Social Change Movements and the Struggle Over Meaning-Making: A Case Study of Domestic Violence Narratives

In the debate on the Native Authority (Amendment) Law of 1955, the late Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, replying to the demand that ‘it is high time in the development of local government systems in this Region that obsolete and undemocratic ways of appointing Emirs’ Councils should close’, commented that ‘the right traditions that we have gone away from are the cutting off of the hands of thieves, and that has caused a lot of thieving in this country. Why should we not be cutting (off) the hands of thieves in order to reduce thieving? That is logical and it is lawful in our tradition and custom here.’ This could be read as a defence against social change, a recrudescence of ‘barbarism’ after the inroads of pax Britannica, and a plea for the retention of the status quo and the entrenched privilege of the political elite.

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Feelings of Quarantine: Allegories for the Lockdown

Culture & Psychology ◽

10.1177/1354067x211004086 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1354067X2110040

Author(s):

Linus Paul Frederic Guenther

Keyword(s):

Coping Strategies ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Psychological Perspective ◽

Study Analysis ◽

Subjective Meaning ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

Creative Self ◽

Life Script ◽

The Voice

This case study shows how allegories are a means to express the inexpressible and how Allegory Analysis can be a method to reveal it and bring out the subjective meaning making, life script ideology, and capability to deal with the ambivalent in critical life situations. From a cultural psychological perspective, the research is based on feelings during the quasi-quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tries to understand the coping strategies with which people deal with a psychological crisis in general concerning for the COVID-19 lockdown. It discusses further ways to deal with the ambivalences and subjective meaning making arousing through such a crisis. The case study analysis of Miss K. not only showed her meaning making processes and attitude of life but also showed how to deal with the uncertainty during the critical lockdown period. Through her allegories, she utters her current life script ideology that living nowadays means to function like a machine while being creative, self-reflective at the same time. Her meaning making process counterbalanced between the voice of being delivered to withdrawal or depression versus the voice of being able to learn, connect, and relax. Her coping strategy was bearing the ambivalence in a psychological crisis with faith.

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Decolonising a landscape architecture studio: Spatial modelling of student narratives

Multimodality & Society ◽

10.1177/2634979521992737 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 39-47

Author(s):

Christine Price

Keyword(s):

Spatial Model ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Spatial Modelling ◽

First Year ◽

Spatial Form ◽

Public Park ◽

New Meanings ◽

Global North

This paper problematises the dominance of global north perspectives in landscape architectural education, in South Africa where there are urgent calls to decolonise education and make visible indigenous and vernacular meaning-making practices. In grappling with these concerns, this research finds resonance with a multimodal social semiotic approach that acknowledges the interest, agency and resourcefulness of students as meaning-makers in both accessing and challenging dominant educational discourses. This research involves a case study of a design project in a first-year landscape architectural studio. The project requires students to choose a narrative and to represent it as a spatial model: a scaled, 3D maquette of a spatial experience that could be installed in a public park. This practitioner reflection closely analyses the spatial model of one student, Malibongwe, focusing on his interest in meaning-making; the innovative meaning-making practices and diverse resources he draws on; and his expression of spatial signifiers of the Black experiences portrayed in his narrative. This reflection shows how Malibongwe’s narrative is not only reproduced in the spatial model, it is remade: the transformation of resources into three-dimensional spatial form results in new understandings and the production of new meanings.

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Between sexual assault and compassion: The experience of living with a spouse’s dementia-related hypersexuality—A narrative case-study

Dementia ◽

10.1177/14713012211032068 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147130122110320

Author(s):

Dovrat Harel ◽

Tova Band-Winterstein ◽

Hadass Goldblatt

Keyword(s):

Sexual Assault ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

Single Case ◽

Intimate Relationship ◽

Older Woman ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Narrative Case Study ◽

As If

Background Hypersexuality is one of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. This symptom can lead to poor quality of life for the person who lives with dementia, as well as for his or her caregiver, who might be exposed to sexual assault. Aim This study aimed to highlight the experience of an older woman living and coping with a spouse who exhibits dementia-related hypersexuality. Method A narrative case-study of a single case was designed, composed of four semi-structured interviews conducted over a 10-month period. The data were analyzed through thematic, structural, and performance analysis. Findings Four phases were revealed, depicting the experience of being a partner and caregiver of a spouse with dementia-related hypersexuality: a) “I need help”: A distress call; b) “It depends how long I agree to go on with it”: Living with the ambiguous reality of dementia-related hypersexual behavior within an ongoing intimate relationship; c) “It’s as if I’m hugging someone who’s no longer alive”: The transition from the previous couplehood identity to a new couplehood identity; and d) “I am just taking care of him as if he is a child”: A compassionate couplehood identity construction. Conclusions Living with a partner with dementia-related hypersexuality is a distressing experience for the caregiver-spouse. Yet, positive memories from a long intimate relationship can lead to the creation of a compassionate identity, which supports the caregiving process, and creates a sense of acceptance and meaning making. This, in turn, enables a positive aging experience. These finding have some practical implications for supporting and intervening in such cases.

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Slow scholarship for social work: A praxis of resistance and creativity

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325021990865 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147332502199086

Author(s):

Stéphanie Wahab ◽

Gita R Mehrotra ◽

Kelly E Myers

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Social Work ◽

Knowledge Production ◽

Relational Ontology ◽

Research Project ◽

Useful Knowledge ◽

Time Space ◽

Rapid Production ◽

Time Frames

Expediency, efficiency, and rapid production within compressed time frames represent markers for research and scholarship within the neoliberal academe. Scholars who wish to resist these practices of knowledge production have articulated the need for Slow scholarship—a slower pace to make room for thinking, creativity, and useful knowledge. While these calls are important for drawing attention to the costs and problems of the neoliberal academy, many scholars have moved beyond “slow” as being uniquely referencing pace and duration, by calling for the different conceptualizations of time, space, and knowing. Guided by post-structural feminisms, we engaged in a research project that moved at the pace of trust in the integrity of our ideas and relationships. Our case study aimed to better understand the ways macro forces such as neoliberalism, criminalization and professionalization shape domestic violence work. This article discusses our praxis of Slow scholarship by showcasing four specific key markers of Slow scholarship in our research; time reimagined, a relational ontology, moving inside and towards complexity, and embodiment. We discuss how Slow scholarship complicates how we understand constructs of productivity and knowledge production, as well as map the ways Slow scholarship offers a praxis of resistance for generating power from the epistemic margins within social work and the neoliberal academy.

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Governmental human rights focal points in federal contexts: The implementation of the Istanbul convention in Switzerland as a case study

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights ◽

10.1177/09240519211016947 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 092405192110169

Author(s):

Matthieu Niederhauser

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Focal Points ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Federal States ◽

International Human

The implementation of international human rights law in federal States is an underexplored process. Subnational entities regularly enjoy a degree of sovereignty, which raises questions such as whether they implement obligations of international law and how the federal level may ensure that implementation takes place at the subnational level. This article aims to answer these questions, using the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Convention) in Switzerland as a case study. To implement the Convention at the cantonal level, federal actors decided to use networks of civil servants in charge of domestic violence issues, who act as governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs). This article is based on original empirical data, on 25 interviews with State officials who participate in this implementation. The findings show how complex GHRFPs networks work in practice to implement the Convention and highlight the role played by numerous non-legal State actors in this process. As a result, the article argues that international human rights law implementation becomes more diversified both within and across federal States.

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Functional and sociocultural attitudes of code-switching and its relation to the meaning-making process: The case of dubbing Kim Possible into Arabic

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/13670069211019482 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136700692110194

Author(s):

Rashid Yahiaoui ◽

Marwa J Aldous ◽

Ashraf Fattah

Keyword(s):

Meaning Making ◽

Code Switching ◽

Power Dynamics ◽

Sociocultural Attitudes ◽

Switching Patterns ◽

Switching Functions ◽

Switching Type ◽

Lebanese Arabic ◽

Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to investigate the sociolinguistic functions of code-switching and its relation to the meaning-making process by using the animated series Kim Possible as a case study. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs Muysken’s taxonomy to draw on code-switching patterns in lexico-grammar in relation to human behavior. The study also uses the functional approaches of Muysken and Appel and Gumperz as binary investigatory frameworks to locate interlingual and intralingual code-switching particularities and to elaborate on code-switching functions. Data and analysis: The analysis encompasses 48 episodes. Firstly, we extracted and transcribed code-switching occurrences in light of Muysken’s typology episode-by-episode and categorized them according to their code-switching type (interlingual or intralingual). Secondly, we quantified the occurrences according to their syntactic form to make more systematic claims about code-switching patterns. Next, we triangulated the patterns by examining the context of utterances and extralinguistic factors in the original series vis-à-vis the dubbed version to draw upon information beyond the structure or grammar. Findings/conclusions: The Arabic dubbed version was able to communicate the characters’ cosmopolitan diversity, which correlates with the series’ sense of linguistic modernity and humor. At the same time, the Arabic version was able to portray the extralinguistic reality of Lebanon and its multi-linguistic tapestry. Originality: This research is original because it focuses on Lebanese-Arabic, a dialect seldom discussed in the context of translation. The research also examines language variations in the context of dubbed discourse, where code-switching is integrally pertinent to visual-signs and the cultural background of characters. Significance/implications: The study recognizes the intricacy of code-switching as a reflective phenomenon of social reality and power dynamics; therefore, it contributes in the fields of translation and sociolinguistics.

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