Specific Narrative Research Articles

How Expert Committees Become Group Agents: Self-Legitimation in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract The UN human rights treaty bodies—groups of experts tasked with monitoring how states implement international human rights conventions—are increasingly portrayed as powerful collective entities with agency. This article focuses on one mechanism that helps collectives of individuals become group agents, namely internal self-legitimation. By internal self-legitimation, we mean practices such as narratives and rituals enacted by a group that ascribe legitimacy to it in the eyes of its members and are key to building common identification among them. We explore how self-legitimation facilitates group agency on the basis of a case study on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), obtaining empirical evidence for the study from content analysis of CRPD documents and interviews with former and present members. We show that specific legitimation narratives—related to the moral value of the committee’s task and the moral integrity of its members, the fairness of the CRPD’s procedures, and the committee’s association with other presumably legitimate institutions—facilitated identity-building and helped the CRPD to develop the characteristics of a group agent and take decisions. Finally, we explore the conditions on which the findings might be applicable to other human rights treaty bodies.

Implementation of the meaning-formimg and organizing functions of the texture in the piano works of modern Ukrainian composers

Statement of the problem. Recent research and publications. Today the texture of a music work is not only a marker of an epochal style, but also, more than ever, of an individual style. Studying the principles of textural organization, understanding the specifics of the action of textural functions gives the performer the keys to deciphering the artistic intent of the work, the system of the composer’s style and finding the corresponding performance techniques. And in the conditions of the complex genre system of modern music, the texture is able to carry out the function of an interpretative guide to the heart of the composer’s idea, the author’s concept. The scientific works by such musicologists as H. Vinohradov (1977), I. Denysenko (2010), H. Ihnatchenko (1984), R. Kashyrtsev (2021), V. Moskalenko, V. Prykhodko (1997), H. Savchenko (2023), I. Tsurkanenko (1998), M. Chernyavska (2015a; 2015b), S. Shyp (1998), S. Shkoliarenko (2017) are devoted to the study of musical texture. A panoramic understanding of the development vectors of the doctrine of texture in the works of Ukrainian scientists can be found in the article by O. Hnatyshyn (2015). Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to reveal the ways of realizing the meaning-forming function of the texture based on the analysis of piano works by modern Ukrainian composers: Serhii Piliutykov’s “Fairy Tale” and Zoltan Almashi’s “Elegy”. The stylistic, genre, systematic and functional methods of researching are used in the article. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the selected works are analyzed from the point of view of textural organization. Results and conclusion. The situation of the gap the connection between the genre and the texture actualizes the meaning-forming and organizing function of the texture. S. Piliutykov in “Fairy Tale” builds a meaningful multilayered structure horizontally and vertically, working with different stylistic thematic elements, thereby revealing the programmatic idea. As a result, a specific musical narrative is created, which is unfolded in the interaction of vertical and horizontal texture layers. In “Elegy” by Z. Almashi, the principles of textural organization chosen by the composer seem to push the boundaries of the genre, provide for a different timbre embodiment, and timbre-texture transformations become decisive in building the composition in time and space.

A Delta of Time

In the early modern Low Countries, narrative cartography was a thriving new medium aimed at disseminating information about events concerning the Dutch Revolt. News maps combined spatial and narrative information in order to tell the story of a recent event to a large audience, representing actions, moments, and (spatial) change. They were in essence temporal products. To keep the maps topical, map publishers released new map states by modifying their copperplates and adding the latest news, sometimes multiple times. This article analyses the ‘updated’ map series by the Amsterdam publisher Claes Jansz Visscher that reported on events in the Scheldt river area between Bergen op Zoom and Antwerp (such as the 1631 Battle of the Slaak). The central question is how and why Visscher incorporated temporal information into his news maps. First, it shows the tools and strategies how Visscher, in comparison to other Northern and Southern Netherlandish news map publishers, added temporal information to his maps. Then, the rhythm of mapping and the map narratives are put in the context of real-time events and news culture, and the circulation and use of the maps are interpreted in the context of memory culture and historical consciousness. The article shows how news maps imply specific narratives of events and invite contemporary and later users to engage with and ‘navigate’ the past, present, and future in ways that transcend the limiting idea of time as a linear progress.

AI Take-Over in Literature and Culture: Truth, Post-Truth, and Simulation

In a world that is increasingly lost to narrative building, deep fakes, simulation of realities and dissemination of fake news generated by artificial intelligence (AI), we are moving towards a post-truth era. Our thoughts are being manipulated and twisted with (mis)information for the benefit of people in power; thus, our consent is being manufactured with the aid of AI, resulting in ideological imperialism. In such a scenario, when AI is slowly taking control over the planet and creating our digital replicas by cloning our consciousness, what will our future look like? Humans’ creative pursuits have already predicted such futures in various movies, comics, novels and web series depicting the myriad complications associated with an impending AI takeover. Thus, contextualising today’s scenario within the scope of the future, the paper aims to dissect some popular speculative narratives offered through various tissues of culture, including movies, comics, novels and web series, to comprehend the consequences those narratives generate to grasp the changing relationalities between real and unreal, and truth and post-truth in a world run in codes and simulation.

Letting the plants speak: Law, landscape and conservation.

The Botany Wetlands are the contemporary remnant of a formerly extensive coastal freshwater wetland in the inner-urban suburbs of Sydney (Australia). This site supports a range of ecosystem services, including human physical and mental health benefits, filtration of stormwater runoff from a highly urban and industrial catchment, and accommodation space for floodwater. The wetlands also provide habitat to migratory water birds and act as a connective habitat corridor and refuge for native flora and fauna including endangered ecological communities recognised in state and national legislation. Current management strategies and 'on the ground' practices are informed by a hierarchy of laws and management plans that act to create and reinforce a specific narrative in the material landscape. Here we consider the ecological history of the wetlands, derived from paleoecological data, in the context of this complex network of governance entanglements. We argue that the system bears little resemblance to its long-term character and has been made and continually re-made by a portmanteau of inflexible regulatory structures. We suggest that maintaining ecosystem services in such a complex, hybridized sociolegal-biophysical system requires a critical view of both the power relations and physical processes that shape it.

The spread of Russian disinformation within the Ukrainian information field

The objective of this study is to identify and analyse the methods of disinformation utilized by Russia to disseminate information in the Ukrainian information field. The main tasks include defining the concept of disinformation and explaining its societal dangers, characterising Information-Psychological Operations (IPSO) as a component of Russia's disinformation campaign against Ukraine and investigating the most prevalent elements utilised by Russia in the dissemination of disinformation. This study is aimed at the synthesis and combination of methods of monitoring, content analysis, and comparative analysis. The article selects publications that exhibit disinformation targeted at Ukrainian society. Disinformation propagated by Russia is subsequently refuted by either foreign or Ukrainian publications, including the “NotaEnota” organisation. The study reveals that Russian disinformation aims to propagate specific narratives and manipulate mass consciousness. Disinformation involves intentionally creating misleading and manipulative content, often in the form of artificially created fakes. The information field of Ukraine has become the primary battleground for Russia's hybrid warfare tactics, which include disinformation, propaganda, and fakes. To effectively counter these tactics, society needs to develop critical thinking skills and media literacy to discern and evaluate information critically. Future research aims to delve deeper into the methods employed in creating disinformation, their objectives, and potential strategies to prevent or counteract their influence.

Honouring Uncelebrated Heroes in Maaza Mengiste’s <i>The Shadow King</i> and <i>Beneath the Lion’s Gaze</i>

This paper examines literary representations of marginalised, uncelebrated heroes in two novels by Maaza Mengiste: The Shadow King and Beneath the Lion’s Gaze. The central argument is that Mengiste excavates and portrays the overlooked heroic contributions of select male and female protagonists to honour their legacy and illuminate their vital yet under-recognised roles in constructing Ethiopian national identity. By adopting close textual analysis, the paper examines the conception of ‘heroism’ to characters derived from Mengiste’s fictionalised historiography centred upon Ethiopia. Furthermore, the sociocultural and ideological factors engendering the marginalisation of these heroic figures shall be scrutinised within the novels’ specific narrative contexts. Incorporating critical theoretical perspectives, the efficacy of violence as a liberating praxis against political oppression shall be evaluated through the lens of Frantz Fanon. At the same time, Marxian theories of alienation are employed to elucidate the subjective motivations compelling certain protagonists towards heroic but uncelebrated deeds. Methodologically, the paper is grounded in a close literary analysis of the theme of unheralded heroism within the two primary texts. A synthesis of supplementary scholarly perspectives bolsters this paper’s central thesis regarding unrecognised heroic narratives. The paper argues that despite contributing substantially to anti-oppressive struggles, Mengiste’s marginal protagonists remain uncelebrated within Ethiopia’s dominant historical discourses due to their race, class, gender, and ideological positionality.

『전염병 일지』 혼종 서사 문체 번역의 고려사항들

Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year has long been recognized as a hybrid narrative that intertwines history and fiction, merging empirical evidence with evaluative interpretations. This paper posits that the hybrid narrative style utilized in the text serves the author's intention to achieve specific humanitarian narrative objectives: employing empirical evidence to enlighten readers and guide them towards interventionist actions. Furthermore, this study conducts an analysis of the stylistic elements within the work that embody this narrative orientation. Emphasis is placed on the author's deliberate choices in vocabulary, the use of pronouns, and shifts in tense. I argue that these stylistic components play important roles in bringing the central theme of the text to life and, therefore, warrant careful consideration in translation into Korean. Lastly, this research examines three published Korean translations of A Journal of the Plague Year to evaluate how effectively they capture these stylistic features in the source language and convey them in the target language.

A Critical Study of Draupadi in Disguise in Context to Power Dynamics

Intention and purpose shape an individual’s actions and their results. Social, political, and some personal reasons compel people to disguise their identity. A disguised person begins living in a new form by adopting the respective occupation, name, or fake identity. However, the masked identity could be a temporary solution to problems because it is extremely difficult to hide one’s true identity. True identity reflects one’s principles, ethics, and dispositions. Indian mythology narrates a plethora of cases where Hindu deities or men metamorphose their real identities to serve their purpose. The Mahabharata-the Indian epic also records some such incidents when its characters are bound to act in disguise. However, their intention and purpose justify their actions. Nevertheless, hiding their true identity puts them in a vulnerable position. In VirataParva, we see the five Pandavas along with their common wife Draupadi spend one year at Matsya Kingdom in disguise due to their political tussle with their cousins Kauravas. They adopted different forms and occupations. Draupadi’s disguised identity caused her to work as a maid to the queen of the kingdom. This raises certain questions: By adopting the role, did she face any difficulty as a woman of low rank? How did she deal with the new circumstances? This paper aims to study Draupadi’s character in a new light to the specific narrative in disguise.

BOLLYWOOD AS A SITE FOR CREATING COLLECTIVE MEMORY: A CASE STUDY OF SELECT MOVIES

Memory like history have and will always remain sites for discursive struggle wherein institutional mechanisms will continuously try to control and shape it. Throughout history, mass media has been one of major tools that various actors have used to shape the discursive struggle of history and memory simultaneously. Both of them serve as crucial sites of resistance for the disenfranchised groups.Mass media in the form of cinema has always been a crucial site for this discursive struggle for both memory and history. In the present-day visual culture, Television and cinema have emerged as major sources from where we get to know about glorious histories, past struggles, and triumphs. Be it biographical series or movies, fictionalized accounts of war memorialized into blockbuster movies, or state commissioned actualities/documentaries; the cinematic representation caters to collective re-imagination of past events and renders them into sites for shaping collective memory and thus identity.During WWII, both Hitler and Stalin used films as tools for propaganda as this medium has potential to shape one’s understanding of history. State and non- state actors throughout history have used cinema to establish, reinforce and even mold historical events into hyper-emotionalized audio-visual texts, which over a period naturalizes or blurs the lines between real and represented history.This paper will focus on how content and transmission of popular memory via cinema in India takes place. The focus will be on how mass media in the shape of cinema reinforce the existing mnemonic hegemony, which in turn shapes collective identities and pasts of the public.Engaging with political economy the paper will further examine how economic conditions shape popular memory simultaneously leading to erasure of certain histories. The concept is to investigate how social, economic, and political circumstances indirectly encourage and exclude specific narratives in order to sustain dominant power dynamics in collective recollection across different races, classes, and genders through the medium of cinema.The premise is to not only understand mass media content act as an agency to the production and sustaining of memory but also highlight the various factors behind this materialist approach of memory leading to erasure and disenfranchisement of other histories and memories. This involves interrogating the ownership, production, and consumption of memories propagated through television and cinema in India.

Spirit Tactics

Speculative narratives of (techno)magic such as those offered by feminist technoscience, cyberwitches and techno-shamanism come from knowledge systems long marginalised in a hyper-optimised and hard-science-reliant capitalist discourse. Aiming to de-centre Western rational imaginaries of technology, they speak from decolonial and translocal perspectives, in which the relations between humans and technology are reconfigured in terms of care, relationality and multiplicity of epistemic positions. In this paper, we consider (techno)magic as an act of transgressing a knowledge system plus relational ethics plus capacity to act beyond the constraints of the current capitalist belief system. (Techno)magic is about disentangling from commodified forms of belief and knowledge and instead cultivating solidarity, relationality, common spaces and trust with non-humans: becoming-familiar with the machine. What critical approaches, epistemic and aesthetic procedures do these speculative practices enable in media art and resistant tech? In what ways does “magic” act as an alternative political imaginary in the age of hegemonic Western epistemologies? Drawing on feminist STS and the works of artists such as Choy Ka Fai, Omsk Social Club, Ian Cheng, Suzanne Treister and others, we propose to address (techno)magic seriously as an ethical and epistemic practice.

“Blast Off!”: The Afterlives of Nostalgia in Su Yu Hsin’s Blast Furnace No. 2

In her 2022 video installation, Blast Furnace No. 2, artist Su Yu Hsin explores the history of the German factory, Henrichshütte Ironworks. Namely, the artist focuses on Henrichshütte’s former blast furnace, which was bought by a Chinese steel mill in September 1989 and moved to China, where it operated until 2015. Now a state-owned museum, this former factory, located in Hattingen, Germany, is a snapshot of the past—a memorial of sorts for the region’s bygone industrial prosperity. The history and intercontinental movement of this blast furnace inspires Su’s affinities towards spaces located in-between shifting temporalities, identities, and changing environmental conditions within Hattingen and beyond. Su weaves archival materials, documentary film, and interview excerpts into a speculative narrative that connects the years 1989, 2022, and 2050. Blurring reality and imagination, the video follows the fictionalized trail of Lin, a Chinese translator who accompanied the dismantling of the blast furnace over thirty years ago. According to the narrative, Lin left behind an unfinished science fiction novel, which takes place in 2022. In Lin’s novel, the protagonist develops a utopian machine in the form of a blast furnace. With this apparatus, she sends herself into space with the goal of finding an alternative energy source to replace coal. Blast Furnace No. 2 constellates temporal spaces of socio-political and environmental nostalgia, predicated upon both remembered and imagined understandings of the past, present, and future. The work emphasizes contradictory gaps in between socially driven ideological systems and their afterlives, determined to memorialize what most would just as soon forget.

Bissexualidade e ambiguidade: relações metafóricas e processos metonímicos em produções discursivas sobre a bissexualidade

Abstract The absence of research on bisexuality in the twentieth century and concerns regarding the AIDS epidemic enabled the construction of speculative narratives on the bisexual population, which is commonly described as an ambiguous category. Analyzing bisexuality through an anthropological lens, this article examines the symbolic complexes that produce bisexuality as an ambiguous category, relating it to the discursive production of fictions of contagion, which are essentially metonymic.

安徽大學藏戰國竹簡《仲尼曰》篇注解

This paper contains the korean interpretation and translation of the text called “Zhongni yue〔仲尼曰〕” in the Newly Published Anhui University Bamboo StripsⅡ〔《安徽大學藏戰國竹簡》(二)〕. This translation is a basic study that introduces “Zhongni yue〔仲尼曰〕” to Korean readers. As a result of carbon isotope measurement(¹⁴C), the date of the bamboo slips was confirmed to be between the early and mid-Warring States Period, about 2280 years ago from now. “Zhongni yue〔仲尼曰〕” a collection of Confucius' words consisting of 13 bamboo slips, with a total of 25 paragraphs. It is noteworthy that “Zhongni yue〔仲尼曰〕” omitted the background or situation of the specific narrative, and only pure Confucius' words were extracted. However, the repeated use of the title “Zhongni〔仲尼〕” leaves us wondering whether this manuscript was compiled by someone in a third party, rather than written by Confucius' direct disciples. The reader's view of the “Zhongni yue〔仲尼曰〕” should not be limited to arguments concerning the relationship to the Analects, but should be discussed within the text field of various Analects of the Warring States period.

The rise of urban Salafism in Indonesia: The social-media and pop culture of new Indonesian Islamic youth

In numerous major Indonesian cities, the “Urban Salafism” movement has emerged as the most recent trend among the Muslim population. Urban Muslim youth's spiritual unease is at an all-time high due to their scepticism of mainstream Islamic organisations, most of which are becoming more politically oriented. As a result, Salafism has become more popular as an alternative. Salafism has been successful in recent years in massifying Islamic discourse on social media platforms such YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and even podcast sites. Furthermore, it has defined Islamic narratives in strategic urban locations such as the Central Business District, malls, and wealthier neighbourhoods to conjure the spirit of a new piety which urban Muslims are adopting more widely. With the ability to blend the pop culture of urban youth groups with the Islamic tradition of Arabism, urban Salafis are able to campaign for specific Islamic narratives and cultures in a hybrid style. Salafism was once thought of as an ideologically and culturally conservative movement, but it has now become a digital and modern native. Their ability to enlist urban celebrities, artists, content producers, filmmakers, and businesspeople who continue to engage in popular culture in a devout Salafi manner is evidence of all this. Based on the description provided above, this research will use a socio-anthropological method to further investigate the Urban Salafism issue in Indonesia.

ANALYZING THE CRITICAL DISCOURSE OF BEAUTY PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS IN SHAPING SOCIETAL PERCEPTIONS

Through television broadcasts, electronic and online platforms, as well as printed media, the public can readily access information about a variety of brands, presented through captivating images and compelling text. Undeniably, the most potent force in advertising lies in the utilization of language that can transform the perceptions and viewpoints of potential consumer groups. This study's primary objective is to deconstruct the advertising strategies employed by two competing beauty product brands, aiming to win over the favor of potential customers. While prior research has delved into the ideological aspects of beauty advertisements using Critical Discourse Analysis, there remains a scarcity of studies that undertake a comparative analysis of local and international beauty products. To accumulate data, this study closely examined the promotional materials of two rival beauty product brands, they are: Scarlett and Skintific which is prominently featured on the online platform YouTube. The analysis adopted the Critical Discourse Analysis framework developed by Norman Fairclough, encompassing three interconnected dimensions: the textual content itself, the underlying discourse practices, and the broader socio-cultural context. The outcomes unveiled that the textual components within the advertisements were meticulously constructed to evoke persuasion and resonate with the emotions of potential buyers. Additionally, these textual elements contributed to amplifying existing realities while also shaping specific narratives within society, ultimately guiding the advertisements toward the ultimate goal of invoking empathy from potential consumers

Morphological analysis of the Kurdish legend "Tomatin and Narina Gulbarin" Based on the theory of Vladimir Propp

Structuralists, in the last century, have sought to obtain narrative maps and specific narrative patterns that can be used to examine folk tales, fairy tales, and legends of nations. After a lot of effort and presentation of various models, among them, Vladimir Propp was able to discover and present a diagram and model by analyzing a hundred Russian fairy tales and legends, which can be used to describe most of the folk tales and stories. Russian and even world fairies were adapted to it. This model and method attracted the attention of many researchers and became the basis of many investigations and researches after him. The story collection Narina Gulbarin is one of the Kurdish folk works that contains ten stories. In this article, an attempt has been made to apply Vladimir Propp's autobiography diagram and his morphological model to the story "Tomatin and Narin Golbarin", which is one of the stories in this collection, in order to determine how Propp's theory is applicable to this story. After the analysis of this story, it was found that the method and pattern of the prop are generally consistent with the diagram of the actions of this story. What is certain is that this legend is consistent with Propp's method and model, and a large number of actions. The actions in the mentioned story are identical to Propp's morphological model. And the main goal of this article is, the adaptation of the prop’s pattern to prove that it is applicable to the legend of "Tomatin and Narina Gulbarin". Another goal of this research is to make more students and researchers familiar with this book and its collection of legends.

Intersections of informal work status, gender and tuberculosis diagnosis: Insights from a qualitative study from an Indian setting.

There is evidence that more than one third of tuberculosis (TB) cases in India go undiagnosed each year and it is more pronounced among female patients. While there are studies available on the socioeconomic, cultural and gender-related dimensions of TB diagnosis delays among female patients in India, intersections of gender, informal work and diagnosis delays are not sufficiently studied. The present study aims to fill this gap by examining the TB diagnosis delay that are linked to the contingencies of working in informal arrangements for women from lower socio economic background. The study draws on 80 qualitative in-depth interviews conducted among female patients from lower socio-economic background, who were working or recently stopped working in informal arrangements and undergoing Directly Observed Therapy, Short-course (DOTS) treatment in Bengaluru (India) city and 60 willing significant others of the patients. The participants were identified through a scoping survey that covered 188 female patients from 18 DOTS centres in the city. Other than the already known reasons for the delay in TB diagnosis for women such as normalisation of symptoms, stigma and the gender-related discrimination leading to low prioritisation of women's illness, the present study identifies reasons related to work informality. These are normalisation of symptoms as workplace health problems; work related concerns that restricted formal help seeking; non TB specific narratives of symptoms, often incorrectly assumed to be work related health issues or comorbidities and thus confounding the early accurate diagnosis by the medical personnel and shifting between formal and informal systems of help-seeking. Further, the study found that mere knowledge of TB symptoms did not always translate to early diagnosis for patients from the lower socioeconomic groups working in informal arrangements due to the fear of losing work and wages owing to hospital visits. The workplace focus, especially the informal sector where a huge majority of India's workforce is employed, is notably absent in the TB elimination programme. The study indicates the need to adopt a comprehensive approach in the ongoing TB elimination programme in India in which family, living environment and workplace should be integral parts.

Collaborative leadership to support sustainability in practice for dietitians as allied health professionals.

Allied health professionals (AHPs) have an important role to support the Greener National Health Service (NHS) agenda. Dietitians are AHPs who are already demonstrating strong influence on food sustainability advocacy. There is call for more collaboration across the health professions to optimise "green" leadership in the pursuit of planetary health. The present study aimed to investigate the perceived role of AHP leaders and future leaders around more sustainable healthcare practices. A mixed methods approach using audio-recorded semi-structured interviews with strategic AHP leaders (n = 11) and focus groups with student AHPs (n = 2). Standardised open-ended questions considered concepts of (i) leadership, (ii) green agenda, (iii) collaboration and (iv) sustainability. Purposive sampling used already established AHP networks. Thematic analysis systematically generated codes and themes with dietetic narratives drawn out specifically as exemplars. The findings represent diverse AHP voices, with six of 14 AHPs analysed, including dietetic (future) leaders. Three key themes emerged: (1) collective vision of sustainable practice; (2) empowering, enabling and embedding; and (3) embracing collaborative change. Dietetic specific narratives included food waste, NHS food supply chain issues, and tensions between health and sustainability advice. The present study shows that collaborative leadership is a core aspiration across AHP leaders and future leaders to inform the green agenda. Despite inherent challenges, participant perceptions illustrate how "change leadership" might be realised to support the net zero agenda within health and social care. Dietitians possess the relevant skills and competencies, and therefore have a fundamental role in evolving collaborative leadership and directing transformational change towards greener healthcare practices. Recommendations are made for future leaders to embrace this agenda to meet the ambitious net zero targets.

Love Letters to Lichen

Love Letters to Lichen