To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Discourses.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Discourses'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Discourses.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Yang, Fan. "A Discourse on discours : Habermas, Foucault and the Political/Legal Discourses in China." Thesis, Cachan, Ecole normale supérieure, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015DENS0016/document.
Full textAbstract:
Les questions d’adaptabilité de la démocratie occidentale dans le contexte chinois ont toujours été une préoccupation importante. Cette recherche vise à étudier l’adaptabilité de la démocratie délibérative dans le contexte de la chine en termes de perspective normative. Tout d’abord, on s’est concentré sur la Théorie de discussion de droit et démocratie de Habermas, parce que c’est une des théories normatives de délibération démocratique les plus discutées en Chine aujourd’hui. Compte-tenu de la normativité et de l’idéalité de la théorie de Habermas, la théorie du discours des relations de pouvoir de Foucault est introduite pour illustrer la tension entre différentes théories de discours occidentaux. Puis, afin d’enquêter sur les adaptabilités de ces deux théories du discours dans le contexte chinois et d’équilibrer la tension entre les deux, un autre concept normatif, la rationalité confucéenne, est attirée sur des sources culturelles traditionnelles chinoises. En conséquence, trois dimensions de la théorie du discours, ainsi que les relations entre eux, sont présentés. Certaines descriptions empiriques sur les faits de la Chine historique et politique sont également nécessaires d’utilisation pour expliquer, compléter ou interroger ce cadre théorique. Deux perspectives de tension sont toujours critiques dans toute la recherche : la tension entre universalité et particularité et la tension entre les théories normatives et des faits socio-politiques. Grâce à l’approche des études de texte, ainsi que des études de conception et d’études empirique comme suppléments, la recherche est menée comme suit. Le premier chapitre traite de la tension entre la théorie du discours du droit et de la démocratie de Habermas et les faits sociaux. Le chapitre 2 analyse la tension entre la théorie du discours de Habermas et la théorie du discours de Foucault et plaide en faveur de la remise en question des problèmes de tension. Le troisième chapitre tente de rechercher les ressources dans les cultures politiques traditionnelles chinoises et de proposer une autre théorie normative de discours, la théorie du discours de la rationalité confucéenne, pour équilibrer la tension entre les deux précédentes théories normatives de discours. On fait valoir que le type idéal de rationalité confucéenne (un type normatif de rationalité de valeur) peut être utilisé comme un pont de communication entre les deux théories du discours opposées. Le chapitre 4, par des descriptions empiriques sur l’espace publique et les discussions politiques/juridiques dans la société traditionnelles chinoise, explique la théorie normative proposée au chapitre 3 et tente de réexaminer et de redéfinir les notions d’« espace publique » dans le contexte de la Chine traditionnelle. Enfin, le chapitre 5 se concentre sur les descriptions des discussions politiques et juridiques dans l’espace publique des nouveaux médias de la Chine d’aujourd’hui. C’est une réponse empirique pour toutes les études normatives antérieures, et aussi une enquête sur la tension entre les théories normatives et les expériences sociales. Je soutiens que, en raison des différentes structures cognitives et les différents modes de pensée dans les différentes cultures, il devrait y avoir différents paradigmes normatifs de la démocratie du discours dans les différents contextes culturels, et que la normativité et la réalité sont les deux faces d’une même médaille. Les théories normatives du discours sont des guides pour les pratiques de la démocratie délibérative et les pratiques de la démocratie délibératives peuvent vérifier, compléter ou améliorer les théories normatives du discours. Outre la démonstration des dimensions plurielles de théories du discours, une autre intention pratique de cette thèse est de plaider pour une approche de la démocratie délibérative, qui serait à la fois chinoise et moderneThe adaptability issues of Western democracy in the context of China have always been an important academic concern. This research was intended to study the adaptability of deliberative democracy in the Chinese context in terms of a normative perspective. At the beginning, this research focused on Habermas‘s Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, because it is one of the most discussed normative deliberative democratic theories in China today. Taking into consideration the normativity and ideality of Habermas‘s theory, Foucault‘s discourse theory of power relations is then introduced to illustrate the tensions between different Western discourse theories. In order to investigate the adaptabilities of these two discourse theories in the Chinese context, and to balance the tension between them, another normative concept, namely the Confucian Rationality, is then drawn upon from traditional Chinese cultural sources. Accordingly, these three dimensions of discourse theory, as well as the relations between them, are presented. The employment of some empirical descriptions of certain Chinese historical-political facts is also necessary to explain, to supplement, or to question this theoretic framework. Two tension perspectives are critical throughout the research: the tension between universality and particularity, and the tension between normative theories and social-political facts.Through the approaches of textual studies, aided by conceptual and empirical studies as complements, the research is conducted as following: Chapter 1 discusses the tension between Habermas‘s normative discourse theory of law and democracy and social facts; Chapter 2 analyzes the tension between Habermas‘s discourse theory and Foucault‘s discourse theory of power relations, and proposes to rethink the tension problems. Chapter 3 tries to search for the resources in traditional Chinese political cultures, and to put forward another normative discourse theory- the discourse theory of Confucian rationality- to balance the tension between the foregoing two normative discourse theories. It is argued that an ideal type of Confucian rationality (a kind of normative value rationality) can be used as a bridge between the two opposite discourse theories. Chapter 4 further explains the normative theory that was proposed in Chapter 3, and tries to reexamine and redefine the concepts of ―Public Sphere‖ and ―Deliberative Politics in the context of traditional China through empirical descriptions on the ―Public Sphere‖ and political/legal discussions in traditional Chinese society. Finally,Chapter 5 focuses on the descriptions of the political and legal discussions in China's new media public sphere today. It is an empirical response to all the normative studies mentioned above, and at the same time an investigation on the tensions between the normative theories and the social experiences. We argue that, because of the different cognitive structures and diverse modes of thinking in specific cultures, there should be different normative paradigms of discourse democracy in corresponding cultural contexts. Normativity and reality are the two sides of the same coin. Normative discourse theories serve as the guidance for the practices of deliberative democracy, which can, in its turn, verify, supplement, improve and challenge the normative discourse theories. Apart from demonstrating of the multiple dimensions of discourse theories, another practical intent of this thesis is to promote an approach leading to discourse democracy that would combine elements of both Chinese and modern, consistent with both the fundamental predilections of Chinese civilization, and the practical needs of a modern China
2
Brodscholl, Per Christian. "Negotiating sustainability in the media: critical perspectives on the popularisation of environmental concerns." Thesis, Curtin University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2240.
Full textAbstract:
Despite intensified and concerted efforts to realise sustainable development. Western industrialised countries have in recent years experienced several mass protests against institutions perceived variously to have the potential to govern the global economy in environmentally sustainable or unsustainable ways. This thesis examines how different actors in the news media attempt to legitimate and de-legitimate neoliberal approaches to economic governance on grounds that these approaches are or are not environmentally sustainable. By using a critical discourse analysis perspective to analyse texts produced by actors with competing political commitments (neo-liberal and left-liberal), it discusses how primarily profit-driven generic conventions can govern what can and cannot be said in debates on sustainability. The thesis suggests that the effectiveness of (cultural) politics aimed at legitimating and de-legitimating neo-liberal approaches can be understood in teens of the relationship between an instrumental rationality geared at maximising the effectiveness of existing institutional systems and a communicative rationality geared at achieving understanding.
3
Rodrigues, de Carvalho de Sousa Vasconcelos Ana Cristina. "Defining discourses : discourse and the organisational adaptation of information systems." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2005. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/20473/.
Full textAbstract:
The focus of this thesis is on the constitutive role of discourse in the organisational adaptation of information systems, an important aspect, although not often explored and relatively neglected in the literature, of the information systems development process and, beyond that, of the role of information systems in organisations within a constructivist and dialogical perspective. The thesis explores the dual aspect of how, on one hand, professional discourses define 'worldviews' over information systems and their organisational adaptation and, on the other hand, the premises around which these discourses are constructed and deployed, both in the literature and through an inductive and qualitative case study, based upon Grounded Theory principles. It analyses how different professional discourses explored tensions in the management of the information environment articulated around three major categories of issues, which acted as interpretative repertoires and discursive resources: i) representations of the information environment, expressed through the tension between information centripetalism and information centrifugalism; ii) models of information management approaches, expressed through the tension between a focus on process and a focus on meanings; iii) and, underlying the previous elements, assumptions about the nature and complexity of the environment, strategies for dealing with uncertainty and correlated models of learning and sense-making. These different categories of issues embody different tensions between forces that, it is argued, shaped the particular context of the University environment. In negotiated interaction contexts, different actors made claims to power by exploring different discursive practices leading to the organisational adaptation of information systems. But, while making use of these discursive resources, different actors also established contacts between forces and, agentically shaped different realities, forming new organisational identities and, in doing so, acted as a vehicle for the social re-shaping and adaptation of the organisational role of information systems.
4
Lotz, Amanda Dyanne. "Televising feminist discourses : postfeminist discourse in the post-network era /." Digital version accessible at:, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
Full text
5
Brodscholl, Per Christian. "Negotiating sustainability in the media: critical perspectives on the popularisation of environmental concerns." Curtin University of Technology, Faculty of Media, Society and Culture, 2003. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=13600.
Full textAbstract:
Despite intensified and concerted efforts to realise sustainable development. Western industrialised countries have in recent years experienced several mass protests against institutions perceived variously to have the potential to govern the global economy in environmentally sustainable or unsustainable ways. This thesis examines how different actors in the news media attempt to legitimate and de-legitimate neoliberal approaches to economic governance on grounds that these approaches are or are not environmentally sustainable. By using a critical discourse analysis perspective to analyse texts produced by actors with competing political commitments (neo-liberal and left-liberal), it discusses how primarily profit-driven generic conventions can govern what can and cannot be said in debates on sustainability. The thesis suggests that the effectiveness of (cultural) politics aimed at legitimating and de-legitimating neo-liberal approaches can be understood in teens of the relationship between an instrumental rationality geared at maximising the effectiveness of existing institutional systems and a communicative rationality geared at achieving understanding.
6
Dunne, Linda. "Discourses of inclusion." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2009. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3643/.
Full textAbstract:
Inclusion has become a taken for granted practice of schooling in the UK and it is presented as a fundamental good within a progressive narrative. This study draws on poststructuralist theories and uses discourse analysis as a research approach to interrogate and critique inclusion, to find out what the assumptions are behind it. A main aim was to consider how the contemporary discourse(s) of inclusion, as a body of knowledge, is constructed and constituted in education, and to critically explore its potential effects. This study addresses the question: whose interests are served by the way inclusion is talked about and represented in education in the present context? A range of practitioners who work in education were invited to provide their interpretation of inclusion, either via a drawing and discussion of the drawing, or through an online discussion forum. Their responses formed inter-textual data sets that were then analysed and the discourses that emerged are presented in a reading. Inclusion is read as a contemporary discourse and practice that is characterised by sub-discourses that are constructed within a powerful 'othering' framework. The grids of specification (Foucault, 1972) within its discourse, that are related to re-iterations of special educational needs and a focus on self-esteem, potentially 'other' and exclude. It is suggested that inclusion in the present context is aligned with neo-liberalism, with a focus on the self, self-government and the development of entrepreneurial identities Masschelein and Simons (2002). In this respect, inclusion, as a discourse and practice, appears to serve the neo-liberal interests of the state.
7
Molloy, Claire. "Discourses of anthropomorphism." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2006. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/5858/.
Full text
8
Bernans, David Val. "The postmodernism-post-Marxism nexus, Laclau, Mouffe, Lyotard and Foucault's discourses on discourse." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0012/NQ33520.pdf.
Full text
9
McLean, Stacy Avril. "Negotiating identity in multilingual parliamentary discourses in the Western Cape: a discourse analysis." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/4282.
Full textAbstract:
Magister Artium - MASouth Africa transitioned from an apartheid system of government, with one ruling party to a new democracy; a transition that is still currently in progress. With this transition came many new freedoms, such as the ability to choose and freely express one’s linguistic and cultural preferences, amongst many others. This study analyses the negotiation of identity in constitutionally multilingual parliamentary discourses in the Western Cape in order to create a better understanding of the influence the new South Africa has on the identities constructed in parliamentary discourses whereby polylingualism is used as a linguistic resource. The parliamentary discourse is deemed constitutionally multilingual due to the fact that before 1994, African languages were not considered official, but presently Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa are credited provincial official languages in the Western Cape and are amongst the eleven national official languages. In order to investigate how performative identities are constructed discursively in the relatively new spaces of linguistic democracy, this study conducted a multisemiotic analysis on political manifestos in conjunction with a discourse analysis of a randomly selected Hansard Report of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, which is the only parliament of the national nine to have an alternate political party in government. In collaboration with consulting the Standing Rules of the House, the National Language Policy Framework, the Western Cape Language Policy and observing the actual sitting, scholarly literature pertaining to language use, multisemiotic features and identity negotiation were evaluated to better understand the discursive spaces in which identity is negotiated as well as to achieve the objectives of this study.
10
Young, David Andrew. "Discourses on communication technologies." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0003/NQ42890.pdf.
Full text
11
O'Day, Andrew Sean Dominic. "Borderline discourses : telefantasy metafictions." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.439011.
Full text
12
Seeds, Matthew L. "Discourses in Disanthro Studies." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1511347460756042.
Full text
13
Potgieter, Stephan Andries. "Exploring rock climbing discourses." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2006. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09302008-125706.
Full text
14
Johansson, Elisabeth. "Constructed wetlands and deconstructed discourses : greenhouse gas fluxes and discourses on purifying capacities /." Linköping : Univ, 2002. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp2002/arts253s.pdf.
Full text
15
Holliday, Shabnam. "Discourses and counter-discourses of Iranian national identity during Khatami's presidency (1997-2005)." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/69433.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis expands the discussion on Iranian national identity into the period of Khatami’s presidency. Within the theoretical and methodological framework of discourse analysis this thesis contends that the multiple constructions of Iranian national identity, which coexist and compete with each other, can be better understood as discourses. The detailed analysis of five discourses of national identity illustrates a complex set of relationships based on the meanings attached to Iran’s Islamic and pre-Islamic identities and how the West is dealt with in the construction of national identity. The first discourse addressed is the Islamist discourse of national identity, which prioritises Iran’s Islamic culture. At the opposite end of the spectrum the Iranist discourse, which is based on the prioritisation of Iran’s pre-Islamic culture, is deconstructed. It is contended that this represents a new indigenous Iranism that is based on a rediscovery of Sasanian Iran as opposed to Achaemenid Iran. Khatami’s discourse is presented as an attempt at a dialogue between Islamism and Iranism. It is argued that the Khatami period is unique in terms of the articulation of national identity because Khatami has combined for the first time ideas, which together form the Islamist-Iranian discourse of national identity, as an official state discourse. These are the combination of Islamic and pre-Islamic culture, the notion of ‘dialogue among civilisations’ and the idea of Islamic democracy. While these three discourses are based on the politicisation of culture, two additional discourses are presented that reject this politicisation. The first is a discourse of civic Iranian national identity and the second is a discourse of cosmopolitan Iranian national identity. It is contended that Khatami and his Islamist-Iranian discourse have allowed the more open articulation, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, of these constructions of Iranian national identity.
16
Stewart-Wallace, Adam. "On the plurality of discourses." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/260329.
Full textAbstract:
We talk about the world in different ways; by better understanding the ways we talk, we can better understand the world. Anyone who can appreciate this thought can appreciate the position here called discourse pluralism, or 'pluralism' for short. This covers a family of views in the realism debate, notably those of Michael Dummett (in one guise at least), Crispin Wright and Simon Blackburn. They believe that language is divided up into discourses corresponding to traditional areas of philosophical interest, like ethics, physics, aesthetics and mathematics. They think, moreover, that these can be categorised in terms of various hallowed philosophical notions like truth, belief, knowledge, and objectivity, with different areas accorded different statuses.
17
McSorley, Kevin. "Discourses of the digital divide." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2006. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/798/.
Full text
18
Irving, Adam. "River novel & complementary discourses." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2016. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/617277/.
Full textAbstract:
The complementary discourse explores the function and value of narrative and why mankind seems to have always seen events, connected or unconnected, as stories. It investigates how we process and perceive fiction and compares narratives found in non-fiction, police witness statements, films and diaries to consider why the human brain seems hard-wired to transform events into narrative. The accompanying novel, A River, is set in Manchester over a three hundred year period. The events in the chapters are presented in reverse order; from the 1990's to the 1720's, beginning with the chronological end of the tale and working towards the starting point. The chapter's regression highlights how a familiar location is constantly in flux and sometimes shares little with the same place of the past. Time and location are both treated as characters, playing important roles in the personality of the city. The buildings and streets, events, food and language have all been researched for accuracy, either first hand or using diaries, films, maps and photographs. The novel occupies a grey area between fiction and history. The narrative actively avoids the traditional novel formulas of historical fiction and magic realism and is intended to be an accessible experimental novel, questioning the idea of what a story is.
19
Melanophy, Nichola. "Contesting racism : locating racist discourse through discourses on racism in an Irish working class neighbourhood." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7757.
Full textAbstract:
This is a study of the politics of identity in a working class setting in Galway on Ireland's west coast. It is based on twenty one months of fieldwork using ethnographic research techniques, and several years of library based research. Both of these aspects of research are integral to the analysis, which is centred around the argument that "racism‟ relies on discourse on "racism‟ for its ontological status (an issue which "anti-racism‟ must begin to engage with if it is to be more effective). Particularly since the 1950s when "racism‟ lost its scientific grounding, this study argues that academia has become just another player in this game of ideological construction (an issue which it must engage if it is to be more useful to "antiracism‟). Two equations sum up the contemporary dominant academic discourse on "racism‟: "racism = racialisation/ethnicisation + exclusion/denigration‟; and "racism = power (the power to exclude/denigrate) + prejudice (prejudice based on racialised/ethnicised identity)‟. According to these equations, the dominant discourse (made up of a complex combination of state and non-state discourse) on "ethnic‟ and "national‟ identity produced in Ballybane, Galway, and Ireland constructs three "racialised‟/"ethnicised‟ "communities‟ - the Traveller "community‟, the Immigrant "community‟ and the Settled Irish "community‟. Such identity construction involves "self-racialisation‟/"self-ethnicisation‟ as well as "racialisation‟/"ethnicisation‟ by the other. Indeed, Ireland is witnessing a growth in the field of "ethno-politics‟, where "community development‟ is now a political buzz word, state resources are often distributed according to "community‟ need and entitlement, and recognition of, and recourse for, "racist‟ victimhood via "anti-racism‟ often necessitates self-identity in "racialist‟/"ethnicist‟ terms. Once constructed in "racialist‟/"ethnicist‟ terms, the potential is, arguably, ever present for any of these "communities‟ to fall victim to "racism‟ as defined by dominant academic discourse on "racism‟. Indeed, in terms of such discourse the Traveller "community‟ and the Immigrant "community‟ in Ireland are victims of endemic popular and state "racism‟. A glitch appears in this picture, however, when one re-situates the evidence from academic discourse on "racism‟ to state discourse on "racism‟ (which essentially excludes any conceptualisation of "state racism‟) and popular discourse on "racism‟ (which, in line with traditional scientific "racist‟ doctrine sees "racism‟ as something white people intentionally do to black people). Therein is revealed the biggest problem facing "anti-racism‟ today – fighting a demon that eludes any clear understanding of its form let alone its causes.
20
Emejulu, Akwugo. "Community development as discourse : analysing discourses, identities and social practices in the US and the UK." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2010. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=12387.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this thesis is to reconceptualise community development as a discourse and understand how various discursive repertoires influence the available identities for practitioners and community groups taking part in community development activities. Community development is rarely thought of as a discourse and it is from this gap in knowledge that my research is positioned. Throughout this thesis, I analyse how community development discourses are formed, structured and operationalised and I investigate whether the dominant discourses of community development live up to their ‘radical’ claims by exploring the identity constructions of practitioners and local people. In order to analyse the discourses of community development, I operationalised a post-structuralist discourse analysis methodology as developed by Hansen (2006). Post-structuralist discourse analysis is concerned with understanding the construction and reproduction of identity within a particular discourse through the analysis of texts. Using Hansen’s methodology and method, I selected and analysed 121 American and British community development texts dating from 1968 to 1997. As a result of my discourse analysis of texts, I argue that there is a serious problem embedded in the discourse of community development. Community development, despite its dominant presentation of itself as unproblematic and essentially ‘radical’, constructs suspect identities for professionals and local people. Throughout this research, I make one original contribution to knowledge. I demonstrate that community development, since at least 1968 in both the US and the UK, reproduces identities that invest the community development professional with agency and construct local people as a passive and often incorrigible Other. This binary persists whether a community development discourse defines itself as either ‘radical’ or ‘conservative’. This research finding calls into question dominant contemporary portrayals of community development. Rather than being a self-evident good, community development, more often than not, subjects local people to patronising and unequal identities that reinforce rather than undermine negative stereotypes about the political nous of marginalised groups
21
Davies, Alison. "Conceptions of 'talent' in official and student discourses within a music conservatoire : a critical discourse analysis." Thesis, Birmingham City University, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.272089.
Full text
22
Shefer, Tamara. "Discourses of heterosexual subjectivity and negotiation." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 1999. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=init_3537_1177926176.
Full textAbstract:
It is widely acknowledged that there are problems with the way in which heterosexual relationships are negotiated. A critical focus on heterosexuality has been particularly stimulated by feminist discourse on gender power relations and the global imperative to challenge HIV infection. In the South African contextthere has been a growing on researching and education about (hetero)sexuality, particularly in the wake of the continued increase in HIV prevalence rates which are highest among young black, South Africans.
23
Roscoe, Karen D. "Social work discourses : an exploratory study." Thesis, University of Chester, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10034/613313.
Full textAbstract:
This study aims to critically analyse and explore how social workers (operating in the adult social work practice domain) draw on wider social (and social work) discourses in accounting for the work that they do. Utilising purposeful samples of students and qualified social work practitioners, this exploratory study of discourses analyses the implications this has on the construction of the social work identity, role and practice (action). Driven by a series of research questions, the objectives of this research were: 1) To critically analyse and explore the discourses on which students and social work practitioners draw on in their accounts of social work practice; 2) To identify and critically analyse the subject positions and discursive practices (collective ways of speaking) of social workers in respect of these discourses; 3) To critically analyse how and in what way social workers at different stages of the career trajectory draw differently upon these discourses; 4) To critically analyse and evaluate the implications for practice and service users of the respondents’ subject positioning and the discursive practices that they employ; 5) Develop a critically reflexive method (model) for social work education and research in order to make recommendations for research, education and critical social work practice (in the context of self-awareness). As this study involves several people in the exploration of adult social work (Community Care policy context), it will contribute to knowledge of the meaning given to contemporary social work. It does so by expanding the concept of discourse analysis to the wider social context in which the overall narrative (story) is ‘told’. This research aims to understand how respondents draw on discourses in particular ways and includes an analysis of the contradictions and gaps within the overall narrative of social work. Stemming from wider pre-determined narratives that are available in social work cultures, this study not only analyses the words themselves by utilising discourse analytic tools, but demonstrates new ways in which to apply critical discourse analysis in the exploration of accounts of social work. In this examination, this research critically analyses and evaluates the implications these discourses can have on identity construction (personal and professional self), as well as on those social work intends to benefit (service users).
24
Miah, Shamim. "Muslim discourses on integration and schooling." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2012. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/17536/.
Full textAbstract:
Since 2001 Muslim communities in Britain have largely been governed through the educational policy framing of integration and segregation. This Manichean bio-construct sees mono-cultural ethnic schools as problematic spaces, whilst integrated schools as the liberal ideal. By drawing upon the subaltern studies approach, this study provides a space for Muslim pupils and parents to articulate their own discourses on integrated and segregated schools in Britain. In doing so, it allows Muslim communities a position of power, by giving them agency to construct their own narratives on the policy debate on integration and schooling. This thesis attempts to make sense of Muslim discourses through a theoretic interpretation drawn from Muslim intellectual history. By using Ibn Khaldun’s (d. 1406) sociological theory of ‘asabiyya this study provides a broader theoretical context to the Muslim voice. The empirical and the theoretical perspectives contained in this study attempts to make significant contributions to the study of race, religion and Muslim studies in Britain. Public policy discourses has often seen the concept of integration as a linear cultural process, with minority groups gradually adopting the social mores of the host society. Evidence presented in this study sees integration as an analytical process and not as a fixed cultural template. It shows how the concept of integration can often be used, by political actors, as a tool for anti-Muslim racism. The discourses of Muslim parents and pupils have much in common with each other, especially when rejecting the idea of self-segregation, or highlighting the importance of ‘asabiyya based on religion, but they have little in common with the public policy framing of Muslim communities. Sociological studies have often demonstrated the disjuncture between public policy and lived experience. This study confirms this observation by elucidating the disconnect between political discourse of integration and lived cultural experience of Muslim communities. The discourses of Muslim communities in this study suggest a complex, paradoxical, intersectional reading of integration, which is fundamentally rooted within social constructionism. Most importantly it dismisses the integration and segregation binary, as seen within the educational framing of Muslims, whilst recognising the importance of Muslim group solidarity, or ‘asabiyya in Muslim discourse.
25
Stewart, Matthew F., and n/a. "Some younbg men's discourses on coping." University of Canberra. Professional & Community Education, 1996. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20061109.085803.
Full textAbstract:
My interest in coping and survival of young men is my main motivation for
undertaking the field study which this thesis describes. It developed from my concern at the
continuing high level of young male suicide. I begin with some background discussion which
shows some examples of how the community has been informed, particularly on youth
suicide, by reviewing some of the media and government attention to these issues.
Because suicidal behaviour is a gendered social phenomenon, this is followed by a
discussion of some of the problems inherent in the hegemonic masculinity of young men. I
then set out the underlying assumptions, the purpose, aims and theoretical framework of the
study. The main theoretical underpinnings of the study are the theory of poststructuralism, as
explained by the noted writer on gender and education, Bronwyn Davies. The other major
components are Aaron Antonovsky's concepts of Salutogenesis and the Sense of
Coherence. Minor but nevertheless important reference is also made to Edward Sampson's
idea of the dialogic nature of the self.
Following this are two critical reviews of relevant literature. The first addresses
studies of resiliency and coping, while the second examines papers given at recent
Australian conferences on suicide prevention.
Following that I describe the methodology of the study before undertaking an
analysis and interpretation of selected transcripts of interviews.
This is an exploratory attempt at applying postructuralist discourse analysis to the
social problem of male coping skills and male youth suicide. The results describe various
discourses young men used in unstructuied interviews to explain how they cope when they
feel down or depressed.
The main conclusion from the results is that formation of small, confidential,
supportive discussion groups for marginalised young men can be useful for sharing and
developing coping skills and improving their management of stressors, which are everpresent
in the environment. It is argued that the proliferation of such support groups for
young men could have long term benefits in reducing the statistics of young male suicide by
encouraging young men to share their techniques or behaviours of coping with their peers.
26
Mabuchi, Hitoshi 1955. "Discourses of intercultural education in Japan." Monash University, Faculty of Education, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9052.
Full text
27
Bicknell, Martin James. "Stressed subjects : Lacanian discourses at work." Thesis, Birkbeck (University of London), 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498572.
Full text
28
Zhelev, Zhivko Dimitrov. "Disability discourses in modern Bulgarian society." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493575.
Full textAbstract:
The current study is a sketch of the historical transformations of disability discourses in modem Bulgarian history - from the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 to the present day. It is a product of the application of the method of Foucauldian discourse analysis to a diverse collection of textual material produced during the researched period. The thesis presents an analysis of the social constructions of disability and disabled people in Bulgarian society and demonstrates that changes in dominant disability discourses were closely related to the socio-political transformations that followed the major transitions in modern Bulgarian history.
29
Jones, Paul R. "Contested discourses : national identity and architecture." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.400237.
Full textAbstract:
Architecture has historically been an important part of a cultural repertoire used by states to construct the nation code. In modernity authoritative state definitions of the nation were possible due to the clearly demarcated cultural boundaries that existed between states, and although states seldom had total control over the nation code they were for the most part able to construct dominant, cultural symbols of the nation. In this age of nation-building distinct national styles of architecture, which emerged through the modification of universal styles to particular contexts, provided a significant space for nation codification. Victorian Britain provides a clear illustration of these general trends. At this time many prominent British architects accepted state commissions to design public buildings in a quintessentially British style. Styles reliant on historical reference such as Gothic and neo- Classical were used by the British state to legitimate their imperialistic, colonial aims. In the twentieth century the emergence of the modem code of architecture, with its more universalised aesthetic, challenged boundaries between national styles. However, many states did attempt to modify this style, as modernism's progressive logic and utopian ideals were ideas with which governments wanted to align 'their' nations. The cultural boundaries of the state have become more porous due to processes associated with globalization. In most European societies the nation is increasingly a fragmented, diverse concept, and the relatively stable relationship between nation and state in modernity has frequently become unstable under globalized conditions. Post-national identities that pay little heed to geographical and political boundaries have emerged, with new forms of citizenship association threatening the ability of the state to provide the stable national identities that were to a large extent possible in modernity. This dissertation argues that the ambiguous relationship between the nation, the state and post-national identities fmds a tangible form in some contemporary state-led architecture projects. The Millennium Dome, the Jewish Museum, and the Reichstag all express many of the tensions inherent in contemporary state-led architectural projects. The dominant discourses around these buildings are of transparency, openness, and democracy, reflecting themes in contemporary European politics. As the wider political and cultural discourses in which buildings are situated can often shape their interpretation, the architects responsible for these buildings have attempted to control the symbolic meanings attached to their work as far as is possible. States still have a continued interest in architecture that expresses national identities, but vitally not with the same degree of mastery they once had. In short architecture is a discursive medium, and as such harbours the potential to codify collective identities. The state-led architectural projects assessed here reflect some of the dominant discourses in the construction of post-national identities. Resultantly these buildings have also provided a focus for contestation about contemporary identity projects. The dissertation makes two significant contributions to existing knowledge: firstly by bridging the gap that currently exists between sociology and architectural theory and secondly by developing this framework with reference to three specific illustrative examples in contemporary European architecture.
30
Liao, Mary E. "Spirituality and development discourses in Namibia." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2000. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14092.
Full textAbstract:
The overall goal of this thesis is to examine the newly emerging ideas and practices of spirituality and development. Spirituality and development will be discussed within the broader discourses of alternative development critiques. The issues that arise in the attempts to translate ideas of spirituality and development into practice are examined. The theoretical underpinnings of spirituality and development are analyzed, based on a literature review of spiritual, anti-colonial, post-colonial, feminist, environmental, radical economic, eco-feminist, ecumenical, geographical and anthropological critiques of development. The thesis then explores the discourses of spirituality and development within three Northern donor agencies; the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC), the World Bank and the World Council of Churches (WCC).
31
Atanga, Lem Lilian. "Gendered discourses in the Cameroonian parliament." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.444853.
Full text
32
Coelho, Kareena. "Frozen screens : discourses of Nunavummiut Internet." Thesis, Goldsmiths College (University of London), 2018. http://research.gold.ac.uk/24117/.
Full textAbstract:
This interdisciplinary project examines discourses of internet in Nunavut, a territory in Northern Canada. It has two main arguments: that internet in Nunavut is implicated in correlated discourses of frustration and potential, and that internet in the territory is articulated as having multiple faces and facets. Internet in Nunavut, this thesis argues, is experienced as a media technology, as a tool for communication, as political, as failing and frustrating, as online content, as physical infrastructure, and as potential. In making its arguments, the thesis engages with debates about internet governance, the cultural specificity of internet, and the definition of internet itself. Primary research methods for this thesis included: interviews conducted over the telephone or Skype in London (UK), face to face interviews in Ottawa, Toronto and Iqaluit, the analysis of archival materials (in particular, government reports), as well as a limited period of participant-observation at the Community Access Program site in Iqaluit (the capital of Nunavut). The first empirical chapter in the thesis (Chapter 4: “So frustrating”) examines narratives of Nunavummiut users concerning their experiences of internet; the second (Chapter 5: Fractious Collaborations) examines how some Northern internet activists have lobbied the federal government to alter its internet policy, as a means of tapping into Nunavummiut internet's potential; and the third (Chapter 6: A Local Connection) and final empirical chapter explores the Community Access Program (which provides internet access free of charge to the Nunavummiut public), as a means of linking macro-perspectives and discourses of internet.
33
Bradley, Diana Margaret. "Carrington's : a novel with complementary discourses." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/324246/.
Full textAbstract:
Comprising of a novel and complementary discourses, this thesis investigates the traditional distinctions between theory and creative practice, and contributes new insights into the practice, craft, and theory of the contemporary novel. Carrington’s is a novel about people living with the complexities of mid-life, set against the backdrop of a busy department store. Alongside the novel, my research looks at the question of whether the pre-planning of a novel stifles creativity. As part of testing this theory, I have been able to compare the process of writing an unplanned novel (Cappuccinos) and a second novel (Carrington’s) which involved much planning. I investigated where creativity comes from and looked at the physiology of the body and the two hemispheres of the human brain. In relation to that, I looked also at the education system that has weighed heavily on left brain teaching and ignored the right brain qualities of creative students. I interviewed six published authors, including Susan Hill and Joan Bakewell, to investigate the processes they use in taking an initial idea through to a final draft. A further exploration was made of the 50,000 word annual National Novel Writing Month competition which has no planning methods. I also examine the methods used in the writing of my novel and make a study of literary craft.
34
Dunlop, Lucy. "Discourses of heroism in Brezhnev's USSR." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c9431343-a6c4-4ace-86df-d4d3c1f915be.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines propaganda and educational campaigns in the Brezhnev-era USSR, where the Party-state continued the longstanding Soviet attempt to form the country's youth into conscientious builders and defenders of communism. Focusing on the military, military-historical and physical-cultural activity that the state identified as areas of strategic importance in a period of intensifying competition with the capitalist world, the thesis analyses the interactions between propaganda and its producers, and the ordinary and extraordinary young people at whom it was aimed. It finds that state agencies and organisations of the Brezhnev era followed tradition in employing heroic motifs and discourses to elicit heroic behaviour amongst the population, often seeking to apply themes and material from earlier periods directly to the situation of late-1960s and 1970s youth. In particular, propaganda emphasised the importance of both models of wartime heroism, and the characteristics articulated in the 1961 Moral Code of the Builder of Communism - but in a political and social environment now much changed from those in which they had originally emerged. The thesis begins with a study of material surrounding the reinstatement of universal conscription after Khrushchev's army reforms, before examining youth involvement in one of the flagship military-patriotic education campaigns of the period. The second part of the thesis then shifts the focus to a more symbolic, yet no less significant site of the 'defence of the honour of the Motherland': the international sporting arena, particularly during the 1972 Olympiads in 'hostile' West Germany and Japan. Through a case study of coverage of the gymnast Olga Korbut, the thesis argues that, while propaganda-makers still sought to control the Soviet definition of 'heroism', conditions increasingly allowed for the emergence of celebrity and a popular heroism based more on self-advancement and public acclaim than on established Soviet ethical models.
35
Ickes, Caroline Nicole. "Memory and Neoliberal Discourses in Chile." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42241.
Full textAbstract:
Deemed â The Chilean Miracle,â President Pinochet under a campaign of violence and terror effectively transitioned the socialist Chilean economy to one of South Americaâ s most prosperous capitalist economies. Most recently, Chilean entrepreneur, SebastÃan Piñera, won the countryâ s executive office on a campaign of neoliberal expansion in hopes of economic growth and the elimination of poverty. If this election is an indication of Chileâ s acceptance of aggressive neoliberal policies, then how has the memory of neoliberalism become detached from its violent beginning? Has Pinochetâ s legacy been (re)constructed in Chilean collective memory? This paper aims to explore this question in two ways. First, it examines ideological formations in Chilean political rhetoric that serve to conceal and transform political memory through discursive structures. Second, it investigates how political rhetoric transformed state violence through a re-narrativization of neoliberalism, which effectively detached neoliberalism from its violent initiation and (re)constructed it as a means of reconciliation and recovery. The findings of this paper suggest that Chilean memory has been (re)constructed for political and economic purposes, which conceal reality and deny alterity.Master of Public and International Affairs
36
Grant, Melva R. "Examining Classroom Interactions and Mathematical Discourses." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259014641.
Full text
37
Avera, Emily. "Transplant anxieties : discourses about bone marrow." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10038.
Full textAbstract:
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94).This minor dissertation examines the various discourses in the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) network in South Africa. The organisations in the network which were observed using participant observation were the South African Bone Marrow Registry and the Sunflower Fund to complement this, the researcher interviewed staff members at these organisations as well as at a public hospital haematology unit in the Cape Town area that conducts BMT. Additionally patients, donors, and their family members were interviewed. Some media related to the BMT network was also analysed. Informed heavily by Troy Duster's work on genetic and social feedback loops, it was found that the discourses reflect a complex interweaving of biological materiality, ethnicity, culture, mortality, health resource rationing, South African nationhood, and the limits of bodily integrity. There is extensive discussion of how the BMT discourses demonstrate the necessity of engagement with several issues: the hybridity of expert and lay intercultural communication, health inequalities, human rights, and the prioritisation of first and third world medicine, the meanings of race, culture, ethnicity, and nationhood in a diverse South Africa, conceptions of donor shortage, and the imperative of saving lives through medical practise.
38
Harris, Chad Vincent. "Satellite imagery and discourses of transparency /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3099986.
Full text
39
O'Halloran, Kay L. "The discourses of secondary school mathematics." Thesis, O'Halloran, Kay L. (1996) The discourses of secondary school mathematics. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 1996. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/3360/.
Full textAbstract:
A systemic functional analysis of the oral pedagogical discourse and board texts of secondary school mathematics lessons differentiated on the basis of school sector, gender and social class is completed through the development of a computer program to handle the linguistic analysis and the construction of a Hallidayan systemic framework for mathematical symbolism and visual depiction. The new frameworks allow for investigation of the unique contributions of language, mathematical symbolism and visual display in the construction of meaning in mathematical texts and the process of semiotic metaphor which occurs in movements between these codes. The systemic analysis of the classroom discourse is situated within a Foucauldian perspective of power, knowledge and truth in mathematics, mathematics education and wider discursive practices involving the private and state school sectors.
The analysis of linguistic patterns, register selections and genres of four Year Ten secondary school mathematics lessons reveals that in private elite single sex schools the male students demonstrate the greatest participation and access to the discourse of mathematics while the female students participate in interpersonal patterns of deference which do not resonate with the tenor dimensions of mathematics. The monofunctional tendency orientated towards interpersonal meaning in the lesson of the working class students at a government school indicates that the social goal of the lesson is primarily directed towards maintaining tenor relations through covert manipulation as opposed to learning mathematics. The limited functionality of practical lessons in mathematics is also demonstrated as a shift from everyday discourse to mathematical discourse does not occur. Mathematical pedagogical discourse is characterised by a dense texture which arises in part from the strategies by which meaning is encoded in mathematical symbolism. As opposed to the lexical density and grammatical intricacy of written and spoken language respectively, mathematical symbolism realises grammatical density whereby multiple levels of clausal rankshift preserve the nuclear configurations of Operative processes and participants which describe relations of parts to the whole and continuous patterns of variation. In addition, inherent difficulties in mathematical pedagogical discourse arise from long implication chains of reasoning and dependence on multiple semiotic resources with the latter resulting in referential complexity and iii multisemiotic intertwining of lexical and participant chains and strings. The results of the analysis, interpreted through Bernstein's theory of pedagogical practices and coding orientations and Halliday's formulations of spoken and written language, reveal that the semantic orientation of working class students does not accord with that realised in mathematics.
40
Hagan, Karen. "Discourses in autism assessment and diagnosis." Thesis, Open University, 2018. http://oro.open.ac.uk/55623/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores the range of discourses in which parents and professionals engage when a child is assessed and diagnosed with autism. The main focus is on the parents’ meaning-making in recognition of the investment parents have in the topic. It also takes an anti-discriminatory and emancipatory standpoint in recognition of the relative lack of voice parents are awarded in research and in the development of autism services. A team of professionals in an autism assessment centre were recruited along with parents of four families referred to them to receive an autism assessment for their child. Data were collected during routine assessment centre meetings between parents and professionals and in pre-assessment and post-diagnosis research interviews with parents. A critical discursive psychological approach was taken to analyse data. This synthetic approach, merging a macro-level and micro-level analysis, was used to explore the application of diagnostic criteria, policies and protocols as discursive resources alongside analysis of talk-in-action. The findings of the research programme produced three themes for the thesis: knowledge, power and possibilities. In relation to the first theme, parents talk and the practices of autism assessment and diagnosis, produced a distinction between expert ‘knowledge’ and parents’ ways of ‘knowing’. The two forms of knowledge were not of equal value in the assessment process, varying in the situated power and influence they could wield. In relation to the second theme, the thesis examined both how parents were subjectified by the processes and discourses of diagnosis and how professionals were subjectified as agents of policy and protocol. Analysis of exchanges between parents and professionals exposed further practices of self-subjection, but also identified some strategies of resistance. Prevalence rates of autism diagnosis and the challenges faced by parents and service providers mean this is currently an area of research of considerable applied significance. This thesis aims to contribute specifically to knowledge about how assessment and diagnostic practice might be improved, ultimately proposing a shift in the approach to autism diagnosis. As such, the third theme, possibilities, examined both the constraints on parents’, and professionals’, discourses in the diagnosis of a child and the opportunities to transcend those constraints. It highlighted the benefits of learning from approaches to diagnostic practices based around open dialogue. Future research could develop the work here to focus on professional meaning-making. It might also consider the complex situation of parents of children referred with autistic characteristics who do not receive a diagnosis.
41
Sutton, Matthew Daniel. "Storyville: Discourses in Southern Musicians' Autobiographies." W&M ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539623346.
Full textAbstract:
This study utilizes many of the tools of the literary critic to identify and analyze the discursive conventions in autobiographies by American vernacular musicians who came of age in the American South during the era of enforced racial segregation. Through this textual analysis, we can appreciate this seemingly amorphous collection of books as a continuing conversation, where descriptions of the South and its music by turns confirm, contradict, and complicate each other. Ultimately, the dozens of southern musician autobiographies published in the last fifty years engage in a valuable and revealing dialogue, creating a virtual "Storyville"; ostensibly disparate works share themes, ideas, and literary approaches, while each narrative is distinguished by unique motifs, idiosyncrasies, and digressions.;From this crosstalk emerges a rich history informed by local knowledge as well as a larger, multifaceted portrait of now-vanished musical communities, such as Storyville-era New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta juke-joint circuit. In collaboration with co-authors, southern musicians typically employ a hybrid discursive style that attempts to balance personal subjectivity with historical authority. This narrative approach encompasses literary devices---such as free indirect discourse and paralepsis---and the "thick description" common in the social sciences. Through this reportage, musicians establish themselves as uniquely positioned organic intellectuals and citizen-historians of their respective places and times. Read collectively, musicians' published reminiscences provide important and overlooked first-person reflections on life in the Jim Crow South.
42
Duncan, Jon M. "Multiple Discourses in Early Mormon Religion." BYU ScholarsArchive, 1998. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4651.
Full textAbstract:
The development of early Mormon religion is best viewed in the context of multiple discourses, each of which contained various competing symbols. These discourses shaped the mind and world-view of early Latter-day Saints and determined in part their behavior. Prophetic symbols existed simultaneously with other, more American symbols; and while neither discourse excluded the other, a prophetic discourse gradually came to dominate. At the same time, however, the American discourse in Mormon religion remained intact and continued to influence the behavior and actions of early Mormons.
43
Cottam, Susan. "Discourses underpinning parenting training programmes and the potential impact of these discourses on facilitators, parents and children." Thesis, University of East London, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.542290.
Full textAbstract:
Introduction: Parenting Training Programmes (PTPs) are commonly used to improve parenting skills and are offered through health and community services in the UK. Such programmes have their roots in the scientific study of parenting and have been influenced by changing cultural mores regarding the roles of parents and children in society. PTPs have political as well as clinical aims in terms of reducing social problems and crime. Despite evidence of efficacy, the current study hypothesised that PTPs may potentially disempower parents, children and those who facilitate them because of the tendency to prioritise professional expertise over parental/individual knowledge. The researcher's position was made explicit as a white, British, educated mother who had herself engaged with popular parenting literature. Method: A Foucauldian discourse analysis was undertaken of the standardised manual texts of six PTPs commonly used in the UK. Introductory sessions from the PTPs were analysed to identify discourses that underpinned them. Discourses identified were examined in terms of the power they afforded PTP stakeholders, the subject positions they created and the material practices to which they were linked. Results: Discourses of victimhood, institutional salvation, scientism, collaboration, individualism and collectivism were identified from the PTP texts. Power relations favouring government and professionals were identified within several of the discourses. Power relations that supported parents and children were found within the collaboration discourse, although the extent to which true collaboration was possible in the professional/client relationship from a Foucauldian perspective was questioned. Discussion: Power relations within PTPs were suggested to influence recruitment and retention of parents to PTPs, particularly amongst parents from poor environments. Future research into dropout rates from PTPs in terms of discourse and power relationships was suggested. The findings of the study were acknowledged to have been influenced by the researcher's position
44
Vessey, Rachelle. "Language ideologies and discourses of national identity in Canadian newspapers : a cross-linguistic corpus-assisted discourse study." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2013. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/8763.
Full textAbstract:
The idea that Canada consists of “two solitudes” (MacLennan, 1945), according to which the two dominant (English and French) linguistic groups live in separate worlds with little interaction or communication, has also received attention in sociolinguistic circles (e.g. Heller, 1999). This thesis examines this claim further, by comparing the content of English and French Canadian newspapers. More specifically, the thesis compares how English and French serve different purposes in three coexisting conceptualisations of national identity in Canada: Quebec national identity, English Canadian national identity, and pan-Canadian national identity. In each corresponding national identity discourse, the nation and its language(s) are imagined differently. With a corpus of 7.5 million words in English and 3.5 million words in French, the thesis employs corpus linguistics and discourse analysis tools to test the salience of these ideologies and discourses, as well as to compare and contrast findings across languages. Adopting the theoretical framework of language ideologies (e.g. Woolard, 1998; Milani and Johnson, 2008), it seeks to contextualise languages with regard to discourses of national identity. In other words, the thesis compares and contrasts language ideology findings within the three discourses examined. More specifically, three research questions are addressed: (1) How do the French and English Canadian media discursively represent languages and language issues in the news? (2) How do these representations differ? (3) How do the different representations relate to understandings of national identity in Canada? The findings indicate that French and English serve predominantly different purposes, thus helping to reinforce the image of a Canada comprising “two solitudes”.
45
Maier, Florentine, and Michael Meyer. "Managerialism and beyond: Discourses of civil society organization and their governance implications." Springer Science & Business Media, 2011. http://epub.wu.ac.at/3275/2/Managerialism_and_beyond_epub.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Different disciplinary, theoretical, and empirical lenses have contributed to a kaleidoscopic picture of CSO governance. Most of the time, CSO governance is contrasted with corporate governance in business organizations; only rarely is the broad variety of CSOs taken into account. To widen this perspective, we develop an empirically grounded typology of five discourses of organization in CSOs: managerialist, domestic, professionalist, grassroots, and civic discourse. We argue that each of these discourses gives specific answers to the three core questions of governance: To whom is the CSO accountable, i.e., who are the key actors who need to be protected by governance mechanisms? For what kind of performance is the CSO accountable? And which structures and processes are appropriate to ensure accountability? The way in which different discourses answer these questions provides us with a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the manifold notions of governance in CSOs. (authors' abstract)
46
Messanga, obama Célestin. "La communication sur le sida : discours dominants et discours dominés dans la construction de la réalité du SIDA au Cameroun." Thesis, Lyon 2, 2009. http://www.theses.fr/2009LYO20028/document.
Full textAbstract:
Le sida est l’objet d’une abondante production discursive faisant intervenir une pluralité d’acteurs au Cameroun. Tous les acteurs de la communication sociale sur le sida ne lui accordent cependant pas la même signification. Les uns le considèrent comme une affection au même titre que les autres affections connues c’est-à-dire résultant de l’action pathogène d’un micro-organisme naturel appelé vih ; pour d’autres, le sida est un état physiologique ouvert à la maladie du fait de la déficience immunitaire ; une dernière catégorie le considère comme une maladie mystique c’est-à-dire, due soit à l’action des sorciers, soit à la colère de Dieu. Une analyse fondée sur la définition révèle que les convictions et certitudes exprimées par les acteurs de la communication sociale sur le sida ne sont pas le reflet d’une réalité ontologique, incréée, palpable et décelable objectivement ; il s’agit plutôt des constructions. Deux types de constructions se dégagent de ce processus : l’une, scientifique, fait intervenir des acteurs partageant les mêmes savoirs et pratiques scientifiques. Ils s’expriment dans des espaces symboliques particuliers qui sont : l’hôpital, le laboratoire d’analyses médicales, les médias et les institutions publiques. Les discours scientifiques changent, modifiant ainsi les représentations et convictions conséquentes. Le deuxième type de construction fait intervenir d’une part, les acteurs non scientifiques et les spécialistes des disciplines autres que la biologie et d’autre part, des biologistes considérés comme en marge de l’orthodoxie. Alors que les acteurs de la dynamique scientifique disposent des instances d’arbitrage et de consensus permettant d’harmoniser leurs vues, ceux de la dynamique populaire évoluent sans coordination. La dynamique populaire intègre les discours scientifiques dans des systèmes de savoirs et pratiques culturelles, autant qu’il procède à des formulations relatives aux différentes manières dont les cultures concernées se représentent la santé et la maladie. Il en résulte des convictions et représentations particulières, différentes de celles suggérées par les discours scientifiques. Parce que les discours populaires intègrent discours scientifiques dissidents, ils suscitent la réplique ou le réajustement des discours dominants. L’interaction entre les discours dominants et les discours dominés participe d’une construction de synthèse qui rend encore plus mouvante, la saisie du sidaIn Cameroon, the Aids issue is the subject of an abundant discursive work that brings in a plurality of actors. However, all the social communication actors on AIDS do not give the same meaning to the issue. Some consider it as affection, in the same way as the other known affections. For them, it results from the pathogenic action of a natural micro-organism called HIV; for others, AIDS is a physiological state open to the sickness due to immunodeficiency; and a last category considers it as a mystical sickness which is due either to the action of witch – doctors or to God’s anger. But an analysis based on the definition of the concepts used reveals that the convictions and certainties expressed by the social communication actors on AIDS, are not the reflection of an ontological, uncreated, palpable and objectively discernable reality. They are rather possibilities. Two types of possibilities emerge from this process: the scientific one which brings in actors who share the same scientific knowledge and practices, who have the same viewpoint and are recognized by others as being competent to talk about AIDS. They usually express themselves in specific symbolic places like hospitals, medical analysis laboratories, media and public institutions. The scientific discourse sometimes changes, thus modifying the consequent thoughts and convictions. The second type of possibility brings in non scientific actors and specialists in other fields than biology, but also biologists who are considered as being in the margin of the orthodoxy. Whereas the actors of the scientific dynamic have at their disposal the consensus and arbitration bodies that permit them to harmonize their views, those of the popular dynamic move along without any coordination. The popular dynamic integrates scientific discourse into cultural practices and knowledge systems, as well as it makes formulations relating to the different manners the cultures concerned think of health and sickness. The end results are the specific thoughts and beliefs different from those suggested by the scientific discourse. Due to the fact that popular discourse integrates dissident scientific discourse, it gives rise to the reply or the re-adjustment of the prevailing discourse. The interaction between the prevailing discourse and the non prevailing discourse contributes to a synthesis building up which renders again more unstable, the understanding of AIDS
47
Vidali, Amy. ""Disabling" discourses : disability identity in institutional texts /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/9518.
Full text
48
Ackerdien, Raeesah. "Student discourses: influences on identity and agency." Thesis, Nelson Mandela University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/13625.
Full textAbstract:
South Africa‟s racialised history dates back to a colonial period where South Africans were separated by race, language and laws which prevented people of colour from mixing with those who were termed White. 22 years after the end of apartheid, race and language remain a painful part of history and a topic which is always visible in our private and public discourses. Students, as of recent, have pointed to the challenges and legacies of apartheid they face in higher education and broader society. The lack of broader transformation and racial prejudice leave a great divide amongst different groups of students. Given this background, this study sought to examine how students were making sense of themselves and others. The participants of this study included 50 second year students from the Department of Language Studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. This research study focused on the identity development of students and how these factors impacted their identities taking into account aspects of race, language, sense of agency and those impacting their sense of agency and sense of self. This study used a qualitative research method which involves an interpretive approach to research as this method was best suited for this study‟s analysis of student narratives. This study is a case study of the single case of second year students. The research, furthermore, used a Poststructuralist approach as theoretical underpinning and Critical Discourse Analysis for analysis of the data. Relevant literature were read and reviewed to determine what studies were saying about factors impacting on youth identity. Student narratives were analysed in order to determine which factors impacted on their identity formation, as well as the perceptions of their own identities and those of others. The results of the findings showed that students‟ identity development was affected by factors such as cultural background, parents, death of loved ones, aesthetic interest, race and language. Socio-economic inequalities in South Africa, race and language strongly defined student identities. Identities were found to be multiple and dynamic. The impact on student agency was as a result of the influences of their parents but also because of the inequalities in society. The only commonality students identified as having with other students was study. Students revealed that they did not cross racial or language boundaries to socialise with other students. There were students who indicated that they resisted racial categorisations and spoke of the celebration of diversity in South Africa but these were in the minority. Unlike previous studies that showed students wanting to move on to a new unified South Africa while simultaneously using old apartheid discourses, this study showed that students remained rooted in these discourses but reverted to these discourses because of societal inequalities. They did not foresee any moves to a new unified South Africa if inequalities not addressed. They were more radical about what a new future looks like with the battle against privilege won. Language was identified as a barrier and the fallacies of English being linked to superior intelligence was pointed out. The divides between White and Black students were apparent in the data. The study therefore recommended that curriculation of modules be undertaken with teaching of fluidity of identities and providing of critical tools for students to deconstruct race and language. The South African context should be foregrounded in all faculty study areas so that students work to a public good that seeks to eradicate inequalities. Safe spaces need to be provided for debating of these issues as well as social spaces for interaction across racial divides.
49
Stewart, Mary. "Midwives' discourses on vaginal examination in labour." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486303.
Full textAbstract:
Vaginal examination is a common and routine aspect of midwifery practice that is used to . determine the presentation and position of the fetus and to measure cervical dilatation in order to assess progress in labour. It is known that the procedure may be problematic. The available literature focuses on the accuracy or otherwise of estimates of cervical dilatation and the potential for vaginal examination to result in post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly for women who have experienced sexual abuse. However, no research has previously been undertaken to explore midwives' accounts of the procedure. This PhD uses the work of Foucault, in particular his writing on surveillance, to identify midwives' discourses on vaginal examination and to explore these within the context of knowledge and power. Qualitative research methods and a methodology of critical ethnography were used to identify the discourses, underpinned by postmodern and feminist principles. In total, sixteen midwives and ten pregnant women were recruited to the study and data were analysed thematically using ethnographic principles. The findings from this PhD confirm that vaginal examination is problematic. In addition, the research demonstrates that midwives experience vaginal examination as a form of surveillance and modify and monitor their behaviour in response to this scrutiny. Midwives described the punitive nature of this surveillance and, in response, hid and obfuscated some of their behaviour. The implications of practitioners acting in this way are profound for both midwives and the women in their care. Further work is needed to explore how the culture of the maternity services can be improved to support more transparent and open practice. The findings demonstrate the multi-faceted nature of knowledge within the context of vaginal examination and raise important issues for policy and practice about the ways in which midwives use this knowledge, particularly in relation to recording their clinical findings. Midwives in this study stated that during their training they did not feel equipped for the physical and emotional realities of vaginal examination. Further research is needed to improve the preparation of students for this particularly intimate aspect of body work. Finally, this study demonstrates that midwives exert a form of power that can best be described as matriarchal. This concept has not previously been identified in the midwifery literature and is worthy of further exploration.
50
Leamon, Jen. "Stories about childbirth : learning from the discourses." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.247119.
Full text