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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 12:3 (2021) ► pp.437–460

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Sancte et sapienter

Joint fantasizing as the interactional practice of micro and macro contextual understanding

 | University of Łódź | Sechenov University
Published online: 5 July 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18043.ind
Abstract
The practice of joint fantasizing concerns interacting participants’ collective construction of imaginary realities with internal consistency and coherence. Based on a corpus of conversations held by an informal Italian prayer community of elderly Catholic women, this contribution aims to show that joint fantasizing is not necessarily a humorous activity and is embedded in the participants’ social and personal background. The analysis also indicates that through joint fantasizing the participants conceptualize themselves as victims and idealized opponents of the unfair present and past societies. Framing joint fantasizing as a cross-contextual activity of social criticism allows us to understand that the participants use this interactional practice as an activity endowed with moral suffering and responsibility. This rhetorical seriousness contrasts with other studies in which joint fantasies are generally connected with playful, jocular and laughable practices.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.Dataset, participants and context
  • 4.Data analysis
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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2025. Visio Colletiva: The Role of Joint Fantasizing in Qualitative Social Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 24 DOI logo
Sinkeviciute, Valeria
2024. Multimodal joint fantasising as a category‑implicative and category‑relations‑implicative action in online multi‑party interaction. Internet Pragmatics 7:1 ► pp. 101 ff. DOI logo
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Poppi, Fabio Indìo Massimo
2023. Non serviam: Narrative dimensions of organized crime resistance and susceptibility. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 75 ► pp. 100627 ff. DOI logo
Poppi, Fabio Indìo Massimo
2024. Per imaginem ad Veritatem: joint fantasizing of crime. Criminal Justice Studies 37:2 ► pp. 99 ff. DOI logo
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2025. Resistentia feminarum in visionibus: Joint fantasizing as a practice of migrant women’s narrative resistance to the Caporalato system. International Review of Victimology 31:3 ► pp. 424 ff. DOI logo

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