Search Results (24)

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. Full article

This study analyses the economic impact of tourism in Iceland, focusing on its contributions to GDP, employment, and foreign currency earnings. This study employs descriptive and comparative secondary data analysis based on available statistics and an extensive literature review to assess the sector’s development, resilience, and sustainability within global and national contexts. The findings confirm that tourism is a key pillar of Iceland’s economy, surpassing traditional export industries in value and generating significant employment opportunities. However, the sector’s volatility exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and its dependence on international markets reveal structural vulnerabilities that threaten a sustainable future. Beyond economic considerations, this study critically engages with the growing pressures of over-tourism, seasonality, and environmental degradation, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas. Recent scholarship and policy shifts emphasise the need for sustainability indicators, equitable taxation mechanisms, and participatory governance to guide Iceland’s tourism development. This research highlights that balancing economic growth with environmental limits and community well-being is essential for building a more resilient and future-proof tourism model. These insights help inform policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers in aligning tourism strategies with sustainability and diversification goals. Full article

The transition of Sketchfab, a widely used platform for hosting and sharing 3D cultural heritage content, to Epic Games’ Fab marketplace has raised concerns within the cultural heritage community about the potential loss of years of work and thousands of 3D models, highlighting the risks of relying on commercial solutions for preservation and dissemination. This shift, together with the unprecedented investments by the European Commission on infrastructures for digitised heritage, present a critical opportunity to restart conversations about the future of 3D scholarship and infrastructures for cultural heritage. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper analyses data from a literature review, two surveys, a focus group, and community responses to Sketchfab’s announced changes. Our findings reveal critical user requirements, including robust metadata and paradata for transparency, advanced analytical tools for scholarly use, flexible annotation systems, mechanisms for ownership, licensing, and citation, as well as community features for fostering engagement and recognition. This paper proposes models and key features for a new infrastructure and concludes by calling for collaborative efforts among stakeholders to develop a system that will ensure that 3D cultural heritage remains accessible, reusable, and meaningful in an ever-changing technological landscape. Full article

Customer relationship management (CRM) has become a critical strategy for higher education institutions (HEIs) to enhance student engagement, institutional efficiency, and digital transformation. Despite its growing adoption, the evolution of CRM research in HEIs, including key contributors, dominant themes, and emerging trends, remains underexplored. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed publications (2014–2024) to map the intellectual landscape of CRM research in higher education. Using Biblioshiny with Bibliometrix version 4.0 and VOSviewer version 1.6.20, this study analyzes publication trends, influential authors and institutions, keyword networks, and thematic developments. The findings indicate a transition from early research on service quality and academic reputation to advanced themes such as AI-driven CRM strategies, multi-channel communication, and social media analytics. While the United Kingdom, India, and Indonesia emerge as leading contributors, gaps persist in cross-cultural CRM applications, the integration of emerging technologies, and the development of standardized evaluation frameworks. This study contributes to CRM scholarship by mapping research trajectories, identifying underexplored areas, and offering actionable insights for future studies. It highlights the expanding role of CRM beyond student engagement, encompassing education quality, labor market, employment growth, technological progress and AI-driven decision-making. These findings emphasize the need for interdisciplinary approaches and robust academic performance to maximize CRM’s strategic potential in higher education. Full article

Addressing the critical STEM teachers’ shortage in the rural United States requires not only recruiting new teachers but also improving retention and teacher resiliency. This study explores contextual protective factors through the Early Career Teacher Resilience (ECTR) framework. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the NSF Noyce Professional Learning Community (PLC) on rural STEM teacher resilience. Key components of the Noyce PLC included scholarship support, pre-service mentoring, attendance at local and regional educational events, active engagement in the program’s annual summer conference, and participation in a closed Facebook group. We developed an ECTR framework-based online instrument with 28 questions and sent it to 311 university alumni, including 44 Noyce alumni. The results suggest that the Noyce PLC has excelled in fostering collaborative learning environments, providing resources that enhance teaching and learning, accommodating new and different ways of thinking, and supporting teachers’ professional growth beyond graduation. The findings underscore the importance of integrating theoretical and practical knowledge, supporting ongoing professional learning, and building strong professional relationships. Several aspects of the Noyce PLC could be replicated in other STEM teacher preparation programs to enhance teacher resilience, effectiveness, and career development. Full article

This essay, co-written by a dendrochronologist (Nick) and a narrative theorist (Erin), considers how these two disciplines can meet to illuminate alternative narratives in tree rings. At the basis of our conversation is a desire to tease apart tree experience and the signification entangled within human practices of storytelling. First, Nick explains recent developments in dendrochronology and critical physical geography (CPG) that call attention to the ways in which tree-ring sciences often naturalize imperial narratives and demand alternative methodologies. Second, Erin dives into the imperial narratives of two case study tree bodies, throwing light upon the human and vegetal stories that these dominant narratives obscure and silence. Third, Nick turns to an experiment in critical participatory action research (CPAR) to suggest an approach to tree-ring dating—material dating—that takes its cues not from imperial histories but from a simultaneous interest in community engagement, anticolonial scholarship, and tree agency and signification. Fourth, Erin explains how material dating, via foregrounding personal experience, stands to produce a narrative more sensitive to a particular tree’s situated experience and better able to foment understanding among tree body viewers for the tree as a living and communicating organism. Finally, Nick and Erin use material dating to produce an alternative narrative for one of our case studies and provide directions for other scholars to replicate our process. Full article

This study explores the dynamics of food conservation behaviors and operations, shifting the lens from the prevalent narrative of food waste reduction to a marketing perspective that emphasizes consumer engagement in sustainable operations. Amidst the rapid urban transformation and economic progress of many countries, this research examines factors influencing individual behaviors toward responsible food operations. It aims to delineate the motivational drivers and deterrents affecting residents’ engagement in food conservation and operations, utilizing an adapted framework based on the theory of planned behavior. We employ partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze responses from 390 residents. We find that perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes significantly enhance intentions to conserve food. Moreover, environmental concerns amplify both attitudes and perceived behavioral control, while green marketing communications and knowledge elevate attitudes, environmental mindfulness, and conservation actions. A connection to nature is substantiated as a reinforcing factor for pro-environmental attitudes and operations. Notably, attitudes are identified as a critical mediator among the examined constructs. This investigation enriches sustainability scholarship by introducing a positive behavior-focused approach, advancing the discourse on sustainable operations. It offers actionable insights for market-driven interventions, policy-making (such as China’s lastest national policies on food security and rural region revitalization in 2024), and educational endeavors to mitigate food wastage and reinforce food supply chain resilience globally. Full article

Because research alone cannot dismantle racial inequity, this article focuses on lessons for critical community-engaged scholarship (CCES) based on the Relationship-Centered Schools campaign of Californians for Justice (CFJ), an educational and racial justice youth organizing group. The campaign embraced transformative organizing—an approach to social change that encompasses reshaping oppressive institutions and healing trauma wounds wrought by injustice. I discuss findings and methodological implications for CCES, considering challenges in translating research to policy change for racial equity. This article situates the power and limitations of research within CFJ’s broad array of transformative organizing strategies to create more caring and equitable schools. Strategies include youth-led action research, voter engagement, lobbying, youth sharing power with adults, and healing practices of slowing down and relationship building to rehumanize youth of color. I then discuss implications for CCES. First, research supported CFJ youth leaders’ efforts to press institutions to value their full, emotionally complex humanity and legitimize their emotional knowledge. Yet because research is only one of many strategies for transformative change, fully participatory research is not always within organizing groups’ capacity. Thus, researchers can act more expansively by lending our time, energy, and labor to power building. Second, care and healing practices embodied by CFJ can inspire researchers to center relationship building and care as praxis and translate these lessons to transform the academy into a more equitable place. Ultimately, transformative organizing shows how CCES can extend beyond equitable research practices to include more liberatory ways of being, feeling, and acting towards justice. Full article

In New Testament scholarship, there is a division between practitioners of performance criticism and those who engage the sociology of reading and reading cultures in the ancient Mediterranean context. The former, as the name of their methodology implies, tend to emphasize the performative nature of engaging textual traditions and downplay the importance of the physical document in a performance event. The latter stress the importance of the physical text in a reading event. This article reaches across the division between performance and reading, suggesting that written manuscripts play different roles in different kinds of performance and reading events. It surveys primary source evidence of two types: one in which the physical text is absent from or de-emphasized in the performance event and another in which the document is explicitly present and figures prominently in the reading event. The article concludes by suggesting that performance critics ought to be more explicit about what role they imagine physical documents to have in hypothetical performance events and that those engaging the sociology of reading ought to be more attuned to the performative potential of communal reading events. Full article

Government agencies play a critical role in addressing societal issues and rely on effective communication strategies to inform and engage the public. However, research on government communication practices in the Philippines is limited. To bridge this gap, this study aims to explore the Philippine government’s communication practices and the influence of environmental attributes on communication efforts regarding the counterinsurgency program. Drawing on the government public relations model, a qualitative research approach was employed to gain in-depth insights into the experiences and perspectives of local information officers. The study utilized semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection method. By engaging local government communicators in the Philippines, the study identified four major themes: common media strategies, pressure to meet public information needs, lack of financial resources, and the impact of external legal frameworks. The findings revealed that government communicators employ various media strategies and face significant pressure to meet public information needs. Furthermore, the study highlights the intersection of external legal frameworks with other environmental constraints, such as politics and professional development, impacting government communication practices. This paper contributes to the limited scholarship on government communication practices in the Philippines, offering preliminary insights into the complex dynamics of government communication to address societal challenges. Full article

This article presents findings from a four-year collaborative research project on immigrant and mixed-status families in Santa Cruz County, California. The project employed a new model of critical community-engaged scholarship called Community Initiated Student Engaged Research (CISER) in order to gain access to and build trust with this vulnerable population. The study used an overarching theoretical framework of “belonging” to identify six key factors most consequential for belonging and/or exclusion, including access to education, economic security, legal immigration status, health services, opportunities for youth, and social networks. The findings reveal the complex and interconnected nature of these factors and demonstrate how exclusion experienced due to a lack of legal immigration status had far-reaching effects on interviewees’ job prospects and experiences of economic, health, and housing insecurity. The article highlights the importance of using an assets-based approach to draw out the myriad ways interviewees and communities create spaces, networks, and ways to promote and enhance both material and emotional forms of belonging. The CISER model and its participatory approach also provide tangible benefits for community partners and undergraduate researchers. This article contributes to the literature on immigrant experiences and critical community-engaged research while offering insights into sources of and systemic barriers to collective belonging. Full article

This article explores arts, cultural and community engagement (ACCE) in the context of enduring austerity in England. Working with a methodically crafted synthesis of theoretical perspectives drawn from (1) the critical political economy (CPE) tradition, (2) the sociology of cultural production, (3) cultural studies and critical strands of community development scholarship, and (4) pertinent discourses on the creative economy and place-based development, the article reviews the political, economic and institutional ecosystem within which a bottom-up approach to ACCE operates. Making use of ethnography for data-gathering, the article explores how three carefully selected case studies respond to the demands and pressures generated by, and associated with, corporate interest and top-down, policy-driven subsidy—including how such responses shape and position the work of the case studies in the contemporary creative economy and local place-based development. The article argues that ACCE contributes meaningfully to the development of self-governance and organic growth through egalitarian cross-sectoral alliances and cultural and social entrepreneurship. However, this happens only if the said ecosystem genuinely supports equality and social justice. Where such support is non-existent, established hierarchies perpetuate domination and exploitation. This stifles wider creative and cultural engagement on the terms of communities. Full article

The Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) at Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N) pushes the boundaries of academia’s possibilities by placing community-engaged scholarship as a critical pillar of student success. Established in 2015, the HLLC is pursuing its triumvirate rallying call—“revolutionizing honors, cultivating talent, and engaging communities”. The HLLC brings together dynamic students passionate about social justice issues, Rutgers University-Newark faculty and staff, and community partners aiming to tackle some of the nation’s most urgent social issues. Pivoting on a curriculum structured around what it means to be a local citizen in a global world, the HLLC brings students and faculty members from every school and college at Rutgers-Newark together with community-based partners to operationalize authentic experiential learning. With its emphasis on social action and issues of inequality, the HLLC brings together the academic sphere and community-based organizations to design and implement projects and courses that promote social justice in the community and enact ameliorative changes based on shared passions and mutual interests. Through a multimodal approach grounded in literature and best practices, the HLLC is built intentionally from the ground up on high-impact practices for student success and the principles of full participation. This paper highlights the HLLC’s efforts to engage students and community members through community-engaged courses and programs to address issues such as inequity. Furthermore, the authors offer a model that actively moves beyond theory to practice-based initiatives within an honor’s academic context. Examples of the HLLC’s initiatives are presented to enhance the discourse around collective knowledge building and community-engaged research by highlighting student and community partner-led initiatives. Given the HLLC’s resolve to develop a national model, the paper dedicates special attention to pedagogy and programs. Full article

Gentrification impacts many cities across the nation. Affordable housing task forces and legislation meant to address housing inequities are becoming more common, yet the authentic experiences of those affected are often unacknowledged. Absent from the discussion of gentrification are the voices of those deeply impacted, some who are at the center of the work to maintain communities: Black teachers, Black students, and Black families. In many school districts, teachers do not have the opportunity to address the systemic issues that impact their students and communities. Still, it is impossible to ignore the ways societal injustice seeps into the classroom. This article discusses our work as a teacher participatory action research collective exploring the intersection of housing and educational displacement in a rapidly gentrifying community in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. We highlight our roles as community-centered educators and detail how we intentionally and thoughtfully worked to create a reciprocal space to engage communities in Community Listening Exchanges. We present Community Listening Exchanges as a justice-centered innovation to community-engaged research and scholarship. Our critical and collaborative approach to generating and analyzing data allowed us to uncover how housing and educational displacement relies on deficit narratives to justify the removal of marginalized people. We offer CLEs as a reciprocal research tool that deviates from traditional qualitative research and resists anti-Black, damage-centered narratives. Full article

This article focuses on The Hijab Project, a collective art exhibit that was created by a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) collective to address assumptions about Muslim women and girls who veil. The art project used data from a survey collect at Mount Top High, a suburban public high school in Utah, to inform the need for a public intervention that addressed issues of Islamophobia during a time of contentious political climate in the United States. Using transnational feminism to think about concepts of agency and piety, the article contends that, despite traditional framing of Muslim women as passive victims, through their artwork, the girls in this research group prove that religiosity and choice are not dichotomous. Lastly, this piece argues that The Hijab Project represents a successful example of critical community-engaged scholarship by demonstrating that partnerships between community members and universities can be a force for civic engagement and social change. Full article