ART. 1 – METHODOLOGICAL OBJECTIVE
The collaboration proposal between actors and researchers in the Research Group goes far beyond the pure transfer of knowledge. The projects that will be carried out will be based on a research-intervention methodology that generates exchanges in a double sense: the proposition of theories, models, concepts, indicators and research methods that can be useful for identifying the priorities on which to intervene and testing them, verifying the validity of the application and the usefulness of the results. This will give rise to a process of “Learning on the Go” that can transform intervention and research methodologies.
The salient aspects on which the work of the Research Group will be based are the following:
Integration and coordination of interventions. Plan research and interventions, as well as resources (tangible and intangible) with an interdisciplinary orientation through the participation of different disciplines and sectors involved in a balanced way according to the characteristics of the problem, thus facilitating a global overview.
Network Development. Promote the creation of operational links among the various Research Group member of different universities and research centres that organise activities for the promotion of research and interventions that, on the one hand, aim to support occasions for reflection and debate, and on the other hand, the realization of protocols and joint action programs.
Stimulus for Action. Research Group takes on the responsibility to stimulate action, above all where there is ongoing research and understanding of changes in reality.
Advocacy and Awareness-raising. It is necessary to develop a public and collective support plan (sharing) around research and interventions, to which awareness-raising campaigns will often have to be linked with the aim of improving the transparency of results, both of research and interventions, facilitating decision making. and helping to make this happen in a more participatory and democratic way.
The Research Group must be configured as a platform for collaboration, experimentation and permanent transfer between researchers and local actors (where possible), promoting the creation and refinement of methodological objectives of research-intervention based on these aspects, to enhance and strengthen the development of territories and identities through participation and sharing.
ART. 2 – RESEARCH AREAS
All the research areas identified below – each with its own autonomy under the responsibility of the Scientific Coordinator who will be identified as specified in Art. 7 – will have as a common element an interdisciplinary approach to narrative, even if this will be declined by differentiating by research area, while remaining the research areas, each transversal to the other.
Theory, Epistemology, Method: All the socio-cultural phenomena studied in the human and social sciences have obviously reproduced the different positions of the individual disciplines in the analysis of scholars. On the other hand, the recent debate is linked to epistemology and method, focusing on two aspects: the conjugation between theory and empiricism, and the crisis of the social sciences. With regard to the first aspect, it can be observed that theory, empiricism and operations must necessarily be integrated in a functional way in order to project the researcher’s activity in a direction of positive social change and not remain divided as watertight compartments. Therefore, we can no longer speak of the theory-empirical contrast, but of a continuum of interdependencies that goes from theory to operation and usability, passing through research-action. De facto, this approach would also lead to a positive solution to the crisis in the social sciences.
Methodology and Empirical Research: The study approaches of socio-cultural phenomena and the related methodologies adopted must guide the integration of the subjective and objective dimension. The element that links the two dimensions is the interpretation and construction of reality through the relationships between individuals, as well as between the latter, society and culture. As known, many of the theories, schools and study approaches of the social sciences have founded their bases not only on the interpretation and evaluations of cases, but also on the interpretation of reality data, giving rise to what scholars are known as the quantitative / qualitative querelle that is here to be overcome through the use of innovative methodologies.
Culture, Knowledge, Change: Culture is an important factor of human action, since it contains both the rules that govern the group and the characteristics that distinguish the group itself. Culture, on the one hand, allows the legitimation of the action, on the other hand, it has an intrinsic value that is independent of its usability or not. These peculiarities characterize the functions of culture, allowing societies to survive, promoting internal integration and reducing the anxiety that can be triggered in individuals in unforeseen or changing situations. This brings to light a direct relationship between culture, knowledge and social change: in fact, in culture there is always a tension between innovation and the tendency to preserve, which calls into question the idea of the static nature of culture, even – that if it cannot be changed quickly as it happens for other elements of society. Also not negligible in this context are the references to literature and to the different forms of art as an expression of individual and collective conditions and positions, even of claim.
Communication and Information Communication Technologies (ICT): Communication systems are in continuous transformation and are increasingly emerging as propellers of processes that allow companies to maintain their stability over time, but also to face a negotiation or revolution of values as a function of social, economic, cultural and above all transformations. technologies within global scenarios. Today there is a transition from the Network society to the Platform society, with social repercussions that the digital revolution has produced in contemporary societies (both for the macro dimension and for the micro dimension), also modifying the languages that take on different forms and representations also in relation to the exercise of power.
Politics, Conflict, Participation: These three key terms embody the articulated relationship between conflict and participation. To simplify, here the different themes will deal with the problems of political conflict, always connected to participation both as a form of participation itself and as a result of a deficit in the forms of institutional representation. However, it will also take into account other forms of participation that go beyond political parties such as movements and associations, but which play a role and action of mobilization within different societies. How these forms of conflict / participation are narrated and by whom they are narrated determines the outcomes in one sense rather than another.
Rights and Development: For this Research Area, the attention, for the first item, turns to the cultural study of law, which does not consider legal language and procedural narratives as tools, but focuses on the symbolic nature of language itself and above all on its plural interpretation. ; for the second, it turns to narration, as a research tool useful for the correct use of available resources and the creation and implementation of territorial development processes, both in an economic and community sense.
ART. 3 – MAIN ACTIVITIES
Promotion of international research projects that allow comparative studies.
Organization of seminars and thematic conferences on the areas and areas of interest of the Research Group – to be carried out both in person and remotely – through which researchers and local actors can exchange their knowledge and points of view.
Reception of postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral students for the preparation of their final thesis and research works in line with the cultural and intellectual interests of the Research Group.
Dissemination of journals and thematic publications also through the implementation of specific actions so that the useful and applicative results reach the territorial actors and decision makers. To this end, a scientific series will also be created (in Italian and English and, if deemed necessary, in other commonly used languages such as Spanish or French) of e-books in OA with Creative Commons License and double blind revision process review called “Narratives and Social Changes” whose governance and structure will follow the provisions of Articles 2 and 6 respectively.
ART. 4 – MATERIALS AND TECHNICAL STAFF
The University of Salerno will allow the shared use of the materials and tools of the Department of Political and Communication Sciences (DiSPC) for the location of the Research Group.
The Research Group will also need the administrative support provided in cases of research funding, the correct management of joint projects, the maintenance of the Research Group‘s databases and publications, the development of IT tools for managing the website and to support researchers.
ART. 5 – MEMBERSHIP
The Narratives and Social Changes-International Research Group (NaSC-IRG) includes researchers (as a founder member) from different disciplines and institutional affairs (national and international) whose main activities fall within the sphere of the human and social sciences as specified in Annex A which is an integral part of this document.
After the constitution, other researchers can be associated at the request of the interested parties according to the model in Annex B (integral part of this document) and only following a positive evaluation of the CV by the Steering Committee, which must be expressed to the unanimity of those present, membership will be effectively formalized.
Any associate member may, at any time, leave the Research Group with written notice to be sent to the Director.
ART. 6 – BODIES
The administrative and scientific governance bodies of the Research Group are: the Director, the Steering Committee and the Scientific Committee.
The Director is identified at the time of constitution in the person who created the project, prof. Emiliana Mangone, as indicated in the premise and will remain in office for 6 years; upon expiry, the Steering Committee will propose the renewal or a new appointment among the researchers belonging to the Department of Political and Communication Sciences of the University of Salerno which is the administrative headquarters of the Research Group. The Director has the task of promoting and coordinating all the activities of the Research Group jointly with the Steering.
The Steering Committee is composed by Director and the Scientific Coordinators of the Research Areas; the latter are also identified at the time of constitution (see Annex A) and remain in office for 6 years, after which a renewal or a new appointment is carried out among the members belonging to the Research Group who are not already responsible for Research Areas. The Steering Committee has the task of assisting the Director in identifying the guidelines of the Research Group and in promoting its activities.
The Scientific Committee is composed by all the members belonging to the Research Group and has a consultative function in the case of the organization of scientific events or the preparation of specific research projects.
ART. 7 – DURATION
The formalization of the Research Group will take place with the resolution of approval by the Council of the Department of Political and Communication Sciences of the University of Salerno (Italy) and will last for 6 (six) years, and is renewable for an equal period, subject to prior decision of the Steering Committee.