Beyond you and me: stories for collective action and learning? Perspectives from an action research project

This paper explores the combination of storytelling and reflective action research as a means to effect change and learning within and across communities and organizations. Taking the complex challenge of ‘pro-environmental behaviour change’ as an example, the paper reflects on the experiences of a pilot project run for the UK government that took place over two years with five community groups in rural England. The research question centred on how the stories of ‘older’ (aged 50+) community advocates might be amplified and inspire wider change via a systemic action research approach. This paper describes the project and shares insights into how behaviour change might occur in this action-based learning context challenging more Newtonian conceptualizations of change. Some of the methodological and practice challenges and conundrums that arose are discussed including authenticity, ownership and ethical issues of voice and ownership. Parallels and distinctions between story-based action research and action learning are identified and the role of narrative in inducing action is considered. The paper concludes by reflecting on future directions and the overall potential there is for ‘narrative action learning’ to address those wicked systemic problems that transcend organizational boundaries and that are faced by real people in our communities and society as a whole.     

《歧路灯》家族小说主题及平民化叙事模式分析

明清时期,中国传统家族制度较为强盛,以家族祠堂为中心的伦理文化,逐渐扩展至社会的方方面面。受此影响,世情小说较多渗透着对家庭伦理及亲缘关系的审视,继而促使家族小说走向繁荣。清人李绿园的《歧路灯》叙写了一个"浪子回头"故事,侧重于表现子女教育、门第观念、宗族意识等主题,堪称一部典型的平民家族小说。     

论《肖申克的救赎》中的景观化叙事技巧

《肖申克的救赎》是一部不同于斯蒂芬?金其他作品的小说,一反他惯有的恐怖诡谲风格,是一部带有传奇色彩的写实主义小说,讲述了一个发生在高墙内的故事。如何在监狱这样一个特殊的舞台上演一出精彩的故事,这是斯蒂芬?金必须首要解决的问题。这部作品无疑是成功的,而它的成功与小说的叙事策略———景观化叙事密不可分。“景观化叙事”一词的灵感源自奈保尔关于“空间叙事”的概念,因其在叙事空间上的狭小而得名。《肖申克的救赎》在叙事空间、叙事聚焦和叙事语言上的选择,都成功地将空泛的“人性”主题缩小到有限可控的范围内,把不可捉摸的善恶具象至真实可感,让本来只一方天地的监狱成了一座包罗万象的微缩社会。     

Whose ‘voice’ is it anyway? The paradoxes of the participatory narrative

This study discusses some of the paradoxes found in the rhetoric of participatory research. Research-with-children views them as competent and agentic and as social actors, as citizens with opinions that must be listened to and given due weight. This image of the child as a social actor fails to acknowledge the structural, contextual and relational conditions that can afford or restrict opportunities for children’s agentic action. It conceals the multi-faceted, multi-dimensional properties of power that shape children’s (and adults’) contributions and ‘voices’. Our research took place in a primary school and aimed at training Year 6 children to carry out their own research on their chosen topic of interest. The participatory research ‘space’ was informed by the participants’ different intentionalities and agendas. The children were invited to take initiatives and make decisions, to be agentic. However, their agency, or what counts as ‘proper’ agency, was framed and defined in our adult terms. Tensions arose when the children’s agendas conflicted with and threatened ours. As we argue here, this participatory space should rather be seen as a political arena, where different and often competing agendas are at play, where the roles and relationships between children and adults are far from fixed, and where the capacity for agentic action is always socially mediated and shaped by social structure.     

《谷梁传》叙事比论(转载)简

通过《谷梁传》十五则叙事文字与《左传》《公羊传》同题故事逐一比较可以发现,有谷梁氏优于左氏、公羊氏者,有三家各有千秋者,有谷梁氏不如二氏者.谷梁氏多数故事不如左氏,少数互有短长.谷梁氏叙事与公羊氏相差无几.出现上述差异的原因在于,谷梁氏、公羊氏是经学家,重在解释《春秋》经义,故事只是为释义的补充而已,因而忽视叙事的完整性和生动性.左氏是史学家兼史传文学家,长于叙事,重视细节的真实性和情节的完整性,解释《春秋》经义只是偶尔为之.     

大学生窃书现象的心理学分析

本文结合图书馆读者服务工作的实践 ,通过 3个典型个案 ,分析了偷窃图书馆资料的大学生心理问题 ,探讨了应用现代心理学研究成果 ,对学生进行心理疏导的方法。     

The Relationship Between Psychopathology and Shame in Secondary School Students

This study investigated the relationship between psychopathology and shame. Three hundred and thirty-one Secondary 2 students from Singapore participated in the study. All students completed a self-report questionnaire consisting of the Anxiety and Depression scales of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), the short version of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), and the Internalized Shame Scale (ISS). As predicted, students in the comorbid group at-risk for anxiety, depression and aggression, had significantly higher shame scores compared with at-risk students in all the other three single-disordered groups (anxiety-only, depression-only, or aggression-only) as well as students in the control group. Also, as expected, the control group scored significantly lower compared to all other single-disorder groups and the comorbid group. Implications of these findings with regard to comorbidity of psychopathology and its relationship to shame, classroom interventions, as well as implications pertaining to teachers' and counsellors' work with at-risk students will be discussed.     

元明民间叙事文本中关羽的另类形象

元明民间叙事文本叙写了一些特殊的关羽故事,在忠、义、勇、智之外,塑造了关羽形象的另一面头脑简单、无情无义、自私、无礼、残忍、势利、心胸狭窄。这一另类关羽形象的塑造,致使民间叙事中关羽的整体形象出现分裂和矛盾,凸显了民间叙事和文人叙事在关羽形象塑造上的差异。其差异的出现与创作主体、接受对象及关戏演出的文化功能相联系。     

Improving outcomes for babies and toddlers in child welfare: A model for infant mental health intervention and collaboration

Children under three comprise a sizable and growing proportion of foster care placements. Very young children who enter the child welfare system experience disruptions of critical attachments that are essential to this formative stage of brain development, as well as other traumatic events, leaving them at great risk for lifelong impairments. To reverse these concerning outcomes, babies who have been removed from their homes require intensive, relationship-based interventions that promote secure attachment to a primary caregiver and holistic attention the child's developmental needs. Child welfare decision-makers must be informed of infant brain development and knowledgeable about the particular needs and circumstances of each child. This article describes a model with these features that has been developed and tested in the Bronx, New York, one of the nation's poorest urban counties with high rates of foster care. The Project utilizes evidence-based Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) as its core intervention, and emphasizes collaboration and information sharing– driven by the CPP clinician– with judges, child welfare workers, attorneys and other social service and mental health providers, thereby encouraging developmentally and relationally informed case planning and permanency decisions. The model is evaluated using pre and post treatment psychosocial measures and program outcome data. Results indicate improvement in parenting interactions, positive child welfare outcomes (including increased rates of reunification, fewer returns to foster care), and improved safety and wellbeing. Results highlight the need for child welfare practices to be more closely aligned with the current science of infant brain development, and to incorporate a specialized approach to address the unique needs of infants.     

Negotiating the teaching of history in times of curriculum reform: the narrative accounts of four Australian primary teachers

This research investigates the understandings of four teachers who teach history in primary and early childhood settings. Data were gathered from participants through semi-structured interviews. The participants were experienced teachers who were in the process of curriculum change – from teachers of studies of society and environment to teachers of history, under the auspices of the Australian Curriculum: History. The focus of the study was on their understandings of content knowledge and the pedagogies involved in classroom teaching, using a pedagogical framework, which sought to identify and categorise the nature of their knowledge base in the implementation phase of the Australian Curriculum: History. The study used narrative inquiry to show how temporality, sociality, and place play out in the lives of these teachers of history. The findings from this study indicate the challenges and opportunities for teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes in times of curriculum reform. Whilst there are a small number of participants in this study, their stories provide insight into how teachers responded to the challenges and opportunities of teaching history and how these teachers have shaped the implementation of the history curriculum.