Sociolinguistic Implications of Narratology : Focalization and ‘Double Deixis’ in Conversational Storytelling

Over the last few decades, literary narratology has branched out into a wide array of ‘post-classical’ narratologies that have borrowed concepts from cognitive psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, linguistics, and other disciplines. The question arises to what extent ‘classical’ narratological concepts can also be successfully exported to other disciplines which have an interest in narrative. In this article, I apply the concept of ‘focalization’ as well as David Herman’s insights into doubly-deictic ‘you’ in second-person narratives to an interview narrative and further materials from my empirical sociolinguistic study on general practitioners’ narrative discourse on intimate partner abuse. I consider how the narrative positioning of the GP as storyteller and ‘protagonist’ of his story corresponds with his social and professional positioning with regard to his patients in the context of intimate partner violence cases and vis-à-vis the interviewer during the research interview. Focalization and double deixis are shown to become part of a narrative strategy whereby the narrator distances himself from his own personal self in the narrative and at the same time tries to align the interviewer with his viewpoint

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ECP-2008-GEO-318007, eContentplu

Czas i transformacja w autobiografii: What to Look for in Winter: A Mamoir in Blindness Candii McWilliam

In this article, I discuss transformations of self over time in Candia McWilliam’s memoir What to Look for in Winter. In this book, the author writes about many life-changing events: her mother’s suicide, her two failed marriages, her alcoholism and her blindness, to name only a few. However, the book itself constitutes an attempt at transforming these experiences in the act of writing, to offer restitution to a life gone awry. Time plays a major role in this endeavour, both in the story told and in the way it is told. Anchored primarily in two ‘present’ moments in the first and second halves of the book, the narrative moves back and forth in time, taking the reader on a painful journey through the author’s past. Time furthermore serves as an overarching metaphor for transformations especially due to illness, as can already be seen in the book title’s reference to the seasons. What emerges is a highly complex literary autobiography in which life storytelling meshes with metanarrative reflection.Artykuł dotyczy transformacji dokonanej w czasie w obrębie osobowości autobiograficznej, która została przedstawiona we wspomnieniach Candii McWilliam, zatytułowanych What to Look for in Winter. Autorka opisuje wiele trudnych doświadczeń, między innymi samobójstwo matki, dwa nieudane małżeństwa, alkoholizm oraz utratę wzroku. Mimo doświadczonych niepowodzeń autobiografia McWilliam stanowi próbę odzyskania równowagi w procesie twórczym, który ma pomóc nadać życiu utracony sens. Czas odgrywa główną rolę zarówno w samej historii jej życia, jak i w literackim jej przedstawieniu. Zamiast chronologicznego ukazania wydarzeń z przeszłości autorka konstruuje opowieść w odniesieniu do dwóch wymiarów teraźniejszości, którym odpowiadają dwie odrębne części tej biografii. Ponadto czas nabiera znaczenia jako metafora transformacji, co uwidacznia się już w tytule książki nawiązującym do cyklu oraz pór roku. Wynikiem takiego przedstawienia własnego życia jest złożona i pełna refleksji autobiografia autorki

Reference Data as a Basis for National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Spatial data are increasingly being used for a range of applications beyond their, traditional uses. Collection of such data and their update constitute a substantial part of the total costs for their maintenance. In order to ensure sustainable development in the area of geographic information systems, efficient data custody and coordination mechanisms for data sharing must be put in place. This paper shows the importance of reference data as a basis for national spatial data infrastructure that serves as a platform for decision making processes in society. There are several European initiatives supporting the wider use of spatial data. An example is the INSPIRE Directive. Its principles and the main world trends in data integration pave the way to successful SDI driven by stakeholders and coordinated by national mapping agencies

Annual Report: May 2009 – April 2010

ECP-2008-GEO-318007, eContentplu

Brownfields Information Brocker

This paper discusses a possible solution for developing a virtual place for advertisement, investment and the harvesting, collecting and sharing of information concerning brownfields - now abundantly availabe land that was previously used for industrial, commercial or other uses. The novelty of the proposed solution is an automated brownfield related information integration (brownfields data integrator or brownfields broker) from various sources and its further distribution for other purposes (reuse of collected information) in a machine readable format and that meets European requirements regarding the integration of spatial information (INSPIRE directive and its related activities). This virtual place will provide services for brownfields related automated data harvesting, data update by local governments and citizens, as well as mechanisms for the reuse of this data through Application Protocol Interfaces and other „machine to machine “interfaces. The brownfield broker should also help to improve the ratio between developments made on brownfields and greenfields, which are currently imbalanced and statistically unknown in the European Union (EU). The beneficiaries from the brownfields data integrator will be very broad: owners, entrepreneurs (potential investors), municipalities (will be able to upload and then re-use relevant reliable, classified, updated information about brownfields and to advertise it through the application), planners, realtors (will be able to publicise the data using their web portals), financial institutions (for providing distance financial services), volunteers, scientists and the general public (for their personal interest, data creation, use, publishing and informing)

Fictional Dialogue as Poiesis.: Elizabeth Alsop’s Making Conversation in Modernist Fiction

Elizabeth Alsop: Making Conversation in Modernist Fiction. Columbus, OH 201

Karin Aggestam and Ann E. Towns: Gendering diplomacy and international negotiations.

This path-breaking book addresses the oft-avoided, yet critical question: where are the women located in contemporary diplomacy and international negotiation? The text presents a novel research agenda, including new theoretical and conceptual perspectives on gender, power and diplomacy. The volume brings together a wide range of established International Relations scholars from different parts of the world to write original contributions, which analyse where the women are positioned in diplomacy and international negotiation. The contributions are rich and global in scope with cases ranging from Brazil, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Sweden to the UN, Russia, Norway and the European Union. This book fills an important gap in research and will be of much interest to students and scholars of gender, diplomacy and International Relations. The volume also reaches out to a broader community of practitioners with an interest in the practice of diplomacy and international negotiation

Uvnitř diplomacie: Jak na genderovou nerovnost v zahraniční službě

Východiskem knihy je feministická kritika současné diplomacie, která považuje genderovou nerovnost za jeden z jejích problémů. Kniha tyto otázky podrobuje analýze, která jde za úroveň pouhé kritiky současného stavu. V centru pozornosti stojí eliminace genderové nerovnosti v zahraniční službě. Publikace se zaměřuje na cesty naplňování ideálu rovnosti mužů a žen v diplomacii. Dále se věnuje právům a potřebám osob doprovázejících diplomatický personál na zahraničních misích, zejména manželek diplomatů, neboť tato problematika byla zatím v odborné literatuře reflektována jen okrajově. Závěrečná část publikace se zabývá otázkami systémové úrovně zahraniční služby z hlediska institucionalizace principu rovnosti. Poskytuje tak komplexní přehled o možnostech oslabování stále ještě značně maskulinizovaného charakteru současné diplomacie. Kombinuje při tom výsledky akademického výzkumu s řešením praktických otázek zahraniční služby – představuje široké spektrum možných iniciativ a konkrétních opatření. Kultivace vnitřní dimenze diplomacie poskytuje obrovský potenciál pro zvyšování její kvality a efektivity