Themes Of Identity Research Articles

Embedding a strengths-based approach in humanitarian engineering research through reflexive practice

Strengths-based approaches (SBAs) aim to empower communities, ensuring community assets are acknowledged and embraced. We embarked on a process to embed an SBA in ourselves as humanitarian engineering researchers. Through a process of collaborative reflexive practice, we discussed themes of engineering identity and problem-solving mentalities, power dynamics across a research process, theories for humanitarian engineering research, deficit terminology, and more. SBA tools and activities aided our process, allowing us to trial practical applications of an SBA across a research process. Through our journeys, we explored the empowering and transformational qualities of SBAs, which present in this paper. We emphasise that SBAs should not be seen as toolbox approaches, but rather as a philosophy that can be incorporated on both professional and personal levels. We present our model for embedding an SBA through reflexive practice, and we encourage others to consider the potential, and the importance, or both reflexivity and SBAs.

Subversion of Gender and Marriage in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"

If we imagine culture as a rainbow, Literature can be defined as one of its various shades of colour which not just constitutes it but also expresses it to some extent. Literature can be called an important bi- product of culture which constitutes the ideas, customs, practices, and social behaviour of human beings living in a specific time- period in society, impacted by the varied social, political, and economic conditions of the times. Edward Albee’s plays comes under the genre of Absurd Theatre which was a predominant product of literature after World War II. His plays give us a preliminary glimpse of post-modernist society, in rebellion against order and structure, its disillusionment, confused identities, shattered values, fumble beliefs and the acknowledgement and acceptance of it without offering resistance. One of the major themes in the play “Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is the theme of Gender identities and marital relationships. In this play, Albee has subverted the conventional notion of marriage and gender, which has provided more agency and control to the male counterpart as compared to the female. Love also defies the usual notions of ‘love you forever’ and ‘till death do us apart’ by being based on ‘If not you, then somebody else’, ‘Not a big deal as it is not a commitment of lifetime’, mind games, teasing, exploitation, jealousy, infidelity overall, doing as one likes.

Cultural integration, subjective identity, and well-being: global migrants in the UK

Recent waves of immigration in Western societies have drawn attention to social transformational challenges and their repercussions for migrant physical and mental wellbeing. Research into migration has tended to focus on Cultural Integration (CI) with Western country cultures and social norm. We fill a research gap in which the social transformation repercussions and the evolutionary function of human psychology remain underexplored. We theorize how the Evolutionary Fitness and Subjective Significance of Identity can emerge from CI, thus, positively impacting Subjective Well-Being (SWB) of migrants. To legitimize the model we propose, sets of rigorous empirical analyses were developed, drawing on panel data of 5,558 respondents from 7 waves of global migrant surveys within the UK during 2009–2018. Our results supported our hypotheses by suggesting that a tightly defined CI was negatively related to SWB, but a relatively fluid orientation towards CI was positively related to SWB, and the positive relationship became more compelling when the Subjective Significance of Identity (SSI) emerged from the integration process, such that the indirect effect of CI through SSI on SWB was strongest when the degree of SSI was high. Our study offers implications for how policymaking and management strategies can integrate cultural characteristics, increasing migrants’ cultural confidence, self-esteem, and economic creativity in the country of residence.

Exploring the Intersection of Feminist and Psychoanalytic Theory in the Confessional Poetry of Anita Nair and Kamala Das

The genre of confessional poetry is defined by the poet's personal and frequently extremely emotional experiences. It first appeared in the middle of the 20th century and is characterised by a personal tone and the first-person point of view. This paper shall examine the confessional elements in the poetry of two prominent Indian poets, Anita Nair and Kamala Das, through a feminist and psychoanalytic perspective. In order to examine themes of love, relationships, and identity in their poetry, Nair and Das use personal experiences, emotions, and thoughts in their poems. The paper will examine the intricate power relationships between men and women underlying Nair and Das' poetry. The paper will emphasise the complex intersection of gender, power, and personal experience that underlies Anita Nair's and Kamala Das's poetry through an analysis of the confessional elements in their works.

Interworlds and Inter-Identities in Mémoires d’outre-mer and Scrabble

Mémoires d’outre-mer and Scrabble, a biography of Ferrier’s paternal grandfather and an autobiographical account of Ferrier’s childhood respectively, are two quite different works from the point of view of structure, setting and characters. But I propose to analyse them together in this article because I believe they have much in common; a particular attitude towards the natural world, a non-standard view of space and time as well as of human identity and memory, and a deep-seated belief in the power of language. In this essay I focus specifically on the theme of human identity within, and as part of, the external world, and will be making use of some conceptual frameworks from ecocriticism in order to look at these works from a new perspective.

Self-concept and Narrative Identity in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis.

Disturbances of the narrative self and personal identity accompany the onset of psychotic disorders in late adolescence and early adulthood (a formative developmental stage for self-concept and personal narratives). However, these issues have primarily been studied retrospectively after illness onset, limiting any inferences about their developmental course. Youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) (n = 49) and matched healthy comparison youth (n = 52) completed a life story interview (including self-defining memory, turning point, life challenge, and psychotic-like experience) and questionnaires assessing self-esteem, self-beliefs, self-concept clarity, and ruminative/reflective self-focus. Trained raters coded interviews for narrative identity themes of emotional tone, agency, temporal coherence, context coherence, self-event connections, and meaning-making (intraclass correlations >0.75). Statistical analyses tested group differences and relationships between self-concept, narrative identity, symptoms, and functioning. CHR participants reported more negative self-esteem and self-beliefs, poorer self-concept clarity, and more ruminative self-focus, all of which related to negative symptoms. CHR participants narrated their life stories with themes of negative emotion and passivity (ie, lack of personal agency), which related to positive and negative symptoms. Reflective self-focus and autobiographical reasoning were unaffected and correlated. Autobiographical reasoning was uniquely associated with preserved role functioning. This group of youth at CHR exhibited some, but not all, changes to self-concept and narrative identity seen in psychotic disorders. A core theme of negativity, uncertainty, and passivity ran through their semantic and narrative self-representations. Preserved self-reflection and autobiographical reasoning suggest sources of resilience and potential footholds for cognitive-behavioral and metacognitive interventions.

Psychoanalysis Ellie Chu Portrayed from Freud's and Maslow's Theories in "The Half of It" Movie

Psychology is the science that studies human behavior which is applied in analyzing human personality. This journal examines the application of the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud (Id, Ego, and Superego) and Abraham Maslow (physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, self-esteem, and self-actualization) in analyzing Ellie Chu the main character of the film "The Half of It". The author uses the descriptive qualitative research method to explain Ellie Chu's character. The author obtained data from watching the film "The Half of It" which was released by Netflix in 2020 and reading the script for the film "The Half of it". Directed by Alice Wu, this film follows the journey of Ellie Chu, a talented young writer who gets entangled in a journey of finding a complex identity in her small town. This analysis aims to show how the application of Freud's and Maslow's theories provides insight into Ellie's character development and motivation throughout the film. By exploring her subconscious desires and the fulfillment of her needs, we gain a deeper understanding of her actions, decisions, and emotional journey. Understanding the psychological underpinnings of Ellie's character increases our appreciation of the film's themes of identity, love, and self-discovery. It is hoped that from this analysis the readers can also be inspired by the story of Ellie Chu who can take responsibility for truth, honesty, and sacrifice.

Dyskurs postkolonialny w powieści „Dzieci Wołgi" Guzel Jachiny

In this article, Paulina Wójcikowska-Wantuch analyzes the presence of postcolonial discourse in A Volga Tale, a novel by Guzel Yakhina, a Russian author of Tatar origin, whose fiction is concerned with themes of history and identity. Yakhina focuses on the tragic events of the Soviet period shown from the perspective of a single person and her fictions represent the post-memory trend in literature. She stresses the cultural and linguistic distinctness of the German minority, which ultimately fell victim to Stalin’s imperialistic policy. Yakhina exposes the destructive mechanisms of the imperial power, but refrains from unambiguous assessments of historical reality. She focuses on the problem of responsibility for one’s neighbors, emphasizing the importance of the characters’ individual choices. In the light of the ethical issues raised in the novel, the problem of national identity is of secondary importance. In connection with the above, A Volga Tale and also other novels by Yakhina elude any unambiguous assignment to postcolonial literature.

The instrumentalization of identity in the Lebanese Conflict

This research tries to shed light on the case of Lebanese conflict, an example of identitarian conflict that has been alive for centuries, and given its location in the Middle East, an area of international interests, the country has been exposed to many external interventions. Said interventions have taken advantage of the political inexperience of local communities to sow division as part of a master plan to redesign the area according to occidental interests. The objective is to rethink a Peace Process based on the urgent need for a change of mentality among the human mosaic that integrates and defines Lebanese society. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology was used, through an analytical study of works by major authors who masterfully deal with the theme of identity and multiculturalism as well as an inclusive humanism, where people resemble rather than differ by sharing common basic values. As a result, it is observed that the identity of the Lebanese people has been instrumentalized to guarantee the sustainability of the local conflict, dissecting it into small characteristics such as confession. It concludes with a peace process based on a change of mentality on the perception of identity and specifically religious characteristic, in order to move forward with a better inclusive identity.

Colonialism, heritage and conservation: Zanzibari perceptions of the collapse of the House of Wonders

ABSTRACT The House of Wonders (or Beit al-Ajaib), one of the iconic buildings of Zanzibar’s waterfront, partially collapsed on 25th December 2020. This catastrophic incident, which included the famous clocktower, killed two people who had been inside the building and injured several others. The House of Wonders has prompted fascination and admiration since its construction as part of a redevelopment of Zanzibar’s waterfront by Sultan Barghash in 1883. Its collapse attracted worldwide media attention. This article explores the dynamics of history and heritage in Zanzibar, using the collapse of the House of Wonders as the catalyst for analysing the ways that Zanzibaris feel about the presentation of the past. The research involved a series of interviews with residents of Stone Town in which participants discussed the collapse of the House of Wonders and themes of history, identity and tourism. Our project reveals the layered associations with the House of Wonders, one which acknowledges the building’s Omani origins and colonial use but simultaneously its centrality as an icon of Zanzibar. The article also discusses what these findings about the House of Wonders reveal about the complex relationship between perceptions of Zanzibari cultural heritage and the role of tourism.

Anita Desai’s In Custody: A Thematic Study

In Custody, a novel penned in 1984 by the renowned Indian-American author Anita Desai, serves as a significant literary exploration of the quest for identity and existential purpose. Positioned within the contemporary Indian milieu, this work delves profoundly into the intricate themes of identity and linguistic expression, employing the lyrical medium of Urdu poetry as its narrative backdrop. At the narrative's center lies Deven Sharma, the principal protagonist, a reticent Hindi instructor who is presented with a life-altering opportunity when his audacious childhood friend, Murad, extends an offer to interview his revered idol, the venerable and reclusive Urdu poet, Nur Shahjahanabadi. In choosing to accept this proposition, Deven consciously sets aside his own aspirations of emerging as an Urdu poet of note, thus embarking on a journey that brings into focus the deeply entwined themes of identity, linguistic expression, and the intricacies of human relationships. His own life, marked by a loveless marriage and a sense of unspoken discontent that he shares with his wife, is emblematic of the pervasive dissatisfaction that often characterizes human existence.

A BRIEF STUDY OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ART PRACTICES IN CONTEMPORARY INDIAN PAINTINGS

This research paper investigate about the Autobiographical Art Practices in Indian Paintings. The study was undertaken with the purpose of exploring the concept of autobiography, its societal implications, and fostering an understanding of our own identity and humanity by delving into the lives of others from different times and locations. The main objective was to shed light on the nature of self-awareness and our interconnectedness with the human experience. Further, it discussed individuality, which encompasses our perceptions of our personality traits, physical attributes, skills, values, and duties as well as the understanding that we exist as unique beings. And has also shown that practice of autobiographical art can be found in a variety of Indian paintings, which are about protagonist’s journey to share their experiences with the world.Moreover, the subjectivity of arts leads to autobiographical art practices, as subjectivity in Indian art arises from the artist’s personal experience, belief, and values. The autobiography is used to express the artist’s individual perspective on life, culture, and the world around them. Indian artists have continued to explore their subjectivity through their art, often using it to explore themes of identity, politics, and social issues.Further, autobiographical art in India can also be seen as a way for artists to explore their own personal struggles and triumphs, and to share their stories with the world. Furthermore, it also explored the complexities of the Indian diaspora, and to create a dialogue between the artist and a viewer and to create space for dialogue and understanding.

Language, Identity and Diaspora: Bilingualism and Multilingualism of Characters in Burnt Shadows

The paper delves into the themes of diaspora, identity, and language in Kamila Shamsie's novel, Burnt Shadows. The characters in the novel are portrayed as being bilingual and multilingual, which is reflective of the intricate and diverse use of language in diasporic communities. This study analyzes how bilingualism and multilingualism are depicted in the novel and how they contribute towards the construction and deconstruction of the characters' identities. By closely reading the text, the paper underscores the significance of language to diasporas in dealing with challenges caused by war, migration, displacement, and belonging. The analysis highlights how language serves as a medium of communication, an arena of conflict, and a source of cultural identity for the characters and shows the relationship between language and trauma to underline the difficulties of expressing oneself in a language that may not fully capture the depth of one's emotions. The research argues that Shamsie's portrayal of bilingual and multilingual characters offers a powerful reflection on the complexities of language and its role in shaping identities in diasporic community, which accentuates the need for a more inclusive approach towards language and identity in diasporic literary studies.

The impact of sports participation on individuals’ subjective well-being: the mediating role of class identity and health

Although studies have explored the relationship between physical activity and subjective well-being, exploration of the mechanisms underlying the effects of sports participation on subjective well-being remains limited. In the context of promoting the deep integration of national fitness and national health in China, we explore the patterns and differences in the effects of sports participation on the subjective well-being of different populations and explore the underlying mechanisms of the effects of sports participation on individual subjective well-being based on body and society theory. Using data from the China General Social Survey, this study used multiple linear regression models, propensity score matching methods, quantile regression and chain mediation models to explore the relationship between sport participation and subjective well-being, and further elaborated the mediating role of subjective class identity and health in it. The results of the study showed that sports participation significantly and positively affected individual subjective well-being. The results of quantile regression and heterogeneity tests showed that the effect of sports participation on individual subjective well-being showed a significant quantile effect and group heterogeneity. Sports participation had a more significant effect on the well-being of older adults. The results of the mediation effect test showed that sports participation increased subjective well-being by enhancing individuals’ subjective class identity and health, respectively, while subjective class identity and health had a significant chain mediation effect. Based on the findings of the study this paper provides some practical suggestions for improving the subjective well-being of residents, especially the elderly, which will provide some valuable references for the next studies on residents’ well-being and life satisfaction.

Информационный матракаж и инфожирение: дискурс-реалии современного медийного пространства

The research aims to highlight the universal linguosemiotic features of the modern media-digital cluster. The scientific novelty of the paper consists in a comprehensive identification of the features of the discourse models for discursive manipulation in the texts of modern mass media in line with the study of the linguosemiotic mechanisms of the functioning of matraquage discourse, both in the space of a complete utterance and at the level of the universal pool of world linguoculture. The scientific novelty of the research also consists in introducing into active scientific use the terms “raw information”, “matraquage discourse” and “infobesity” in order to clarify the conceptual apparatus and to achieve a clearer semantic structuring of the terminological system of information theory and communication theory. One of the main epistemological aspects of the paper is the development of the problems of macrodiscursive interpretation of the media space as a semiotic whole and value, i.e. the issues of searching for the foundations of subjective or universal identity, which can be addressed, in one way or another, by referring to language. An important point of the research is the synergy between the conceptual and epistemic dimensions of knowledge, in other words, between the linguistic and conceptual analysis of media discourse in line with the interpretative-semiological approach. The achieved results showed the predominance of universal features in media discourse and also made it possible to detect information about the elements of the worldview and cognition of the collective actor of matraquage discourse at the level of media discourse functioning. The obtained data made it possible to identify a number of socio-cultural features in the linguistic thinking of the consumer of media information that are required to overcome crisis-related and stressful situations associated with infobesity on the path of existential and psychological stabilisation of cognition and communication behavioural models.

평생교육 현장에서의 미술활동이 여성노인의 웰다잉 인식에 미치는 영향

Objectives This study shows the effect of art activities on life of elderly women and their well-dying perception based on the existentialism.
 Methods This study conducted focus group interview(FGI) with seven elderly women aged 70 or older in D city in Korea and analyzed the phenomenon using Grounded theory by Strauss & Corbin with open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. It was intended to reveal the impact and process of art activities in elderly women on well-dying.
 Results As a result of the analysis, 66 concepts, 25 subcategories, and 11 core categories were derived. Based on the result, the process of recognizing well-dying by female elderly artists was derived in the final six stages. The derived stages are physical limitations, psychological frustrations, existential confrontation, critical situations, realization of existence, and formation of subjective identity. The main phenomenon of the study revealed by the analysis is art activities at the lifelong education center break away from the meaningless life and worthless being based on existentialism. Throughout concentration and immersion, new expertise was established and was also possible relationship with others through the formation of subjective identity.
 Conclusions With the establishment of an independent identity through the art activities, elderly women are no longer a passive and weak dependent people, they are the people who have active and leading attitude towards well-dying. The art activities helped to change the perception of being who leads the rest of their lives.

Alter/ Native and the New Historicism Contents of Second Generation Nigerian Poets

This paper examines the intersection and synergy between Alter/Native criticism and the New Historicism in the context of second-generation Nigerian poets. Alter/ Native criticism focuses on indigenous literary traditions, cultural contexts, and oral histories, while New Historicism explores the interplay between literature and historical conditions. By applying these critical approaches to the works of second-generation Nigerian poets and novelists, such as Niyi Osundare, Chinua Achebe, and Wole Soyinka, this study aims to shed light on how these poets and novelists enrich our understanding of Nigerian literature by examining the cultural and historical contexts in which their works are produced. Drawing from indigenous literary traditions, the second-generation Nigerian poets employ AlterNative criticism to explore themes of identity, cultural heritage, and the preservation of indigenous voices. Their works incorporate elements of folklore, proverbs, and cultural symbols, reflecting a deep engagement with Nigerian cultural heritage. Additionally, the New Historicism provides insights into how the historical conditions of Nigeria, including colonization, independence struggles, and post-colonial challenges, influence the themes and styles of the poets' works. Through the application of the New Historicism, we can examine how these poets engage with and respond to historical events, power dynamics, and social realities. By examining the poems and critical perspectives of second-generation Nigerian poets, this paper showcases the synergies and mutual enrichment between Native criticism and New Historicism. The combination of these approaches enhances our understanding of the cultural and historical dimensions of the poets' works, providing deeper insights into the complexities of Nigerian literature. This study contributes to the broader field of Nigerian literary scholarship and offers a comprehensive understanding of the contributions made by second-generation Nigerian poets to the Nigerian literary canon.

The Production of Space in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners: A Lefebvrean Reading

First published in 1956, Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners explores the experiences of West Indian immigrants in London, following the end of World War II. Written by a migrant novelist, who came to London in 1950, the story fictionalises the immigrants’ experiences and their struggles in the imperial centre of London. While the primary concern of the novel concentrates on the themes of identity, migration, and the politics of representation, it also deals with the production of space through the decisions made by the urban planners and designers, social movements and relations as well as the daily practices of the individual citizens. Sociologist Henri Lefebvre emphasises the significance of everyday life and the lived experiences of the individuals to analyse the process of how space is produced. Lefebvre’s reading of space as a social product challenges any reading of space as neutral and static. In other words, according to Lefebvre, space is not just a mere geographical or territorial notion, rather a living organism which goes through a production process and changes over time. Therefore, it is the aim of this paper to analyse how space is conceived, perceived, and lived in, and as a result, how it is produced and reproduced in Sam Selvon’s classic novel, The Lonely Londoners.

Occupational identity and the military to civilian transition of former serving Australian Defence Force members

ABSTRACT Internationally, there is recognition that the transition from military service to civilian life is challenged by a military identity. The aim of this study was to present the impact of an occupational military identity on the transition to civilian life from the perspective of former serving Australian Defence Force members. A narrative inquiry methodology was employed to explore the transition experience of the participants who each shared the story of their transition, presenting a narrative for data analysis. This analysis utilised Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (2006, 2020), and the a priori theme of identity. The 12 participant narratives led to the presentation of four themes: 1) Transition and a military identity; 2) Military service and a military identity; 3) Military identity and separation type (voluntary and involuntary); and 4) Enabling transition and the military identity in civilian life. The participants’ narratives highlighted how their occupational participation in military training and culture shaped an identity to challenge transition. Yet, they also highlighted the positive influence of a military identity, offering insights into how best to enable the transition from military service to civilian life.

Eight‐ to 12‐year‐old US children's emerging subjective social status identity and intergroup attitudes

AbstractDrawing on social identity development theory, this study investigated a socioeconomically diverse sample of 8‐ to 12‐year‐old US children's (N = 93) subjective social status (SSS), how they determined and identified with their SSS, and whether their own SSS related to their social preferences for individuals from other SSS groups. Children primarily referenced material resources, lifestyles, money, and relative comparisons when explaining how they determined their SSS. Although all children identified with their SSS ingroup and viewed it positively, higher‐SSS children reported stronger identification with their SSS ingroup than did middle‐SSS children. Finally, regardless of their own SSS, children liked higher‐SSS individuals less, on average, than middle‐ or lower‐SSS individuals. Overall, this study provides novel evidence for the emergence of SSS identity in late childhood and its early relations to SSS intergroup preferences.