Competing Discourses (competing + discourse)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


"Maestro, what is ,quality'?": Language, literacy, and discourse in project-based science

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 4 2001
Elizabeth B. Moje
Recent curriculum design projects have attempted to engage students in authentic science learning experiences in which students engage in inquiry-based research projects about questions of interest to them. Such a pedagogical and curricular approach seems an ideal space in which to construct what Lee and Fradd referred to as instructional congruence. It is, however, also a space in which the everyday language and literacy practices of young people intersect with the learning of scientific and classroom practices, thus suggesting that project-based pedagogy has the potential for conflict or confusion. In this article, we explore the discursive demands of project-based pedagogy for seventh-grade students from non-mainstream backgrounds as they enact established project curricula. We document competing Discourses in one project-based classroom and illustrate how those Discourses conflict with one another through the various texts and forms of representation used in the classroom and curriculum. Possibilities are offered for reconstructing this classroom practice to build congruent third spaces in which the different Discourses and knowledges of the discipline, classroom, and students' lives are brought together to enhance science learning and scientific literacy. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 469,498, 2001 [source]


Objects of Love and Decay: Colonial Photographs in a Postcolonial Archive

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Liam Buckley
The poor condition of a collection of colonial photographs currently housed in the National Archives of The Gambia is the subject of a variety of competing discourses and practices concerning the preservation of colonial visual culture. At issue is the question of who has the right to look after the artifacts of material culture as they inevitably expire. I suggest that the discourse surrounding decaying colonial photographs is a lover's discourse. The decay causes controversy because it reminds us of our feelings for, and intimacy with, colonial culture and asks that we imagine ways of finally letting go. [source]


Discourses of community: challenges for social work

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2 2006
Margaret Lynn
The ambiguity of community allows it to be a space for a vast range of imposed and ,organic' social reproduction functions, and an accessible site for meaningful collective action, but it also has the potential for disempowerment. The breadth of the concept of ,community' allows for it to be critiqued as ephemeral or as romantic fiction, but also used and exploited by government. It is because it retains such power to evoke reaction and contest that we need to understand the power that drives it, and the ideological purpose for which it may be used or misused. The notion of discourse immediately becomes useful. We can recognise competing discourses of community, and examine how they are used politically. We can recognise ways in which social work can engage with community discourses of empowerment rather than control. The article will explore a number of discourses and examine their usefulness for practice. [source]


From National Service to Global Player: Transforming the Organizational Logic of a Public Broadcaster

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 6 2010
André Spicer
abstract We present organizational logics as a meso-level construct that lies between institutional theory's field-level logics and the sense-making activities of individual agents in organizations. We argue that an institutional logic can be operationalized empirically using the concept of a discourse , that is, a coherent symbolic system articulating what constitutes legitimate, reasonable, and effective conduct in, around, and by organizations. An organization may, moreover, be simultaneously exposed to several institutional logics that make up its broader ideational environment. Taking these three observations together enables us to consider an organizational logic as a spatially and temporally localized configuration of diverse discourses. We go on to show how organizational logics were transformed in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1953 and 1999 by examining the changing discourses that appeared in the Corporation's annual reports. We argue that these discourses were modified through three main forms of discursive agency: (1) undertaking acts of ironic accommodation between competing discourses; (2) building chains of equivalence between the potentially contradictory discourses; and (3) reconciling new and old discourses through pragmatic acts of ,bricolage'. We found that, using these forms of discursive agency, a powerful coalition of actors was able to transform the dominant organizational logic of the ABC from one where the Corporation's initial mission was to serve national interests through public service to one that was ultimately focused on participating in a globalized media market. Finally, we note that discursive resources could be used as the basis for resistance by less powerful agents, although further research is necessary to determine exactly how more powerful and less powerful agents interact around the establishment of an organizational logic. [source]


Socio-cultural perceptions of sudden infant death syndrome among migrant Indian mothers

JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 11 2009
Henna Aslam
Aim: To explore socio-cultural influences on migrant mother decisions and beliefs regarding co-sleeping as a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Methods: Semi-structured interviews with five Indian-born women in a socio-economically disadvantaged suburb in the south-west of Sydney were conducted between September and December 2007. Transcripts were analysed using principles of discourse analysis. Results: Discourse analysis revealed that SIDS-related decisions and beliefs about co-sleeping as a risk factor for SIDS are constructed amid competing discourses of motherhood and child health. Mothers are either actively or unconsciously deciding how they negotiate or resist dominant Western discourses of motherhood and child health to make ,the best' health-related decisions for their children. Participants resisted acknowledging child sleep practices recommended by health practitioners, particularly recommendations to put to sleep the baby in its own cot. This resistance was expressed by constructing messages as ,inapplicable' and ,inappropriate'. Co-sleeping was constructed as a highly valued practice for its physical and social benefits to the child, mother and family by facilitating child security, breastfeeding, bonding and family connectedness. Conclusion: This study illustrates how decisions and behaviour are shaped by socio-cultural influences embedded in discourses and context. It also shows that in-depth investigation through a social constructivist lens is particularly useful for investigating influences on knowledge acquisition, interpretation and implementation among migrant groups. A greater appreciation of the social meanings and ideologies attached to behaviours can help to ensure that the correct messages reach the correct populations, and that child health outcomes can be achieved and maintained both for overseas and Australian-born populations. [source]


Working conditions of temporary company-affiliated IT workers

NEW TECHNOLOGY, WORK AND EMPLOYMENT, Issue 1 2006
Ann Westenholz
This paper explores the relationship between temporary company affiliation and working conditions for a group of information technology workers. The problem is addressed through three competing discourses: a periphery discourse, a market discourse and a professional discourse. The analysis shows that the different discourses apply to different aspects of working conditions. [source]