Ghosts, tigers and landmines in the nursery: Attachment narratives of loss in Tamil refugee children with dead or missing fathers

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lux Ratnamohan ◽  
Sarah Mares ◽  
Derrick Silove
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Parent Attachment ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Protective Strategies

Objective: To build an account of how bereaved Tamil refugee and asylum seeker children, resettled in Australia, had processed the loss of their dead or missing fathers. Method: Phenomenological and discourse analysis was applied to attachment narratives of nine children (aged 11–17 years) and their surviving mothers in families that lost fathers in war-related circumstances. The narratives were analysed through the lens of Crittenden’s Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) and Klass’ cross-cultural model of grief. Results: Two divergent pathways — ‘burying the past’ and ‘reifying the past’ — emerged, encompassing the children’s contrasting patterns of information processing regarding loss and trauma (dismissing or preoccupying) and representation of the past (distant-buried or rich-reconstructed). Each pathway reflected a strategic compromise between the constraints and resources presented to the child by the circumstances of the loss (ambiguous or confirmed), the response of their surviving parent (stricken or stoic) and the collective narrative surrounding the loss (silenced or valorised). Conclusion: The DMM’s conceptualisation of attachment as self-protective strategies for navigating danger was helpful in explaining the contrasting adaptations of refugee children to loss and trauma. However, to understand the multivalent meanings of these adaptations, there was a need to situate child–parent attachment relationships within the wider sociocultural reconfigurations arising from contexts of political violence.

Discourse Analysis: Contextualism and Reductionism

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-447
Author(s):  
Setareh Majidi
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Interpretation

For the past twenty to thirty years, a good part of the domain of linguistics has been occupied by what has been called discourse analysis. Whereas syntax and semantics are concerned by the sentence and the units from which the sentence is built, discourse analysis claims that interpretation cannot accounted for at the level of the sentence and that a bigger unit, such as discourse should be used to account for language interpretation. We want to show here that discourse is not, in any sense, a well defined object and that, though it is certainly necessary to analyze how a given sequence of sentences is processed and understood, the notion of discourse,  A and related notions such as coherence does not have much to say about it. We rely on epistemological considerations about the necessity of a moderate reductionism and sketch on account of linguistic interpretation which accounts for contextual factors in linguistic interpretation through the notion of utterance (vs. sentence) and a development of Sperber & Wilsons Relevance Theory.

scholarly journals Crisis discourse and framework transition in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 664-680
Author(s):  
Omer Michaelis
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Legal Code ◽  
The Past ◽  
Moses Maimonides ◽  
Crisis Discourse

AbstractIn his works from the past decade, Menachem Fisch offered an analysis of a crucial distinction between two modes of rationalized transformation: an intra-framework transformation and an inter-framework one, the latter entailing a revolutionary shift of the framework itself. In this article, I analyze the attempt to produce such a framework transition in the tradition of Jewish Halakha (i.e., Jewish Law) by one of the key figures in its history, Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), and to explore how this transition was rationalized and promoted by the utilization of crisis discourse. Using discourse analysis, I analyze the introduction to Maimonides’ great legal code, Mishneh Torah, and explore the modes by which he sought to establish, install and stabilize a homogenous and centralistic legal order at the center of which will lie one – that is, his own – Halakhic book.

Haunted by the past: transformations and daily challenges of China's prosthetics

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
Chunchun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
Rehabilitation Center ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Daily Experiences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the transformations of prosthetic practices in China, as well as the daily experiences and dilemmas arising from the everchanging practices since 1949. On the basis of materials, this paper explores an everyday perspective to review the history of technology.Design/methodology/approachEthnography was collected with the application of participant observations, informal interviews and in-depth interviews during a 13-months study at a rehabilitation center in Chengdu, China. The literature on prosthetic manufacturing was also reviewed for this paper.FindingsChina's prosthetic technology seems to evolve from traditional to modern. However, this progressive narrative – innovation-based timeline (Edgerton, 2006, xi) – has been challenged by daily practices. Due to institutional pressures, prosthetists are in a dilemma of selectively using their knowledge to create one kind of device for all prosthesis users with a certain kind of disability, thereby regulating the physical and social experiences of prosthesis users. Besides, prosthesis users are accustomed to prostheses made with old techniques, and must correct themselves from old experiences to the daily practices recognized by the selected techniques.Originality/valueThis paper provides a cross-cultural case to reexamine Edgerton's criticism of the progressive and orderly innovation-centric technological narrative. More importantly, it reviews the history and practices of China's prosthetics from daily experiences rather than Edgerton's concentration on technology; therefore, it provides an everyday perspective for future research on technological transformations.

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Information Processing

1968 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cole ◽  
John Gay ◽  
Joseph Glick
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cross Cultural

Lessons learned from the past on mental health care of refugee children in Serbia

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 669-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milica Pejovic Milovancevic ◽  
Veronika Ispanovic ◽  
Dusko Stupar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
The Past

White Skin Privilege: Modern Myth, Forgotten Past

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Peter Frost
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
White Slavery ◽  
White Skin ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Preference ◽  
European Women ◽  
Modern Myth

Abstract European women dominate images of beauty, presumably because Europe has dominated the world for the past few centuries. Yet this presumed cause poorly explains “white slavery”—the commodification of European women for export at a time when their continent was much less dominant. Actually, there has long been a cross-cultural preference for lighter-skinned women, with the notable exception of modern Western culture. This cultural norm mirrors a physical norm: skin sexually differentiates at puberty, becoming fairer in girls, and browner and ruddier in boys. Europeans are also distinguished by a palette of hair and eye colors that likewise differs between the sexes, with women more often having the brighter hues. In general, the European phenotype, especially its brightly colored features, seems to be due to a selection pressure that targeted women, apparently sexual selection. Female beauty is thus a product of social relations, but not solely those of recent times.

A bibliometric study of news discourse analysis (1988‒2020)

2021 ◽  
pp. 175048132110437
Author(s):  
Guofeng Wang ◽  
Xiuzhen Wu ◽  
Qiao Li
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Chinese Mainland ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
The West ◽  
News Values ◽  
The Past ◽  
News Discourse ◽  
Scopus Database

This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of news discourse analysis using CiteSpace to sketch its scientific landscape based on journal articles in English in the Scopus database from 1988 through 2020. The statistical analysis provides evidence for the interdisciplinarity of this area, and shows an upward trend in general over these years as well as an accelerating growth rate in the past decade. Findings also indicate that the problem-oriented CDA has gained the most popularity in this area since its emergence, and the appraisal framework, multimodality analysis, and discursive news values have become three hotspots of news discourse analysis. In addition, the authors in the West have contributed most in this area, but those from Chinese Mainland, Malaysia, South Africa, and Indonesia have gradually been an emerging powerhouse, which has added diversity in topics and will enhance equality and promote dialogue between different communities, ethnics, and races across the globe.

“Unfortunately I’m a Massively Heavy Sleeper”: An Analysis of Fathers’ Constructions of Parenting

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 680-701
Author(s):  
Ashlee Borgkvist ◽  
Jaklin Eliott ◽  
Shona Crabb ◽  
Vivienne Moore
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
Involved Fathers

Expectations for fathers have changed over the past few decades—research has shown that many men express more egalitarian views toward fatherhood and being more involved in parenting, particularly in the caretaking and emotional aspects of parenting. However, despite intentions expressed before parenthood, parenting will often play out along more traditional, gendered lines. In this research, we demonstrate how discourses used by fathers might work to maintain gendered divisions in relation to parenting and work. Data were collected through semistructured interviews that covered men’s experiences of work and parenting. Discourse analysis was employed to analyze the data. We identified that while participants expressed a desire to be involved fathers, often this did not transpire. Participants’ inability to, or decisions not to be, actively involved was accounted for in various ways, and suggested a tension between what fathers recognize they should be doing, and what they are doing, as parents.

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