‘Family comes in all forms,blood or not’: disrupting dominant narratives around the patriarchal nuclear family

ABSTRACT

After nearly 25 years of democracy, lives of young South Africans are still profoundly shaped by the legacies of apartheid. This paper considers how these differences are produced, maintained and disrupted through an exploration of changing narratives developed by a small group of South African pre-service teachers, with a particular focus on the narratives developed around discourses of fatherhood generally and absent fathers in particular. We draw on interviews conducted with three students in which we discussed their digital stories and literature reviews. In this paper, we draw attention to the limitations of digital storytelling and the risks such autobiographical storytelling presents of perpetuating dominant narratives that maintain and reproduce historical inequalities. At the same time, in highlighting ways in which this risk might be confronted, the paper also aims to show the possibilities in which these dominant narratives may be challenged.     

The role of the narrator in narrative inquiry in education: construction and co-construction in two case studies

This paper explores narratives as an effective means of capturing multiple identities of research participants in complex social environments in education research. In doing so, it explores the role of the narrator in two case studies in two modes of narrative inquiry. Both studies present narratives of young people, focusing on multiple identities which are influenced by a variety of cultural and sub-cultural contexts which the participants inhabit to varying degrees. In the first case study, the researcher is the narrator; in the second, it is the research participants. The paper uses the two case studies to discuss three challenging areas in narrative research: participant voice, contextual complexities and researcher positionality and how the researcher responds to these challenges through construction and co-construction of the narratives. The authors share their strategies for addressing these three challenges in relation to the role of the narrator.     

Futures in line? Occupational choice among migrant adult students in Sweden

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to analyse the ways in which migration plays out in adult students’ narratives about their occupational choice and future, focusing on three individual narratives of adult students with various experiences of migration to Sweden. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s conception of orientation, our results show how the adult students’ narratives on their future occupations are formed on the basis of migration, pertaining to their particular experiences of being recognised as migrant Others. Among the three students, similar challenges emerge in terms of their claims for belonging. One the one hand, the students do claim belonging to the Swedish social community. On the other hand, they are – as ‘migrants’ – repeatedly reminded of their non-belonging to this community. In various ways, they feel out of place. Although migration, in the narratives, is not played out one and the same way, but in various ways, engagement in adult education as a means of finding a job appear as the main orientation guiding the futures of the adult students, as being an important way of finding a future and claim one’s belonging to the Swedish social community.     

The Effects of Oral Narrative Intervention on the Personal Narratives of Children with ASD and Severe Language Impairment: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine and refine an oral narrative intervention addressing personal narratives of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and severe language impairment. A multiple baseline across participants design investigated the effect of the intervention on the macrostructure of personal narratives. Three five–six year olds participated in a 1:1 intervention that targeted the where, who with, what and feelings of personal narrative. Intervention included macrostructure icons, pictures, modelling and participants telling the entire narrative. Participants received training with two or three narratives each session. The intervention was effective for all three participants. Two participants showed evidence of maintenance and generalisation across settings. The results show that children with autism and severe language impairment may benefit from oral narrative intervention targeting the macrostructure of personal narrative. These results are consistent with previous findings. Areas for future research include investigation of generalisation across people.     

Reporting the ‘education revolution’: MySchool.edu.au in the print media

Launched in January 2010, the MySchool.edu.au website, which ranks and compares schools on the basis of standardised literacy and numeracy tests, has been the subject of intense media coverage. This article examines 34 editorials focused on MySchool, published from October 2009 to August 2010, and identifies three key narratives in operation, those of distrust, choice and performance. It argues that these narratives work together to reinforce and promote neoliberal educational discourses at the heart of what Michael Apple has termed the ‘conservative modernisation’ of education and other social services. Together, the dominant narratives position MySchool and the ensuing newspaper-generated and published league tables as the solution to problems of poor performance, ‘bad’ schools and ‘bad’ teachers in the face of times characterised by self-interested teachers and governments keen to shirk their responsibility in the education arena.     

近30年中国古代叙事理论研究回顾

从挖掘古代文论的叙事思想、总结经典文本的叙事理论、尝试建构中国叙事学三方面对近30年古代叙事理论研究状况进行回顾可以发现,这一研究新的生长点在于系统、全面地清理古代叙事理论资源,并与西方叙事学形成比照、对话,以实现中西叙事理论的互识、互补。     

论＂教育＂历史的＂真实＂叙事

历史叙事的首要原则是＂真实性＂,教育叙事的首要原则是＂教育性＂。具有双重学科属性的教育史学,其叙事研究也兼有教育叙事和历史叙事的特点。教育史叙事的＂真实性原则＂体现在＂生活真实＂＂、逻辑真实＂以及＂情感真实＂三大层面;其＂教育性原则＂体现在＂教育性的历史＂和＂历史的教育性＂两大层面。在这个意义上,＂教育＂历史的＂真实＂叙事得以被重新理解和研究。     

Story Time and Narrative Time-On the Time in When We Two Parted

As narratives are composed of the content encoded and the medium giving concrete shape to them,narratives are inseparably intertwined with temporalities,those of story time and narrative time.In the poem When We Two Parted,there is the co-existence of story time and narrative time.The story time covers three sections depicting separately the past events,the present and the future.They are boiled down into the poem in thirty two lines in total,which gives rise to the variance between duration of story time and duration of narrative time.The durations endow the poem with distinguishable narrative effects.     

Neoliberal narratives and the logic of abstinence only education: why are we still having this conversation?

Given the lack of citizen or medical support for abstinence-only education, we ask how abstinence-education maintains such a stronghold in America and other Western democracies’ public policy and consciousness. Our response has three parts. In the first, we outline the disproportionately negative health outcomes of sex education experienced by female, impoverished, ethnic and racial minorities, and LGBT youth. Next we address prominent narratives in sex education. We use the work of Pierre Bourdieu as a frame to understand neoliberal narratives and the accrual of cultural capital. Next we address two specific narratives in sex education, both of which align with broad tenets of neoliberal thought: the first of these is a focus on individual responsibility at the expense of understanding broader social structures. The second questions the role of education in a democratic nation that privileges the private over the overall health of the citizenry. In closing, we highlight comprehensive alternatives to sex education that can better prepare healthy individuals and democracy.     

当代女性绘画私密化叙事的现状、呈现视角及局限

当代女性绘画私密化叙事的呈现视角主要来自三个方面,即个人经验、注重直觉及对男权的反叛.而她们的艺术局限则主要来自其个体内在,以及女性“个人化”绘画与生俱来的脆弱.本文试图从“女性的创作语言”入手,对当代女性绘画的私密化叙事做一个梳理,探讨其存在的独特之处与表述经验;也试图找出当代女性艺术家在中国传统文化的影响和外来文化的冲击下,其创作所存在的不足,同时还将就当代中国女性艺术的出路问题进行尝试性探索.     

Three waves of gay male athlete coming out narratives

Recent announcements by Michael Sam, Jason Collins, Robbie Rogers, and others belong to a longer tradition that I label the gay male athlete coming out narrative. I chart this rhetorical genre in three waves, corresponding to the historical moment in which each narrative was published and the rhetorical tactics that each set of authors use to reconcile their identities as gay athletes and argue for the existence and suitability of gay men in professional sports. Of particular note are contemporary third-wave narratives which introduce the actively out, visible, gay male body becoming aware of his place in history as a rhetorical opportunity for social intervention. Even as I recognize the limits of athletes’ ability to represent the diversity of interests, values, and politics of the broader LGBTQ movement, I argue that these narratives should become part of what Charles E. Morris III calls “the diverse domain of the usable past.” These narratives indicate the importance of understanding genre evolution alongside individual biography, historical context, and shifting values within broader attempts at social transformation.     

A noisy silence about care: Swedish preschool teachers’ talk about documentation

This article investigates what happens to institutional narratives of care in Swedish preschool when a policy on increased documentation is introduced. Questions deal with preschool teachers’ professionalism as expressed through the teachers’ talk about documentation. The analysis is based on theories in education policy, teacher professionalism and institutional narratives. The findings show that the few references made by the teachers to narratives of care are subordinated to narratives of learning. A major conclusion is that narratives of care are in a process of becoming a ‘noisy silence’, which influences teachers’ professionalism as well as shaping our common society.     

尼尔·波兹曼学校批判与学校重构理论

尼尔·波兹曼关于学校批判的理论以及学校重建的主张有助于我们重新认识学校的功能.尼尔·波兹曼梳理了美国当代学校批判运动的简明历史,并提出了学校批判的具体主张.他界定了理想学校的特征,对于传统学校的叙事神话予以了批判分析,提出了理想学校的全新叙事神话,并指出重建教学活动,重建学校的设想.     

At home with disability: one family’s three generations narrate autism

We examined the lived experiences of a Cypriot family with a young child with autism. Semi‐structured interviews with parents, siblings, and extended family members across three generations and observations of the family’s daily activities were the primary data‐generating methods. Critical events related to the disability diagnosis, the mother’s decision to undertake a significant role in the child’s education following negative interactions with professionals, and the family’s daily accommodations to the child’s needs emerged in narratives of multiple participants. Family narratives reflect the polyphony of experiences and responses shared by participants. The study illuminates the complexities of this experience and offers opportunities to rethink the interplay of disability, family, and culture in the context of research and practice.     

Not in This Alone: Black Men’s Bonding,Learning, and Sense of Belonging in Black Male Initiative Programs

This multisite qualitative study explored the narratives of Black male college students’ engagement experiences in a Black Male Initiative (BMI) program across three different campuses. To better understand the students’ narratives and experiences, sense of belonging was employed as a theoretical frame to investigate how the participants made meaning from their engagement. The findings suggest that the BMI program provided students with a unique cultural community that enhanced how they felt valued and their persistence in college. In particular, students identified bonding with their Black male peers and learning from Black men connected to the program as central components of the BMI community. That deepened their sense of self and deepened their sense of mattering.

     

Cognitive foundations of message encoding: An investigation of message production as coalition formation

In this study participants (N=36) generated simple narratives employing a SITUATION ‐ ACTION ‐ BECAUSE structure. On some trials, all three elements of such triads were provided, and in other cases, participants were required to generate ideational links for SITUATION ‐ ACTION pairs. Consistent with the prediction generated from second generation action assembly theory (AAT2), participants were shown to be significantly faster in producing their messages when all three elements of their narratives were provided. The propensity to experience cognitive failures was shown to speed production of messages, particularly when participants were required to generate ideational links. Thus, although propensity to experience cognitive failures is typically seen to involve mental lapses and forgetfulness, this study produced evidence that people high on this trait actually enjoyed a performance advantage. Speed of information processing was not shown to have any impact on the rapidity with which messages were generated. Implications for future research on message production employing the experimental paradigm developed here are discussed     

Using narrative inquiry to understand persistently disciplined middle school students

Educators’ persistent disciplining of a small group of students positions them as “frequent flyers.” This identity prevents educators from developing an understanding that could enable them to reengage these students. Using the methodology of interpretive biography positioned within narrative inquiry and using a Gestalt-based analysis, this study presents the case narratives of three persistently disciplined students from one urban middle school in the southeast USA. Examining the central tensions of each case led to a richer and more comprehensive narrative of each student, reflecting his or her complex motivations and desires. Viewing students as the whole people reflected in these narratives rather than through the deficit-oriented lens that labels students as frequent flyers can shift educators’ practices to better support the learning of all students.     

Tales from three countries: reflections during COVID-19 for mathematical education in the future

How can school mathematics prepare citizens for a democratic society? Answers to this question are not static; they change as society and its problems change. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with its corresponding disease COVID-19 presents such a problem: what is needed to navigate this complex situation that involves, among other things, mathematics? Using the essay genre, we use three narratives from three countries—Italy, the USA (California), and Germany—to reflect on the goals of teaching mathematics during this crisis and examine aspects of each country’s standards for mathematics education. These three stories are framed by the authors’ backgrounds, experiences, interests, their country’s situation, and response to the pandemic. We first present the three narratives and then examine common issues across them that might provide insights beyond this current crisis, for preparing students to become active citizens. In particular, we focus on three issues: (1) developing a positive mindset toward mathematics to engage with and reflect on real-world problems, (2) improving interdisciplinary connections to the sciences to better understand how science professional practices and insights are similar or different from everyday practices, and (3) considering interpersonal and collective matters beyond the individual.