increasingly use narratives in their marketing strategy. If research has studied the impact of narrative on audiences, the structuration of the narrative strategies is still an overlooked area. The purpose of this paper is to understand the structuration of narrative strategies.Design/methodology/approachAuthors studied the cases of narratives on the Internet of Things produced by two leading technology firms, IBM and Cisco, between 2012 and 2016. Material includes advertising campaigns, blogs, written customer cases, white papers, public speeches and selling discourses.FindingsThe research highlights the importance of metanarratives as the core of the structuration of seemingly different contents. It also shows how firms tap into fundamental mythic archetypes and broader sociocultural narratives to try and legitimate the emerging technology. Finally, research also introduces the concept of transmedia strategy and illustrates its use by the two firms studied.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are based on only two cases of multinational firms, limiting the generalization of the findings.Practical implicationsThe results of the research may encourage firms to use more narrative branding strategies. They also offer directions for the key elements to manage when elaborating a narrative strategy (defining key metanarratives, identifying and using broader sociocultural narratives, designing a transmedia strategy).Originality/valueThe paper is among the first to try to understand the structuration of narrative branding strategies. While exploratory, it contributes to research on B2B branding and digital branding by bringing the narrative into B2B branding research.

Constructing the Klamath: Nature, Culture, and the Management of a Western River

Despite decades of scientific research, stakeholder negotiations, and policy proposals, management of the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California remains hotly contested. This research examines the sociocultural dimensions of proposed removal of four Klamath River dams. Using a social constructivist approach to analyze the discourse of public comments regarding dam removal, I find commenters rely on diverse ideas of nature and divergent problem framings, contest the role of science, and draw on embedded and meaningful sociocultural narratives to legitimize their management preferences. These discourses shape the terrain upon which management actions are perceived, valued, and contested, and make management actions meaningful beyond their immediate spatial and temporal context. Dam removal on the Klamath River is far more than an ecological problem amenable to a scientific or technical approach; instead, it is a complex project shot through with the sociocultural identities, visions, and narratives of all involved.