“There’s Still That Window That’s Open”

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Asher Golden
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Figured Worlds ◽  
High School Equivalency ◽  
Social Inequities

This narrative analysis case study challenges the education reform movement’s fascination with “grit,” the notion that a non-cognitive trait like persistence is at the core of disparate educational outcomes and the answer to our inequitable education system. Through analysis of the narratives and meaning-making processes of Elijah, a 20-year-old African American seeking his High School Equivalency diploma, this case study explores linkages among dominant discourses on meritocracy, opportunity, personal responsibility, and group blame. Specifically, exposition of the figured worlds present in Elijah’s narratives points to the attempted obfuscation of social inequities present in the current educational reform movement and our broader society. This obfuscation present in the grit discourse and pedagogy aims to diminish the critical bifocality that is needed to understand and improve educational opportunity and outcomes.

scholarly journals Metodologiska val i studien av biografiskt material - metodologiska val och deras epistemologiska konsekvenser i studien av biografiskt material

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Vanessa May
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Story Telling ◽  
Lone Mothers ◽  
The Creation

Epistemological Questions Concerning the Study of Biographical. Material: The Consequences of Choise of Methodology Using my own research on written life stories of Finnish lone mothers as a case study, this paper examines the consequences of choice of methodology when using biographical material as data. I focus on two methodo-logical alternatives: analysing biographical material as documents of preceding events, or as meaning-making con-structs. Treating biographical material as a gateway into studying events in people’s lives reduces the heuristic value of the material, and consequently questions of truth and reliability become problematic. Nevertheless, this still seems to be the preferred methodological alternative of many sociologists. If biographical material is analysed for its own sake, focussing on the creation of meaning through story-telling, the above-mentioned problems of truth and reliability diminish considerably. Using research on lone motherhood as an example, I ex-plore arguments for the use of narrative analysis, examining what it has to offer methodologically, theoreti-cally and conceptually.

scholarly journals Mass Petitioning, Education Reform, and the Development of Political Culture in Madras, 1839–1842

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Scott Travanion Connors
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
The Creation

Abstract This article explores the emergence of reformist sentiment and political culture in Madras in the mid-nineteenth century. Moreover, it contributes to, and expands upon, the growing body of literature on colonial petitioning through a case-study of a mass petition demanding education reform. Signed in 1839 by 70,000 subjects from across the Madras presidency, the petition demanded the creation of a university that would qualify western-educated Indians to gain employment in the high public offices of the East India Company. Through an analysis of the lifecycle of this education petition, from its creation to its reception and the subsequent adoption of its demands by the Company government at Fort St George, this article charts the process by which an emergent, politicized public engaged with, and critiqued, the colonial state. Finally, it examines the transformative effect that the practice of mass petitioning had on established modes of political activism and communication between an authoritarian colonial state and the society it governed.

Feelings of Quarantine: Allegories for the Lockdown

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.

Decolonising a landscape architecture studio: Spatial modelling of student narratives

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.

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

Dementia ◽  
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.

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

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.

scholarly journals Experiential meaning as meaning making choice in article writing: A case study of female and male writers

Heliyon ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e06909
Author(s):  
Rosi Anjarwati ◽  
Slamet Setiawan ◽  
Kisyani Laksono
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Experiential Meaning

Reform at the Intersection of Loose Coupling and Pedagogic Modalities: The Case of Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110019
Author(s):  
Trevor Tsz-lok Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Global City ◽  
Coupling Agents ◽  
Loose Coupling ◽  
Secondary Curriculum ◽  
Reform Policy ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Senior Secondary

This paper contributes to our understanding of the micro-policy experience of an implemented curriculum from the perspective of students, in addition to teachers, as the key coupling agents in the schools of a Chinese global city. Although the phenomenon of decoupling in educational policy is widely recognized, much less attention has been paid to the micro-dynamics involved in implementing education reform policy from the perspective of students and teachers. It is argued that these local actors’ experiences are best captured by the bi-dimensional framework of loose coupling and pedagogic modalities. This argument is illustrated through a case study of the implementation of the Liberal Studies reform under Senior Secondary Curriculum in Hong Kong since 2009. The study demonstrates how students and teachers interpret and make sense of policy, strategic, and practical needs manifested in the microprocesses of policy coupling and decoupling.

College-Bound Figured Worlds: Case Studies of Three Urban High Schools

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110275
Author(s):  
Meredith R. Naughton
Keyword(s):  
High Schools ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Figured Worlds ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Peer Mentors ◽  
Compare And Contrast

This qualitative case study explored the unique ways recent college graduates serving as full-time, near-peer mentors supported students along the path to college in three different urban public high schools. By applying the theory of figured worlds to school spaces and practices, this study sought to both define the physical and figurative ways mentors helped students envision and enact college-bound identities and compare and contrast the differences in these spaces across schools. Data and thematic analysis indicate that promoting the development and enactment of college-bound identities requires intentionality about how school culture, people, and policies enable real and figurative spaces for college-bound exploration and support.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document