Narratives of Loss: Exploring Grief through Photography

Grief is not an exclusively private and intrapsychic phenomenon but a dynamic process whereby the bereaved negotiates the meaning of the loss in a way that may challenge his/her personal self-narrative. Drawing on a social constructionist model of grief, this paper features a case study where we analyse narratives of mourning elicited through a personal photographic project. The visual-based narrative methodology used in our study (photo-production) not only allows for multi-modal forms of expression and communication in the study of grief, but it also serves as an aid for individuals to scaffold further meaning-making processes which cannot be conveyed through narrative alone. The paper concludes with an invitation to reflect on the use of photography as both a possible methodological tool to explore narratives of grief and a therapeutic tool for the construction of meanings and continuing bonds with the deceased

Between War and Peace, Past and Future:Experiencing the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is widely known as a universal symbol of peace, but there have not been studies of how people actually experience and interpret it. This article presents a detailed case study of a visit to the memorial by using an innovative methodology based on the use of subjective cameras (subcams). Results show that despite the monolithic idea of peace that the memorial officially represents, it is experienced and interpreted in terms of a constant tension which exposes conflicts in post-war Japan memory politics. The dichotomies of war/peace, death/life, past/future, and old /new emerge as part of the participant’s encounter with different situations during his visit. This is particularly clear where he perceives border zones and points of intersection. The article concludes by interpreting these dichotomies through the notion of themata, as elementary dichotomies that underlie a social debate around a specific topic. Specifically, two themata are proposed: one revolving around the temporal problematisation of the past and the future in the memory politics of the A-Bomb, and the other revolving around the spatial dichotomy between the old and the new underlying Hiroshima’s urban renewalOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Natur

Identidade e alteridade em livros de texto escolares: um estudo de caso sobre a representação de Al-Andalus

Nationalism, and the social construction of national identity, involves an ideology of the first person plural, where there can be no us without a them. The present paper features a study where we analyze how different forms of otherness —understood as the other side of identity— are articulated through the representation of Al-Andalus in a textbook of Social Sciences used in a secondary school in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Drawing on the concept of schematic narrative templates, we aim to examine the extent to which the teaching of Al-Andalus, in classrooms with students from different national and religious backgrounds, keeps on promoting a narrative deeply rooted in Spain’s collective memory and national identity. The results show that the term “Reconquista” continues to appear, on occasions, as a milestone in the storyline, thus projecting a certain historical continuity between the groups of Christian settlers who fought against the Muslims and the Spaniards today. As for the Muslim past of the Iberian Peninsula, it tends to be framed in terms of alterity, whether in a negative light as the “exotic-threatening-other” or in more positive tone, as the “exotic-admirable-other. The article concludes with some reflections on the teaching of history in increasingly multicultural classrooms.El nacionalismo, y la construcción social de la identidad nacional, implica una ideología de la primera persona del plural, donde no puede haber un nosotros sin un ellos. En este artículo se analizan las formas de producción de alteridad —entendida como la otra cara de la identidad— articuladas en la representación de Al-Andalus en un libro de texto de Ciencias Sociales, utilizado en un centro de enseñanza secundaria de la Comunidad de Madrid, España. Partiendo del concepto de ʻschematic narrative templatesʼ, el objetivo es examinar en qué medida la enseñanza de Al-Andalus sigue promoviendo una narrativa con fuerte arraigo en la memoria colectiva y el modo de entender la identidad española en unas aulas con estudiantes procedentes de diversos contextos nacionales y religiosos. Los resultados muestran cómo el término “Reconquista” sigue apareciendo, en ocasiones, como un hito en el relato, proyectando una cierta continuidad histórica entre los grupos de pobladores cristianos que lucharon contra los musulmanes y los españoles actuales. Por su parte, el pasado musulmán de la Península Ibérica sigue representándose en clave de alteridad, ya sea en términos negativos como “otro-exótico-amenazante” o positivos como “otro-exótico-admirable”. El artículo concluye con algunas reflexiones sobre la enseñanza de la historia en aulas cada vez más multiculturales.O nacionalismo e a construção social da identidade nacional implicam uma ideologia da primeira pessoa do plural, onde não pode haver um nós sem um eles. Neste artigo se analisam as formas de produção de alteridade, entendida como a outra cara da identidade, articuladas na representação de Al-Andalus em um livro de texto de Ciências Sociais utilizado em um centro de ensino secundário da Comunidade de Madrid, Espanha. Partindo do conceito de schematic narrative templa- tes, o objetivo é examinar em que medida o ensino de Al-Andalus continua promovendo uma narrativa com forte arraigo na memória coletiva e o modo de entender a identidade espanhola em umas aulas com estudantes procedentes de diversos contextos nacionais e religiosos. Os resultados mostram como o termo “Reconquista” continua a aparecer, em ocasiões, como um marco no relato, projetando uma certa continuidade histórica entre os grupos de povoadores cristãos que lutaram contra os muçulmanos e os espanhóis atuais. À sua vez, o passado muçulmano da Península Ibérica continua representando-se em chave de alteridade, seja em termos negativos “outro-exótico-ameaçante” seja em positivos como “outro-exótico-admirável”. O artigo conclui com algumas reflexões sobre o ensino da história em aulas cada vez mais multiculturais

Psicología cultural: una perspectiva sistémica contemporánea

El denominador común de los trece artículos que integran el presente monográfico podría describirse por su interés en estudiar cómo los individuos actúan y se desenvuelven en deter-minados contextos socioculturales. Estos contex-tos son concebidos como algo más que el mero entorno físico o geográfico, como sistemas de significado que constriñen y, a su vez, posibilitan las formas que tenemos de interpretar el mundo (incluyendo a nosotros mismos) y de actuar en él. En eso consiste básicamente la psicología cultural: en asumir que vivimos en un mundo no solo físico, sino sobre todo simbólico cargado de significado, con un conjunto de herramientas heredadas culturalmente, desde artefactos, como el Smartphone, hasta normas sociales, pasando por discursos, imágenes, símbolos, rituales, himnos, monumentos, refranes e historias; herramientas que, en definitiva, guían nuestra acción, pero que, al mismo tiempo, hacemos nuestras, dotándolas así de un sentido propio y personalThe common denominator of the thirteen articles that make up this monograph could be described by their interest in studying how individuals act and develop in certain socio-cultural contexts. These contexts are conceived as something more than the mere physical or geographical environment, as systems of meaning that constrain and, in turn, enable the ways we have to interpret the world (including ourselves) and act in it. This is basically what cultural psychology consists of: in assuming that we live in a world that is not only physical, but above all symbolic, full of meaning, with a set of culturally inherited tools, from artifacts, such as the Smartphone, to social norms, through speeches, images, symbols, rituals, hymns, monuments, sayings and stories; tools that, in short, guide our action, but that, at the same time, we make our own, thus endowing them with their own and personal meaning

From Militant Voices to Militant Irony: Examining Identity, Memory and Conflict in the Basque Country

Collective memory and identity so often go hand in hand with conflicts. Alongside the use of violence, conflicts unfold against the backdrop of different narratives about the past through which groups constantly remind themselves of the supposed origin of the conflict, and consequently, what position individuals are expected to take as members of the group. Narratives – as symbolic tools for interpreting the past and the present, as well as happenings that have yet to occur – simultaneously underpin, and are underpinned by, the position held by each warring faction. Drawing on previous works, this paper compares different versions of the 2016 truce period in the Basque Country stemming from three subjects identified, to varying degrees, with the main political actors involved in that conflict. These three cases have been selected from a total of 16 participants who were asked to define the Basque conflict and to provide an account of the 2006 truce period by using 23 documents taken from different Spanish newspapers. On the one hand, the results show two narratives reproducing the versions of two of the main political actors involved in the conflict, and on the other hand, a narrative characterized by a more personal and ironic appropriation of those versions. Results are discussed vis-à-vis the use of irony in history teaching in increasingly plural societies