Daily Life Stories Research Articles

Not all men: the debates in social networks on masculinities and consent

Evidence shows the role men can have to contribute to the prevention of non-consensual relationships and gender violence, mainly fostering educational and social strategies which strengthen egalitarian male models that take consent as a key aspect in their sexual and affective relationships. In this regard, social networks show the existence of discourses that reinforce these male models. However, there is a gap in the analysis of how the previously mentioned discourses on consent are linked to men’s sexual satisfaction. The present study deepened into this reality by analysing messages on Reddit and Twitter. Drawing on the Social Media Analytics (SMA) technique, conducted in the framework of the European large-scale project ALL-INTERACT from the H2020 program, the hashtags notallmen and consent were explored aimed at identifying the connections between masculinities and consent. Furthermore, three daily life stories were performed with heterosexual men. Findings shed light on the relevant positioning of men about consent as a key message to eradicate gender-based violence; in parallel, they reveal the existence of New Alternative Masculinities that have never had any relationship without consent: they only get excited by free, mutual and committed consent, while repulsing unconsented or one-sided relationships.

Keefektifan Penyampaian Pesan Islam Melalui Trend (Pesantrend) Di Era Digital

This article aims to explain the effectiveness of da'wah in the form of delivering messages through trends (PesanTrend) in the digital era with the use of social media, especially Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube and to compare the effectiveness of conventional da'wah with Pesantrend da'wah. By utilizing internet facilities, millennial preachers can create Islamic content that is packaged in slang and related to stories of daily life and can be added with funny things so that it can attract and invite the younger generation to watch and apply it for good. This research is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The sample of this study were Indonesian citizens of generation Z aged 18-22 years. The data collection technique used was in the form of an online questionnaire containing questions about the message of da'wah contained in the social media content of Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. The data obtained were then analyzed descriptively by means of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Based on the results of the study, it can be seen that Instagram tends to be preferred by Generation Z than Youtube and Facebook. This is because Generation Z tends to prefer Islamic content in the form of images rather than videos or writings because image media is considered more attractive and easy to understand. In addition, the current generation of Z also tends to prefer the message of Trending Da'wah to conventional da'wah such as lectures, studies, Islamic learning, and so on

‘My friends are like my family’: The positive impact of high‐quality friendships on former foster care youth

AbstractThere is evidence to suggest that quality friendships have a positive impact on the people involved. By focusing on the impact that quality friendships have had on former foster care youth, this article contributes to the wider debate on the issue and fills a gap in the literature. Through the communicative methodology, 15 communicative daily life stories were conducted in Spain with young people who had been in alternative care and had successfully managed to reach university. The discussion shows that the support and strength of quality friendships helped them in their quest for a brighter, more successful future.

Engaging with Under-Resourced Communities for User Research through Self-Authored Videos

The conventional 'participant-as-informant' model of user research has recently been challenged by approaches that advocate for participants to have a greater authorial control over narratives that portray their lived experiences. This is particularly important for addressing relationships of power and representation. Informed by narrative approaches in social work, we report on a study exploring the use of self-authored videos captured by 16 participants from under-resourced communities. Participants portrayed their mundane life experiences in a form of a video biography. Co-analysis of resulting videos showed that video biographies were used for: authentic representation of daily routines and life stories; portrayal of DIY identities; and promoting living well. Findings show how the self-authored biographies afforded participants a vehicle for challenging cultural stereotypes often associated with the research population. We further demonstrate the value of video-based approaches in user research for illuminating mundane life through rich autobiographical narratives.

“If they made it, why not me?” increasing educational expectations of Roma and Moroccan immigrant families in Spain through family education

ABSTRACT In Europe, Roma and immigrant students continue to experience great inequities, as they face the probabilities of educational failure, segregation, and early school leaving. Previous research has shed light on the multiple factors that perpetuate this situation. However, the role played by family involvement and family educational expectations have been considered to a lesser extent. This research delves into how Family Education programmes provided by eight Spanish schools are playing a central role in increasing Roma and Moroccan families’ expectations of their children’s education. Based on the communicative methodology, this study was conducted in schools located in five Spanish regions. The schools serve minority students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families and provide Family Education programmes in their own facilities. We applied a convergent mixed methods design, implementing qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques (semistructured interviews, communicative focus groups, communicative daily life stories, and questionnaires). The sample included Roma and Moroccan family members with low SES and teachers involved in Family Education. The results suggest that Family Education is increasing minority families’ educational expectations of their children’s education. Three elements have been identified as facilitators: 1) the co-creation of a high expectations climate in the schools; 2) the improvement of family members’ academic skills; and 3) the generation of new role models.

Promoting Students’ Critical Speaking Skill through Plus-Minus-Interesting (PMI) Strategies: A Case Study of Indonesian Junior High Schools

Initiated from in-depth observations on the performance of English teachers at junior high school level, this study analysed teachers’ ways of integrating teaching materials and implementing learning strategies that empowered critical thinking frameworks. A case study design was employed to investigate how Plus-Minus-Interesting (PMI) learning strategies in telling daily life stories improved students’ critical speaking skill (CSS) and to identify the constraints faced by the teachers in implementing PMI learning strategies to overcome their teaching problems. Six English teachers from different junior high schools in North Bandung, Indonesia and their students were recruited as subjects of this study. Classroom observation, in-depth interviews and some relevant documents were administered to collect the data. The data were then described, coded, categorised, and analysed to answer the research questions. The results of observations indicate that PMI learning strategies in daily life stories were executed in three stages, including the opening, core, and closing. These stages were performed through several main activities, from brainstorming to playing games, from storytelling to doing a focused-group discussion, and from story mapping to evaluating. In addition, the results of interviews and documents analysis show that this learning model could promote students’ enthusiasm in the learning activities and the students were able to convey ideas by referring to their daily problems exposed in the contents of daily life stories. Keywords: critical speaking; daily life stories; junior high school students; PMI learning strategies; storytelling

Actions to Promote the Employment and Social Inclusion of Muslim Women Who Wear the Hijab in Catalonia (Spain)

The current context of growing religious and cultural diversity requires, from societies, an adequate management of the expression of religious diversity in different social spheres, including the workplace. Muslim women who wear the hijab are one of the social groups that most frequently suffer prejudice and discrimination in work settings due to the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination, including gender, ethnic origin, religion and the use of a visible religious symbol. With the aim of exploring the experiences of Muslim women with hijab and identifying barriers and opportunities in their access to employment in Catalonia (Spain), a qualitative study with a communicative orientation was conducted, involving twelve communicative daily-life stories with Muslim women who wear the hijab and eleven in-depth interviews with a communicative orientation with other relevant actors in the fields of training and employment (employers, managers of internship programs, political representatives, etc.). The findings revealed some pending challenges and effective pathways to improve the employment and social inclusion of Muslim women wearing the hijab. The implications of the study point to the need to incorporate respect for diversity as a necessary value to move towards more inclusive societies.

I Only Want Passionate Relationships: Are You Ready for That?

Research shows the existence of a coercive dominant discourse that associates attraction with violence and influences the socialization processes of many girls and women. According to previous studies, the coercive dominant discourse constitutes a risk factor for gender violence, as men with violent attitudes and behaviors are socially presented as attractive and exciting while egalitarian and non-aggressive men are considered “not sexy.” Yet fewer evidences indicate that men acting from the New Alternative Masculinities (NAM) model overcome this double standard through verbal and non-verbal communicative acts, which tell that they do not choose women acting under the coercive dominant discourse for a relationship because they are not “jumping for joy” when meeting them. Drawing from communicative daily life stories conducted to men and women from diverse sociocultural backgrounds and ages, this article presents how language is used in concrete heterosexual sexual-affective relationships. The analysis resulting from the fieldwork focus on how NAM men’s communicative acts with women set conditions of desire. This article shows evidence on how communicative acts of NAM empowerment incorporate “language of desire,” taking a clear position for egalitarian and passionate relationships. Implications for gender violence prevention are presented.

"No More Insecurities": New Alternative Masculinities' Communicative Acts Generate Desire and Equality to Obliterate Offensive Sexual Statements.

To justify attraction to Dominant Traditional Masculinities (DTM) and lack of attraction to non-aggressive men, some women defend opinions such as “there are no frigid women, only inexperienced men”. Such statements generate a large amount of sexual-affective insecurity in oppressed men and contribute to decoupling desire and ethics in sexual-affective relationships, which, in turn, reinforces a model of attraction to traditional masculinities that use coercion, thus perpetuating gender-based violence. New Alternative Masculinities (NAM) represent a type of masculinity that reacts to reverse such consequences with communicative acts, in which they state that women who support such discourses have never met a NAM man or have never experienced a successful sexual-affective relationship where passion, love, desire, and equality are all included. This article presents data analyzing these communicative acts (exclusory and transformative; language employed and consequences) to ultimately find the key to NAM communication that would contribute to changing attraction patterns. The data was collected using communicative daily life stories of three heterosexual white men and one heterosexual white woman, between the ages of 30 and 40. Findings emphasize the importance of self-confidence manifested by NAM men when communicating about sex and facing these offensive mottos in the presence of other men and women. Findings also demonstrate that supportive egalitarian relationships encourage the emergence of self-confidence in NAM men and that NAM men's self-confident communicative acts foster healthy relationships and obliterate coercive ones.

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

Psychology research on men studies, attractiveness, and partner preferences has evolved from the influence of sociobiological perspectives to the role of interactions in shaping election toward sexual–affective relationships and desire toward different kinds of masculinities. However, there is a scientific gap in how language and communicative acts among women influence the kind of partner they feel attracted to and in the reproduction of relationship double standards, like the myth of the “warrior’s rest” where female attractiveness to “bad boys” is encouraged or supported. Some women imitate “the warrior” behavior of men by choosing dominant traditional masculinities (DTM) to have “fun” with and oppressed traditional masculinities (OTM) for “rest” after the “fun” with DTM—choosing an OTM for a stable relationship, but perhaps without passion, while also feeling attraction toward DTM, a response which perpetuates the chauvinist double standard that the feminist movement has condemned when men behave in this sexist way. Through conducting a qualitative study with communicative daily life stories, this article explores, on the one hand, how language and social interaction among women can lead to the reproduction of the DTM role by women and, on the other hand, also how new alternative masculinities (NAM) offer an alternative by explicitly rejecting, through the language of desire, to be the rest for the female warrior, the second fiddle to any woman. This has the potential to become a highly attractive alternative to DTM. Findings provide new knowledge through the analysis of communicative acts and masculinities evidencing the importance of language uses in the reproduction of the double standards in gender relations and to understand how and why these practices are maintained and which kind of language uses can contribute to preventing them. Implications for research and interventions on preventive socialization of gender violence are discussed.

"Come on! He Has Never Cooked in His Life!" New Alternative Masculinities Putting Everything in Its Place.

Communicative acts of some women are perpetuating the dominance that DTM (Dominant Traditional Masculinities) have over both women and OTM (Oppressed Traditional Masculinities). Some women use language in a disdainful manner to reprimand oppressed men’s behavior in daily life situations, the same behavior that such women would not reproach to DTM. But NAM (New Alternative Masculinities) are reacting to this. This article analyzes the communicative acts employed in all these situations, both those produced by women and DTM, as well as NAM’s communicative acts in response to those offenses. Data was collected using communicative daily life stories of give women and three men with diverse profiles and different levels of participation in women’s and men’s movements. Findings highlight, from the transformative dimension of the communicative methodology, that the use of language of desire in NAM’s reactions is effective not only to make justice with men who have never executed violence on women, but also to undermine the attractiveness of both DTM’s behavior and the comments of some women on such behavior. These findings complement previous research on preventive socialization of gender violence by broadening scientific knowledge on NAM’s communicative acts that prevent and eradicate gender-based violence. Further research ought to broaden the evidence of how some women who defend feminist values sometimes do not support and even tease or reprimand men who practice these values; moreover, an important line could analyze the way people talk about men with NAM attitudes to hold back reprimands in comparison to how people talk about men who follow a DTM model.

New Student Films from Palestine: Dreamers and Dreams in the Classroom

AbstractPalestinian student filmmakers based in the West Bank and Gaza tell stories of daily life in a collected set of short films which provide valuable insights for classes on the Middle East.

Dialogic Feminist Gatherings: Impact of the Preventive Socialization of Gender-Based Violence on Adolescent Girls in Out-of-Home Care

Gender-based violence is a social scourge with an increasing incidence at younger ages. Many studies have focused on finding effective solutions for overcoming this problem; however, few studies have analyzed the contribution of interactive learning environments to gender-based violence prevention. This article attempts to fill this gap by showing the impact of Dialogic Feminist Gatherings on the preventive socialization against gender-based violence toward adolescent girls (aged 15–18) who are in out-of-home care and living in shelters—part of the institutional protection system—for different reasons that are primarily associated with violence and a lack of family protection. This qualitative study was conducted using the communicative methodology involving fifteen daily life stories that analyze the dialogues and reflections produced among the girls during Dialogic Feminist Gatherings. The results show the acquisition of competencies in aspects such as attraction, election, and equality in sexual-affective relationships. These dimensions, when developed through Dialogic Feminist Gatherings, are consistent with the scientific literature that characterized them as protective factors against gender-based violence. This study concludes by contrasting participants’ daily life reality with scientific evidence, which makes possible new methods of the preventive socialization against gender-based violence for adolescent girls in out-of-home care.

WIEGO: Communicative Daily Life Stories to Assess Social Impact in the Lives of Informal Workers

WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) is a global research-policy network that seeks to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy. The members of this network are individual researchers, individual development practitioners, and organizations of informal workers, which total more than 175 affiliates in 85 countries. Social researchers involved in the network conducted qualitative fieldwork in these communities and monitor the social impact of research. The researchers created spaces for dialogue and collected workers’ impact stories through diverse qualitative tools and in different contexts, especially narratives and focus groups. The aim was to increase the visibility of informal workers, their living and working conditions, and their personal experience with regard to the social impact of urban policies. Through communicative daily life stories to social researchers working at WIEGO, this article analyzes how they are socially impacting the lives of informal workers. Based on this connection, all information related to social impact is interpreted through a communicative approach, connecting the stories of the social researchers and the interpretation of informal workers’ lives to evidence-based actions.

The Debate About the Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine: The Impact of an Evidence-Based Communicative Method on Increasing Free Choice

Democratic access to scientific evidence contributes to the freedom of individuals to make informed decisions regarding scientific findings that affect their lives. In the case of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, a debate exists regarding preventing HPV infection that is not supported by evidence-based interventions. For instance, there are positions both in favor of and against an HPV vaccine that are not evidence-based, thus preventing women from deciding freely whether to be vaccinated. Based on a communicative approach, this article describes the use of communicative focus groups and communicative daily life stories in which the researcher shares up-to-date information on HPV prevention, particularly through vaccination and screening, with high-schoolgirls in an urban context in Spain. Through the focus groups and daily life stories, the young women evaluated the impact of evidence-based dialogues, which could increase their opportunities to make free choices regarding the HPV vaccine and other medicines.

Communicative Daily Life Stories: Raising Awareness About the Link Between Desire and Violence

Gender violence poses a serious risk for women, girls, and children worldwide. Despite all efforts put forth to curtail it, few successful results have emerged. Narratives have been used to denounce the reality lived by survivors. However, scarcely any literature has explored how they get to question their own reality and, if they do, how these survivors are able to break the circle of gender violence by making room for nonviolent and egalitarian relationships. This article is a step in this direction: It explores how some girls, after participating in an initiative based on the language of desire, known as “Dialogic Feminist Gatherings,” encourage one another to question the dominant model of socialization in relationships in which attraction is linked to violent behaviors. The analysis focuses on communicative daily life stories (hereafter CDLS) performed in a Spanish high school with female teens after their participation in the gatherings. Drawing from these stories, the article illustrates how this methodological tool allows one to assess the impact of these gatherings on identifying the existence of this dominant model while also pushing to question it. This article also contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between attraction and violence, a risk factor for gender violence previously noted in the scientific literature. The knowledge obtained through this inquiry reinforces an evidence-based approach to having an effective social impact on the struggle against gender violence.

Muslim women wearing the niqab in Spain: Dialogues around discrimination, identity and freedom

The niqab provokes a heated debate in European societies and generates intolerance towards women who wear it. Some of the explanations used to criticize this Muslim garment refer to the idea that women wear the niqab as a form of patriarchal oppression. Furthermore—especially after the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremists—the niqab is seen as a symbol of religious radicalization. We carried out 10 communicative daily life stories with Muslim women wearing the niqab in Spain, to explore the adverse experiences that they face, as well as the ways to transform them. Our analysis, informed by a communicative approach, revealed different forms of discrimination, such as prejudice, personal attacks and social isolation. Furthermore, it revealed some opportunities to transform these experiences, through the equality of differences, the egalitarian dialogue, and the support of faith-based organizations. Ultimately, our findings illustrated participants’ persistent defense of their right to express their religious identity.

Eleanor Dickey: Stories of Daily Life from the Roman World. Extracts from the Ancient Colloquia.

Eleanor Dickey: Stories of Daily Life from the Roman World. Extracts from the Ancient Colloquia.

The Language of Ethics and Double Standards in the Affective and Sexual Socialization of Youth. Communicative Acts in the Family Environment as Protective or Risk Factors of Intimate Partner Violence

One of the explanatory factors for the perpetuation of intimate partner violence (IPV) is the socialization process. There is broad literature on the role of family in socializing gender roles and the influence on reproducing IPV. However less research has been developed on the effects of communicative acts in the family environment as a protective or risk factor in front of IPV. This article presents sound evidence confirming the presence of language of ethics that is reproducing stereotyped models of attraction in heterosexual relationships, which empties good people of attractiveness and indirectly contributes to maintain the link between desire and aggressiveness. The language of ethics is characterized by integrating speech acts that exclusively include ethics and exclude desire when talking about egalitarian boys or men. To analyze this reality, a qualitative study has been conducted framed in the communicative methodology. This methodology has been recommended by the European Commission to conduct research on vulnerable groups and social inequalities, which has the aim to advance knowledge on social transformation. Drawing on this approach, three different data-collection techniques have been implemented: in-depth interviews, daily-life stories and focus groups. The fieldwork includes a sample of 52 young men and women between the ages of 18 and 23 from a vocational training high school, and 4 fathers and 4 mothers of some of these young people. The findings confirm the existence of a model of socialization that replicates family relations based on the maintenance of the double standards. Thus, mothers used to employ the language of ethics with their daughters fostering a controversial effect, that is, the latter prefer to start affective and sexual relationships with boys who are aggressive and not egalitarian. On the other hand, fathers used to employ language of desire with their sons stimulating the performance of chauvinist behaviors that denigrate women and girls.

In small scratches forgotten

Abstract In small scratches forgotten: New perspectives on graffiti from ancient Dura-Europos We need to rethink graffiti: they are not just words and images but places and things. Using the graffiti of Dura-Europos on the Syrian Euphrates, this paper discusses some of the ways that the unofficial urban texts of antiquity can, when studied in their spatial context as material objects, reveal urban histories which rub against the grain of traditional studies. It explores the ways such seemingly ephemeral marks can be active agents within the urban environment in public, religious, and private contexts. I propose that graffiti can be defined by their immediacy and spatial contingency, and I contend that graffiti have the potential to give new perspectives on the ancient world: they are unmediated traces, stories of daily life, and through them it is possible to explore the ways in which the walls of the city could become active in people’s lives.