Textual Analysis Of Narratives Research Articles

Talking about Migration in Times of Crisis: A Textual Analysis of Narratives by IOM and UNHCR on Migrants and Refugees

In the absence of a binding and coherent international migration regime, the global governance of migration relies on normative narratives produced by UN agencies and other intergovernmental forums, in line with the discursive legitimacy traditionally associated with international organizations. Such narratives impact migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees because they support certain policy frameworks among member states. Yet, global migration governance remains fragmented, especially as far as the long-standing divide between the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is concerned. This article contributes to this discussion by applying corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis to the narratives produced by these two organizations. The article identifies some of the dominant worldviews in the narratives of IOM and UNHCR. Results show that IOM and UNHCR have distinct worldviews, associated with different textual patterns, and that, while IOM’s textual productions seem to influence UNHCR’s discourses, the opposite is less true. This would support the view that IOM is currently the leading actor in terms of framing migration, thereby exerting a strong influence on global migration governance.

Back to Fukushima: Perceptions and effects of an immersive journalism story

News media organizations have been experimenting with immersive journalism formats in recent years. The search for new ways to tell stories is driven by technology and has given rise to new –and not so new– forms of expression. The initial enthusiasm has dissipated over the years, so the uncertainty of the future of immersive journalism justifies the study of the most potential ways of using this technology in journalism. This research was carried out in Finland and Spain, and it is based on a textual narrative analysis and a reception study comparing the online article and 360º video versions of the report Fukushima: Contaminated Lives from El país. The results identify the affordances of both formats and confirm that immersive journalism has the capacity to generate a greater emotional effect based on a greater perception of presence, realism and involvement, also having a positive impact on increasing interest and changing opinions on related topics. The narration of online article seems to work better only if there is large amount of information that has to be understood and contextualized. However, authors claim that, instead of an essential break, there are similarities between both formats, which are situated on the same continuum of emotionality and rationality. These findings also indicate that immersive storytelling can be an important part of the emotional or affective turn in contemporary journalism. The sensation of presence and empathy towards distant and complex realities emerge as the main distinguishing values of the kind of immersive journalism that Fukushima: Contaminated lives represents.

Ongoing University Teachers and the Complexity of Their Knowledge Dynamics

The article aims to analyze the dynamics of teacher knowledge construction in a university in Brazil. In order to meet the proposed objective, national policies and institutional policies of teacher education are considered. After the description of the Dimensions of the Dynamics of Teaching Knowledge, Brazilian National Teacher Education Policies, we describe the analysis of studies in the field collected of last five years’ thesis and dissertations, and the results of textual analysis of narratives from teachers who participate in MES-Higher Education Methodology Courses at PUCRS.

Examining the judicial voice from a non-legal perspective: An analysis of non-legal references by courts to the family story in cases of compulsory child adoption in Israel

Abstract This study aims to examine the judicial voice in compulsory adoption decisions, from a non-legal perspective, that is, it aims to analyze judges' references to non-legal aspects of such cases. The assumption of the study is that, due to abstract legal concepts in the Israeli law of adoption and the complexity of adoption cases, judges often refer to non-legal aspects of a case while constructing the family story in their decisions. The study makes use of the narrative approach to law in order to investigate forms of non-legal references and their narrative function in adoption decisions. A textual narrative analysis of 130 court decisions in favor of compulsory adoption revealed three primary themes: the judges' emotional difficulties when deciding such cases; references by the judges to the distressful life circumstances of the biological parents; and the judges' expressions of hope and comfort to parents whose child is declared eligible for adoption. The study discusses the narrative function of such references in establishing social legitimization of court decisions and the possible bias effect created by the emotional reactions of the professionals involved. It stresses the need for a deliberative, considered decision-making process by professionals, in order to ensure that the right decision is made in the crucial matter of child placement.

Social Information in Court Decisions of Compulsory Child Adoption in Israel

Ambiguity over the concepts of “parental capability” and “the child’s best interests” in the Israeli adoption law, and a lack of sufficient professional knowledge can lead to bias in the professional decision-making process regarding child adoption. This study investigates the idea that judges do not use only legal considerations and relevant information relating to the child-parent relationship but also social information about the biological parent whose parental capability is under legal consideration. The study makes use of the priming paradigm as a conceptual framework for understanding the possible effect of social information on legal judgments in child adoption cases. The textual narrative analysis of 130 court decisions in favor of compulsory adoption reveals the use in courts of three kinds of social information about biological parents: familial information, sexual information, and social-functional information. The study discusses the role of such information in establishing the judicial narrative of parental incapability. In order to “de-bias” the judicial decision-making process regarding child placement, a number of strategies for consideration as social policy are proposed.