Zoofolkloristics: Imagination as a Critical Component.

Nonhuman animal protagonists of folklore texts in the European space have tended to be perceived primarily as performing a symbolic and metaphoric function. But behind the symbols and the metaphors hide real flesh-and-blood nonhuman animals, and flesh-and-blood humans interacting with them, mostly from a position of power. The emerging discipline of zoofolkloristics considers nonhuman animals in their own right. Through critical analysis of folklore material, zoofolkloristics examines the role of animals and power relations within the interspecies entanglement with the aim of deconstructing the oppressive system and establishing multispecies justice. We begin this paper with a brief reflection on the 'historical animal' as an embodied being and a human construct. We then perform a critical re-reading of three animal-related folklore texts from the Slovenian tradition and, applying Hubert Zapf's concept of imaginative counter-discourse, consider the potential of imagination as a methodological tool in the transformative program of zoofolkloristics. Implications for animal ethics, liberation, and conservation are also discussed.

Working: Glimpses of the pandemic from this fine place so far from home.

This manuscript was written for a special issue on Reflections on a Pandemic. In it, I write as an emerging scholar from a working-class background. The pandemic has underscored the divergence between my working life as an academic, which is unintelligible to those I love, and their "essential" work, which increasingly renders them expendable. In this essay I struggle with the tensions that other working-class scholars have articulated before me: I am tentatively welcome in a place that asks, or even demands, that I become someone whose work is unrecognizable to my loved ones. Through the use of reflective inquiry and (counter) narratives, I am working to alter social work education, creating space for others from working-class backgrounds who might find themselves in this fine place so far from home.

Resisting ageism through lifelong learning. Mature students' counter-narratives to the construction of aging as decline.

This study aims to investigate the narratives of some "mature" students who are challenging the widely-shared view that studying, and learning new things, is a prerogative of young people. Twenty-five narrative interviews were conducted with older people enrolled at the University of Padua, Italy, to shed light on the motives, values, self-image, and personal solutions that supported their decision to resume and successfully pursue a path of studies at a "non-canonical" age. Starting from perspectives that emphasize the social dimension of meaning-making activity, we explore the counter-narratives functional to the deconstruction of "age prejudice". The results that emerge from a thematic and structural narrative analysis show some common themes and three different counter-narratives through which respondents try to challenge the idea that they are too old to study. The paper ends with some considerations on the degree of efficacy with which these counter-narratives can resist age prejudice, identifying cases in which they favor change on a personal, social, or cultural level.

Dieta para emagrecer o preconceito contra gordos: discursos anti-gordofobia no YouTube / Slimming down prejudice against fat people: anti-fatphobia discourses on YouTube / Para adelgazar el prejuicio contra gordos: discursos anti-gordofobia en YouTube

Este artigo analisa os discursos contra a gordofobia veiculados em três vídeos brasileiros publicados no YouTube em 2018 com grande visualização. O objetivo é explorar como plataformas digitais tais como YouTube podem dar visibilidade a discursos contra-hegemônicos acerca dos corpos gordos, colaborando na disseminação de informações e estratégias de mobilização e combate às formas de discriminação e preconceito. Os vídeos foram submetidos à análise temática e discutidos à luz de uma literatura crítica sobre a produção da identidade e diferença. A análise identifica três temas principais: "gordura como falha física e moral", "normatização do corpo e discriminação contra gordos" e "afirmação da identidade gorda, autoestima e autoaceitação". As situações apresentadas nos vídeos criticam os processos rotineiros de exclusão dos indivíduos gordos. Concluímos que os vídeos analisados, mediante paródia, ironia e uso de câmera oculta, ajudam a circular narrativas alternativas que suspendem certas verdades naturalizadas sobre os gordos e seus corpos.

This article analyses discourses against fatphobia (discrimination towards fat people) based in three Brazilian videos posted on YouTube in 2018 which had numerous viewers. The aim is to explore how digital platforms like YouTube provide visibility to counter-hegemonic discourses about fat bodies, helping to spread information and strategies to mobilize and combat forms of discrimination and prejudice. The videos underwent thematic analysis and were discussed on the basis of a critical literature on the production of identity and difference. The analysis identified three main themes: "fat as physical and moral failure", "normatization of body and discrimination against fat people", "affirmation of fat identity, self-esteem and self- acceptance". The situations presented on the videos criticize common processes of exclusion of fat people. We conclude that these videos, by use of parody, irony and candid camera, help to circulate alternative narratives that suspend certain naturalized truths about fat people and their bodies.

En este artículo se analizanlos discursos contra lagordofobia(discriminaciónde las personas gordas) emitidos entres vídeos brasileños publicados enYouTube (2018) com granvisualización. Exploramos cómolas plataformas digitalescómoYouTubepueden dar visibilidad a los discursos contrahegemónicos sobre loscuerposgrasos y difundir informaciones y estrategias para movilizar y combatirlas formas de discriminación y prejuicio. Los vídeos recibieronanálisis temático y discusiónbasadaen una literatura crítica sobre laproducción de identidad y diferencia. Identificamos los temas "lagrasa como fracaso físico y moral", "normalizacióndelcuerpo y ladiscriminación contra gordos" y "laafirmación de laidentidad gorda, la autoestima y laautoaceptación". Los videoscriticanlosprocesosordinarios de exclusión de losindividuos gordos. Concluimos que estosvideos, a través de parodia, ironía y cámara oculta, ayudan a circular narrativas alternativas que suspendenciertas verdades naturalizadas sobre las personas gordas y sus cuerpos.

Do Counter-Narratives Reduce Support for ISIS? Yes, but Not for Their Target Audience.

The purpose of this research is to experimentally test whether counter-narratives are effective to reduce people's support and willingness to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Integrating psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) and need for closure (NFC; Kruglanski, 2004), we predicted that exposing people to counter-narratives when they are at greater risk of radicalization (high NFC individuals) would be counterproductive and enhance their support for ISIS. Participants (N = 886 American Muslims) were randomly assigned to a 3 × 3 factorial experimental design varying the source (United States Government, Imam, ISIS defector), and the content (social, political, and religious) of the counter-narrative while comparing these groups to a control message. Results show an overall small positive effect of counter-narratives (ß = -0.107, p = 0.043), but also evidence for greater support for ISIS in individuals at greater risk of radicalization (ß = 0.154, p = 0.005). Results also show that the content was more important than the source: A political narrative was the most effective, and this result is consistent across different sources although an ISIS defector is the most effective messenger. These findings challenge the widespread assumption that counter-narratives are effective against violent extremism. In fact, they accelerate the very phenomenon that governments and policy makers are trying to undermine. Therefore, policy makers should avoid including them in their armamentarium to tackle violent extremism.

Three strategies for doing narrative resistance: Navigating between master narratives.

Narrative psychology emphasizes the role of culture in shaping identities. Less attention has been paid to how individuals resist culture. Specifically, two aspects have remained understudied: the diverse forms of doing narrative resistance and the navigation between different types of master narratives involved in the process. The present study aimed to fill these gaps by examining the personal stories of former residents of Yamit, an Israeli region in the Sinai Peninsula that was evacuated following the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Holistic narrative analysis of the personal stories revealed three strategies of resisting the episodic master narrative of Yamit established in Israeli society - explicit debate, implicit debate, and neutralization - which differ in the relative weight of my/our story and the story about us. To remain within the Israeli consensus, resistance to the episodic master narrative was intertwined with appropriation of the Zionist foundational master narrative. The study demonstrates that narrative resistance can take diverse forms and simultaneously involve compliance with and resistance to different types of master narratives. Investigating these two findings offers a nuanced understanding of counter-narratives as multifaceted, illuminating the complex relationships between personal stories and culture.

When the Plus Sign is a Negative: Challenging and Reinforcing Embodied Stigmas Through Outliers and Counter-Narratives.

When individuals become aware of their stigma, they attempt to manage their identity through discourses that both challenge and reinforce power. Identity management is fraught with tensions between the desire to fit normative social constructions and counter the same discourse. This essay explores identity management in the midst of the embodied stigmas concerning unplanned pregnancy during college and raising a biracial son. In doing so, this essay points to the difference between outlier narratives and counter-narratives. The author encourages health communication scholars to explore conditions under which storytelling moves beyond the personal to the political. Emancipatory intent does not guarantee emancipatory outcomes. Storytelling can function therapeutically for individuals while failing to redress forces that constrain human potential and agency.

Getting from then to now: Sustaining the Lesbian Herstory Archives as a lesbian organization.

This article is a compilation of six narratives written by collective members of the volunteer-run Lesbian Herstory Archives, the oldest and largest collection of lesbian material in the world. Narratives draw on a yearlong series of conversations, which culminated in a panel discussion at the 40th Anniversary celebration. Authors' narratives detail the significance of the Lesbian Herstory Archives as a successful and sustainable lesbian organization. Topics covered span four decades and include: the organization's history and practice, founding and activism, the acquisition of the current space, community engagement, and processing of special collections.

Silence, blame and AIDS conspiracy theories among the Xhosa people in two townships in Cape Town.

Conspiratorial expressions about the origins of HIV/AIDS have been recognised as an outcome of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. This article examines the reasons behind AIDS conspiracy theories, which include a reoccurring repertory of themes, motifs and characters. In these expressions, the malevolent antagonist is the replaced apartheid regime, along with other more archetypal adversaries. So far, AIDS conspiracy theories have been interpreted in terms of currently perceived injustices and frustrations related to the complex past of South Africa. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Xhosa people in two townships in Cape Town, this article goes further to examine how AIDS conspiracy theories in South Africa can be ascribed to gender-based communication. Sporadic but pronounced expressions of conspiratorial thinking should be understood as connected to local traditions of avoidance and respect. Moreover, the fact that conspiratorial expressions are more common among men can be seen in terms of a counter-narrative mechanism, which is to some extent due to the blame that is cast on men for being the main culprits behind the spread of HIV/AIDS.