Narrative Space Research Articles

Образ сибирского города в германском травелоге XIX века (по страницам «Путешествия в Западную Сибирь» Отто Финша)

The article considers the image of the Siberian city of the 19 century as an event phenomenon that is formed in the narrative space of travelogue. From the many descriptions of Siberian cities that take place in the travelogue “Journey to Western Siberia”, the description of the city of Barnaul is selected, presented in chapter X “From the Altai village to Tomsk”. In the list of the main events of the trip to Western Siberia, the object of the imaginary geography “Barnaul” is considered. In Finsch’s travelogue, the object of imaginary geography appears in the reader’s mental discourse in the form of a plot, the linear development of which is based on the alternation of stories, qualities of city residents, city attractions. The analysis makes it possible to identify a model that is convenient for the European contemplator-the formula of his narrative immersion in the depicted Western Siberian landscape, which allows the reader to imagine himself as a participant in the event and experience the need to become a participant in the event and “place himself” in the narrative and thus realize opportunities that are not in demand in life To identify the features of the formation of conceptual level knowledge in the German travelogue of the 19 century, it is useful to turn to the ideas of literary geography, which considers the narrative as a form of mapping, organizing vital data into recognizable patterns that help both the viewer and the reader or writer to understand the system of connections, of which he becomes a part in the narrative of life. The synthesis of narrative analysis techniques, structural analysis, ideas of literary and imaginative geography, cognitive-structural approach to event analysis allows the authors to determine the specifics of the European travelogue of the 19 century.

Современная детская книжная иллюстрация: композиция, пространство, движение, время

The composition in a modern children’s book is associated with solving the problems of space and movement. Dynamics is part of the structure of the book, the book design system is determined by the movement of the plot, the principles of reception, the rhythm of the font and the alternation of images are dynamic. The principles of space construction in a modern children’s book are associated with the leading means of artistic expression of the art of graphics. The space of the book turns into a narrative, a space of history; narrative space acts as the theme of the image, and the void is also narrative as a kind of figure of silence. Space as an artistic technique uses the principles of panorama, division into plans, and the location of the horizon line. The transformation of time in the structure of a modern children’s book is focused on the concept of dialogue between the plot and the image. Time uses a reception complex, focusing on perception, viewing, interactive practices, book design can use the principle of repetition and return. The epoch style and font can mark the epoch. Space and time act in book design as a system of plot development, a spacetime continuum. The time of the narration, the time of the artist and the time of the viewer can exist in a synchronous and diachronic format. Time as a character change involves the interpretation of a theme, a change in spatial coordinates, search, study, movement. The use of a certain point of view and foreshortening in the composition of a modern children’s book illustration can be achieved by the technique of duplication of viewing, an image «from the back» or from above, a panoramic view and fragmentation. Classical «pictorial» composition and spatial construction are often used. The theme of movement in the composition of the book is associated with the popularity of the type of travelogue book (tales of wandering-the formation of a hero, educational literature, travel literature, guidebooks). Methods of constructing space in the book composition system – top view, angular composition, combination of spatial plans, close-up. The dynamics of the font correlates with the dynamics of the text, the letters «come to life». Several effects associated with new media: animation, cinematic effect of space, theatricalization, imitation of a recognizable screensaver. The serial nature of the images can apply a sequential arrangement of the stages of movement, «storyboard», step-bystep approach or removal of the object, dialogic composition, close-up.

Anthropology and complicated people

AbstractRevealing complexity in the world—but also creating it—is at the heart of anthropology. It shapes our engagement with theory and ethics, writing and visual style, and choice of research subjects. But does it create blind spots? I respond to this question by discussing studies of violence, and my ethnographic material in progress on British ex‐soldiers. Owing to the ethical norm of suspending moral judgment of our research participants, we tend to avoid portraying their unlikable traits, internal contradictions, or troubling actions that do not advance our arguments. Ethnography often reveals florid complexity in structures or systems, but it creates simpler depictions of the people who inhabit these forms. Yet, since anthropology has long aimed to holistically capture the truth of social life, it should allow more space in ethnographic narrative for complicated protagonists.

Modeling the narrative viewpoint: narrative spaces and the labovian narrative structure

The article addresses the methodological challenge of studying narratives of various genres in their natural discursive environment. The proposed model combines the narrative spaces approach to narrative construction developed by Dancygier and the classic Labov & Waletzky narrative segmentation model. I undertake a modeling experiment targeting four narratives of personal experience, two oral and two written, from news, political, humorous, and oneiric reflective contexts. I accommodate the classic narrative structure model of Abstract, Orientation, Complication, Resolution, Evaluation, and Coda to tag narrative spaces rather than narrative clauses. This revised vision of the narrative structural elements combined with the cognitive narratology concept of narrative spaces aims to address the viewpoint configurations. Namely, I focus on the discussion of the elements of Abstract, Evaluation, and Coda, which position the narrative in its discursive context and essentially constitute the extra-narrative system. These elements allow embedding the narrative in the pragmatic context and account for its tellability. In turn, this discursive positioning depends on the viewpoint configuration of the narrative of personal experience. I regard viewpoint configurations as elements governed by the narrative genre. I argue that the viewpoint compression and decompression processes and narrative embedding strategies are genre-specific. Narratives of different genres demonstrate stronger or weaker extra-narrative system and varied tendencies towards multiple viewpoints and their compression.

Gender, Status, Space: An Intersectional Analysis of Sexual Violence in the Middle Dutch Play ‘Lanseloet van Denemerken’

ABSTRACT This essay examines the topic of sexual violence in Middle Dutch literature, centring on the play ‘Lanseloet van Denemerken’ (c.1405). Although medieval literature is known for its gender-based violence, the topic has not received much attention from scholars of Middle Dutch. This article aims to renew the scholarly debate by analysing the Middle Dutch text from an innovative intersectional perspective, integrating the analytical categories of gender, social status and narrative space and adopting those categories for literary studies. This analysis uncovers new meanings in the play and demonstrates that gender, status and space work together in creating an unsafe situation, in which the female protagonist Sanderijn is raped by the male protagonist Lanseloet. Subsequently, this article analyses recent scholarly publications on ‘Lanseloet van Denemerken’ to investigate how scholars in Middle Dutch literature are handling the sensitive topic of rape. It is demonstrated that our interpretations and discussions of the medieval text run the risk of being involuntarily influenced by present-day rape myths – false beliefs and attitudes about sexual violence that prevail in our current culture. Therefore, this article calls on researchers’ shared responsibility to ensure a continuous and open discussion of sensitive topics in the field of Middle Dutch literary studies.

Newtypes, Angels, and Human Instrumentality: The Mecha Genre and its Apocalyptic Bodies


 This paper argues that the mecha genre is fixated on psychedelic and abstract imagery of supernatural human bodies, the destruction or transcendence of which often have bring about new political and social epochs. In making this argument, I build on the writing of Hiroki Azuma, and his understanding of classical mecha texts functioning as ‘substitutes’ for political grand narratives. Two major mecha texts are analyzed: Mobile Suit Gundam (1979), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). I suggest that Gundam’s occultic ‘Newtypes’ bridge the series’ grand narrative space opera storyline with themes of New-Age mysticism, itself reminiscent of Azuma’s writings on the role of spiritualism in postmodernity. In my section on Evangelion, I argue that its imagery of bodily re-organization mirrors its fixation on reimagining its world and characters. I term the mecha genre’s supernatural archetype ‘The Apocalyptic Body’, and argue it is key to understanding the genre’s mixing of occult and technological themes.

Images of intertextuality in the novel “The Waste Paradise” by the writer Laila Al-Juhani - an applied structural study

Intertextuality is one of the terms of the structuralism, which indicates the nature of texts, and also refers to the culture of the writer, and enriches the semantic value of the language in the new text and its narrative frameworks, especially in the art of the novel, which extends in its temporal and spatial horizon and the number of pages over a long period, so intertextuality becomes more present. It is clear to both the educated reader and the researcher. Hence this study that explains the forms of intertextuality in the novel “The Waste Paradise” by the Saudi writer Laila Al-Juhani, as her novel has a vast narrative space, containing different types of intertextuality in particular, that are in harmony with the story of the novel and its events on the one hand, and develop semantic depth, or It conveys it in a highly artistic and beautiful way on the other hand, and demonstrates the extension of some meanings historically on the third hand, and explains some human events on the fourth hand. The most common types of intertextuality in the novel “The Waste Paradise” are: historical intertextuality, literary intertextuality, religious intertextuality, and artistic intertextuality. The study was keen to include the original text from which the author quoted the texts of her novel in a clear manner in the text, and by extracting each text in a systematic and transparent manner in the footnotes as well. In order to ensure scientific accuracy and credibility in the research, the study ultimately concluded with many results of great importance, which the study summarized at the end of the research through a separate section, including but not limited to: The writer employs religious intertextuality, calling for ideals and values that are absent from human reality. Contemporary on the one hand, and you made the narrative more realistic and depictive of life on the other hand.

Scripting the silhouette: Writing around the participant in interactive virtual reality experiences

This article explores the challenges and emerging understandings around crafting the narrative position of the participant in real-time virtual reality (VR). Drawing on interviews with contemporary VR creators working in the United Kingdom, America, Canada and Australia, the article explores the ways in which creators conceptualize the narrative space occupied by an interactive VR participant. It argues that contemporary creators are utilizing the narrative capacity of the participant in ways that challenge traditional notions of characterization and protagonist. Instead, creators engage methods and ideas that are more aligned with the notion of ‘postdramatic’ theatre. I propose that the concept of negative space can be used to explain the relationship between the active participant and authored VR work. Conceiving the space occupied by the embodied participant in terms of ‘negative space’ within the authored environment can allow screenwriters and VR creators to ‘write around’ this absent (but present) participant during the development process.

Politics and Popular Culture: Stretching Imaginaries and Filling in Holes

Abstract Popular culture artifacts are often places and spaces where societal expectations can be exercised, pushed on, prodded, to see how audiences and consumers react, and what they are willing to accept and perhaps what they will not abide. This is one of the prime values of studying popular culture – to see the ways that narratives and characters can provide audiences with paths towards experimentation in their thinking, to reconceptualize ideas and expectations. Much of this is often pegged to different representation, and that is certainly valuable. But the research on narrative and its impact indicates the importance of what is communicated by way of storyline and how this also contributes to the shaping of ideas and conceptions. This essay explores three narrative spaces that demonstrate how popular culture contributes to our thinking about different ideas and dimensions of political life. Imaginaries of women and power, abortion, and the 25th Amendment provide examples of the toggling between real life and fictional presentations. In two of these examples, popular culture has not necessarily provided a space for priming and imagining so much as it has filled in gaps of our general knowledge with misrepresentation and incorrect data, which undermines the value that popular culture can otherwise provide. This is one side of the dynamic. The other side of the dynamic is that we, as citizen audiences, get to try on different ideas and become accustomed to new ways of thinking, which is equally important to consider within politics, and points to the value and importance of popular culture narratives and representations within the body politic.

Учебник иностранного языка как семиотический феномен (на материале линейки учебников «English File»)

The aim of this paper is the semiotic analysis of a foreign language textbook as a semiotic phenomenon reflecting the cognitive attitudes of its authors and aimed at forming not only external but also deep layers of the learner's linguistic personality, responsible for motivation, intents and attitudes. The material to be analysed is a popular line of EFL textbooks “English file” by British authors Ch. Latham-Koenig and C. Oxenden. The scientific novelty of the work is that for the first time a foreign language textbook is considered not as an educational and methodological text, but as an alternative reality, a dynamic complex sign, similar to the discursive space of a fiction book. The study is conducted by applying the method of contextual analysis, the method of cognitive-pragmatic analysis, and the interpretive method to the polycoded texts of EF-textbooks. The authors conclude that the semiotic complex of EF-textbooks exhibits the characteristics of an educational novel of fiction, where the learner assumes the function of a fairy-tale hero, acting in the space of English-language cultural mythologems, reference-metric elements, topoi and narratives. As a result of active realisation of the happy end narrative, supported by the system of topoi and precedent names characteristic of the English-language conceptosphere, the textbook uses the suggestive potential of the so-called soft power to form changes at the motivational-pragmatic level of the linguistic personality.

Exploring visitors’ visual perception along the spatial sequence in temple heritage spaces by quantitative GIS methods: a case study of the Daming Temple, Yangzhou City, China

The Daming Temple, built during 457–464 C.E., is one of the developing ancient temple heritage spaces located in Yangzhou city, P. R. China. Over the past 60 years, variation in visitors’ spatial perception along the tour routes in the temple has occurred. This research attempts to reveal the changes in visitors’ visual perception along the spatial sequences at 3 different times (i.e., 1962, 1973 and 2022). A quantitative GIS-based method, which includes analysing the distribution of visitors’ spatial preferences and spatial configuration, is proposed. Digital landscape tools and quantitative estimation methods are used, including mapping within Rhinoceros software, the kernel density estimation (KDE) method within ArcGIS software and spatial syntax analysis within DepthMap software. Extracted geodata from 500 photographs of the heritage space taken by volunteer visitors are analysed within the GIS environment. Values of the mean depth (MD) at both levels of visibility and accessibility are calculated within the visibility graph analysis (VGA) model. Comparisons between the visual preferences of the visitors and the spatial configuration along the spatial sequence are conducted. The results indicate that the spatial sequence has a significant impact on visitors’ visual preferences and tour routes. The phenomenon of spatial sequence among dynamic temporal variations and the effects of narrative spaces along the spatial sequence are highlighted and explained, which reveal the relationship between visitors’ geospatial preference and the spatial configuration of the temple. Some suggestions are put forwards for further studies on the revitalisation and management of East Asian ancient temple heritage spaces.

Interspecies Relations in the Midst of the Russia–Ukraine War

To convey the scale of destruction that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused to animals, plants, and ecosystems, analysts frequently use national-scale maps, aggregate figures, and the concept of ecocide. Although necessary, these moves risk portraying Ukraine exclusively as a zone of catastrophe, while obscuring the character of on-the-ground socioecological relations. This article enlarges the space for environmental narratives about war between catastrophe, heroism, and resilience by describing interspecies encounters along Odesa’s Black Sea Coast, in the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve, and in the Kharkiv Region.

Exploring English Teachers’ Pedagogical Wellbeing and Classroom Issues: A Narrative Inquiry

This paper deals with the classroom issues of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching in the context of Nepal and the EFL teachers' ways of addressing them. More specifically, it connects how pedagogical strengths help teachers address the issues that appear in language classrooms. The research has been carried out outlining the qualitative approach grounded in an interpretive research paradigm. The data were collected from three university teachers. Methodologically, the study adopts the three-dimensional narrative spaces as the prior procedures of research methods for theoretical insight. It concludes that teachers' profound knowledge and skills about their well-being are useful to integrate various cultures and content in the classrooms. Pedagogically inbuilt potentials of teachers maximally enhance learners' learning opportunities. Thus, the conclusion obtained in this study is assessed considering teachers' understanding, of classroom issues and their ways of addressing those problems but they may not be generalizable. However, it contributes to teachers' education in general and ELT practice in Nepal in particular.

Research field of demographic security in the multi-ethnic space of narratives of students

The demographic situation in Russia is characterized by a persistently narrowed type of population reproduction, which certainly actualizes the study of narratives on demographic security and involves understanding the attitudes and risks associated with demographic behavior. Kazan universities are a good platform for studying the demographic behavior of student youth, where mutual influence of the attitudes of the Turkic world and the Russian mental context occurs. The article discusses the features of using the focus group method in the research field of demographic security, with students of Kazan in a multiethnic youth environment. As a result of conducting 16 cases using the focus group method and based on 50 free interviews with its participants, which were conducted 7 days after each focus group, the key attitudes of demographic behavior (reproductive, self-preservation, migration and matrimonial) of student youth in a multi-ethnic environment were identified and the image of the future in demographic security narratives. The focus group method is presented as a platform that makes it possible to create a certain “meta-story”, where the demographic attitudes of young educated representatives of different ethnic groups are realized, the degree of their compatibility, and a search for ways of a possible joint future is developed..

Trust in numbers: Serious numbers and speculative fictions in rare earth elements exploration.

In the early 2010s, a spectacular fall in prices for a class of mineral commodities called the rare earth elements (REEs) and the collapse of hundreds of new exploration companies made clear the fragility of the high-risk markets around these companies and the strategies of legitimation that supported them. New regulatory processes built around technical disclosures generated vast stores of geotechnical data. Rather than generating trust among market actors, however, these processes dramatically altered the temporalities of global extraction and energized unruly narrative spaces. In their efforts to keep mineral claims active and companies afloat, REE-focused exploration experts have struggled to navigate different arenas of discussion while holding their respective logics in tension. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with exploration geologists and promoters, this article examines how experts federate flows of 'serious' and 'speculative' information in both carefully regulated reports and rumor-filled online forums. Such spaces are organized by aesthetic conventions and social criteria for establishing persuasiveness-forms that STS scholars have long analyzed as literary technologies. Rather than helping to secure experts' authority, however, I argue that the diverse literary technologies that now dominate exploration promotion and finance work have radically redistributed interpretive roles. In their struggles to mediate senses of 'crisis' endemic within venture markets, exploration experts must enact the ideals undergirding new regulatory requirements even as they learn to defer to the speculative musings of others.

“Cinema was becoming more real”

This study examines the historical legitimacy, aesthetic potential and limitations of the vertical screen image through two dimensions: cross media comparison of the New Wave of French cinema and the creative practice of thevertical screen image in the complex new media environment of today. This studyfollows the principle of unity between history and logic to explore in detail theinfluence and inspiration of the narrative aesthetics of French New Wave films on the creation of short videos in the vertical screen era, starting from the four dimensions of “telling” and “showing”, as well as narrative time and narrative space. Through the media archaeology of film history, it is easy to find that many features of short video creation coincide with the creative concept advocated by the French New Wave.

L'Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées au Canada: Explorer la relation entre l'existence de critiques externes et la prise de parole des témoins lors des audiences communautaires.

Faced with the alarming rates of disappearances and murders of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada and in response to the demands of victims' families and Indigenous women's associations, the Canadian government set up the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2016-2019). Its mandate: to identify the systemic causes of violence and produce effective recommendations to remedy them. From its announcement andduring the course of its work, the inquiry faced a great deal of criticism, particularly from families and Indigenous women's associations, undermining the trustof many in the commissioners and in the process. It was thus against the backdrop of those brewing tensionsthat many people affected by the violence came forward to tell their stories at community hearings held across the country. As we considerpublic testimony to bea vector of social agency for these witnesses, we ask how external critiques conveyed in the media sphere influenced these narrative spaces internal to the inquiry. Through the use of computer-assisted text analysis (based in textometry) applied ona corpus of transcripts from the fifteen community hearings, we were able to identify the presence of certain criticisms, which occupied a relatively small space in the hearings. What's more, our explorations enabled us to reveal that witnesses bore a dual responsibility: to tell their story and to avoid downgrading the investigation in progress.

The possibility of radical resources and participation in architectural education: autobiographical spatial narratives

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the pedagogical field of architectural education by conceptualizing autobiographical spatial narratives as possible radical resources and avenues for participation. It seeks to advance a critical approach to the dominant canon of course contents and hidden local dynamics of exclusion and discrimination in architectural education.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on conceptual and critical analyses of feminist, postcolonial and radical architectural pedagogies, relating those with broader feminist pedagogies that question exclusion and discrimination mechanisms from the perspective of the radicality of emotions. As a second step, three experiments intentionally designed in academic courses to open space for autobiographical spatial narratives are analysed to extend the theoretical discussion into the specific local dynamics of exclusion and discrimination that have largely been ignored to date in Turkey.FindingsDifferent pedagogical approaches and self-experiments have revealed that autobiographical spatial narratives are a type of resource that accommodates students' diverse spatial experiences including forcible displacement. Sharing that multiplicity creates opportunities for participation in the classroom and studio where different individualities, backgrounds and identities are made visible. These potential resources and participation are open to emotions and affects, are collective and transformative and, therefore, are radical.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough research on architectural pedagogies is still limited, the current literature is constantly being empowered by new studies from various geographies and localities. The present study may facilitate future comparative readings and further research on radical architectural pedagogies, particularly within the Global South, where complex local dynamics might share commonalities dominated by the Western canon. It may also open new discussions on discrimination and the exclusion of silenced individuals in architectural education in Turkey and elsewhere. In the scope of this paper, however, the practical experiences and observations based on two years in architectural education may be too limited for a comprehensive analysis of the applications of autobiographical spatial narratives.Originality/valueThis paper offers novel strategies for creating inclusive, intersectional and decolonized perspectives for knowledge production and more equal spaces in architectural education.

Spatial and Narrative Escape in Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone

Bone is the impressive first novel written by Fae Myenne Ng, a first-generation Chinese American woman writer. Under the guidance of Gaston Bachelard’s and M. M. Bakhtin’s theories of space and Gérard Genette’s theories of narrative discourse, this paper probes into the narrative space and time in Ng’s Bone, trying to detect the protagonist’s escape consciousness revealed in the form of spatial and narrative escape. Leila’s individual escape, which derives from the family tragedy under the exploitation and expulsion of racial minorities in America, is, in fact, the epitome of every anxious Chinese American’s impulse to run away.

Reconstructing Stories of Career Adaptability Through the Integrative Structured Interview for Undergraduate University Students

Career adaptability (CA) is promoted as a skill to navigate the 21st-century labour market. With an emphasis on narrative career counselling as a more relevant form of practice for supporting the career development of people in such rapidly shifting times, it is important to explore the possibility of facilitating a narrative space through which people can tell and connect with their stories of career adaptability. Various qualitative career assessment instruments promote storytelling facilitation which is a major task of narrative career counselling. The Integrative Structured Interview (ISI) is one such qualitative career assessment instrument that facilitates systemic and context-sensitive career storytelling through the integration of quantitative and qualitative career assessments. This study explores the potential role of the ISI in assisting Australian undergraduate students to tell career stories in which the five dimensions of career adaptability can manifest. A theory-driven deductive thematic analysis based on the five dimensions of career adaptability informed data analysis. Key findings reveal the ISI can assist participants in telling stories of career adaptability. Findings also highlight the ISI’s role in providing participants with a systemic and context-sensitive understanding of their career interests through a systemic deconstruction of their Holland code.