Writing about listening: alternative discourses in rock journalism

Abstract‘Alternative’ publications challenge the conventional discourses of rock journalism. In particular, the dominant discourses of authenticity, masculinity and mythology might be countered by publications that emphasise historical and (sub)cultural framing, and that present radicalised ‘spaces of listening’. Using Bourdieu’s field theory to identify autonomous and semi-autonomous sites for rock criticism, the paper compares how a fanzine (the Sound Projector) and what Frith has termed an ideological magazine (the Wire) construct their reviews. The findings suggest that, whilst there is no evidence for an absolute break with the dominant conventions of reviewing, there is a remarkable polyglottism in alternative music reviewing. The paper emphasises differing cultural and social practices in the multiple ways the publications write about music, and argues for the value of such polyglottism.

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Street talk and Bourdieusian criminology: Bringing narrative to field theory

Criminology & Criminal Justice ◽

10.1177/1748895816672909 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 365-381 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Sveinung Sandberg ◽

Jennifer Fleetwood

Keyword(s):

Field Theory ◽

Social Structure ◽

Social Inequality ◽

Social Life ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Social Practices ◽

Creative Role ◽

Structural Aspects

The work of Bourdieu has increasingly gained interest in criminology. His theoretical framework is rich and arguably the most sophisticated approach to social inequality and difference in sociology. It has however, been criticized for bias towards the structural aspects of social life, and for leaving little space for the constitutive, and creative role of language. We argue for the inclusion of narrative for understanding street fields. Based on qualitative interviews with 40 incarcerated drug dealers in Norway, we describe the narrative repertoire of the street field, including stories of crime business, violence, drugs and the ‘hard life’. The narrative repertoire is constituted by street capital, but also upholds and produces this form of capital. Street talk is embedded in objective social and economic structures and displayed in the actors’ habitus. Narratives bind the street field together: producing social practices and social structure.

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Critical narrative as a framework for professional border crossing in early childhood

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood ◽

10.1177/1463949116668097 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 333-345 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alice Brown ◽

John Grigg

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Critical Reflection ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Border Crossing ◽

Professional Behaviour ◽

Ways Of Thinking ◽

Dominant Discourses ◽

Alternative Discourses

Early childhood educators are regularly confronted by dominant discourses (e.g. ensuring children are prepared for school) and the politics and pedagogy that are embedded in their practice and early childhood contexts. These discourses impact on ways of thinking and engaging with others, and professional behaviour, as well as shaping curriculum documents and policy. Engaging in a process of critical reflection from a post-structuralist perspective helps to disrupt deeply seated beliefs and assumptions, resist tensions of power and regulation, and increase feelings of agency. This article offers educators a rationale for adopting such an approach, and presents a lens with which to view alternative discourses and for thinking otherwise. The authors introduce a framework which includes a range of strategies that educators may choose to add to their tool kit to unpack and make sense of their experiences. An exemplar is offered to showcase engagement with these tools, including the use of critical narrative. Employing strategies and practices such as those outlined in this article opens possibilities to feel more empowered as early childhood educators, and be better equipped to give voice to their thoughts, feelings of hope and potential as active agents.

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Goliarda Sapienza’s Eccentric Interruptions: Multiple selves, gender ambiguities and disrupted desires

altrelettere ◽

10.5903/al_uzh-2 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte Ross

Keyword(s):

Gender Identity ◽

Sexual Desire ◽

Same Sex ◽

Multiple Selves ◽

Productive Force ◽

Critical Attention ◽

Dominant Discourses ◽

First Time ◽

Alternative Discourses

This article considers the work of Goliarda Sapienza (1924-1996), which is currently undergoing a renaissance: early texts are being republished, posthumous works have appeared in print, and she is beginning to attract sustained critical attention for the first time. With reference to several texts, most notably "Lettera aperta", "Io Jean Gabin", "Il filo di mezzogiorno", "L’arte della gioia" and "Le certezze del dubbio", I show how her work challenges a series of received norms and concepts: in addition to deconstructing any notion of the coherent, unified subject, she also disrupts traditional (hetero)normative conceptions of gender identity, sexed body and sexual desire. I analyse her work and thought as a series of interrupted autobiographical chapters, and argue that she can be read as an «eccentric subject», as defined by Teresa de Lauretis: she is «dis-located» from normative society, and challenges and interrupts dominant discourses, but also calls into question alternative discourses, for example feminism. As a result, her work may be challenging to read, but it is richly provocative. Finally, I consider how Sapienza herself experiences modalities of «interruption»; she strives to rewrite herself following trauma, and struggles with same-sex desire. Her eccentricity is experienced as both a driving, productive force of which she is proud, and a source of personal contestation. I conclude that while her relationship with some strands of feminism is rather combative, her unorthodox self-questioning, and her questioning of all institutions, make her work and thought immensely important as a form of feminist self-(re-)definition that has hitherto received little attention.

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‘The Australian We All Aspire to Be’: Commemorative Journalism and the Death of the Crocodile Hunter

Media International Australia ◽

10.1177/1329878x0913000105 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 130 (1) ◽

pp. 28-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Folker Hanusch

Keyword(s):

News Media ◽

Social Values ◽

News Coverage ◽

Past Research ◽

Alternative Perspective ◽

National Myths ◽

The Media ◽

Dominant Discourses ◽

Alternative Discourses

This article examines the news coverage generated in Australia by the death of Steve Irwin, widely known as the Crocodile Hunter. In line with past research on commemorative journalism, the study demonstrates the dominant discourses employed in the reporting of Irwin's death. It is argued that Australia's newspapers invoked a number of national myths, such as mateship, larrikinism and anti-elitism, in order to reassert notions of Australian identity and social values and to deal with the widespread grief over his loss. Most importantly, the study sheds new light on how news media deal with challenges to the dominant memorialising discourse. Past studies had not been able to investigate alternative discourses in much detail, but in examining Irwin's death we are able to see how the media deal with such an unwanted interruption. It is argued that newspapers appropriated the alternative perspective within the mythical terms of their memorialising discourse, thereby not allowing it to disrupt the memorialisation itself and in fact further strengthening the process of mythologising the Crocodile Hunter.

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Exploring discourse-based organizational change in Japan: practicing between dominant and alternative discourses

SN Business & Economics ◽

10.1007/s43546-021-00187-x ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Makoto Nagaishi

Keyword(s):

Organizational Change ◽

Change Process ◽

Psychological Safety ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Change Effort ◽

Authority Figure ◽

Dominant Discourses ◽

Successful Change ◽

Alternative Discourses

AbstractThe primary objective of this study is to respond to Grant and Marshak’s (J Appl Behav Sci 47:204–235, 2011) call for a move toward change perspectives that emphasize the generative nature of discourses, narratives, and conversations and how change practitioners discursively facilitate emergent processes. This article attempts to explore the question, “Can we specify the conditions and sources which make generative conversations emerge and may lead to a successful change effort in Japan?” The abductive inquiry into the question indicates that the generative change process convinces change sponsors that changing the dominant discourses and welcoming alternative ones can lead to the long-term development of the organization and the members. With respect to the sources of alternative discourses, psychological safety and trust in the external authority figure are generally required. The importance of survival anxiety and talent diversity may vary across the broad contexts on which organizations depend.

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Discursive contestations and pluriversal futures: A decolonial analysis of educational policies in the United Arab Emirates

Education Policy Analysis Archives ◽

10.14507/epaa.25.3063 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 111 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Elena Aydarova

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Educational Policies ◽

Educational Reforms ◽

Public Media ◽

Economic Elites ◽

Dominant Discourses ◽

Alternative Discourses

Most research on global transformations in education has focused on the actions of political and economic elites. As a result, attempts to contest and subvert globally circulated policies at subnational levels have received less attention. To address this gap, this study focuses on discursive contestations around educational reforms in the United Arab Emirates. Drawing on the theoretical framework of decoloniality (Mignolo, 2011), I explore how Western interventions into educational policies are justified by dominant discourses and challenged by their opponents through public media in the United Arab Emirates. Even though alternative discourses provide constructions of education useful for charting the trajectories of pluriversal futures, the struggle between different voices resolves in favor of global “best” practices. This happens not because they are more rational or universal, but because the voices of dissent are disconnected and fragmented. The significance of this paper lies in employing decolonial lens in the analysis of globally circulated policies and in attending to the voices that become marginalized in the implementation of global reforms.

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