scholarly journals ‘As dead as a dodo’: Extinction narratives and multispecies justice in the museum

2020 ◽  
pp. 251484862094531
Author(s):  
Anna Guasco
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Museum Studies ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
Textual Approach

This article unites recent writing in extinction studies with work in political ecology, justice theory and museum studies to explore qualitative, cultural approaches to extinction. I examine the role of storytelling and the power of narratives in addressing nonhuman extinction. Analysing the case study of a permanent gallery on extinction, evolution and biodiversity loss – the Survival Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland – I utilise a more-than-textual approach to narrative analysis. This paper explores the diverse ways in which the gallery relates stories of ‘natural’ extinction to the contemporary anthropogenic ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’. The Survival Gallery narrates a remarkably complex compilation of extinction stories, but the gallery’s narrative avoids areas of conflict or controversy, obscures justice concerns and ultimately presents a problematic depiction of a universalised humanity. Using this analysis of museum extinction storytelling, the paper contributes to emerging conceptualisations of multispecies justice frameworks. The article explores the possibilities and challenges of museum storytelling in grappling with complicated pasts and envisioning potential futures of survival, coexistence and flourishing. The paper concludes by considering how a multispecies justice approach to narrating extinction (and other entangled ecological-social phenomena) might flourish within and beyond museums.

scholarly journals Sustainable human behaviours for combating sixth mass extinction

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatik Baran Mandal
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
The People ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
The Commons

Background extinction is a natural phenomenon. Anthropogenic biodiversity loss has been addressed from the various view points. The debate is continuing to identify the root cause of the anthropogenic mass extinction, also called the sixth extinction. The present communication discusses various anthropogenic drivers of the biodiversity loss and explains the ongoing sixth mass extinction using Garrett Hardin's “the tragedy of the commons”. Such explanations provide options for policy makers and for us to save the precious biodiversity of our planet. It has been demonstrated that presently we share about one third of the Net Primary Productivity which must be reduced through reducing our food consumption and by reducing our utilization of energy. Promotion of sustainable human behaviours to ameliorate the problem of anthropogenic extinction or the sixth extinction has been discussed in the light of recent findings from neurobiology and molecular biology. Biodiversity conservation through providing benefit to the people may be effective conservation strategies which would save the interest of human civilizations as well as other life forms on the earth.

scholarly journals Create-ing Business: Understanding Professional Tension in an Advertising Agency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Saumya Pant
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Advertising Research ◽  
Advertising Agencies ◽  
Advertising Agency ◽  
Common View ◽  
Advertising Industry

<p>The purpose of this research is to concentrate on aspects of organisation culture in an advertising agency and how they help us in understanding professional tensions and conflicts. To do so I have looked within advertising agencies and endeavoured to understand their organisational dynamics. Advertising business is known for stress and tension (Kover and Goldberg, 1995). From the tension of 'pitching' Is a key step in winning a client account, here several agencies are invited to respond in person to the advertise brief. This is an important stage to demonstrate potential and add value to the product or client. Based on aesthetic values the client the makes a judgement to pass the responsibility to pass the responsibility to develop an advertisement for the product for a client to the development of an advert, the agency goes through a variety of stages where conflict, stress, internal politics and tension influence the outcome. One such tension which this research attempts to understand is the ongoing professional tussle between the creative division of an advertising agency and management. This tension between the two bodies has been studied by advertising research however these studies have only attempted to describe the conflicts that exist as well as suggest what the advertising industry can do in an attempt to tackle these scenarios. Alternatively this research applies concepts of Organisational Behaviour (OB) such as culture and identity to grasp the reasons behind this professional tension. It also recognises a strong link between identity and culture. Therefore the research challenges the common view of organisational culture, that is, it portrays culture as a form of normative control unlike the conventional notion of culture as the means of unison and conformity without resistance within an organisation. This approach will examine what role culture plays in the professional lives of an advertising agency. To analyse the role of culture as a form of control I developed a methodology that targets multiple facets of organisational culture. This research is based on a case study of an Aotearoa, New Zealand based advertising agency (pseudonym Organisation B). It involved the use of various research approaches including story or narrative analysis and rich pictures to capture the core assumptions, values and beliefs that sometimes surfaced as resistance within this agency. As a result of completing this case study I achieved some understanding of reasons that may trigger tension within an agency. I learnt of the normative and bureaucratic forms of controls used within this contemporary organisation and the rationale behind their development which I have referred to as the overarching story of Organisation B. This research also provides a new dimension to advertising research by focusing on the role of organisational culture and identity in fostering professional conflicts within an agency. This research has emphasized the role of organisational culture as a control mechanism for those in management positions. In this particular agency this is achieved via the development of a 'laid back' and 'casual' culture which is carefully designed by the owners of the business thus providing them an opportunity to curtail any resistance originating within the culture. Nevertheless, members of this agency continue to channel their resistance by striving towards the ideal creative identity. The implications of the findings to the larger advertising industry suggest that: i) Growing advertising agencies need to consider fractional views embedded in their organisational structures and realise that cultural change does not happen in isolation. ii) The research also proposes that having a strong culture is not synonymous to success and unity among a workforce. iii) There is a need to maintain a balance between creativity and strategic planning, as they are both crucial in an advertising industry.</p>

Formal Models in Narrative Analysis

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Herman
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Permutation Groups ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Structural Linguistics ◽  
Modeling Practices ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Models And Modeling

This chapter considers formal models of narrative and the nature of the theory of narrative. After discussing the diachronic and synchronic approaches to investigating the role of formal models in narrative analysis, the chapter looks at those ideas about models and modeling as a kind of bridge between humanistic and technoscientific discourse. It then evaluates descriptive and functional classifications of models, along with a range of perspectives on mathematical models and modeling. It also presents a case study in metanarratology, with a particular focus on modeling practices that have been brought to bear on focalization. It also analyzes some instances of the confluence of the formal study of narrative and mathematics, including the use of permutation groups, as well as the synergy between mathematically based theories of structural linguistics and early work on story grammars.

scholarly journals How Readers Construct New Testament Characters: The Calling of Peter in the Gospels in Cognitive-Narratological Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 430-451
Author(s):  
Cornelis Bennema
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Real World ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Narrative Criticism ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Narratology ◽  
Role Of The Reader

Abstract The discipline of cognitive narratology applies insights of cognitive linguistics to narrative analysis. This study seeks to demonstrate the value of cognitive narratology by exploring the role of the reader and the extent of the reader’s knowledge in constructing characters. While traditional narrative criticism often limits itself to the world of the text, cognitive narratology recognizes that the reader’s knowledge from other texts and the real world also contributes to the construction of characters. This study will show that the extent of the reader’s literary and social knowledge of a text affects the construction of characters. As a case study, we will examine the calling of Peter in the canonical Gospels and show how four readers with varying degrees of knowledge will arrive at different constructions of Peter’s character.

scholarly journals Thinking about the Biodiversity Loss in This Changing World

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 370
Author(s):  
Maria Rita Palombo
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Species Introduction ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction

Extinction of species has been a recurrent phenomenon in the history of our planet, but it was generally outweighed in the course of quite a long geological time by the appearance of new species, except, especially, for the five geologically short times when the so-called “Big Five” mass extinctions occurred. Could the current decline in biodiversity be considered as a signal of an ongoing, human-driven sixth mass extinction? This note briefly examines some issues related to: (i) The hypothesized current extinction rate and the magnitude of contemporary global biodiversity loss; (ii) the challenges of comparing them to the background extinction rate and the magnitude of the past Big Five mass extinction events; (iii) briefly considering the effects of the main anthropogenic stressors on ecosystems, including the risk of the emergence of pandemic diseases. A comparison between the Pleistocene fauna dynamics with the present defaunation process and the cascading effects of recent anthropogenic actions on ecosystem structure and functioning suggests that habitat degradation, ecosystem fragmentation, and alien species introduction are important stressors increasing the negative impact on biodiversity exerted by anthropogenic-driven climate changes and their connected effects. In addition, anthropogenic ecological stressors such as urbanization, landscapes, and wildlife trade, creating new opportunities for virus transmission by augmenting human contact with wild species, are among the main factors triggering pandemic diseases.

scholarly journals Hopeful Extinctions? Tesla, Technological Solutionism and the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-184
Author(s):  
Sy Taffel
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
Sixth Mass Extinction ◽  
The One ◽  
Ecological Catastrophe

Over thirty years since Jean-Francois Lyotard declared the death of metanarratives, we currently find two apparently incompatible discourses that dominate imagined planetary futures. On the one hand, we encounter a metanarrative of technological progress has been fuelled by decades of advances in computational, networked, mobile and pervasive technologies. On the other, we find the apocalyptic discourse of the Anthropocene, whereby human activity is understood to be responsible for precipitating the sixth mass extinction of life in Earth’s geological record. This paper explores how the divergent futures of technological solutionism and ecological catastrophism encounter one another, focusing on Tesla as a case study where technological consumerism is posited as the solution to ecological catastrophe. Critically examining the materiality of digital technoculture challenges the immaterialist rhetoric of technological solutionism that permeates both neoliberal and leftist discourses of automation, whilst questioning the ‘we’ that is implicit in the problematic universalisation of Anthropocenic catastrophism, instead pointing to the deeply entrenched inequalities that perpetuate networked capitalism. Ultimately, the paper asks whether it is possible to move beyond bleak claims that we must simply “work within our disorientation and distress to negotiate life in human-damaged environments” (Tsing 2015: 131), to assemble the fragile hope that Goode and Godhe (2017) argue is necessary to move beyond capitalist realism. Hope suggests an optimism that sits uncomfortably with the reality of mass extinctions, however, the scale of the ecological crises means that we cannot afford the fatalism associated with losing hope.

scholarly journals Migration-Related Conflicts as Drivers of Institutional Change?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Maria Budnik ◽  
Katrin Grossmann ◽  
Christoph Hedtke
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Change ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Syriac Orthodox

This article examines the role of social conflicts in the context of migration and discusses the relation between such conflicts and institutional change. We understand conflicts as tensions that evoke contradiction between different social groups or institutional actors. Varied urban contexts together with dynamic immigration of heterogeneous population groups can induce negotiation processes that affect institutional settings and actors. Conflicts have therefore been an integral part of urban coexistence, and cities have always been places where these conflicts play out. We assume that conflicts are social phenomena, which have multiple causes and effects. Public assumptions about conflicts in connection with migration often have a negative or destructive impetus, while conflict theory ascribes to conflicts potential positive effects on societal change. Conflicts can represent forms of socialization and the possibility of adapting or changing social conditions. This article discusses the extent to which migration-related conflicts induce institutional change. Using qualitative empirical results from the BMBF-funded research project MigraChance, we present a case study that reconstructs the emergence and course of a conflict surrounding the construction of a Syriac-Orthodox church in Bebra (Hesse) in the 1990s. Analyzing this conflict both in depth and in relation to its local context, we show that migration is only one part of what we refer to as migration-related conflicts, and we shed light on the complexity of factors that can result in institutional change. Change can also occur indirectly, in small steps, and with ambivalent normative implications.

scholarly journals Hashtags, narratives and banal nationalism (a case study of the Kryashens’ movement)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Denisov
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
National Movements ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the analysis of a modern tool of political participation in the Internet as hashtags. The study is based on the narrative analysis and the theory of banal nationalism (both in the interpretation of M. Billing and in the vision of J. Fox). The narrative analysis, provided in the article, is considered from the viewpoint of a practice-oriented approach, which is aimed at direct social interaction. The core element of this interaction is a person (in a given case, a representative of an ethnic group) who simultaneously experiences the influence of ethnically significant symbols and creates them. The narrative appears here as a result of the appreciation of ethnically significant symbols in the minds of people. This happens through the analysis of events that have taken place or are now taking place within or around the ethnic movement (including with the help of political myths associated with the history of this ethnic group). The purpose of the article is to study the place and role of hashtags in the development of national movements (a case study of the Kryashens’ movement). The author seeks to identify the position of hashtags in relation to such units of analysis as “ethnically significant symbols” and “narrative”. The study talks about hashtags as a new enough tool for political participation. The Kryashen front was opted as an example because the discursive practices are quite well developed within this community. The article provides a detailed overview of the existing Kryashen hashtags and gives their classification based on the types of hashtags proposed by Alice Daer, Rebbecca Hoffman and Seth Goodman. The study pays special attention to the theory of banal nationalism and emphasizes that the functionality of hashtags can be explained quite well by this theory. In conclusion, the author proposes a table of models of Kryashen hashtags with key characteristics (type of hashtag, type of recognition, interpretation of banal nationalism according to M. Billing or J. Fox, the hashtag's role in the movement) and highlighted patterns for the Kryashen movement.

scholarly journals Create-ing Business: Understanding Professional Tension in an Advertising Agency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Saumya Pant
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Advertising Research ◽  
Advertising Agencies ◽  
Advertising Agency ◽  
Common View ◽  
Advertising Industry

<p>The purpose of this research is to concentrate on aspects of organisation culture in an advertising agency and how they help us in understanding professional tensions and conflicts. To do so I have looked within advertising agencies and endeavoured to understand their organisational dynamics. Advertising business is known for stress and tension (Kover and Goldberg, 1995). From the tension of 'pitching' Is a key step in winning a client account, here several agencies are invited to respond in person to the advertise brief. This is an important stage to demonstrate potential and add value to the product or client. Based on aesthetic values the client the makes a judgement to pass the responsibility to pass the responsibility to develop an advertisement for the product for a client to the development of an advert, the agency goes through a variety of stages where conflict, stress, internal politics and tension influence the outcome. One such tension which this research attempts to understand is the ongoing professional tussle between the creative division of an advertising agency and management. This tension between the two bodies has been studied by advertising research however these studies have only attempted to describe the conflicts that exist as well as suggest what the advertising industry can do in an attempt to tackle these scenarios. Alternatively this research applies concepts of Organisational Behaviour (OB) such as culture and identity to grasp the reasons behind this professional tension. It also recognises a strong link between identity and culture. Therefore the research challenges the common view of organisational culture, that is, it portrays culture as a form of normative control unlike the conventional notion of culture as the means of unison and conformity without resistance within an organisation. This approach will examine what role culture plays in the professional lives of an advertising agency. To analyse the role of culture as a form of control I developed a methodology that targets multiple facets of organisational culture. This research is based on a case study of an Aotearoa, New Zealand based advertising agency (pseudonym Organisation B). It involved the use of various research approaches including story or narrative analysis and rich pictures to capture the core assumptions, values and beliefs that sometimes surfaced as resistance within this agency. As a result of completing this case study I achieved some understanding of reasons that may trigger tension within an agency. I learnt of the normative and bureaucratic forms of controls used within this contemporary organisation and the rationale behind their development which I have referred to as the overarching story of Organisation B. This research also provides a new dimension to advertising research by focusing on the role of organisational culture and identity in fostering professional conflicts within an agency. This research has emphasized the role of organisational culture as a control mechanism for those in management positions. In this particular agency this is achieved via the development of a 'laid back' and 'casual' culture which is carefully designed by the owners of the business thus providing them an opportunity to curtail any resistance originating within the culture. Nevertheless, members of this agency continue to channel their resistance by striving towards the ideal creative identity. The implications of the findings to the larger advertising industry suggest that: i) Growing advertising agencies need to consider fractional views embedded in their organisational structures and realise that cultural change does not happen in isolation. ii) The research also proposes that having a strong culture is not synonymous to success and unity among a workforce. iii) There is a need to maintain a balance between creativity and strategic planning, as they are both crucial in an advertising industry.</p>

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