Search Results (207)

Generative AI is reshaping university teaching and creating tension around authority, evidence, and accountability when decisions are made using algorithms. From a student perspective, this study constructed a typology of distributed teacher–AI agency (TAI) and examined the discursive mechanisms that produce the illusion of teacher autonomy. A non-experimental, cross-sectional, explanatory study was conducted: a lexicometric analysis of the ALCESTE (IRAMUTEQ) questionnaire, using open-ended responses from 3120 students (Mexico, n = 2051; Ecuador, n = 1069), segmented into 1077 units, and analyzed using positioning theory. Co-agency was operationalized using Teacher Agency (A), Delegation to AI (D), Governance (G: disclosure, criteria, verification), and the Illusion Index (II = A/(D + G + 1)). Three configurations emerged: Immediate Customizer (28.8%) with very high A and minimal D/G (II = 25.4); Technological Literacy Facilitator (27.3%) with visible delegation and safeguards (II ≈ 2.0); and Operational Optimizer (43.9%) oriented toward accelerating tasks with moderate governance (II ≈ 2.7). The illusion was associated with the agentive erasure of AI and a rhetoric of immediacy/efficiency that replaced verifiable criteria. These findings transform the student voice into a criteria-based diagnostic tool for strengthening traceability, minimal verification, and responsible orchestration of AI in higher education. Full article

The Hyakuzahōdan Kikigakishō (百座法談聞書抄, hereafter Hyakuza 百座), compiled in the late Heian period, is an important Buddhist document that records a hundred-day lecture series on the Lotus Sutra (法華経). While previous scholarship has recognized the constructed nature of the text as a kikigaki (聞書), it has predominantly focused on content analysis, implicitly treating the text as a transparent window into the actual preaching event. To move beyond this limitation, this study proposes the analytical framework of dual performativity and, drawing on Diana Taylor’s theory of the archive and the repertoire, reexamines the text’s generative logic and political implications. This study argues that the Hyakuza embodies two interrelated forms of performance: first, the performativity of the hōdan (法談) as a live ritual, understood as a repertoire performance that constructs immediate authority through body, voice, and situational dynamics; second, the performativity of the kikigaki as textual construction, understood as an archival performance that transforms the ephemeral oral event into an authoritative, transmissible text through formulaic rhetoric, localized adaptation, and systematic arrangement. Integrating methodologies from textual history, rhetorical analysis, ritual theory, and intellectual history, this study demonstrates that the Hyakuza is not a neutral transcript of sermons but a meticulous, intentional act of writing with two fundamental aims: on a cultural level, to hierarchically integrate shinbutsu shūgō (神仏習合) through narrative appropriation; on a social level, to symbolically bind Buddhist merit with the institutional identities of aristocrats such as naishinnō (内親王), ultimately serving the self-affirmation internal cohesion, and cultural demarcation of the elite community from the masses, while simultaneously contributing to the state’s project of constructing a unified ideology in the late Heian period. By examining both cross-civilizational universal logic and specific historical context, this study reveals how the Hyakuza’s dual performativity produces and categorizes knowledge narratives while embedding political power dynamics, offering a critical path for the study of kikigaki-genre literature from discourse analysis to politics of textuality. Full article

Architecture exists at a moment of instability as economic forces narrow professional agency, as knowledge domains challenge disciplinary boundaries, and as calls for decolonisation and sustainability demand epistemological reorientation. Architectural education occupies a strategic position within these dynamics, simultaneously shaped by professional uncertainty and actively constructing alternative futures. This article examines contemporary architectural education as an experiential lens through which a perceptive understanding of how the discipline negotiates transformation can be developed. It draws on a global survey of 345 architecture schools across 159 countries, conducted by the Architectural Education Commission of the International Union of Architects (UIA), and investigates institutional responses to economic constraints, transdisciplinarity, technological transformation, labour precarity, and ethical imperatives. Employing a nine-dimensional framework and six thematic lenses to map global patterns, the findings reveal a convergence–divergence paradox where schools converge around studio pedagogy (78%), national accreditation (92%), and professional degrees (62%), while diverging substantially in thematic priorities. Near-universal engagement with allied disciplines (99%) and SDG integration (88%) contrast sharply with limited efforts at decolonisation (29%) and a health focus (26%), revealing selective adoption of key ethical imperatives. The analysis unveils systematic gaps between declared commitments and enacted practices, with high adoption rates masking shallow implementation, a pattern evidenced by the gap between near-universal SDG declarations (88%) and the persistence of individual-authorship assessment structures (76–78%). Regional patterns reflect resource stratification, reinforcing colonial or dominant knowledge hierarchies. The study concludes that architecture’s agency remains constrained where schools perform transformation rhetorically while reproducing conventional professional formation structurally. Full article

This paper examines the political instrumentalization of Islam under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, highlighting their distinct approaches to consolidating political authority. The concept of Sovereign Islam is introduced to describe how both leaders engaged with Islam, thereby shaping legitimacy, national identity, and state power. Atatürk, in establishing the secular Turkish Republic, sought to place religion under state supervision, viewing it as closely tied to the modernization project. In contrast, Erdoğan has expanded the public role of religion through Islamic and nationalist rhetoric, reintegrating it into political and social life. While their ideological orientations differ significantly, both leaders demonstrate how religion can become intertwined with state authority, influencing political loyalty, public discourse, and institutional structures. This paper suggests that Türkiye’s democratic challenges are better understood not as a consequence of Islam itself but through an analysis of how political actors have engaged with religion in state-building and governance. In doing so, it offers a perspective on the evolving relationship between religion, secularism, and political power in modern Türkiye. Full article

The aim of this article is to provide a new theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing the ethical, relational, and normative dimensions of transgenerational memory work, taking a comparative close reading of two Norwegian second-generation Holocaust family memoirs, Irene Levin’s Vi snakket ikke om Holocaust (2020) and Bjørn Westlie’s Fars krig (2008), as its case in point. Both narratives are simultaneously biographies, autobiographies, and historiographies, and they mediate between family memory and national memory. The authors position themselves as second-generation descendants, addressing and being addressed by their parents, and as Holocaust researchers, addressing and being addressed by a public audience. Departing from the theoretical perspective of relational life writing and Judith Butler’s concepts “scene of address” and “frameworks of recognition”, this comparative literary analysis of rhetorical situations, genres, and modes of narrating discusses the author-narrators’ engagement with their parents’ silence and writings and reveals how personal histories intersect with collective reckoning. By attending to the relational and performative aspects of storytelling, this article highlights how postgeneration literature enacts ethical reflection, recognition, and accountability. Full article

This article proposes a literary and semantic analysis of Surah 12, Yūsuf, centred on the concept of iḥsān (virtue, goodness, or beauty), which reveals the intimate connection between the Qur’ān’s aesthetic value and the veracity of its contents. A close reading of the surah reveals that iḥsān encompasses dream interpretation, wisdom, forbearance, moral excellence, and other prophetic qualities bestowed by God and displayed by Yūsuf throughout the story. Likewise, iḥsān is presented as structurally antithetical to the intrigues (kuyūd, sing. kayd) plotted by the characters of the story, such as Yūsuf’s brothers, or the mistress of the house. These intrigues are explicitly associated with falsehood and deceit, which explains their ultimate failure against Yūsuf, the bearer of iḥsān and the knowledge of truth, and the Divine Decree. This story presents an ethical model which transcends the boundaries of the narrative and is constantly appropriated by the Qur’ān at the metalevel to demonstrate its veracity and its divine origin. Qur’ānic claims such as being the most beautiful of the stories (aḥsan al-qaṣaṣ) are not simply declarations of its unparalleled eloquence, but rhetorical devices that confirm the text’s contents and its authority by constructing a nexus between iḥsān and truth. Full article

This article advances EcoTechnoPolitics as a transformational conceptual and policy recommendation framework for hybridizing digital–green twin transitions under conditions of planetary polycrises. It responds to growing concerns that dominant policy approaches by supranational institutions—including the EU, UN, OECD, World Bank Group, WEF, and G20—remain institutionally siloed, technologically reductionist, and insufficiently attentive to ecological constraints. Moving beyond the prevailing digital–green twin transitions paradigm, the article coins EcoTechnoPolitics around three hypotheses: the need for planetary thinking grounded in (i) anticipatory governance, (ii) hybridization, and (iii) a transformational agenda beyond cosmetic digital–green alignment. The research question asks how EcoTechnoPolitics can enable planetary thinking beyond digital–green twin transitions under ecological and technological constraints. Methodologically, the study triangulates (i) an interdisciplinary literature review with (ii) a place-based analysis of two socially cohesive city-regions—the Basque Country and Portland (Oregon)—and (iii) a macro-level policy analysis of supranational digital and green governance frameworks. The results show that, despite planetary rhetoric around sustainability and digitalization, prevailing policy architectures largely externalize ecological costs and consolidate technological power. Building on this analysis, the discussion formulates transformational policy recommendations. The conclusion argues that governing planetary-scale ecotechnopolitical systems requires embedding ecological responsibility within technological governance. Full article

YouTube is a de facto learning environment for athletes seeking fast, actionable nutritional guidance, yet platform dynamics may favor simplified or testimonial narratives over evidence-aligned messages. This study maps Spanish-language sports-nutrition videos to clarify who is most visible, how advice is framed, and what users encounter first. We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-methods study of 558 YouTube videos on pre/post-exercise nutrition and supplementation. Data was coded for video types (divulgation/testimonial), claim presence, evidence links, and creator status (professional/non-professional). Exposure-adjusted metrics (View Ratio, Viewer Interaction) and nonparametric tests summarized distributions. An undirected network generated centrality rankings to select qualitative samples. Thematic analysis of titles and descriptions identified recurring rhetorical patterns and discourse modes. Divulgation videos predominated (97.3%). Evidence links were rare (0.2%). Exposure and interaction were right-skewed, indicating concentrated visibility. Non-professionals produced most videos, with older uploads and higher daily view accrual; however, interaction per view was similar across groups. Qualitative synthesis revealed two dominant discourse modes, scientific–cautious and experience–testimonial. Oversimplification and motivational cues clustered in testimonial/non-professional items; instructional language and scarce evidence links concentrated in professional/divulgation items. In Spanish sports-nutrition content, visibility is concentrated, and creator identity shapes advice framing. Evidence-aligned messages can compete when expressed with clear athletic framing, explicit caveats, and links to trustworthy sources. Full article

Nahj al-Balāghah is widely recognized as a foundational and authoritative scripture in Shia Islam. One notable aspect of Nahj al-Balāghah is the deliberate selection and structured arrangement of Ḥadiths. According to the book’s introduction, al-Raḍī explains that he chose the Ḥadiths based on literary considerations. An analysis comparing the selected Ḥadiths with their full versions suggests their inclusion was determined not only by eloquence and rhetorical value but also by conceptual significance. Through textual and descriptive analytical methods, this study examines the author’s motives, especially his political and religious aims, in incorporating materials related to ʿĀisha. A comparison of the relevant ḥadīths in Nahj al-Balāghah and other historical sources indicates that Sayyid Raḍī omitted—or at least refrained from including—certain statements attributed to ʿAlī regarding the Prophet Muḥammad’s youngest wife. The omitted parts concern ʿĀisha’s inconsiderate behavior, grudges, sins, following Satan, and ignoring the Prophet’s prediction. Considering sectarian conflicts between Shiites and Sunnis in the 3rd and 4th centuries AH, some arising from criticisms of ʿĀisha’s conduct and sometimes escalating into violence, al-Raḍī, the supreme judge appointed by the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate, was compelled to omit and censor ʿAli’s harsh remarks about ʿĀisha to prevent further sectarian tensions. Full article

Today, foundation models simulate humans’ skills in translation, literature review, fact checking, fake-news detection, novel and poetry production. However, generative AI can also be applied to discourse analysis. This study instructed the Gemini 2.5 model to analyze multimodal political discourse. We selected some fragments from the Trump–Zelensky debate held at the White House on 28 February 2025 and annotated each sentence, gesture, intonation, gaze, and facial expression in terms of LEP (Logos, Ethos, Pathos) analysis to assess when speakers, in words or body communication, rely on rational argumentation, stress their own merits or the opponents’ demerits, or express and try to induce emotions in the audience. Through detailed prompts, we asked the Gemini 2.5 model to run the LEP analysis on the same fragments. Then, considering the human’s and model’s annotations in parallel, we proposed a metric to compare their respective analyses and measure discrepancies, finally tuning an optimized prompt for the model’s best performance, which in some cases outperformed the human’s analysis: an interesting application, since the LEP analysis highlights deep aspects of multimodal discourse but is highly time-consuming, while its automatic version allows us to interpret large chunks of speech in a fast but reliable way. Full article

Classical Arabic poetry played a powerful social role in Arab society, particularly during the Jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic) period, due to its high level of eloquence (faṣāḥa) and balāgha. Within this poetic tradition—shaped around themes such as heroism (ḥamāsah), boasting (fakhr), satire (hijā’), and love (tashbīb)—‘aṣabiyya occupied a central position as a means of constructing and preserving tribal identity through language. Poets exalted their own tribes and disparaged rival ones by employing persuasive and emotionally charged expression. With the revelation of the Qur’an in 610 CE, this literary and cultural heritage, grounded in aesthetic and expressive power, was reconfigured within a new religious framework. The Qur’an’s challenge-oriented discourse entered into direct interaction with existing poetic sensibilities. Against this background, the present study examines the transformation of ‘aṣabiyya in classical Arabic poetry during the early Islamic period. It offers a comparative analysis of lineage-centered ‘aṣabiyya in Jāhiliyya poetry and the emergence of an ummah-centered discourse of unity in Islamic poetry, drawing on poems by different poets from both periods. Using content analysis, rhetorical text analysis, and inductive methods, the study demonstrates that the Qur’an’s influence on Arabic poetry was neither uniform nor one-dimensional but significantly shaped poetic themes and authorial attitudes. By focusing on ‘aṣabiyya, the article aims to contribute to a renewed understanding of the Qur’an–poetry relationship in early Islam. Full article

Disinformation has become established as a strategic tool in political communication, with the capacity to erode public trust and undermine democratic quality. In an information environment increasingly mediated by artificial intelligence, it is essential to understand how the media articulates disinformation discursively. This study analyses, using a mixed design of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, 178 articles published in the five main Spanish digital newspapers (El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, El Español and Eldiario.es), comparing the treatment of two cases of alleged political corruption. The results show significant differences in volume, journalistic genre, tone, framing, and use of disinformation terminology, confirming that the media do not act as neutral transmitters but rather as discursive actors that use disinformation lexicon for the purposes of attack, defence, or ideological legitimisation. There is also a predominance of emotional tones and rhetorical strategies that favour polarisation. Full article

Inclusive education is at the forefront of transnational policy agendas. Yet, normative, deficit-oriented disability discourses and institutional gaps continue to shape how inclusion is enacted in schools, often displacing extensive and unacknowledged labour onto families, especially mothers. Drawing on feminist theories of invisible work, this article critically examines the everyday labour performed by mothers of disabled children as they navigate inclusive education systems in Alberta, Canada. Situated within a broader collective case study, this analysis asks: What forms of invisible work do mothers undertake in pursuit of inclusion within education systems labelled as inclusive? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mothers of disabled children. Reflexive thematic analysis illuminated four intersecting dimensions of invisible work: (1) working within the system, (2) working to fit the system, (3) crafting system workarounds, and (4) working above and beyond the system. These forms of work reveal how inclusive education systems rely on mothers to bridge the gap between policy rhetoric and lived experiences. Findings illuminate how mothers’ invisible work simultaneously sustains, negotiates, and resists systemic ableism, highlighting the need to recognize and redistribute this work and reimagine inclusion as a shared structural responsibility rather than an individual, maternal pursuit. Full article

Effective communication is essential for professional practice, yet medical curricula rarely incorporate systematic, performance-based training. The Sell Yourself!—Presentation Techniques course was developed to address this gap through a two-day, practice-oriented program integrating rhetorical training, evolutionary psychology, and structured peer feedback. We examined anonymized institutional evaluations from 450 medical students using descriptive statistics and combined inductive–deductive thematic and content coding to gauge the perceived educational utility of the course. The course received a mean satisfaction rating of 9.6/10, with approximately 74% of students assigning the maximum score. Inductive analysis identified interactivity (143 mentions), practical usefulness (76), feedback and improvement (75), positive atmosphere (51), instructor quality (47), and multimedia examples (37) as key strengths, while critiques primarily concerned breaks and scheduling (62), course length and intensity (59), and smaller concerns regarding feedback processes, content structure, and technical issues. Deductive coding indicated perceived improvements across five predefined dimensions: increased confidence, rhetorical fluency, feedback quality, peer recognition, and cultural inclusivity. Structured rhetorical training appears to be well received by learners and may provide a feasible model for embedding communication competence in medical education. These findings also offer a transferable template for integrating performance-based communication training into other programs. However, conclusions are limited by reliance on self-reported perceptions and the absence of a control group or direct assessment of applied communication outcomes. Full article

This study explores the Qurʾānic portrayal of al-ḥūr al-ʿīn in relation to pre-Islamic poetic traditions, with a particular focus on Imruʾ al-Qays’s Muʿallaqa—a foundational text in Arabic love poetry. It aims to examine how the Qurʾān reconfigures familiar expressions of female beauty—such as al-luʾluʾ al-maknūn, qāṣirātu al-ṭarf, kawāʿib atrāban, ʿuruban, and abkāran—within a spiritual and eschatological framework. The research problem centers on understanding the rhetorical and semantic shift from the sensual, body-centered depictions of women found in Imruʾ al-Qays’s couplet to the morally elevated and symbolically charged representations presented in the Qurʾān. Using a comparative textual analysis method, the study draws on classical tafsīr literature and selected passages from Muʿallaqa to trace the semantic transformation of key terms and metaphors. The findings demonstrate that while the Qurʾān retains the linguistic forms and imagery familiar to its audience—including poetic conventions of beauty from Imruʾ al-Qays—it redirects them toward a higher moral and theological purpose. Female beauty becomes not a site of fleeting desire, but a symbol of divine reward, integrating physical perfection with spiritual purity. Ultimately, the research argues that the Qurʾān does not reject the aesthetic legacy of pre-Islamic poetry, but absorbs and elevates it, establishing a new rhetorical paradigm grounded in revelation and ethical transcendence. This study encourages further comparative research between Qurʾānic discourse and early Arabic poetry to illuminate the cultural and expressive transformations shaped by Islam. Full article