User:Mxrwho/The Final Project/Thesis

Outline

Working title: I've Gone Back a Thousand Times

A first-person narration in a piece that could be broadly characterized literary non-fiction. Memories, shards of (self-)reflection, pieces of theory from various disciplines (phenomenology, sociology, linguistics, art theory etc) come together to express with the use of a personal yet all-encompassing story − revolving around labeling, stereotyping and its relation to self-image − the spiraling nature of change and the importance of repetition when it comes to the establishment as well as the rejection of labels. Performativity and repetition will be equally evident in the format and the content of the story, as central elements in the establishment and subverting of biases.

Chapter One

Where it all began. A flashback to growing up in a specific society at a certain time. The labeling that came along, the personal reaction and fight against it.

Chapter Two

Fast forward to today. What challenges is the same person facing today? Are the old issues still somehow relevant and what kind of stereotyping is particular to the aging individual? Personal and wider view, movements, changing perceptions.

Chapter Three

The best possible scenario for the future and examples of it in the new generation. What needs to be done. Methods, helpful techniques on the personal and the social level.

Ultimate Research Goals

(1) Examine how consistent negative labeling affects the individual.

(1) Examine how awareness, establishment of new habits and positive narratives affect building resilience against negative labeling.

(2) Examine how repetition bias and the cultivation of empathy foster positive stereotyping.

(3) Examine the effect of positive vs negative labeling.

References

Blomberg, J. & Zlatev, J. (2021) 'Metalinguistic relativity: Does one’s ontology determine one’s view on linguistic relativity?’, Language and Communication, 76(4), pp. 35-46. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2020.09.007 (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

A phenomenologist approach on language as a contextually situated and experientially grounded semiotic system.

Cooley, C. H. (1922), Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Available at: https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Cooley/Cooley_1902/Cooley_1902toc.htm (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

The dynamics of society and the concept of the "looking-glass self" or how the individual internalizes other people's views (true or perceived) and behaves accordingly.

Fellows, J. (2023) 'Making Up a Mimic: Interacting with Echoes in the Age of AI' (2024), Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science, 15, pp. 1-18. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376670787_Making_Up_a_Mimic_Interacting_with_Echoes_in_the_Age_of_AI (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

Labeling in the age of AI, its categorizing power and our reduced resistance.

Hacking, I. (2006) ‘Making Up People’, London Review of Books, 17 August. Available at: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

Institutional labeling and the fluidity of diagnoses.

Hassan, A. and Barber, S.J. (2021) ‘The effects of repetition frequency on the illusory truth effect’, Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), p. 38. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00301-5.

How repetition affects beliefs of truth.

Leech, G. (1985) Semantics. The study of meaning, Suffolk: Penguin Books, (first ed. 1974, Pelican). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/43763992/Geoffrey_leech_semantics_the_study_of_meaning?source=swp_share (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

How words and language acquire their meaning. Especially important is the classification of "meaning" in categories:

Conceptual, connotative, social, affective, reflected, collocative, thematic.

Lyons, J. (2009) Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (first ed. 1981). Available at: https://ocd.lcwu.edu.pk/cfiles/English/Maj/Eng-204/kupdf.net_john-lyons-language-and-linguistics-an-introduction1.pdf (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

Distinction between descriptive and non-descriptive meaning. The impossibility of defining "meaning" in semantic terms. Main question: What is the meaning of meaning?

Moncrieffe, J., Eyben, R. (ed.)(2007) The Power of Labelling: How People are Categorized and Why it Matters, London: Earthscan.

How labelling works and how it affects the behavior of the ones labelled.

Moskaluk, K., Zlatev, J. & Weijer, J. van de (2002) '“Dizziness of Freedom”: Anxiety Disorders and Metaphorical Meaning-making', Metaphor and Symbol, 37(4), pp. 303-322. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364981263_Dizziness_of_Freedom_Anxiety_Disorders_and_Metaphorical_Meaning-making (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

Stress as a novelty factor in the creation of metaphor.

Palmer, F.R. (1997) Semantics. A new outline, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (first ed. 1976). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/42620758/Palmer_f_r_semantics_a_new_outline (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

The difference between conceptual and social meaning.

Smith Galer, S. (2021) 'The languages with built-in sexism', BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210408-the-sexist-words-that-are-harmful-to-women (Accessed: 22 November 2024).

How language affects the way we perceive the world (and gender), with examples from different languages.