Never the Twain Shall Meet: A Memetic Analysis of Poverty Perceptions

Poverty, as defined within development discourse, does not fully capture the reality in which the poor live, which is formed also by values and beliefs specific to a given culture and setting. This article uses a memetic approach to investigating the reality of poverty among pastoralists and urban dwellers in Kenya. By distinguishing the semantic space and the cultural context in which the definitions are framed, it enables the researcher to make sufficient generalisations while also recognising the differences between cultures. The results demonstrate how pastoralists and urban dwellers conceptualise poverty differently particularly in regard to causes. Further, the article suggests that development actors often utilise a Western construct which does not entirely reflect the values and beliefs of the poor.     

Persistence and desistance in heavy cannabis use: the role of identity,agency, and life events

Many cannabis users ‘mature out’ of their drug use, and factors of cannabis use cessation have been identified. However, very little in-depth knowledge is available about the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Criminological studies have gained interesting insights in desistance from crime, yet these perspectives are rarely used in drug research. This qualitative, three-year longitudinal study explored the processes involved in desistance from frequent cannabis use for young adults. Using a narrative approach, desisters (frequent users who successfully quit their cannabis use) and persisters (frequent users with a persistent desire and unsuccessful attempts to quit) were compared. In the course of the study, desisters mainly exhibited increasing agency and goal setting, established strategies to achieve these goals, and could envision another self. Desistance was generally induced by life events that became turning points. Persisters experienced largely similar events, but lacked goals and strategies and held external factors responsible for their life course and failed quit attempts. Identity change is at the core of desistance from frequent cannabis use, and the meaning-giving to life events and experiences is essential. Agency is a necessary ingredient for desistance, develops over time and through action, and leads to a new drug-free identity with desistance in turn increasing agency.     

Postcolonial reproductions: disability,indigeneity and the formation of the white masculine settler state of Australia

There has been a growing debate within the broad field of postcolonial scholarship which seeks to challenge both its territorial boundaries with the advent of globalization and its limitations when applied to the realm of white-settler societies. The debate has been extremely fruitful in situating emerging scholarship that seeks to extend postcoloniality, its theoretical framing, and the internal processes of social categorization for peoples caught within the nation-state's territorial sphere. Unfortunately, disability and indigeneity remain largely absent from these fresh debates; or when included, are explored as singular fields of analytical inquiry with little intersectional dialogue. With this paper, I aim to extend these nascent debates by critically engaging with both disability and indigeneity as two interlocking sites of (post)colonial nation-state power. To explicate this argument, my analysis focuses on a key historical moment in the Australian experience – the formation of the colonial white-settler society of Australia in its early years (1901–1920s), comparing and contrasting the systems of administrative management of disability and indigeneity. In doing so, the paper reveals the deep materialities of white, able-bodied, masculine, (post)colonial settler rule that bring together disability and indigeneity via gender reproductive controls. The conclusion reflects on the transformative effects of managing transgressive bodies and minds under the white able-bodied settler state and the potential this opens to negotiate practices of solidarity.     

在吊诡中澄明地活——生存论视域下的陈昌平小说解读

陈昌平的小说在一种吊诡叙事中对生存的境况进行耐人寻味的发掘,宏大叙事与生活叙事的吊诡带出生命个体与历史语境的矛盾关系;崇高的消解与找寻崇高的吊诡让我们在反思与坚守中感受生活的无奈与坚守;承认荒谬却不认同荒谬的吊诡敞开了更多本真生存可能。     

Troubling stories of the end of occupy: Feminist narratives of betrayal at occupy Glasgow

This article offers a feminist take on the question of why Occupy camps closed down, in the form of a narrative analysis of interviews from participants in Occupy Glasgow. In response to the emergence of an activist discourse emphasising the role of external forces in camp closure and the existence of a longer-term legacy in terms of individual and community politicisation, I build here on feminist interventions that point instead to serious internal problems within the camps and thus to a more limited legacy. Interrogating the plotting, characterisation and denouement of interviewee narratives, I show that feminist participants in Occupy Glasgow characterise the trajectory of the camp as a tragedy, attribute responsibility for the camp’s demise to co-campers and sometimes to themselves, and present the outcome of Occupy Glasgow as limited, and in some cases even traumatic. This raises serious questions about the culmination and outcomes of Occupy in Glasgow and more generally, and indicates the extent of the hard work remaining if future mobilisation against neoliberal austerity is to be more inclusive and sustainable. The article closes by considering the theoretical implications for the wider question of why movements come to an end.     

Beyond black and white: the role of media in portraying and policing migration and asylum in Italy

This paper investigates the media’s role in shaping perceptions and policies concerning the so-called migrant crisis as well as how this affects solidarity with newcomers, specifically focusing on Italy. The first part of the paper examines the coexistence of the humanitarian narratives of saving lives and the spectacle of militarised borders. It unveils how the daily transmission of sensationalist and stereotyped images of migrants contributes to their transforming into subjects and objects of fear, both experiencing the fear of being rejected and eliminated and inspiring fear in the resident populations. The second part addresses the need for innovative approaches in the construction of a positive public image of migrants and refugees. Through an analysis of several communication campaigns, realised by state and non-state actors for the promotion of social coexistence between citizens and newcomers, this paper calls for a fundamental shift in the way we communicate about migration. A concluding reflection on the challenges and opportunities posed by the arrival of migrants and asylum seekers in our societies, proposes that they should not only be perceived as objects of policies, but should be considered active partners of their own inclusion in the receiving societies.     

Can we empathize with the narrative of our enemy? A personal odyssey in studying peace education

The reader is taken on a journey spanning some 30 years devoted to the author’s involvement in practicing, teaching and studying peace education. The core concept in this journey is active bystandership, which implies the capacity to disengage from our ethnocentric narratives and perceptions and to face the emotional challenges of acknowledging narratives that contradict our collective assumptions about the conflict and accept the moral obligation to address our contribution to violence. The author describes her non-professional as well as her professional activity in academia of participating, initiating, teaching and facilitating peace education projects. She describes inter and intra-group encounters and attempts to identify the limitations and opportunities of each type. Finally, some research methods and results of recent studies in peace education, especially regarding perceptions of collective narratives, are presented and discussed.     

Progress,democracy, efficiency: normative narratives in political science EU studies

ABSTRACT

This article identifies influential political narratives in the 73 currently most highly cited political science articles on the EU. It is based on systematic analysis of expressions of normativity, which signal that European integration, or its institutions or policies, are bad, good, flourishing or declining. A normative narrative of continuous progress in integration, connected with a 1990s grand theoretical debate in EU studies, accounts for much of the positive tone of EU studies until about 1998. Narratives about the EU's democratic deficit and its impact beyond its borders help explain the subsequent negative turn in EU studies normativity.     

20世纪80年代以来国内藏族神话研究述评

藏族神话研究主要分为“类型、母题与特征研究”、“创世神话研究”、“原始宗教神话研究”以及“英雄神话研究”等,现已初步形成了藏族神话研究的多种视角,其中藏族创世神话研究最为丰富。80年代以来,国内藏族神话研究持续不断,并取得了重大成绩,为今后藏族神话的学科体系建设奠定了基础,尽管如此,随着世界不断发展与交流,西方神话学界的一些新观点和新理论随之传入,这就要求我们要运用更多元的理论手段对藏族神话进行深入的解读和研究。     

One narrative or several? Politics,cultural elites,and citizens in constructing a ‘New Narrative for Europe’

ABSTRACT

European Union (EU) institutions have cultivated narratives of European integration for a long time. For its 2013–2014 ‘A New Narrative for Europe’ project, however, the European Commission for the first time explicitly used the ‘narrative’ label. Drawing on non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews and qualitative discourse analysis, this article contrasts the drafting process and the resulting declaration’s narrative structure and content with its discussion by citizens in a web-based consultation. The analysis shows that participating citizens forcefully demanded a bottom-up debate and advocated pluralistic perspectives. In these circumstances, elite-driven attempts at strengthening European identity and EU legitimacy are likely to be ineffective.