Explore the vast range of titles available.

This article aims to illustrate the emergence and ascent of Postmodernism, considering its similarities and differences with Modernism. The research enumerates and explains a series of principles, devices, and attitudes promoted by Postmodernism as a process and a cultural phenomenon, illustrating literature written on the topic, its artistic endeavours, and its political and social contexts.

This article examines the epistemological and homiletical implications of postmodernity for Christian preaching. It addresses the communicative crisis introduced by postmodern skepticism toward metanarratives. It proposes a constructive theological response through the re-articulation of the gospel as a coherent, storied, and transformative metanarrative. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in theology, homiletics, epistemology, and cultural theory, this study argues that a thoughtful engagement with postmodern critique can serve as a catalytic force for ecclesial renewal. The article advocates for a homiletic method that re-engages Scripture’s narrative form while emphasizing relational epistemology, incarnational witness, and contextual sensitivity. By utilizing narrative theology, post-critical epistemologies, and performative models of preaching, this study proposes a recalibrated approach to gospel proclamation, adapted for fragmented and skeptical audiences, while safeguarding theological orthodoxy.

Meta‑narrative for Europe? According to Hannah Arendt When we think about the principles organizing the life of a community, we usually refer them to particular areas: social, political, moral, economic… There are, however, principles that seem to be total. As they define all domains of social life, governed by the particular principles, they can be called ‘metanarrations’. In this paper, I explore the possibility of finding such fundamental principles that could unify and organize Europe. I assume that they must exceed (national) particularism without approaching (cosmopolitan) universalism, since the ‘European homeland’ – if it exists (and/or should exist) – must be the unity in plurality and diversity. Basing my considarations on the works of Hannah Arendt, who in turn refers to the experience of Greek polis, I argue that the idea of freedom, closely related with direct participation in government, might be the principle needed. Following Arendt, I point out that this principle means not only that no one canbe ruled by anyone, but also that no opinion, no idea and no way of living and thinking can rise ultimately above others; none of them, in otwher words, can turn into truth.

The Tunisian uprisings projected an elusive surrealistic scene that was an aberration in a part of the world where Islamic ideology had been considered the only rallying force and a midwife for regime change. However, this sense of exceptionalism was short-lived, as the religiously zealous Islamist expats and their militant executive wings infiltrated the power vacuum to resume their suspended Islamization project of the 1980s. Brandishing electoral “legitimacy”, they attempted to reframe the bourgeoning indigenous democratization project, rooted in an evolving Tunisian intellectual and cultural heritage, along the neocolonial ideological underpinnings of the “Arab Spring” metanarrative, which proffers the thesis that democracy can be promoted in the Muslim world through so-called “Moderate Muslims”. This paper challenges this dominant narrative by offering a counter-narrative about the political transition in Tunisia. It takes stock of the multidisciplinary conceptual and analytical frameworks elaborated upon in postcolonial theory, social movement theory, cognitive neuroscience theories, and digital communication theories. It draws heavily on socio-narrative translation theory. The corpus analyzed in this work consists of disparate yet corroborating narratives cutting across modes, genres, and cultural and linguistic boundaries, and is grounded in insider participant observation. This work opens an alternative inquiry into how the processes of cross-cultural knowledge production and the power dynamics they sustain have helped shape the course of the transition since 2011.

Context: The extensive research literature on electronic patient records (EPRs) presents challenges to systematic reviewers because it covers multiple research traditions with different underlying philosophical assumptions and methodological approaches. Methods: Using the meta-narrative method and searching beyond the Medline-indexed literature, this review used \"conflicting\" findings to address higher-order questions about how researchers had differently conceptualized and studied the EPR and its implementation. Findings: Twenty-four previous systematic reviews and ninety-four further primary studies were considered. Key tensions in the literature centered on (1) the EPR (\"container\" or \"itinerary\"); (2) the EPR user (\"information-processer\" or \"member of socio-technical network\"); (3) organizational context (\"the setting within which the EPR is implemented\" or \"the EPR-in-use\"); (4) clinical work (\"decision making\" or \"situated practice\"); (5) the process of change (\"the logic of determinism\" or \"the logic of opposition\"); (6) implementation success (\"objectively defined\" or \"socially negotiated\"); and (7) complexity and scale (\"the bigger the better\" or \"small is beautiful\"). Conclusions: The findings suggest that EPR use will always require human input to recontextualize knowledge; that even though secondary work (audit, research, billing) may be made more efficient by the EPR, primary clinical work may be made less efficient; that paper may offer a unique degree of ecological flexibility; and that smaller EPR systems may sometimes be more efficient and effective than larger ones. We suggest an agenda for further research.

The widespread implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizations has given rise to an increasing focus on augmentation in the academic and public discourse. While the verb “to augment,” defined as a process to make something greater or more numerous, is often used in IS research, it lacks a discussion of what the targets of such a process could be. In other words: What is augmented? Our paper builds on the literature of five research disciplines in which augmentation is a particularly prevalent topic—i.e., computer science, information systems, economics, management, and philosophy. Accordingly, we identified four metanarratives that represent four distinct targets of AI-based augmentation—the body, cognition, work, and performance—that build on unique human-AI configurations and bring to the fore specific augmentation tensions. Using these insights, we formulate avenues for further IS research on AI-based augmentation.

PurposeThis paper is a critique of Western modernity and the problems and promises of postmodernism in (re)liberating disaster studies. It criticizes metanarratives and grand theories of Western discourses to advance postmodern discourses in disaster studies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper outlines a conceptual domain through which approaches of postmodernism can be employed to (re)liberate disaster studies.FindingsMetanarratives and grand theories frame the scope and focus of disaster studies. But the increasing number and the aggravated impacts of disasters and environmental challenges in the late 20th and early 21st centuries are proofs that our current “frames” do not capture the complexities of disasters. Postmodernism, in its diversity and various meanings, offers critical and complementary perspectives and approaches to capture the previously neglected dimensions of disasters.Research limitations/implicationsPostmodernism offers ways forward to (re)liberate disaster studies through ontological pluralism, epistemological diversity and hybridity of knowledge.Originality/valueThe agenda of postmodernism in disaster studies is proposed in terms of the focus of inquiry, ontological and epistemological positionalities, research paradigm, methodologies and societal goals.

Volley fire with gunpowder weapons is often seen by modern scholars as one of the important innovations which allowed Europe to politically dominate other cultures and societies. Many historiographical theories, of the kind Lyotard termed metarécits , “metanarratives,” have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Recently, compelling evidence has emerged that other civilizations also practiced the technique, most notably China. This article brings together existing and new evidence that volley fire with firearms was developed and practiced in China long before it appeared in Europe and challenges several of the grand narratives of European exceptionalism. This new evidence shows that the volley fire technique arose in China primarily as a reaction to domestic and foreign (semi-)nomadic cavalry threats, belying geographically deterministic accounts, which suggest that sophisticated infantry tactics with firearms would not arise in states bordering the steppe. This article will also challenge the claim that volley fire in Europe benefitted from its emergence in a competitive system of states undergoing a tradition-challenging Renaissance. I call for a reconsideration of the innovative potential of Eurasian land empires bordering the steppe, and stress the importance of studying political contingencies and cultures of innovation in shaping world history.

The aim of this study is to clarify the concept of replication research to improve its appropriate use by researchers, editors, research funders, and decision makers. We combined concept analysis and metanarrative review methods to synthetize knowledge on replication research from various scientific fields. We used multiple search strategies to identify the relevant literature published before April 2018. We summarized the data by seeking commonalities and differences in underlying conceptual and theoretical assumptions in the literature. A total of 153 articles from various disciplines were included. The analysis led to the identification of three major definitions of replication: the repetition of a previous study, the extension of a previous study, and the road-testing of a theory. Attributes, conditions required to conduct replication studies, concerns related to the interpretation of replication studies, and diverse replication research typologies were synthesized, combined, and analyzed. Based on this metanarrative review, a comprehensive theoretical definition of replication research was formulated. This study can support the adoption of a shared understanding and recognition of the indispensable nature of replication research for the sound development of knowledge in all research fields. •There is a lack of consensus in the scientific literature on a definition of replication research.•Replication studies can be conducted for different purposes and characterized in accordance with different attributes such as the similarity between research questions and the level of compliance with the methods.•When a replication study confirms the results of an index study or fails to confirm these results, it can lead to better understanding of previous research findings.•Replication studies should be planned and thoroughly designed in accordance with their specific purposes whether this is to improve the reliability, validity, and generalizability of existing knowledge.

This article provides a framework to guide the construction of transformative stories by social impact organizations (SIOs) including nonprofit organizations, public policy entities, and for-profit social benefit enterprises. This framework is built from the integration of the academic literature on narratives and narrative construction relevant to SIO story construction. This transformative story construction framework outlines how SIOs can assemble and craft authentic and effective stories that convey the organization's impact, engage audiences, and call those audiences to action as well as how SIOs can develop and manage a portfolio of such stories. The framework also provides recommendations to guide the marketplace practice of transformative story construction by SIOs. Finally, the authors pose questions to engage SIOs in collaborative research to refine the practice of constructing stories with the power to transform.