The paper identifies 'the atmospheric grid of cruising on the high seas' as collective basis for the individual atmospheric perception. Embedded in the current academic discourse on research involving atmospheres, we developed a theoretical concept that is tailored to the particular characteristics of cruise ships. Practical experiences, empirical analysis and discursive introspections show that the atmospheric grid can be broken down into the five dimensions of 'movement', 'disappearing', 'reflection', 'simulation' and 'guidance'. Since the analytically recognized atmospheric dimensions overlap, the 'atmospheric grid' is experienced as a whole on cruise ships. This forms the basis for each passenger's individual atmospheric perception of cruising on the high seas. Zusammenfassung: Der Aufsatz erarbeitet das ‚atmosphärische Gitter der Kreuzfahrt auf hoher See' als gemeinsame Basis zur individuellen Wahrnehmung des Atmosphärischen. Eingebettet in den aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Diskurs der Atmosphärenforschung wurde ein theoretischer Entwurf konzipiert, der auf die Besonderheiten des Ortes Kreuzfahrtschiff zugeschnitten ist. Im Zuge der lebensweltlichen Erfahrungen, der empirischen Analysen und der diskursiven Introspektionen konnten die fünf Dimensionen ‚Bewegen', ‚Entschwinden', ‚Spiegeln', ‚Simulieren' und ‚Führen' isoliert werden: Auf Kreuzfahrtschiffen herrscht ein ‚atmosphärisches Gitter' vor, in dem sich die analytisch erkannten atmosphärischen Dimensionen überlagen und als Ganzes wahrgenommen werden. Dies erzeugt die Basis für Passagiere zur individuellen atmosphärischen Wahrnehmung auf Kreuzfahrten.

This paper explores the significance of collective narratives for a particular diasporic community. The analysis demonstrates that addressing narratives is important not only to ensure understanding between old and new members, but also to expand societal acceptance and provide adequate formal assistance to sub-ethnic communities. The Kfarsghab community, whose members identify with a Maronite village in the Wadi Qadisha (Holy Valley) in Lebanon, is a suitable case study, especially due to the high commitment of certain members who disseminate information and stories. I analyzed digital platforms, searched in archives, and conducted qualitative interviews with community members in five countries. Using a qualitative content analysis, I inductively generated categories to examine why certain members are particularly dedicated to (re)producing collective narratives as well as to understand the core themes and morals of stories. The analysis illustrates why members act as community librarians, storytellers, external messengers, and social reporters to share myth and legends that have different effects: Narratives about group solidarity convey implicit imperatives that secure the existence and transformation of a community. The normative messages enable a mutual understanding and foster everyday support among long-term and potential new members. Stories that highlight the ethnic identity ensure differentiation from other sub-ethnic groups and strengthen the cohesion among members with hybrid identities. Hereby, members preserve the remembrance of a common origin as a central identity element even if the actual descent is not decisive for membership. Other narratives emphasize societal inclusion by portraying successful members as role models. Overall, collective narratives prevent the disintegration of diasporic communities with the potential to counter negative stereotypes attributed to ethnic groups perceived as an entity. Diasporic communities should be acknowledged as a stabilizing element of societies, as they promote social recognition of members and function as a counterbalance to experienced racial discrimination.

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This is a study of the Swedish debate on statues and monuments to the world-famous Swedish natural scientist Carl Linnaeus that took place during the Black Lives Matter movement breakthrough in the summer of 2020. The purpose is to examine how understandings of race, racism, identity, and history were articulated in the debate. The empirical material consists of Twitter posts and newspaper editorials, which we approach through thematic analysis complemented with discourse analysis of illustrative examples and excerpts. Theoretically, we conceptualize the debate as a case of a Swedish racialized memory war. The results show that discourse participants constructed the terms of the debate as a matter of being “for” or “against” Linnaeus’ legacy, and consequently as a matter of being for or against science, reason, progress, and a supposedly non-ideological historiography, rather than as a matter of qualitatively renegotiating how we selectively remember and celebrate historical persons and legacies, and formulate tendentious narratives of the past that serve present agendas. In this memory war, discourse participants mainly representing the white majority population of Sweden mobilized a defense of a “canonized” understanding of Linnaeus’ legacy on the editorial pages of the Swedish newspapers and on Twitter. This defense, we argue, supports an ongoing effort to absolve Swedes of any substantial complicity in European and Western racism and colonialism. In effect, what is defended is a white-washed use and understanding of history – a status quo that largely remains unchallenged in Sweden.

The experiences of cruise ship passengers are influenced by cinematic representations and intensified and (re)produced by cruise operators. This paper conceptualises cinematic cruising as a phenomenon of reel and real spaces between imagination and experience for pleasure on the high seas. To date, the influence of cinematic representations on the experience of cruise passengers has not yet been studied in detail. To address this, our argument builds on the comparability of cinemas and cruise ships. They share similar characteristics as modern and postmodern places, as heterotopias, and as places of dreams. Both are places of illusion, places of compensation, and places where one can escape from everyday life; they take moviegoers and passengers to their places of desire. The following analysis illustrates the impact that films, television series and docu-series have on passengers’ imaginations who physically experience film-like situations on cruise ships. When compared to cinemas, the perception there is not limited to just audiovisual factors. Building on this, cinematic cruising might fulfil the dreams, desires, and longings of passengers, at least on the level of imagination.