Narrative enquiry

It is falling increasingly to international organisations and institutions to provide a coherent and workable global value system which embraces difference internally and externally with compliance expected from every level of the organisation. International human rights conventions and statutory regulations require compliance to human rights principles putting such organisations at the forefront of cultural relations. A global values framework gives them the opportunity to shake off colonial pasts and to strive to make a good business case for adherence to such principles. As principles are more challenging to enact than to formulate, to support this values portfolio, research is needed into how principles can be enacted in every day matters of the organisation. Current literature highlights the use of storytelling as sense-making and, as such, has become a growing trend in the use of the narrative approach across disciplines and professional sectors. Its contributors are from anthropology, education, linguistics, translation studies, literature, politics, psychology and sociology, organization studies and history. This chapter surfaces the link between local and grand narratives through an ethno narrative approach contextualised within a recent study of EDI and specifically Global Diversity Management

Fighting for “justice”, engaging the other: Shi’a muslim activism on the british university campus

While Shi’a Muslims remain in the minority in Europe, including within universities, the past decade has witnessed the growing profile of Shi’ism on university campuses, especially in Britain. In particular, there has been an emphasis on campaigns that prioritise notions of justice, equality, and human rights. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted amongst Twelver Shi’a students in Britain between 2013–2018, this paper examines the forms of Shi’a activism currently being articulated on university campuses, especially those that explicitly seek to engage non-Muslims and spread awareness about Shi’a Islam. On the one hand, such practices constitute a form of self-representation for Shi’a students who would otherwise feel marginalised within the university space; while on the other, they promote a particular version of Shi’a Islam that both frames it within the European context and that also contributes to the sectarianisation of the contemporary Shi’a subject. While the forms and resonance of Shi’a student activism arguably only have meaning within the context of contemporary Europe, we argue that the discursive contours underpinning such activism ultimately transcend such national and cultural boundaries and contribute to a reinterpretation and reimagining of Shi’a sectarian identity for the modern age.</jats:p

Trust Within Reason: How to Trump the Hermeneutics of Suspicion on Campus

This chapter looks at the Prevent duty in the British university sector, arguing that social trust has been eroded by the process. It infantilises those who are expected to carry out this duty and empowers the state over the individual in ascertaining radicalisation on campus. The Prevent duty in its current shape homogenises the Muslim community and reduces the relationship of trust between the state and its minority population. Muslims in public professions struggle to step outside the frame of radicalisation and Islamic extremism. In an age where slivers of data about individuals and groups are marketable commodities, the disproportionate focus on Islamic extremism works to diminish Muslims and also diminishes the rest of us, who become complicit

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: A Mission to Map our Origins

Quantum mechanical metric fluctuations during an early inflationary phase of the universe leave a characteristic imprint in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The amplitude of this signal depends on the energy scale at which inflation occurred. Detailed observations by a dedicated satellite mission (CMBPol) therefore provide information about energy scales as high as $10^{15}$ GeV, twelve orders of magnitude greater than the highest energies accessible to particle accelerators, and probe the earliest moments in the history of the universe. This summary provides an overview of a set of studies exploring the scientific payoff of CMBPol in diverse areas of modern cosmology, such as the physics of inflation, gravitational lensing and cosmic reionization, as well as foreground science and removal .Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

The values of liberté, égalité, fraternité fifty years on: why the 'free speech' debate makes it even less likely that Mai '68 could happen in Britain now than it was then

In May 1968 there was a strong sense of left-wing camaraderie that drew many French university students into collaboration with the workers’ unions to rise up against de Gaulle’s government. It is highly unlikely that British campuses could be gripped by these values of solidarity and shared agency in a common cause: what can that tell us about Britain? In Britain there are assumptions on the part of many young adults that we are free, equal and fraternal. The parallel digital world that they inhabit so comfortably appears to encourage and facilitate consumer behaviour and freedom of expression: it seems possible to buy and write online almost exactly what you like without consequences. Yet against a backdrop of crass populist discourse there are urgent issues regarding ethical behaviour: online and offline use of language is sharply racialised and gendered. People of colour and women of all ages are frequently attacked. Hate speech is poorly controlled and legal restraints are lagging behind the global digital empires. In addition, on campus the British government is intervening much more than ever before, which makes some students less free, less equal and less fraternal than others. Free speech is being constrained. Populism is on the rise, framed by political alienation. Finally, precarity affects the young in their responses to university: is it worth incurring the debt of high fees? The philosophy of Ricoeur and Lorey show how to interrogate dominant discourses and attempt a better world

Reducing Atrazine Runoff from Croplands

Corn and grain sorghum producers who use atrazine herbicide will be interested in the results of this study of three application methods--the conventional broadcast method, the preplant incorporation method, and the banding method--to determine which is best for protecting surface water from contamination while preventing weed growth and preserving crop yields (3 pp., 2 photos, 1 table)

The Faecal Microbiome of the Wild European Badger Meles meles:A Comparison Against Other Wild Omnivorous Mammals from Across the Globe

Here we investigate the faecal microbiome of wild European badgers Meles meles using samples collected at post-mortem as part of the All Wales Badger Found Dead study. This is the first published characterisation of the badger microbiome. We initially undertook a sex-matched age comparison between the adult and cub microbiomes, based on sequencing the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Analysis used the QIIME 2 pipeline utilising DADA2 and the Silva database for taxonomy assignment. Fusobacteria appeared to be more abundant in the microbiomes of the cubs than the adults although no significant difference was seen in alpha or beta diversity between the adult and cub badger microbiomes. Comparisons were also made against other wild, omnivorous, mammals’ faecal microbiomes using publicly available data. Significant differences were seen in both alpha and beta diversity between the microbiomes from different species. As a wildlife species of interest to the disease bovine tuberculosis, knowledge of the faecal microbiome could assist in identification of infected badgers. Our work here suggests that, if comparisons were made between the faeces of bTB infected and non-infected badgers, age may not have a significant impact on the microbiome. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00284-022-03064-4