The Neurocognitive Process of Digital Radicalization: A Theoretical Model and Analytical Framework

Recent studies suggest that empathy induced by narrative messages can effectively facilitate persuasion and reduce psychological reactance. Although limited, emerging research on the etiology of radical political behavior has begun to explore the role of narratives in shaping an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, and intentions that culminate in radicalization. The existing studies focus exclusively on the influence of narrative persuasion on an individual, but they overlook the necessity of empathy and that in the absence of empathy, persuasion is not salient. We argue that terrorist organizations are strategic in cultivating empathetic-persuasive messages using audiovisual materials, and disseminating their message within the digital medium. Therefore, in this paper we propose a theoretical model and analytical framework capable of helping us better understand the neurocognitive process of digital radicalization

Visualizing literary texts in university language courses

The article introduces benefits that using literature in university language classes brings to both students and teachers. Among those benefits, possibilities to enhance the language learning process with a visual dimension are emphasized. Concrete examples of activities based on visual materials and on visualizing techniques are demonstrated and evaluated.The article introduces benefits that using literature in university language classes brings to both students and teachers. Among those benefits, possibilities to enhance the language learning process with a visual dimension are emphasized. Concrete examples of activities based on visual materials and on visualizing techniques are demonstrated and evaluated

Third Wave Language in Bust and Bitch Magazine

Where does feminism fall in contemporary American culture? Has it lost its relevance as a result of waning interest in feminist politics? In today’s feminist troupe, a culture of inheritance has stepped into many of the advantages the Second Wave pushed so hard to acquire. What becomes the point of contention is the approach these inheritors now take to feminism or, more so, the perception of the Third Wave by its predecessors, as well as the persistent misrepresentation of feminism by mass culture. A great amount of speculation exists about the movement of feminism since the heyday of the Second Wave. While the tension between Second Wave and Backlash seems to stem from two conflicting opinions, the tension between Second and Third Wave takes on a parent-child relationship. What seems to have been handed over to the Third Wave is in actuality being dealt with simultaneously by both groups. The difference that seems to create friction is the approach each group takes to these issues, each with differing historical contexts. The subjects of this discussion of the Third Wave agenda are Bust and Bitch Magazine. While Bust Magazine is a feminist parody of more conventional, mass- media magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Vogue, and, for younger women, Seventeen, Bitch Magazine is a self-titled critique of popular culture that physically stays close to its zine roots. The significance of these two choices is their proximity to both mainstream publications and small press zines. As it blurs the lines between magazine genres, this duality helps to establish a space for feminist growth. This paper will show that both magazines function within a Third Wave perspective, embody the goals and ideals of the Third Wave, and work as politically empowering sources for contemporary Third Wave Feminists. They also embody the basic concept of zine feminism in their construction and content. In doing so, these two magazines are in the process of creating an alternative female visual representation through a postmodern fracturing of imagery and also work to create a Third Wave Feminist terminology that, despite existing in the space of media, is actively resisting restrictive patriarchal language. Linguistically, though Bust and Bitch Magazine may not necessarily offer up new academic terminology in their wordplay, they are resisting the assumed writing standards for magazines. Although, both magazines provide visual aid for their readers, thus perpetuating the process of learning how to “gaze” at oneself, it also functions as a forum for female agency. Women see fragments of the female body and, by virtue of this fragmentation, are forced to put the picture together, hence their own interpretation. They begin to read visualization more actively, engaging in the process of their own bodily socialization. The feminist significance of these magazines and in this analysis is the attention paid to how each group continues to function as a feminist entity; however, more important is the ultimate discussion of where the feminist movement as a whole needs to go. What seems to continue to be a point of contention for feminists and non feminists alike is the connotation of feminism both linguistically and conceptually. For this reason, the greater issue is not whether these publications are truly feminist or if the Third Wave is fulfilling feminist ideals, but how feminism is being presented, where it diverges from Second Wave ideas and the significance of this divergence

Comics as Criticism: Graphic Novel Adaptations as Interpretive Discourse

Graphic novel adaptations of classic texts are not fully recognized for their potential contributions to scholarship. This thesis argues that a graphic novel adaptation of classic literature can function as literary criticism of its source while allowing for further interpretation. Case studies include three classic texts with their corrsponding graphic novel adaptations: Shakespeare\u27s Macbeth with Shakespeare\u27s Macbeth: the Manga Edition, and Classical Comics\u27 Macbeth: the Graphic Novel; Shelley\u27s Frankenstein with Classical Comics\u27 Frankenstein: the Graphic Novel; and Wilde\u27s The Picture of Dorian Gray with adaptations by Thomas and Fiumara and by Edginton and Culbard. Findings demonstrate complex ways in which adaptations engage reader/viewers and facilitate analysis of their sources. The graphic novel interprets through visual image, rhetoric, and linkingof themes and motifs; it can also visually express concepts. Since its reader/viewer interprets as well, the graphic novel adaptation functions as collaborative criticism between the reader/viewer and source text

Reading the Perplexing Figure of the "Bandit Queen": Interpellation, Resistance and Opacity

Through an examination of some of the "stories" that textually produced and constructed Phoolan Devi as the iconic figure of the "Bandit Queen," I argue that a range of representations including the biopic, Bandit Queen, functioned to impose a form of transparency on the marginalized. Such texts aim to tell the "truth" and to transparently reveal the subaltern woman "specifically Phoolan Devi" and the savagery that surrounded her. I will argue that this imposition of transparency is achieved through interpellation "hailing Phoolan Devi as the "Bandit Queen" or as the Kali figure" an unsophisticated woman who was brutalized and sought revenge. This process of interpellation reveals neoliberal ideologyââ¬â¢s attempt to manage the burgeoning political power of lower caste and dalit groups through the body of the gendered subaltern in postcolonial India. I will also argue that despite these attempts to reveal the "truth" about Phoolan Devi, ambivalences remain. I will show that such ambivalences can be productive mainly because they resist the imposition of transparency on the subaltern. More specifically, I will argue that one must read and represent the subject through the contradictions and the paradoxes that she appears to embody and that the autobiographical text "I, Phoolan Devi" in particular offers us this opportunity

The value of diplomacy: Bilateral relations and immigrant well-being

This paper attempts to establish the value of good relationships between countries by considering their effect on a group of individuals who are arguably intimately affected by them: immigrants. We appeal to an index of conflict/cooperation which is calculated as an annual weighted sum of news items between two countries. This index is matched to a sample of immigrants to Germany in the SOEP data. The index of bilateral relations thus exhibits both time-series and cross-section variation. Good relations are positively and significantly correlated with immigrant life satisfaction, especially when we downplay low-value news events. This significant effect is much stronger for immigrants who have been in Germany longer, and who expect to stay there forever. This is consistent with good relations directly affecting the quality of immigrants' lives in the host country, but is not consistent with assimilation. There is thus a significant value to diplomacy: good relationships between home and host countries generate significant well-being externalities for those who live abroad.migration ; bilateral relations ; life satisfaction ; assimilation ; diplomacy