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Given the exponential increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide, it has become critical to examine the experiences of refugees; particularly their identity, since it is an important marker of their adjustment to the new context. Besides other factors impacting their identity and adjustment, the role of the leader is important as it can impact the construction of refugee identities. This paper explores the construction and negotiation of Tibetan refugee identities through the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and erstwhile political leader of the Tibetans. It is postulated that leaders are entrepreneurs of identity who shape identity construction and negotiation. With an emphasis on the social, political, and historical context, three kinds of sources are analysed using a discourse‐historical approach to understand how leaders function as entrepreneurs of identity across the various contexts and negotiate identity construction across the shifting contexts. First, 12 speeches by the Dalai Lama on 10 critical events in Tibetan history since 1959; second, six speeches by the Dalai Lama for Tibetan Uprising Day (1961–2009); and third, two international interviews (CNN, 2009; BBC, 2012). The analysis demonstrates that the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama has strong elements of protection towards the ingroup, that is, the Tibetan refugees, through the crafting of a collective sense of identity for Tibetans. The study sheds new light on the nature of refugee leadership, acknowledging the impact of the shifting nature of identity, from a native citizen to refugee; and the leader's identity entrepreneurship in these evolving and often malleable contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural relations benefit from the social psychological study of arguments made by different groups about joint projects of mutual concern. This focus allows researchers to map representations of the project in question, among communities in different cultural milieus. This paper presents a study looking at Arabs' views on the project of integration. Arabs' perspectives revolved around six argumentative themes: cultural, economic, psychological, religio‐cultural, socio‐political or stigma‐related. After comparing all claims on integration across the communities involved (the Arab minority and the Maltese majority), we describe Arabs' positive, negative and mixed/ambivalent socio‐political claims in detail, complementing a previous study on majority views. This enables a discussion of Arabs' perspectives in view of the semiotic resources relevant to localised intercultural relations. Arabs' argumentative themes clearly reflect three key patterns: (a) social representation of integration as difficult but necessary, (b) minority representation of the majority group as being resistant to integration and (c) de‐essentialism of ingroup and outgroup. These patterns contrast with the majority members' arguments in significant ways. Findings are discussed theoretically in view of how minority arguments re‐present social processes to advance or resist intercultural projects, and substantively in terms of the application of these findings for ameliorating intercultural relations in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This qualitative research project set out to explore how, and by what means, participation in group clinical supervision might impact nurses. It aimed to describe participant perceptions of the processes within a long running reflective practice group for intensive care nurses and explore these in relation to relevant theory. Background: Interpersonal aspects of care are central to the nursing role, however, the associated emotional labour can develop into moral distress, compassion fatigue and burnout. Australia's peak nursing and midwifery bodies have released a joint position statement on the importance of supervision for nurses. Group supervision interventions, such as reflective practice groups, mitigate stress, promote learning and support interpersonal aspects of nursing. Method: Twenty-two intensive care nurses from a reflective practice group that had been running for 10 years, participated in focus groups convened by an independent researcher. Thematic analysis identified key perceptions relating to process and outcomes. Results: Group identification, voluntary participation and skilled facilitation created an enabling environment for nurses to self-disclose. The sense of universality experienced by participants, along with increased empathy, enabled reflection and selfevaluation relevant to the group prototype of the ideal nurse. Authentic emotional expression was seen to provide respite from emotional labour, thereby regenerating resources for nurses to cope with job demands. Discussion: Key themes can be aligned to social psychology constructs of group identity, task interdependence and homogeneity, supporting earlier studies that suggest group cohesion is comprised of measurable factors. By developing and aligning with these constructs, the facilitator assists the group to establish a safe space whilst conceptualising and aspiring to a model for the professional and compassionate nurse. Conclusion: Social psychology constructs can help develop practice and research of group supervision for nurses. In clinical nursing settings, group identity is particularly salient and facilitator interventions should aim to strengthen this. The development of a AUTHORS DEBBIE J RESCHKE BEc GDipDevAdmin MPopSt1 CHRIS DAWBER Ma MH Nursing, Ma MH Psychotherapy, Cert Dev Psych, MHN Cred2 PRUDENCE M MILLEAR PhD, Ba Psychology (Honours) 1 LUIGI MEDORO DClinPsych, PostGrad Dip Psych, BA2 1 School of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia 2 Mental Health and Addiction Service, Sunshine Coast University Hospital & Health Service, Queensland, Australia CORRESPONDING AUTHOR CHRIS DAWBER Sunshine Coast University Hospital & Health Service PO Box 367, Golden Beach, QLD, Australia 4551. Email: Chris.Dawber@health.qld.gov.au Group clinical supervision for nurses: process, group cohesion and facilitator effect sense of universality, when combined with voluntary participation and a focus on intra-group process, can enhance cohesion and create a safe space for selfdisclosure. This enables nurses to explore actions and responses to clinical situations and explore emotions incongruent with the ideal nurse prototype, thereby promoting restorative and formative benefits. Implications for research, policy, and practice: This study adds to our understanding of processes in group clinical supervision for nurses and suggests that it is appropriate to apply social identity theory to improve practice and research. It will be of interest to nurses and nursing leaders who wish to develop supervision programs. What is already known about this topic? • Compassion fatigue, emotional labour and moral distress contribute to nurse burnout. • Group Clinical Supervision can help mitigate stress, enhance learning and support interpersonal aspects of nursing care. • The supervisory alliance is an important factor in effective clinical supervision whilst group cohesion is an important factor in the effectiveness of group work. What this paper adds: • Reflective Practice Groups (RPG) are defined as a form of Group Clinical Supervision that utilise social support as a resource. • RPG facilitation principles are aligned with social psychology constructs of group identity, task interdependence and homogeneity. • Alliance with the facilitator and cohesion within the group, enhanced by voluntary participation and facilitation techniques, allow group members to access restorative and formative benefits whilst prompting self-evaluation against the group ideal nursing prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I highlight key differences between a discourse analytic approach to women’s accounts of abortion and that taken by the growing body of research that seeks to explore and measure women’s experiences of abortion stigma. Drawing on critical analyses of the conceptualisation of stigma in other fields of healthcare, I suggest that research on abortion stigma often risks reifying it by failing to consider how identities are continually re-negotiated through language-use. In contrast, by attending to language as a form of social action, discursive psychology makes it possible to emphasise speakers’ capacity to construct “untroubled” (i.e. non-stigmatised) identities, while acknowledging that this process is constrained by the contexts in which talk takes place. My analysis applies these insights to interviews with women concerning their experiences of having an abortion in England. I highlight three forms of discursive work through which women navigate “trouble” in their accounts of abortion, and critically consider the resources available for meaning-making within this particular context of talk. In doing so, I aim to provoke reflection about the discursive frameworks through which women’s accounts of abortion are solicited and explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two complementary explanations have been offered by social psychologists to account for the universal hold of national identity, first that national identity is ideologically assumed, as it forms the 'banal' background of everyday life, and second that national identity is 'hotly' constructed and contested in political and everyday settings to great effect. However, 'banal' and 'hot' aspects of national identity have been found to be distributed unevenly across national and subnational groups and banality itself can be strategically used to distinguish between different groups. The present paper develops these ideas by examining possible reasons for these different modes and strategies of identity expression. Drawing upon intergroup theories of minority and majority relations, we examine how a group who see themselves unequivocally as a minority, Irish Travellers, talk about their national identity in comparison to an age and gender-matched sample of Irish students. We find that Travellers proactively display and claim 'hot' national identity in order to establish their Irishness. Irish students 'do banality', police the boundaries and reputation of Irishness, and actively reject and disparage proactive displays of Irishness. The implications for discursive understandings of identity, the study of intra-national group relations and policies of minority inclusion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the talk of three senior figures from the Palestinian Hamas political movement. Data are drawn from a series of journalistic interviews that were conducted in the months leading up to the invasion of Gaza by Israel in December 2007. Using membership categorization analysis, we explore the membership categories and category-bound attributes that interviewers use in questions about responsibility for potentially culpable actions and the ways that these are taken up, challenged, or reworked by interviewees in presenting their own versions. The analytic findings show that interviewers deploy categories bound up with terrorism while interviewees develop alternative categorizations of resistance. Interviewers construct Palestinians as victims of Hamas' actions while interviewees construct them as victims of Israeli aggression and international indifference. In warranting these alternative constructions, the interviewees contrast current behaviours of the international community with those of the past and align current Palestinian actions with those previously taken by Western nations in resisting illegitimate occupations. Through these descriptions of categories and actions, the interviewees attribute to the wider international community responsibility for addressing the events of the ongoing conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers one theme in the contemporary legacy of Potter and Wetherell's (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology. It overviews the context that led to that book and considers a series of critical responses from both experimental and critical/qualitative social psychologists. It refutes criticisms and corrects confusions. Focusing on contemporary discursive psychology, it highlights (a) its rigorous use of records of actual behaviour; (b) its systematic focus on normative practices. In methodological terms, it (a) highlights limitations in the use of open-ended interviews; (b) considers the way naturalistic materials provide access to participants' own orientations and displays; (c) builds a distinctive logic of sampling and generalization. In theoretical terms, it (a) highlights the way discourse work can identify foundational psychological matters; (b) offers a novel approach to emotion and embodiment; (c) starts to build a matrix of dimensions which are central to the constructing and recognizing of different kinds of social actions. It now offers a fully formed alternative social psychology which coordinates theory and method and a growing body of empirical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the relationship between Islam and the secular aspects of society which differentiate Islamic societies from other states. Bound up with this question is the issue of the extent to which Islamists challenge proposals that religion should be 'set aside' when people act as citizens by arguing that Islam embraces the whole of life. Using discourse analysis we examine extracts from media interviews with leaders of the Islamist Hamas movement about Islam and its application within the Gaza strip. The interviewees construct religion as being congruent with existing social practices within Gaza. This allows interviewees to make three claims: that the introduction of Islam will make no difference to existing society, that Islam will be tolerant of existing social practices, and that potentially criticisable political acts should be viewed in civic rather than religious terms. By so doing, the interviewees display sensitivity to potential distinctions between religious and civic practices and attend to inferences that might arise in respect of inter-group relations. Constructions of religion and of civic society can thus be viewed as participants' rather than analysts' concerns and should be examined for their functions within both distal and local contexts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the concept of ideological dilemmas in order to explore how a sample of young people constructed potentially contrary themes of liberal citizenship in discussions of un/employment. The study took place in the context of recent policy developments in the UK which have sought to place a renewed emphasis upon notions of responsible citizenship in relation to both welfare and education policy. A total of 58 participants were interviewed in 24 semi-structured group interviews. In response to direct questions on un/employment, participants could resolve dilemmas concerning welfare rights and the responsibility to contribute to society by emphasizing a criterion of effortfulness, thereby adopting a primarily individualistic explanation of unemployment. In other contexts however, this could be replaced by an emphasis on social explanations of unemployment. In particular, participants could treat immigration as a cause of unemployment. These findings are interpreted in terms of people's capacity to construct rhetorical strategies based upon different ideological themes in particular contexts. They are discussed in relation to previous research on social policy discourse and recent debates regarding the appropriateness of seeking to identify ideological themes in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue for a social psychological approach to citizenship which focuses on how social actors define competent and legitimate polity membership, together with the associated rights and responsibilities that this entails. A perspective based on the principles of rhetorical psychology is adopted in order to explore these issues in an analysis of a sample of young people's talk about issues of immigration to the UK. Analysis considers how matters of 'race', national identity and culture were oriented to and constructed during the interviews. We then explore how rights and responsibilities concerning cultural expression, interpersonal civility/courtesy and (implicitly acultural) legal frameworks were articulated as practical criteria for judgements about competent and legitimate polity membership. These findings are discussed in relation to existing social psychological work on issues such as racism and national identity, with a view to situating these matters within an overarching concern for the construction of polity membership. We conclude by briefly considering the implications of these findings for contemporary debates concerning citizenship education in the UK. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]