20 research outputs found
Changing Faces of Change: Metanarratives in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
This article explores the significance of the theme of âchangeâ in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, going beyond its rhetorical use by the candidates or as a way of defining a historic electoral shift (making an âelection of changeâ) to examine how change played a critical role in the political landscape itself. One can locate votersâ desire for change in many existing conditions leading up to the race, but also ideologically and as a force in its own right. Framing of the election as a story reveals that the various actors were increasingly aware of their shifting identities, representations, and agency; thus, change was not just a plot of the story, frequently expressed in terms of populism and popular culture, but a fundamental dynamic behind competing metanarratives and contestations of how the story should be told
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Fear in the Classroom: Campus Carry at the University of Texas at Austin
This article examines the significance of fear of concealed handguns in the classroom at a public university in Texas, analyzing perceived changes in shared social space and the collective learning environment in terms of affect. This multimethod study provides a framework for understanding the factors behind the fear, which may be seen as personal, societal, or a dynamic combination of those manifested in local relationships. Furthermore, it explores disruptions of instruction and discussion, the profiling of other students as potential gun carriers, and the introduction of situational awareness in class. Based on ethnography conducted at The University of Texas at Austin, where campus carry was implemented in 2016, this article provides a context for those in the discipline of education, as well as instructors and administrators at other institutions of higher learning in the United States, to consider the complex nature of fear of guns and its impact on the classroom atmosphere.Educatio
Popularizing Electoral Politics: Change in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race
This special issue of the European Journal of American Studies examines the popularization of electoral politics during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The popularization processes include the rise of populism penetrating the U.S. political landscape; a media focus on human interest, rather than policy substance questions; personality politics and celebrity culture at the center stage of the election; and the appropriation and dissemination of popular culture discourses by social media users. The articles draw from transdisciplinary American Studies approaches to tackle a range of issues which arose during the election, from contestations of âAmerican-nessâ and competing narratives of truthâor âpost-truthââto questions of campaign finance and displays of violence, verbal and physical. The issue also takes a closer look at specific expressions of popular culture as reflected in the media, specifically in relation to the rise of nativism and the alt-right movement, the political impact of comedy on the election, and the significance of memes in the battle over image and meaning-making. The processes of popularizing electoral politics of the 2016 race had distinct consequences, not only in shaping political culture as we know it, but also in destabilizing established rules of political conduct
Fear in the Classroom: Campus Carry at The University of Texas at Austin
This article examines the significance of fear of concealed handguns in
the classroom at a public university in Texas, analyzing perceived
changes in shared social space and the collective learning environment
in terms of affect. This multimethod study provides a framework for
understanding the factors behind the fear, which may be seen as
personal, societal, or a dynamic combination of those manifested in
local relationships. Furthermore, it explores disruptions of instruction
and discussion, the profiling of other students as potential gun
carriers, and the introduction of situational awareness in class. Based
on ethnography conducted at The University of Texas at Austin, where
campus carry was implemented in 2016, this article provides a context
for those in the discipline of education, as well as instructors and
administrators at other institutions of higher learning in the United
States, to consider the complex nature of fear of guns and its impact on
the classroom atmosphere.</p
Beyond Argumentum in Terrorem: The Contested Rhetoric of Campus Carry
This essay reflects on the use of competing rhetorical frames of fear
strategically used by the academic community of The University of Texas
at Austin in the debate on Campus Carry policy. With the legalization
of concealed handguns on campus, fear emerged as a prominent trope in
public discussions, albeit used in very different ways by supporters or
opponents of the law. Against the more standard interpretation of
fear-based rhetoric as an exploitation of othersâ insecurities, this
essay draws on mixed-methods research to examine expressions of fear by
activist opponents of Campus Carry and the way in which supporters of
the law sought to deconstruct it.
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(Dis)Belief in QAnon: Competing Hermeneutics in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Among many disruptive events in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, the meta-conspiracy theory known as QAnon surged, intertwining politics and (quasi-)religious belief in ways that have yet to be fully understood. This article explores the power of deep memetic framesânamely, how we ideologically see the world and communicate that worldviewâas a means used by certain individuals and amplified by politicians, including President Trump, to mobilize the voting public across party lines. It also reveals how representations of QAnon by the mainstream media played into the movementâs success. For QAnon followers, the election became a crossroads moment, a âGreat Awakeningâ whereby one could identify as part of a collective insider movement. Examining the epistemological de/construction of truth in a media context and diverging hermeneutical approachesâfaith and suspicion, respectivelyâthe article argues for the importance of religion as a lens to better understand QAnon in a deeply polarized United States. </p
A Brief History of Spiral Dynamics
For nearly two decades, the theory of Spiral Dynamics has been used to dynamically model human evolution and information systems. In that time, however, many different versions and applications of the model have emerged. This article will diachronically trace the history of Spiral Dynamics, from the foundational theory of Clare Graves to its initial introduction by Don Beck and Chris Cowan and subsequent adaptation by Ken Wilber. A brief exploration of the various camps and their competing interpretations of Spiral Dynamics will permit some critical analysis of the model itself.</p
Changing Faces of Change: Metanarratives in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
This article explores the significance of the theme of âchangeâ in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, going beyond its rhetorical use by the candidates or as a way of defining a historic electoral shift (making an âelection of changeâ) to examine how change played a critical role in the political landscape itself. One can locate votersâ desire for change in many existing conditions leading up to the race, but also ideologically and as a force in its own right. Framing of the election as a story reveals that the various actors were increasingly aware of their shifting identities, representations, and agency; thus, change was not just a plot of the story, frequently expressed in terms of populism and popular culture, but a fundamental dynamic behind competing metanarratives and contestations of how the story should be told.</p
Illuminating the Goal: rDzogs chen and Doxography in 14th-century Tibet
This study explores the philosophical, canonical and doxographical
contributions of one of Tibetâs greatest thinkers, Klong chen rab
âbyams pa (1308â1363), or Longchenpa, particularly as presented in his
detailed overview of Buddhist tenet-systems, the Grub mthaâ mdzod (The
Precious Treasury of Spiritual Systems). While the bulk of the previous
scholarship on this scholar has focused almost exclusively on his
writings on the tantric modality of Atiyoga (or rDzogs chen), this study
addresses Klong chen paâs endeavors to integrate that school of thought
with the other Buddhist vehicles (SĆ«trayÄna and MantrayÄna) by means of
parallel techniques and a polysemic hermeneutic. Furthermore, it
questions a number of critiques brought against rDzogs chen.
Furthermore, by locating Klong chen pa biographically and textually in
relation to the other seminal figures of 14th-century central Tibet
(e.g., Bu ston, O rgyan gling pa, Dol po pa), this study shows the
precise nature of his wide-ranging contributions to canonical
construction within the rNying ma tradition of Tibet and the
particularities involved with his interpretation of Buddhismâs
two-reality theory (relative and ultimate) in relation to the
SvÄtantrika and PrÄsaáč
gika schools of Madhyamaka philosophy. In the
process, it provides context for understanding Klong chen pa as a
complex figure, with both scholarly and practical soteriological
concerns, and his engagement with the most critical debates of his time.</p