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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'ETHNIC TRANSFORMATION'
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1
Brodie, Michael. "Reconciliation in ethnic conflict through identity transformation." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.606263.
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This thesis utilises a socio-psychological approach to reconciliation to explore the process of reconciliation between groups divided by intractable ethnic conflict in the Mindanao-Sulu region of the Philippines. It suggests that, in order for reconciliation to advance, group identities, in the form of a specific configuration of societal beliefs held by ethnic groups in such situations, require transformation. Specifically, this study explores the reconciliation process in the absence of formal settlement, shedding light upon how reconciliation develops, the actors involved and the challenges faced in such circumstances. Through the case of Mindanao, this thesis analyses a stage and type of conflict which has hitherto been little studied in relation to reconciliation, and in a region (Southeast Asia) which has also been comparatively neglected. Using data acquired from fieldwork interviews conducted with key stakeholders in Mindanao, analysis of a wide range of documents and a content analysis of both the national and Mindanaobased print media, the extent of identity transformation in line with reconciliation in Filipino society, is explored. The role of societal elites and social institutions in reflecting, disseminating and appealing to conflict-supporting societal beliefs, as well as their role in progressing reconciliation, is assessed. Existing attempts to promote reconciliation initiatives are evaluated. This study argues that reconciliation initiatives undertaken at the pre-settlement stage can have significant influence on both individual and group identities. It also suggests that, whilst there has been substantial progress in transforming conflict-supporting societal beliefs and forging transcendent identities crucial to the process of reconciliation at a Mindanao level, this success has not been replicated to the same degree at the national level. These findings have significance for future policy relating to the conflict and for the theoretical literature on reconciliation. They support initiatives undertaken at the pre-settlement stage and suggest that reconciliation should be considered as consisting of multiple independent, yet intrinsically linked, processes which advance at differing tempos across various levels of society and between stake holders.
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Johnson, John Mark. "Beauty and power : identity, cultural transformation and transgendering in the Southern Philippines." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1995. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317530/.
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This thesis addresses general questions about the relationship between the making of gender, the politics of national and ethnic identities, local - global articulations and the process of cultural transformation amongst Muslim Tausug and Sama communities in Sulu, the Southern Philippines. Specifically, I am concerned with the meaning, and experience, of the bantut, transvestite / transgender, homosexual men in Sulu. There is a long tradition of transvestism and transgendering in island Southeast Asia, where transvestites were considered to be sacred personages, ritual healers and/or, as in Sulu, accomplished singers and dancers who performed at various celebrations and rites of passage: embodiments of, and mediatory figures for, ancestral unity and potency. More recently, however, transvestites have emerged as the creative producers of an image of beauty defined in terms of an imagined global American otherness. This thesis is an attempt to understand and explain this phenomenon. In particular, I explore the relation between the collective endowment of the bantut as the purveyors of beauty, and their symbolic valorisation as impotent men and unreproductive/defiling women: those who are seen to have been overexposed to and transformed by a potent otherness. What is ultimately at stake, I argue, (and what is being asserted through the symbolic circumscription of the bantut) is local persons' autonomy over the process and consequences of cultural and political transformation in the face of the exclusionary violence of state enforced assimilation. However, the thesis is also concerned with the expressed transgenderal projects of the bantut themselves, a project which is variously about status and gender transformation, the elation and pleasure they experience in the production and performance of beauty, and the attempt to overcome the prejudice of the local populace, whilst establishing relationships that are based on mutuality and shared respect. What this thesis demonstrates is that there is nothing ambiguous about ambiguity, sexual or otherwise. Rather, it is the specific product or effect of different historical relations of power and resistance through which various cultural subjects are created and re-create themselves.
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Yu, Wan. "Spatial transformation and internal migration among Chinese ethnoburbs -a way to Chinese immigrants' American Dream." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1291373402.
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Brandt, Birgit. "The transformation of modern citizenship ethnic minorities and the politics of citizenship in Germany." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1999. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/59536/.
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This study examines through a case study of Germany and its politics of citizenship vis-a-vls members of ethnic minorities a) the deficiencies of a nationally bound concept of citizenship in countries of immigration; b) the transformation of citizenship into a concept that is increasingly oblivious to national borders as a result of international migration and ethnic heterogeneity. This is a development that takes place despite strenuous efforts by the nation state to maintain a nationally bounded notion of citizenship; c) finally, the role of members of ethnic minorities in inducing this transformation will be analysed by focussing on the case of Berliners of Turkish origin. The thesis is an original contribution to the development of sociological accounts of citizenship for three reasons: First, it integrates three central debates around citizenship - as regards legal status, rights and participation. Second, it contributes to the development of a new dimension to citizenship studies by analysing the social construction of citizenship from below. Finally, it provides important empirical findings that illuminate current debates on citizenship which have so far been highly abstract and theoretical. The thesis is based on empirical research that was carried out in Berlin in October/November 1996, from April to June 1997 and in May 1998. In this context, I conducted interviews with civil servants, officials and politicians at the national and city level; with members/employees of social initiatives, academics and journalists. Furthermore, I carried out qualitative, semistructured interviews with a) young Berliners of Turkish origin, and with persons of the same background who are b) active members of German political parties and trade unions; c) active in immigrant organisations.
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Mateescu, D. "The European Union, state of exception and state transformation : Romania, Turkey and ethnic minority politics." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 2011. http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/277/.
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The dissertation argues that the modern national sovereignty is the political expression of modern subjectivity and it dominates as such the contemporary discourse of human life, ethnic minorities included, in world politics. The analytical mechanism is grounded in social constructivist theorisations of discourse analysis. It evaluates whether and to what extent the enlargement of the European Union (EU) and its accession conditionality affect the discursive mechanisms of the national, sovereign subjectivity and its relations with national minorities. The cases studied here have been chosen because of the two states being inscribed in the recent past (Romania) and currently (Turkey) in the enlargement process. The dissertation builds methodologically on Agamben’s understanding of sovereignty as state of exception, interpreted here originally qua exception from the temporality of human life and therefore apt to author political time. In national form, this is understood as the production of the national time of politics, with a double ontological consequence: it constitutes the political nation, while concomitantly and inherently excluding non-national human life from political possibilities. The method of research develops this methodological perspective to analyse national sovereignty, drawing also on Heidegger, as factualisation of two purely theoretical constructs: the nation and the principle of sovereignty. The method therefore analyses national sovereignty in the process of constitution and producing its own presence as fact of human life through the engineering of time. The result of this engineering is the authorship/production of a historical and objective presence, the notion of ‘presence’ being borrowed from Derrida. The method allows for identifying specific elements in the dominant intellectual discourses in Romania and Turkey, which signal a subjective presence. This authors its historical presence in texts heavily employed in national education systems. It also legitimises the production of the nations’ objective presence, as formalised in legislation on citizenship and the official language of the respective states. The dissertation tests the hypothesis that the EU enlargement conditionality does affect the formal mechanisms producing the objective presence of national sovereignty, but leaves intact the mechanisms through which its historical presence continues to be fabricated. Consequently, the enlargement process does not affect the mechanisms of temporal engineering through which national sovereignties exclude ontologically the ethnic minorities from the time of the nation. The author claims that the dissertation contains strong elements of originality, starting from the methodological particularities and reflected in conclusions. It builds the analytical mechanism on the idea that sovereignty is inseparable from the subjectivity discoursing it, the onomastic terms of that discourse, and the relation established by the sovereign subjectivity with temporality in a given space. The result is the theorisation of sovereignty in relation with time. This is then employed in the original exploration of the Romanian and Turkish sovereignties in their historical becoming from the nineteenth century until the moment of writing. The appeal for the first time to a significant number of primary sources in this particular analytical context is also a strong element of originality. The method also allows for the original interpretation of minority politics as different from minority policies throughout the entire dissertation, which will lead in conclusions to valuable suggestions concerning much needed initiatives at the level of EU policy design.
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Watts, Nicole Frances. "Routes to ethnic resistance : virtual Kurdistan west and the transformation of Kurdish politics in Turkey /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10842.
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Miyamoto, Kiyoko. "Peace from below : developing inter-ethnic dialogue among citizens for bottom-up conflict transformation in Bosnia." Thesis, University of Kent, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412463.
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Botha, André Pedro. "The external dimension in the transformation of Afrikaner Nationalism." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002973.
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This work looks at Afrikaner Nationalism, and more closely the changes it has undergone in years since external pressure has been applied against it from as early as 1946. This has been accomplished by placing it against the background of the international context ego as in relation to India and the British Commonwealth. Following a discussion of the ideology of nationalism in general, the thesis examines the specific case of Afrikaner Nationalism, which it portrays as an example of ethnonationalism. This latter is distinguished by familial ties and other stereotypes. After outlining the changing characteristics of Afrikaner Nationalism over time by reference to pronounciations by its leaders and other prominent spokesmen, this process of change is analysed with particular regard to the role played by international and other external pressures upon Afrikaner Nationalism. By carefully describing the changing attitudes of elite groups within Afrikaner Nationalism, the thesis assesses the impact of external factors. Then it is reasonably stated in this work that Afrikaner elites have become less exclusive under external pressure. The writer of this study is of the opinion that, give the fact that the doors of the National Party were thrown open, Afrikaner Nationalism and its aforementioned ideological organ are no longer identical.
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Schrank, Sarah L. "Art and the city : the transformation of civic culture in Los Angeles, 1990-1965 /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3057350.
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Qiao, Shujing. "Identity display and transformation: A socio-cultural analysis of Suyin Han’s autobiography, A Many-Splendoured Thing." Thesis, University of Sydney, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/23761.
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This thesis is a qualitative study of Suyin Han’s identity display, transformation and negotiation as shown in her autobiography A Many-Splendoured Thing (Han, 1952). Informed broadly by a sociocultural perspective, the study examines three research questions: (1) What are the different layers of Han’s identity exhibited in this writing and how is each unfolded in her writing? (2) What are the factors that help contribute/ or not to the display and transformation of Han’s complex identity? (3) How is the complexity of her identity displayed in the process of Han’s writing of her autobiography? To address these research questions, mixed methods are used to analyse Han’s writing of her autobiography including narrative analysis (De Fina, Schiffrin & Bamberg, 2006) and critical discourse analysis (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000). Data are categorized according to four different facets of identity emerging in her writing: Han’s ethnic identity (more of one’s cultural heritage related to their ancestry); her racial identity (more of one’s appearance differing from people of other races); her cultural identity and her professional identity. A five-principle framework (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005) is employed to interpret Han’s different identity facets: Identity is an emergent product in language interactions; an individual’s identity positioning is realized by socially positioning both themselves and others in varied contexts; identity is an indexical process in which it is linked with specific linguistic forms; identity is an intersubjective phenomenon depending on social relations with others; identity is a partial account that is in part a purposeful self-performance and in part an unaware self-disclosure. This study is different from the prior studies of Suyin Han, and it is a detailed identity analysis of multiple identities of Han as unfolded in her autobiography. The findings provide a set of empirical evidence highlighting the dynamics and their interplay in the complex process of identity transformation and display related to the specific social and cultural circumstances. The study also broadens the applicability of the sociocultural five-principle framework in analysing one person’s multiple identity layers revealed in a time continuum as set out in an autobiography. Prior to bringing together the arguments by way of drawing conclusions, limitations to the interpretation of the conclusions because of the methodology of the study are also identified.
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Van, Heerden Esther. "Liminality, transformation and communitas : Afrikaans identities as viewed through the lens of South African Arts Festivals: 1995 – 2006." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1487.
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Thesis (DPhil (History))—University of Stellenbosch, 2009.The study analyzes the reconfiguration of Afrikaans identities in post-apartheid South Africa as mediated by two prominent Afrikaans-orientated arts festivals, namely the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and Aardklop. Fieldwork was conducted in the two host towns – Oudtshoorn and Potchefstroom. A variety of research methods such as archival research, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal conversations were employed. The arts festivals emerged during a time of perceived crisis for particularly Afrikaans communities in the 1990s, when Afrikaans and the arts were in need of being renewed. The study compares and contrasts the Afrikaans-oriented arts festivals to the former Afrikaner volksfeeste in order to illustrate the marked contrasts between them. Whereas the volksfeeste were designed to advance Afrikaner nationalism in a narrow sense, the newly established Afrikaans-oriented arts festivals were envisioned as inclusive celebrations. Both festivals were established to advance the arts in Afrikaans, to redeem Afrikaans, given its tainted reputation as the language of apartheid, and to help bring about national reconciliation. The study traces the historical development of the two festivals in relation to these aims. The literature indicates that festivals as liminal events facilitate conditions during which festivalgoers are united in celebration and experience a sense of community or social communitas. The study utilizes the notion of liminality – the process by which the ordinary is rendered extraordinary during festivals. Six conditions of liminality are distinguished: extensive planning and preparation, different senses of time, the alteration of everyday routines, re-discovery and reappropriation of private and public spaces, the activation of festival spaces and the reworking of rules. It shows how liminality, rather than being self-evident, was carefully constructed. The study assesses the festivals’ potential ‘to bring people together’ against this background by looking at three possible means of social transformation: through the experience of the arts, through the use of public space and through encountering Afrikaans. The assessment reveals the discrepancy between official festival policy and practice. The tensions that existed – between ‘high culture’ and ‘popular culture’, centre and periphery, and inclusion and exclusion – hindered social transformation. The festivals nevertheless contributed to the establishment of a temporary sense of belonging or communitas amongst some festival-goers. Although Afrikaans was central to most manifestations of social communitas, festival-goers celebrated ‘being Afrikaans’ in diverse ways. The study concludes that these festivals were characterized just as much by the presence as the absence of social communitas.
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Geiger, Karen Audrey. "Cross-Race Relationships as Sites of Transformation: Navigating the Protective Shell and the Insular Bubble." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1289853182.
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Esakov, Heidi-Jane. "Reading race : the curriculum as a site of transformation." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2008. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11132008-181716.
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Campbell, Rebecca Ann. "Reification, Resistance, and Transformation? The Impact of Migration and Demographics on Linguistic, Racial, and Ethnic Identity and Equity in Educational Systems: An Applied Approach." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6474.
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Using an applied anthropological approach focused on language, this study investigates the relationship between linguistic, racial, and ethnic identities and school resource access in the context of migration. This project examines how these identities are established, experienced, reified, and resisted by various school actors. Exposing power at its roots through a multi-level analysis, this research informs on how people negotiate socialization into particular identities, propelling them toward positions in school and society of varying opportunity.
Focused on two elementary schools in a central Florida county that has been and is undergoing demographic changes, this work offers applications for educational institutions dealing with migration. One school’s orientation to meeting needs of non-English speaking students significantly impacts its ability to reach and form relationships with parents and improve the educational outcomes for children. The second school’s culturally responsivity makes it possible to meet higher expectations. At both schools, there is a disconnect between how the school and state think about people and how those people think about themselves, which erases groups and raises questions about how well students from those groups are served.
While the ideologies promoted in dominant society are constraining, struggles and resistance do impact and reorganize the system. This study provides recommendations for the research site and similar schools to address linguistic, racial, and ethnic educational inequity. For instance, this project emphasizes the need to provide linguistically appropriate school-home communication. It also offers a means for the schools and state to better serve students by understanding the nuances of identity through more appropriate measures of race and ethnicity.
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Agyune, Ndone Fabrice. "Les Makina du Gabon : une anthropologie des rythmes de la transformation ethnique." Thesis, Lyon 2, 2009. http://www.theses.fr/2009LYO20109.
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Cette thèse propose une exploration qualitative et quantitative des conditions dans lesquelles l’ethnie des Makina du Gabon se transforme au contact d’autres ethnies et au contact du monde urbain qui se construit à différentes échelles à travers le pays. La conclusion est que l’ethnie doit être déconstruite en diverses composantes qui connaissent des rythmes d’évolution qui sont objectivables dans leurs formes historiques et géographiques. Ce résultat est atteint par l’analyse contextualisée de 747 données individuelles qui – sur une durée globale d’un siècle – sont tour à tour référées au changement d’ethnonyme, au déplacement des villages, au changement de la langue pratiquée, à la modification des règles de mariage, à la transformation lente des noms de lignages et celle plus rapide des noms de personnes. La différence de vitesse de transformation de chacune des composantes structurantes de l’ethnie donne ainsi une configuration polyrythmique qui remet en cause les conceptions holistes de l’ethnie en leur préférant une dynamique de l’hétérogénéitéThe main proposal of this doctoral dissertation is an insightful study of the historical, linguistic and anthropological transformations of the Makina, an ethnic group of Northern and Eastern Gabon. These transformations are referred to the change, during the last century, of the original ethnonym as well as that of the language, of matrimonial rules, and finally of clan and person naming. On the whole, the author’s demonstration leads to the evidence of a rhythmical pattern in change, even a polyrhythmical one, as the differences in speed between different components of an ethnic group may be interpreted as a multi rhythmical transformation system. 81 genealogical diagrams and over 747 individual data collected on fieldwork give strong support to the different aspects of the author’s thesis
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Bluck, Emily C. "Mapping Community Mindscapes: Visualizing Social Autobiography as Political Transformation and Mobilization." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/56.
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Historically, autobiography has been used to perpetuate neo-liberal ideologies. Yet, when autobiography becomes social and is used to engage political communities of color, political transformation is possible. This project, through the collaborative visualization of Asian American social biography using pedagogical and relational methods as a means for engagement, seeks to destabilize dominant notions of time and space, and provide a mechanism for the retention of and documentation of institutional, and social histories using the Asian American Student Union at Scripps College as the site for political praxis.
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Sasaki, Kazuyuki. "Beyond dichotomies : the quest for justice and reconciliation and the politics of national identity building in post-genocide Rwanda." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4891.
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Justice and reconciliation are both highly complex concepts that are often described as incompatible alternatives in the aftermath of violent conflicts, despite the fact that both are fundamental to peacebuilding in societies divided by the legacies of political violence, oppression and exclusion. This thesis examines the relationship between justice and reconciliation, pursued as essential ingredients of peacebuilding. After advancing an inclusive working conceptual framework in which seemingly competing conceptions regarding justice and reconciliation are reconceived to work compatibly for building peace, the thesis presents the results of an in-depth case study of Rwanda's post-genocide justice and reconciliation endeavour. The thesis focuses on Rwanda's justice and reconciliation efforts and their relationship to the ongoing challenge of reformulating Rwandans' social identities. A field research conducted for this study revealed that issues of victimhood, justice and reconciliation were highly contested among individuals and groups with varied experiences of the country's violent history. Resolving these conflicting narratives so that each Rwandan's narrative/identity is dissociated from the negation of the other's victimhood emerged as a paramount challenge in Rwanda's quest for justice and reconciliation. Rwanda's approach to justice and reconciliation can be seen as an innovative both/and approach that seeks to overcome dichotomous thinking by addressing various justice and reconciliation concerns in compatible ways. However, by limiting its efforts to the issues that arose from crimes committed under the former regimes, the justice and reconciliation endeavour of the Rwandan government fails to reconcile people's conflicting narratives of victimhood, which will be essential to transform the existing racialised and politicised ethnic identities of Rwandan people.
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Dlamini, Thobile G. K. "Dominant and non-dominant group's perceptions of the government-led economic transformation process in South Africa: report." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002472.
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The enormous social, economic, and political government-led societal transformation South Africans have experienced over the past 15 years have brought about numerous societal and identity changes. The aim of the present study was to explore how dominant (White participants) and non-dominant (Black participants) groups experiencing the government-led societal transformation process deal with perceptions of intergroup differences based on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986) and related field research. Social Identity Theory predicts that in the presence of intergroup differences group members irrespective of their status position will apply identity management strategies to either improve or maintain their status position. The relationships between perceptions of intergroup relations and identity management strategies as proposed by Social Identity Theory were tested studying 170 second year Rhodes University psychology students. Sixty participants indicated themselves as Black South Africans (representing non-dominant group) and 110 participants identified themselves as White South Africans (dominant group). The results revealed that dominant and non-dominant groups differ systematically regarding the functional interaction between beliefs about the intergroup situation and identity management strategies. The results of the study indicate too, that ingroup identification differentiates between individual and collective strategies irrespective of the group’s status position.
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Talbot, Sally. "The ethic of care: Critical and constructive transformations of ethics and epistemology." Thesis, Talbot, Sally (1996) The ethic of care: Critical and constructive transformations of ethics and epistemology. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 1996. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/50481/.
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Too many versions of the ethic of care miss what I consider to be the crucial insight of the original work of both Gilligan and Noddings: that the concrete, everyday response of care provides the grounds for a radical critique of prevailing liberal moral theory and for a transformed understanding of both ethics and reason. Liberal moral theory, I argue, explores the ethical potential of a form of rationality which celebrates the capacity to think in an abstract, universal and impartial way. The ethic of care, like liberal ethics based on duty, utility and contract, is also grounded in a set of epistemological assumptions. My assertion is, however, that the epistemological assumptions grounding care are not those privileging abstraction, universality and impartiality. Liberal moral theory insists on the notion of truth as a universal and unitary regulatory ideal, on the autonomy of separate knowing individuals and on the establishment of a common language.
The moral understandings of care, by contrast, locate truth in the elaboration of the particular contexts in which we function as knowers, identify knowers as selves-in-relation and seek out particular shared interests as the basis of a commonality in which to see together. The moral understandings of care entail a radical critique of the ethical and epistemological axioms of liberalism. From this critique, I draw an account of the ethic of care which both informs and is informed by partial reason. Although the sufficient conditions for caring are not quantifiable, I show that a number of ethical and epistemological imperatives can be drawn out of the endeavour to know and to care well. These imperatives suggest that creating and sustaining shared beliefs systems, mutual understandings and intersubjective agreements might be understood as the processes of selves-in-relation, for whom neither ethics nor epistemology is immutable. Drawing insights from feminist and non-feminist critics of liberal moral theory, from feminist moral theorists and epistemologists and from feminist post-colonial writings, my thesis establishes that the elaboration of an ethic of care can be a transformative project.
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Deol, Raman Kaur. "The creation of the Khalsa : a study into the rhetorical strategies of collective identity transformation." Scholarly Commons, 2009. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/724.
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The Khalsa is a militant sect of the Sikh religion officially created by Guru Gobind on Baisakhi Day in 1699. Sikhism, as a religion and culture, existed within the overarching structure of lndian society during the reign of the Muslim Mughal Empire. Over the course of its history, Sikhism sought to evolve and adapt to internal and external pressures, and the creation of the Khalsa was a momentous and transformational step in that evolutionary process.
Using Kenneth Burke's guilt-redemption cycle as a model, this study analyses the events that created the Khalsa. The study found that historical and social pressures provided the rhetorical exigence for the creation of the Khalsa. Guru Gobind isolated and used the guilt of the Sikhs people, the guilt of being passive observers in the face of external pressures, the guilt of living in caste-organized society, the guilt of living in a bureaucratic system wherein the priests had seized power and control, and the guilt of living without external markers of the faith. These sources of guilt were brought to the forefront by Guru Gobind, and resolved through the symbolic sacrifice of five men, after which Guru Gobind created the Khalsa as an answer. Through the Khalsa, its symbols and rituals, the Sikhs were provided with a way to escape the flaws and guilt of the old order.
The creation of the Khalsa was an important milestone in the evolution of the Sikh culture and religion. Through this study, the processes and methods of this identity transformation were isolated. Guru Gobind activated social and collective levels of identity through the medium of performance in order to transform his audience of Sikhs into the Khalsa.
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Englberger, Florian. "Dealing with nationalism in view of a human need to belong : the feasibility of narrative transformation in Northern Ireland." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16401.
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This thesis seeks to delineate what change in divided societies such as Northern Ireland is possible. Two steps are necessary to answer this question: first, to explain the potency of nationalism. I contend that taking the evolutionary history of humans and a human need to belong into account is essential for an understanding of A.D. Smith's ethno-symbolist approach to nationalism. We need to acknowledge that human beings emerged from small-scale settings and are therefore conservative beings who seek those patterns of familiarity that make up the ordinary ‘everyday'. They are also prejudiced beings, as prejudice helps to break down a complex world into digestible pieces. The ethnic state excluding an ethnic ‘other' is an answer to these calls for simplicity. By establishing an apparent terra firma, a habitus, symbols of an ethnic past and national present speak of nationalist narratives that provide a sense of ontological security. In (Northern) Ireland, ethno-national communities based on prejudiced understandings of history have long been established. In this second step I maintain that change that violates the core potent national narratives cannot be achieved. The Provisional IRA's change from insurrection to parliament became feasible because a radical break with republican dogmas was avoided. Sinn Féin, despite a rhetorical move towards ‘reconciliation', still seek to outmanoeuvre the unionist ‘other'. The history of Irish socialism, on the other hand, has been a failure, as it embodied a radical attempt to banish the ‘other' from the national narrative. Regarding ‘post-conflict' Northern Ireland, I argue for a peacebuilding approach that leaves the confinements of hostile identity politics, as these mass guarantors of ontological security possess only limited potential for relationship transformation. We need to appreciate those almost invisible acts of empathy and peace that could be found even in Northern Ireland's darkest hours.
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Brown, Norman J. "An Impact Study Using Kingdom of God Economics For Inner-City Community Development." Ashland Theological Seminary / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=atssem1574178123464598.
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Cordas, Jon D. (Jon Dmetrius). "The Emergence of a New Capitalist Ethic: Transformational Leadership and the Civil Society Movement as Emergent Paradigms Affecting Organizational and Societal Transformation." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278427/.
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Rapid and chaotic changes in market environments have caused business organizations to modify their organizational structures and social relationships. This paper examines the change in relationship between management and employees, which is shifting from an adversarial and controlling role to facilitation and employee empowerment. This paper's research question concerns how classical sociological theory would explain power redistribution within organizations and the formation of an associative and collaborative relationship which contradicts traditional paradigms. Traditional bureaucratic and contemporary organizational forms are compared and contrasted. Organizational climate, psycho-social components of underlying assumptions and group ethics are seen to be the mechanisms impelling transformation. Organizational change is driven by an emerging secular ethic. This ethic is embodied in an applied model of leadership and examined as an ideal type. The common ethic impelling organizational change is seen to be the same as that causing social transformation in both national and international spheres.
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Pelletier, Robert. "Becoming Taiwanese Muslims: Ethnic, National, and Religious Identity Transformations in a Muslim Minority." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/31554.
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This research project is focused on contemporary identity issues facing Muslim Mainlanders in Taiwan. Muslim Mainlanders are an ethnic subgroup of the Mainlanders who fled to Taiwan after the communist take-over of China. This project argues that multiple communal identities interact and are pragmatically used by Muslim Mainlanders depending on social context. Specifically, ethnicity, nationality and religion are identities which individuals understand according to unique social experiences. This research provides an opportunity to update the literature on the Islamic community in Taipei.
The thesis argues that global processes are causing an Islamic revival. This transformation is occurring alongside the movement of Mainlanders to identify as Taiwanese. Both movements are nationalistic because they provide opportunities to move beyond a heritage which originates in China.
Ce projet de recherche se concentre sur les questions d'identité auxquels est confrontée la Continentaux musulmans à Taiwan. Continentaux musulmans sont un sous-groupe ethnique des Continentaux qui ont fui à Taiwan après la prise de contrôle communiste de la Chine. Ce projet fait valoir que plusieurs identités communautaires interagissent et sont utilisés de façon pragmatique par Continentaux musulmans selon le contexte social. Plus précisément, l'origine ethnique, la nationalité et la religion sont des identités dont les individus comprennent selon les expériences sociales uniques. Cette recherche offre la possibilité de mettre à jour la documentation sur la communauté islamique à Taipei.
La thèse soutient que les processus mondiaux sont à l'origine d'un renouveau islamique. Cette transformation se produit aux côtés du mouvement des Continentaux à s'identifier comme taiwanais. Les deux mouvements sont nationalistes, car ils offrent des possibilités d'aller au-delà d'un patrimoine qui est originaire de Chine.
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Schwartz, Melissa Rachel. "Embodied Ethics : Transformation, Care, and Activism Through Artistic Engagement." UNF Digital Commons, 2012. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/398.
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In what follows, I highlight negative environmental perspectives and actions based on traditional patterns of Western dualist thought with the ultimate aim of developing an alternative way of relating to the environment and the ‘other’, in general. In pursuit of such an alternative, I utilize embodied artistic practices in order to present the notion that one can engage more holistically with one’s environment, and the other. Through habitual, lifelong ‚Ways‛ cultivating specific practices generally necessary to creating and to viewing art, I argue, one can refine one’s ethical awareness and action. Following the aims of care ethics’ more context and experience-oriented approach to moral concern and to treatment of the other, as well as the philosophies of Japan, and feminist philosopher, Irigaray, I show how these artistic practices form a new awareness and stance that encompasses components of care. Finally, I briefly highlight how art has been used for positive activism.
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Yacek, Douglas W. "Transformative Education: A Philosophical Inquiry." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500072204487494.
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Herseth, Todd L. "Business ethics education and Mezirow's transformative learning theory." Thesis, University of South Dakota, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10131552.
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The purpose of this study was to determine if using intentional, transformational learning strategies in an undergraduate business ethics course improved the curriculum with respect to targeted, student learning outcomes. Since business schools have a social mandate to provide opportunities for ethical growth and development, improving the efficacy of business ethics education is of paramount importance. The importance of this mandate has been further highlighted in recent years by egregious instances of misconduct by business professionals whose actions have had obvious and profoundly negative impacts upon the stability of our financial systems and state of the world economy.
This was a quasi-experimental, quantitative study conducted at a university of approximately 8,000 students. The focus of the study was to measure the effects of intentional, transformational learning strategies on the occurrence of transformational learning and cognitive moral development among students enrolled in the university's online business ethics course. The intentional, transformational learning strategies utilized were those identified by David Warren Keller in a 2007 study and adapted to an online learning environment. The correlation between epistemological development based on the Perry Scheme (of William G. Perry Jr.) and the occurrence of transformational learning was also examined in this study.
While this curricular intervention was not found to have had a statistically significant impact on the targeted outcomes, a statistically significant correlation was observed between epistemological development and transformational learning. A principle conclusion of the researcher is that the online learning environment is the most likely explanation for the difference in the efficacy of the curricular intervention when comparing the results of the Keller study to the current study due to the affective dimensions of the student learning experience (central to transformational learning) in the online learning environment and the limitations inherent therein, which are detailed in the study. Finally, the correlation observed between epistemological development and transformational learning, while statistically significant, was inconclusive due to the absence of additional correlations which would have been expected, yet merits further study.
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Waterbright, Siall Hope. "The coming." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2010. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/34446/1/Siall_Waterbright_Exegesis.pdf.
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Through an exploration of representations of metamorphosis and the creation of a body of written work, this thesis uses a critical examination of theoretical approaches to metamorphosis in combination with textual analysis of representations of metamorphosis and creative practice as research to arrive at the beginnings of an ethic of writing. The creative work, The Coming, consists of a collection of short fiction, The Coming, and two collections of poetry, Orison and Milagros. The exegesis, Transhuman Change: towards an ethic of writing, explores theories about metamorphosis as a figure for writing, as a trope, and as a motif for exploring identity to contextualise the analysis of representations of metamorphosis from which the ethic is developed. With reference to the psychosexual development theory of Jacques Lacan and Elaine Scarry’s philosophy of the body, pain, language and creativity, the exegesis examines existing approaches to metamorphosis and uses supplementary textual analysis of influential representations of metamorphosis from Ovid to Pygmalion, X-Men and Extreme Makeover to explore assumptions about the body, language, the self, gender in western culture. The limitations of the performance of representations of metamorphosis as a figure for the self’s survival of death are considered in the light of voice as metonym for self to propose an ethic which valorises life. The experience of sex and the construction of gender in representations of metamorphosis are considered in the light of Lacan’s theory of desire and Scarry’s theory of the body and language to propose an ethic of representing gender ironically. The motif of the faithless lover and the Pygmalion myth are considered in the light of the (m)other’s role in language to propose an ethic in which indeterminacy constitutes the condition for being aware of oneself among selves. Each of the three proposals is discussed in relation to the short fiction, memoir and poems produced in the course of this research to test their limits and possibilities as the foundation of an emerging ethic of writing.
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Chi, Janine Kay Gwen. "Emergent identities and state-society interactions : transformations of national and ethnic identities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8889.
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Nichols, Thomas W. "Authentic Transformational Leadership and Implicit Leadership Theories." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2008. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9056/.
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Transformational leadership describes a leader who motivates followers to performance beyond expectations, but it has often been attacked for its potential to be abused. A newer form of leadership has been proposed, that of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership is an over-arching concept that proposes to include transformational leadership and all positive forms of leadership. At the heart of authentic leadership is the concept of ethicality. The concept of authenticity may contribute to the transformational leadership paradigm, producing an ideal form of leadership. Authentic leadership may not be an over-arching form of leadership, but one suited particularly to transformational leadership. I propose that authentic transformational leadership resides in leaders' and followers' implicit leadership theories. This experiment addresses authentic transformational leadership and the role of implicit leadership theories in directing leader behavior. A model is developed that outlines the relationship between authentic transformational leadership and implicit leadership theories, including the separate implicit theories of leader and follower, leader-member exchange (LMX), and leader effectiveness. Hypotheses concerning these relationships are developed. The study is experimental, using WebCT as a delivery tool. Scenario-based surveys were developed to collect data, using both known measures and measures developed specifically for this experiment. Two pilot studies were conducted to test the soundness of the delivery tool and the validity of the constructed scenarios and measures, which largely supported the hypotheses. In the main study, all hypotheses were supported with the exception of one. The results of the unsupported hypothesis, however, suggest authentic transformational leadership may be an ideal form of leadership. There are several contributions to the literature made by this study. The first contribution is the development of authentic transformational leadership as an ideal form of leadership. Second, the development of both follower and leader implicit leadership theories and their relationship to authentic transformational leadership is studied through leader effectiveness, a concept not previously researched. Lastly, the role of a follower's implicit leadership theory and its effects on a leader are examined, a notion that is largely under-researched.
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Jarrett, Henry. "Consociational conflict transformation : ethno-national identity in post-Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/19363.
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The case of Northern Ireland is heralded by many as a consociational success story. Since the signing of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement in 1998, significant conflict transformation has taken place in the form of a considerable reduction in levels of violence and the establishment of power sharing between unionists and nationalists. This thesis, however, asks whether consociational arrangements are transforming conflict in a different way: through mitigating the salience of ethno-national identities. It argues that if this is taking place, it would be demonstrated in the focus of the election campaigns of Northern Ireland’s political parties, which would be almost exclusively based around socio-economic issues affecting the whole population, rather than narrow single identity concerns. Elections contested using Proportional Representation – Single Transferable Vote (PR-STV) offer the greatest potential to induce moderation, as this electoral system is preferential and allows inter-party lower order preference votes (or transfers) to be cast. It should, therefore, be in the interest of parties to maximise their support by moderating their campaigns with the intention of attracting inter-bloc transfers. If this is occurring, it would demonstrate a shift from traditional unionist versus nationalist politics to a more inclusive political system that is less concerned with ethno-national divisions. On the whole, however, this has not been realised. Although election campaigns are today less strident than they were in the pre-1998 era, it remains the case that they usually foreground single identity symbolism, as it is this that resonates with voters. Whilst consociational power sharing has been very successful in reducing levels of violent conflict and facilitating elite level cooperation between unionists and nationalists, it has been much less successful in reducing divisions within wider society. This indicates a dissonance between ‘high’ politics and society in Northern Ireland. The conclusions of this thesis also highlight a disparity between what political theory argues may happen and what actually does, as demonstrated by the practice of politics. It is the novel way in which this research tests its hypothesis that makes an original contribution to knowledge. This is achieved through the unique application of ethno-symbolism to analyse political party election campaigns.
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Maravić, Patrick von. "Dezentrale Korruptionsrisiken als Folge der Transformation des öffentlichen Sektors?" Universität Potsdam, 2005. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2008/2210/.
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Vining, Peggy A. "A comparison of moral transformation in Paul and Lucius Annaeus Seneca." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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Brady, Gerard James. "Transhumanism and the transformation of the experience and spectacle in the art of boxing." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2018. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/9005/.
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Going beyond the biological and physiological limitations imposed on us by the human body is something which the human race has strived to do throughout its history. There is something about our human nature that compels us to strive for improvement and enhancement in our physical and mental performance, and to stretch ever further the boundaries of human accomplishment. Nowhere can a stronger desire for enhanced performance be found than in the realm of competitive sport and, it is certainly arguable that, there are very few sports that can rival the competitiveness, endurance and physical exertion involved in the sport of boxing. Transhumanism is borne of this desire for continuous improvement and the refusal to resign ourselves to the restrictions placed on us by our natural biological constitution and environment, enhancing human capabilities and capacities by way of new and emergent technologies. With regard to sport, transhumanism could provide us with the ability to train longer, run, swim or cycle faster, jump higher, throw further and, in the case of boxing, punch harder. However, it is not restricted or confined to the enhancement of our physical powers, but could equally-well serve to improve our psychological capacities and alter the way in which we perceive and experience the world. In this way transhumanism could be employed to change the content of experience.
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Dewhirst, Catherine Marguerita-Maria. "Ethnic identity in Italo-Australian family history : a case study of Giovanni Pullè, his legacies and his transformations of ethnicity over 125 years." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2003.
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In the second half of the nineteenth century, Australia became a destination for hundreds and thousands of Italians as a result of Italy's first modem diaspora. Those who immigrated between the 1850s and 1914 came from diverse
backgrounds - socially, culturally, politically, economically, regionally and linguistically. For a minority group, their regional diversity was still quite vast. While in Australia this earlier group was numerically minute in terms of those received by other countries and in comparison with the second half of the twentieth century, these Italians represented a strongly visual and vocal presence in colonial and post-Federation society. Indeed, increasing demographically at a higher rate than any other migrant group after the British (Anglo-Celtic immigrants) at the tum of the twentieth century, Italian migrants offered a new social and economic component in Australia, becoming entwined into the fabric of a developing nation (Castles et al. 1992; Jupp 1988c; Templeton 1998). More
than a century since, Australian society has undergone numerous transformations from its development as a nation and in response to world events. The lives of Italian migrants and their descendants bear witness to many of these changes. But, both historical and theoretical approaches fail to explain the significance of the inheritances from a migrant past. This research project takes up the task of examining the legacies of the Italo-Australian presence during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the impact these migrants made on, and their response to, the trajectories of Australian migration history since the 1870s until today. In the process, it reflects the evolution of Italian ethnicity.
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Moncho, Boitumelo Johannes. "The task of the Missionary Church regarding moral regeneration in South Africa / Moncho B.J." Thesis, North-West University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/7621.
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This missiological study is to precede from the reformation Theology tradition. The
Theological methodology used in this study in formulating theoretical indicators from
scripture will follow the hermeneutics of Biblical Theology as set out by Scobie
(2003), Lexicons such as Louw and Nida (1988), the grammatical - historical method
(Du Toit & Roberts 1979:58), along with other relevant scholarly works will be
consulted. This study focuses on the task of the Missionary church and therefore
qualitative research is preferable over quantitative research.
This study is limited by the fact that morality is a very wide area. There are a lot of
interrelated issues that this type of study cannot address and that call for further
research e.g. the task of the state towards moral regeneration and the relationship
with the church and religion in general, the influence of postmodernism on the
church. The context of this study is limited to South African context and covers the
post 1994 democratic elections. This study will focus on the Mission focused family
because it is the cornerstone of society.
Chapter one presented the limites of the study on theSouth African context and
cover the post the 1994 democratic elections. Secondly, the second chapter focused
on the Missionary church their task to morall regeneration: begining with the church
in the area such as self–introspection, repentance, confession of sins, forgiveness
an faith in God and in the message of the church. Firstly, the chapter reviewed the
history of South Africa and how the past Apartheid era impacted on the present
situation as well as the church’s response to Moral Regeneration. Finally, the
chapter looks at how the Church can come with practical development through the
re–humanization of our people.
Similarly, chapter four looked at the matter of Mission focused families as
cornerstones for Moral Regeneration. Initially, I provided a comprehensive definition
of Mission focused families in the light of, amongst other things, Deut 6: 1–25 and
Eph 5: 22–23 . Finally, the fifth chapter delved on the question of the South African Missionary
church and the challenges she faces as an agent of hope for moral regeneration. I
analysed in detail the challenges facing the Missionary Church today, and on how
the Missionary Church deals with those challenges. Most importantly, the chapter
focused on the Missionary Church’s prophetic voice on moral regeneration.Thesis (M.A. (Missiology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.
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Fourlas, George. "Justice As Reconciliation: Political Theory in a World of Difference." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18506.
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Divisiveness routinely turns violent, thus making research into alternative means of dealing with conflict an urgent necessity. This dissertation focuses on the politics of divisiveness and the techniques of conflict transformation. In this, I offer a robust and operable theory of reconciliation. I argue that reconciliation is the first principle of justice. In this sense, the ideal of justice is enacted through the improvement and coordination of social-political relations, which requires the development of trust and institutions that facilitate the ever emergent demos.
This is not to suggest that alternative approaches to justice, such as distributive models, are useless or wrong. Rather, justice requires a consensus which cannot be realized when persons see their neighbors as enemies. In conflicts, activities that benefit the enemy Other, such as the redistribution of wealth, will be taken as an injustice by other embattled social groups. As I demonstrate through various cases, interpersonal and institutional responses, like redistribution, often escalate discord and rarely create a shared sense of justice. Thus, conflict becomes a cyclical and multilevel problem. I explore how we can better respond to the cycle of conflict at individual, social, and systemic levels, in order to realize a legitimate notion of justice.
I use an interdisciplinary approach to defend my arguments, drawing on
iv philosophy and conflict resolution (CR). CR is an emerging field that emphasizes practical responses to conflict, often with advocacy for reconciliation. However, more theoretical work needs to be done to explain the ideal of reconciliation that directs CR practices. Within philosophy, little work has been done on the topic of reconciliation. A vast literature exists on the topic of justice, but this literature offers few practical descriptions of how persons come to agree upon the terms of justice. Thus, theories of justice are often labeled as 'ideal' simply because they are disconnected from the fragmented and conflict-ridden reality most people experience. This dissertation, as a project in non-ideal political theory that is empirically informed by cases and concerns in CR, fills these gaps in both philosophy and CR.
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Stirling, A. Mark. "Transformation and growth : the Davidic temple builder in Ephesians." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2537.
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The focus of this thesis is on the way in which the theology of the author of the Epistle to the Ephesians is both shaped by and shapes the appropriation of OT texts and themes, especially in Eph 2:11-22. This reveals an overarching theme, not only in 2:11-22, but in the whole letter, of the Davidic scion who builds his new temple consisting of Jews and Gentiles together. The creation and growth of this new humanity is expressed using temple imagery and by appropriating OT texts that are concerned with the eschatological pilgrimage of the Gentiles to Zion. Ephesians is concerned with the transformed walking that is inherent to membership of the Messiah’s people. It is further concerned that this corporate entity should function as God’s dwelling place on earth; unity and loving relationships therefore being the burden of Ephesians’ paraenesis. This entire process is summed up at the gateway to the letter’s paraenesis in the phrase “learn the Messiah.” The discipleship thus conceived is about much more than (but not less than) individual transformation. The temple/dwelling place theme imparts a corporate dimension to growth that is crucial if the Messiah’s people are to function as they ought. This functioning is given further definition, however, by the expansionist element introduced by the temple theme and texts, as well as the framing of membership of the Messiah’s people in explicitly covenantal terms. Ephesians may thus be seen as a letter whose purpose is to induct believers into the privileges and responsibilities of the Messiah’s new humanity, to give them the self understanding that they constitute corporately the new temple and to convince them that the manner of their “walking” is the means by which the unity and integrity of God’s dwelling place is both expressed and maintained.
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Johansson, Anders. "Bioteknologins politik och berättelsernas transformativa makt." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies, 2002. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-1443.
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This thesis aims to respond to the need of adjust GMO politics for meeting the demands of the late-modern society and the changed condition that follows from an accelerating complexity. The central objective for this study is to contribute with a narrative understanding of Sweden’s GMO politics with the purpose of examine an alternative possibility for formulating and assessing the politics of biotechnology. This is done by investigate Sweden’s politics of GMO through a narrative approach. I have reconstructed and carried out a Comparative analyzes of these narratives. This was the first of two objectives with this thesis. The other objective was to relate the political practice with the contribution and insights of Paul Ricoeur as a point of departure. My effort has been to build upon his contribution of narrative philosophy and fruitful conceptual resources and to reach an understanding of the advantage of a narrative approach in politics. This advantage lies in that it can provide an understanding of the narrative aspects in our daily lives. This would bring sensitivity and reflexivity to the political context. With this sensitivity and reflexivity it hopefully can separate irresponsible politics from responsible politics. This could be done by incorporate the result from this study. A responsible environmental politics departs from the precautionary principle in decision-making, gaining knowledge from interdisciplinary research and tries to correspond to the narrative structures in people’s daily lives. The narrative approach brings a deeper understanding for that political thought and practice is not reducible to other forms of human action.
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Yildiz, Sitki. "The Transformation Of The Religious Tradesmen In Small Cities In The Context Of Market Economy: The Case Of Kirikkale." Phd thesis, METU, 2003. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/4/12604917/index.pdf.
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Based on a field study carried out in Kirikkale, this study investigates the
transformation of religious tradesmen of small cities in Turkey with emphases
on : (a) the role of religious values within the free market economy(b) the &
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work ethics&
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of religious tradesmen and (c) the transformation process of religious values within the present economic system. In the study, semistructured in-depth interviews and official documents were used to collect the research data. The thesis of Weber on the relationships between religious values and the rational capitalism was examined to better understand the work ethics and the religious values of religious tradesmen. The opinions of Weber, Rodinson and Ü
lgener about the causes of the nonexistence of a rational capitalism in the Islamic world were evaluated throughout the study. In this respect, the emergence and the development of the Muslim guilds and petty bourgeoisie within the traditional Islamic societies were also studied. The research results suggest that the incorporation into the free market economy brings about the transformation the religious economic convictions or values. Therefore, the chance of survival and the applicability of such religious values within this economic system seem to be impossible. In summary, this particular research indicates that the religious tradesmen do not face with serious contradictions in their economic activities. They rather seem to be involved in a transformation and adaptation process in the free market economy.
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Klein, Ellen W. "Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation and the Ethical Obligations of the Dying Person: A Narrative Approach." Scholar Commons, 2010. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3538.
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The person experiencing chronic or protracted illness is confronted with a complex array of physical, emotional and spiritual trials. This thesis explores how chronic illness can be viewed through the lens of the shamanic experience of dismemberment and re-memberment and shows how clinical, narrative, and relational models on their own are insufficient to speak meaningfully to illness experiences, but the integration of aspects of each of these models when coupled with shamanic initiation experience creates an innovative model for patients and those with whom they are in relationship.
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Ferradji, Hakim. "Raid multisports et socialité contemporaine : étude ethno-sociologique de la transformation du lien social dans une activité d'aventure." Rouen, 2006. http://www.theses.fr/2006ROUEL529.
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L'aventure : un mot aux significations si diverses qui permet aux adeptes de la pratique physique de modifier leur quotidien, tout en s'appropriant intégralement des moments intenses octroyés par cette rupture. Le raid multisports, qui fait partie de cette pratique, n'est pas fédéré, d'où une autonomie beaucoup plus nette dans les raids qui se veuletn et doivent être en rupture avec le quotidien. Les normes ici retrouvées sont plus facilement acceptées, car elles sont en adéquation avec l'espace construit lors de cette expérience. Progresivement assimilées, eles deviennent des normes groupales qui ont pour particularité d'être signifiantes dans cet univers de sens. Parallèlement, tous les repères sont décalés, voire transgressés. L'aventure vécue met en évidence la fragilité des liens tissés : le lien nécessite une mémoire collective qui s'enrichit au fil des expériences vécues. C'est en étant proche des acteurs, vigilants aux actions engagées à travers l'utilisation d'une méthode qualitative, que nous avons mis en évidence cette évolution des sens de la pratique physique et des valeurs socialesAdventure, a word with miscellaneous meanings that enables the followers to modify or at least, to make totally theirs deep and intensive moments they aim to find in this experience. The adventure event, which is part of this field, is not regulated, that's why we can find a clear autonomy in those events. Inconstestably all those landmarks are forwarded, even break because of, between other things, a redefinition of values, a modification of senses, the distance taken with the daily life and the actor's involvement in this revival : so many experience that make them go further than their limits. Nevertheless, the lived adventure reveals the weakness of the bondswithout common bases : bonds require a common history that get rich through experiences. It is while being closes to the actors, careful to the actions engaged through the use of a qualitative method (observations and dialogue) that we were able to point out the evolution between physical practice and social values
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Wareham, Ruth Oswald. "Prohibition, accommodation or transformation? : a philosophical investigation into the moral permissibility of faith schools in liberal democratic societies." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7946/.
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This thesis concerns the ethics of faith schooling. More precisely, it asks whether faith schools constitute legitimate (that is, morally permissible) institutions for liberal democratic societies. I begin by examining five senses in which the term ‘faith school’ might be used and the possible objections that each of these might motivate. Since, as traditionally conceived, faith schools teach for religious belief, I pay particular attention to the criticism that such institutions are indoctrinatory. Via an examination of recent work in the philosophy of psychiatry, I illuminate the concept of indoctrination and propose two reasons why it is morally unacceptable: first, it results in a mind-set where, like delusion, beliefs are held separate from reason and, second, it involves a violation of autonomy. Drawing on a conception of autonomy proposed by Ben Colburn (2010), I go on to argue that, because the development of autonomy is a fundamental aim of the educational enterprise, this gives us strong grounds to avoid both indoctrination and other autonomy violating practices (particularly “Comprehensive Enrolment” (Clayton, 2006)). However, while traditional accounts of the legitimacy of faith schooling have correctly identified that confessional faith schools are indoctrinatory, much less has been said about religiously distinctive pedagogies which fall short of indoctrination. For this reason, the final part of the thesis addresses these ‘priming pedagogies’ and suggests ways in which they may be adapted to provide a morally permissible form of liberal faith-based schooling.
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Le, Kim. "Cultural hybridity and visual practice: Towards a transformative-repair multicultural pedagogy for visual arts education." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2004. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/790.
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This research project examines how transitional multiculturalism, cultural hybridity and transformative-repair are practiced by a professional artist-researcher and novice artists. Transitional multiculturalism and cultural hybridity are examined through a series of artworks by a Vietnamese-born artist-researcher. This series of artwork, which reflects 35 years of creating art in both Vietnamese and Australia, demonstrate a personal engagement with issues of cultural diversity, upbringing, and related aesthetic studies. The intention of this exhibition is to chart the characteristics of the artist's expression, which is culturally hybridised. This part of the study aims to identify those artistic conventions associated with specific visual traditions that have been incorporated into the artist-researcher's paintings. The main influences identified originate from both Eastern arts traditions (Viet nam, Japan and China) and Western visual arts traditions. This study also aims to identify how to use artistic conventions associated with the expression of one's culture und ancestry, which may continue to improving one's knowledge in different traditions and history across diverse aesthetic systems of hybridity. Information and understandings gained from the first part of this research will provide insigns, which will have relevance to secondary school visual arts learning areas. The transformative-repair model of multiculturalism is examined through a visual arts project conducted by secondary school students. More specifically this part of the study aims to identify principles, approaches and content for transformative repair, experiences of two students of culturally diverse hack grounds (African and Vietnamese) who are currently engaged in this culturally diverse Australian society.
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DIANOUX, ROBIN JEREMIE. "FINDING THE BALANCE: TRANSFORMATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE AND VALUATIONS IN BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS POLICIES IN COLOMBIA." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/910498.
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Se la "consapevolezza" richiede una migliore considerazione della biodiversità e una trasformazione delle pratiche, si pone per tutti gli attori, anche se in modi molto diversi, la questione di sapere quale biodiversità proteggere e come agire in modo appropriato. Questa tesi esamina i legami tra le trasformazioni nella conoscenza della biodiversità e la valutazione delle sue proprietà significative, basandosi sullo studio della compensazione delle perdite di biodiversità. Osservando il lavoro dell'IPBES durante una sessione plenaria nel 2018, analizziamo prima i negoziati e le implicazioni percepite della conoscenza della biodiversità globale. Poi, le trasformazioni causate dalle compensazioni sono studiate concentrandosi sul loro emergere a livello globale, prendendo poi come caso di studio l'attuazione di queste politiche in Colombia. A tal fine, dieci mesi di lavoro sul campo sono stati condotti nel paese nel 2018-2019, compresi diversi mesi di etnografia all'interno della sua autorità ambientale nazionale — ANLA, incaricata di autorizzare i progetti. Invece di analizzare se le compensazioni possono effettivamente mantenere la loro promessa di rendere compatibili conservazione e sviluppo, questa ricerca articola la sociologia morale francese e la sociologia pragmatica per fare un passo indietro e guardare alla molteplicità di effetti contraddittori che lo sviluppo di questa politica produce, e alle lotte degli attori per darle un senso e determinare un modo coerente di orientare le loro indagini e azioni. Attraverso il suo carattere multisituato, questa tesi mostra non solo le riconfigurazioni multiple della nozione di biodiversità e delle sue componenti causate da valutazioni globali, compensazioni di biodiversità e valutazioni di impatto, ma anche l'attualizzazione dell'etica ambientale nelle pratiche attraverso le valutazioni, e la loro inseparabilità da una rete di valutazioni di conoscenze, istituzioni, politiche, procedure e attori. Questo lavoro contribuisce anche alla comprensione delle scale e della loro elaborazione come luoghi di contestazione, mostrando il loro ruolo chiave nella valutazione dell'impatto e più in generale nella definizione e articolazione dei problemi e delle soluzioni riguardanti la crisi della biodiversità. Questa tesi mostra infine come, mentre le compensazioni sono considerate scientifiche o tecniche e basate su convenzioni stabilizzate, gli attori si interrogano costantemente sul posto e lo spazio che il "politico", cioè la possibilità di andare oltre il linguaggio egemonico della valutazione, può, deve o prende nei processi in cui si intrecciano fatti e valutazioni.While 'awareness' calls for a greater consideration of biodiversity and a transformation of practices, the question arises for all actors, albeit in very different ways, as to what is this biodiversity that should be protected and how to act appropriately. This thesis examines the links between transformations of knowledge about biodiversity and the valuation of its meaningful properties, by drawing on the study of biodiversity offsets. The observation of the IPBES work during a plenary in 2018 allows first the analysis of the negotiations and perceived implications of global biodiversity knowledge. Then, the transformations caused by biodiversity offsets are studied by focusing on their emergence at a global level and then by taking as a case study the implementation of these policies in Colombia. For this purpose, a ten-month fieldwork has been carried out in the country in 2018-2019, including several months of ethnography within its national environmental authority — the ANLA, in charge of the licensing of projects. Instead of analysing whether offsets can actually fulfil their promises, which consist in compatibilizing conservation and development, this research articulates moral sociology with French pragmatic sociology to take a step back by looking at the multiplicity of contradictory effects that the development of this policy produces, and the struggles of actors to make sense of it and determine a coherent way to orient their inquiries and actions. Through its multi-sited character, this research shows not only the multiple reconfigurations of the notion of biodiversity and its components caused by global assessments, biodiversity offsets and impact evaluations, but also the actualization of environmental ethics in practices through valuations, and their inseparability from a web of valuations of knowledges, institutions, politics, procedures and actors. This work also contributes to understanding scales and scale-making as sites of contestation by showing their key role in the valuation of impacts and more largely in defining and articulating problems and solutions with regard to the biodiversity crisis. This thesis finally demonstrates how, while offsets are considered scientific or technical and based on stabilized conventions, actors constantly questioned the place and space that the ‘political’, that is the possibility of overcoming the hegemonic language of evaluation, may, should, or take in the processes in which facts and valuations are woven.
Si la "prise de conscience" appelle à une meilleure prise en compte de la biodiversité et à une transformation des pratiques, la question se pose pour tous les acteurs, bien que de manières très différentes, de savoir quelle est cette biodiversité à protéger et comment agir de manière appropriée. Cette thèse examine les liens entre les transformations des connaissances sur la biodiversité et la valuation de ses propriétés signifiantes, en s’appuyant sur l’étude des compensations pour pertes de biodiversité. L'observation des travaux de l'IPBES lors d'une plénière en 2018 permet d’abord d'analyser les négociations et les implications perçues des connaissances sur la biodiversité mondiale. Ensuite, les transformations provoquées par les compensations sont étudiées en se focalisant sur leur émergence au niveau mondial, puis en prenant comme cas d'étude la mise en œuvre de ces politiques en Colombie. Dans ce but, un travail de terrain de dix mois a été réalisé dans le pays en 2018-2019, dont plusieurs mois d'ethnographie au sein de son autorité environnementale nationale - l'ANLA, en charge de l'autorisation des projets. Au lieu d'analyser si les compensations peuvent effectivement tenir leurs promesses, qui consistent à compatibiliser conservation et développement, cette recherche articule sociologie morale et sociologie pragmatique française pour prendre du recul en s'intéressant à la multiplicité des effets contradictoires que produit le développement de cette politique, et aux luttes des acteurs pour lui donner du sens et déterminer une manière cohérente d'orienter leurs enquêtes et leurs actions. Par son caractère multisitué, cette thèse montre non seulement les multiples reconfigurations de la notion de biodiversité et de ses composantes provoquées par les évaluations globales, les compensations de biodiversité et les évaluations d'impact, mais aussi l'actualisation de l'éthique environnementale dans les pratiques à travers les valuations, et leur inséparabilité d'un réseau de valuations des savoirs, des institutions, des politiques, des procédures et des acteurs. Ce travail contribue également à la compréhension des échelles et leur élaboration comme lieux de contestation, en montrant leur rôle clé dans l'évaluation des impacts et plus largement dans la définition et l'articulation des problèmes et des solutions concernant la crise de la biodiversité. Cette thèse montre finalement comment, alors que les compensations sont considérées comme scientifiques ou techniques et fondées sur des conventions stabilisées, les acteurs remettent constamment en question la place et l'espace que le "politique", c'est-à-dire la possibilité de dépasser le langage hégémonique de l'évaluation, peut, devrait ou prend dans les processus dans lesquels faits et valuations s’entremêlent.
Si bien la "concienciación" exige una mayor consideración de la biodiversidad y una transformación de las prácticas, todos los actores se preguntan, aunque de forma muy diferente, qué es esa biodiversidad que hay que proteger y cómo actuar adecuadamente. Esta tesis examina los vínculos entre las transformaciones del conocimiento sobre la biodiversidad y la valuación de sus propiedades significativas, basándose en el estudio de las compensaciones por pérdida de biodiversidad. La observación de los trabajos de la IPBES durante una sesión plenaria en 2018 permite, primeramente, analizar las negociaciones y las implicaciones percibidas del conocimiento de la biodiversidad mundial. A continuación, se estudian las transformaciones provocadas por las compensaciones, centrándose en su surgimiento a nivel mundial y luego tomando como caso de estudio la implementación de estas políticas en Colombia. Para este propósito, se ha realizado un trabajo de campo de diez meses en el país en 2018-2019, incluyendo varios meses de etnografía dentro de su autoridad ambiental nacional — la ANLA, encargada del licenciamiento de proyectos. En lugar de analizar si las compensaciones pueden realmente cumplir sus promesas, que consisten en compatibilizar la conservación y el desarrollo, esta investigación articula la sociología moral con la sociología pragmática francesa para dar un paso atrás observando la multiplicidad de efectos contradictorios que produce el desarrollo de esta política, y las luchas de los actores para darle sentido y determinar una forma coherente de orientar sus indagaciones y acciones. A través de su carácter multisituado, esta investigación evidencia no sólo las múltiples reconfiguraciones de la noción de biodiversidad y sus componentes provocadas por las evaluaciones globales, las compensaciones y las evaluaciones de impacto, sino también la actualización de la ética ambiental en las prácticas a través de las valuaciones, y su inseparabilidad de un entramado de valuaciones de saberes, instituciones, políticas, procedimientos y actores. Este trabajo también contribuye a la comprensión de las escalas y su elaboración como lugares de impugnación, mostrando su papel clave en las valuaciones de impactos y, en mayor medida, en la definición y articulación de los problemas y las soluciones con respecto a la crisis de la biodiversidad. Por último, esta tesis demuestra cómo, mientras las compensaciones se consideran científicas o técnicas y se basan en convenciones estabilizadas, los actores cuestionan constantemente el lugar y el espacio que lo "político", es decir la posibilidad de superar el lenguaje hegemónico de la evaluación, puede, debe o toma en los procesos en los que se tejen hechos y valuaciones.
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De, Gentile Astrid. "Les franco-mauriciens : étude ethno-géographique. Évolution et transformation socio-économique de la communauté franco-mauricienne à l'île Maurice." Bordeaux 3, 1997. https://extranet.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/memoires/diffusion.php?nnt=1997BOR30013.
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Jusqu'à l'indépendance en 1968, l'Île Maurice a dépendu de la monoproduction sucrière. Fragilisée par un système reposant sur la monoéconomie, elle s'est engagée, ces trente dernières années dans la voie de la diversification agricole et de la modernisation économique, mais pour cela, elle a dû compter sur la force des sucriers. Les capitaux issus du sucre, alors seul vecteur de l'économie mauricienne, allaient être investis vers de nouveaux objectifs modernes que sont la zone franche mise en place par le gouvernement en 1970, et le tourisme. Aujourd'hui, les franco-mauriciens, tout en continuant à maitriser les capitaux sucriers, sont à la tête du principal groupe textile de la zone franche (Floréal), et des plus grands hôtels mauriciens, appartenant aux groupes Sun et Beach-Comber. Descendants des premiers immigrés français, arrivés au début de la colonisation au 18 e siècle, les franco-mauriciens ne représentent qu'une très faible minorité dans la composition pluri-ethnique de l'Île Maurice. Estimés à environ 7000, ils composent moins de 1% de la population totale. Très attachée à ses origines, la communauté franco-mauricienne semble être figée dans une structure sociale traditionnelle. La famille y joue un rôle prédominant et déterminant. Le système de l'endogamie est encore très fréquent et explique la "préservation ethnique" du groupe. L'ouverture sur les autres communautés reste essentiellement socio-économique. C'est la très forte cohésion sociale interne du groupe qui, tout en étant traditionnelle, explique la force économique dynamique dans laquelle évolue le groupe franco-mauricien. Une faille dans cette cohésion sociale entrainerait sans doute un affaiblissement économique de la communauté. (Doc-thèses)Until the independence in 1968, Mauritius has been dependent on its sugar monoproduction. Weakened by a system relying on a mono-economy, it engaged itself for the past 30 years toward the agricultural diversification and the modernisation of its economy. In order to do that, it had to rely on the sugar manufacturer's behalf. The capitals coming from the sugar, at that time was the only vector on the Mauritian economy which was going to be invested towards new and modern objectives, being the E. P. Z. (export processing zone), installed by the government in 1970, and the tourist industry. Today the Franco Mauritians continue to master the capital from the sugar manufactures, control the major textile group of the E. P. Z. (Floreal knitwear) and the most prestigious hotels belonging to the sun and beach-comber groups. Coming from the first French migrators at the early days of colonisation in the 18th century, the Franco Mauritians today only represent a very small minority in this multi-ethnic community of Mauritius. Approximately 7000, they make less than 1% of the total population. Extremely attached to their origins, the Franco Mauritians seem to have stay in a traditional social structure. The family still plays a predominant and determinant role. The endogamy system is still frequent and explains the "preservation of the ethnic group". The opening up towards the other communities remains essentially socio-economic. It's the strong social cohesion among the group, being traditional, which explains it's economic and dynamic strength in which evoluate the Franco Mauritian group. A short fail in this social cohesion will, without any doubt, weaken the economy of this community
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Roszak, Christopher. "Taking a Transformative Leadership Approach to Stakeholder Trust." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/331.
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Business leaders struggle with the application of appropriate leadership models to retain stakeholder trust. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of mortgage and investment leaders and stakeholders on applying various leadership models to restore stakeholder trust. Stakeholder and stewardship theories formed the conceptual framework of this study. A purposive sample of 20 stakeholders from the investments and mortgage industry in central Colorado participated in semistructured interviews. The research questions were on a leader's application of various leadership traits to restore stakeholder trust. Six themes emerged following coding and reduction using a modified van Kaam approach: (a) benevolence, (b) transparency, (c) humility, (d) approachability, (e) authenticity, and (f) personality. The themes were consistent with transformative leadership traits and satisfied stakeholder affective needs for trust. These findings may be applicable to mortgage and investment business leaders who adopt a transformative leadership approach; such leaders may find an ethically sustainable leadership style that facilitates follower commitment and organizational change, reduces turnover, improves performance, and strengthens social relationships. Stakeholders may find that business leaders who adopt a transformative leadership approach may eventually commit to long-term wealth creation, maintain near-congruent values, and avoid self-serving behaviors.
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McGettigan, Andrew. "Disputes in the "metaphysics" of ethico-political transformation : a re-assessment of the speculative philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2006. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6907/.
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My thesis contests a putative congruity between Derrida and Levinas concerning discussions of responsibility, ethics and otherness. It attends to the fundamental 'metaphysical' differences between the two with respect to ontology, language and historicity. Consequently, it foregrounds two distinct conceptions of philosophy, which differ with respect to task, strategy and presentational form. Since Levinas's key notion of the 'face' [le visage], which cannot be equated to any actual countenance, breaks with phenomenality - no small issue for an avowed phenomenology - this thesis will begin by treating the category of the other (or. Other) in Levinas's writings as a conundrum. By analysing the two major topographies of the Other developed by Levinas in Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being (with particular attention to their differences), I ask: who or what counts as the other for Levinas? Concurrently, I track Derrida's writings across his career to see if he can be held to subscribe to either of these models, noting the transformations that Derrida effects upon Levinas. By analysing them in tandem, the metaphysical and speculative contours of both thinkers (which if not neglected in the secondary literature are transformed into quasi-theological positions) come to the fore. Thereby, this thesis seeks to revive questions of speculative thought in contemporary philosophy, whilst simultaneously asking how this speculative dimension preserves its status as philosophy despite its break with norms of written form and argumentation. Crucially, this is the terrain on which Derrida, in 'Violence and Metaphysics', had first criticised Levinas - his lack of attention to language and presentation meant his writing remained non-philosophical. '... exteriority and alterity are concepts which themselves have never surprised philosophical discourse. Philosophy by itself has always been concerned with them. These are not conceptual headings under which philosophy's border can be overflowed: the overflow is its object. Instead of determining some other circumscription, recognizing it, practicing it, bringing it to light, forming it, in a word producing it (and today this word serves as the crudest "new clothes" of the metaphysical denigration which accommodates itself very well to all these projects), in question will be, but according to a movement unheard of by philosophy, an other which is no longer its other. ' Jacques Derrida 'Tympan' [1972] translated by Alan Bass in Margins of Philosophy (Brighton, Harvester Press, 1982), pp. ix-xxix; pp. xiii-xiv. 'As has often been remarked, one of the gravest misfortunes that can affect a writer of great intellectual seriousness and strong ethical passions is to have his ideas "naturalized" by the English. ' Allan Janik and Stephen Toulmin Wittgenstein's Vienna (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1973), p. 19.
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Benham, Melissa K. "From utility to significance| Exploring ecological connection, ethics, and personal transformation through a gardening and environmental literacy program within San Quentin Prison." Thesis, San Jose State University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1567980.
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Society's environmental practices often parallel those of our criminal justice system. Both embody "throw-away" cultures that often yield more complex problems than those they were attempting to solve. Programs that provide real meaning-making are necessary to achieve ecological and criminal rehabilitation. Fundamental ecological and personal transformation requires a deep sense of context, purpose, and reconnection extending beyond mere employability. In this research we explored how people come to terms with personal moral obligation, as well as how restorative ecological engagement may be transformational for humans in personal crisis. Primary field data were gathered from incarcerated men inside San Quentin State Prison participating in the Insight Garden Program (IGP), as well as men in the same unit attending other prison programming, or no programming. A mixed-method approach was used, including open-ended interviews and three multiple-choice survey instruments: a locus of control survey, an environmental literacy quiz, and a climate change opinion survey. Each survey revealed strong results (those consistent with recidivism correlations) for IGP participants, followed by those in other programs, in comparison with men in no programming. Qualitative results most strongly illustrated that prison programming, gardening and otherwise, can contribute profoundly toward transformative value reorientation, which is integral to rehabilitation.
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Zhu, Feng. "Computer games and the aesthetic practices of the self : wandering, transformation, and transfiguration." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2017. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/computer-games-and-the-aesthetic-practices-of-the-self-wandering-transformation-and-transfiguration(786b152a-feea-4610-ae94-02df7be588ea).html.
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This thesis draws on Michel Foucault's late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a 'wandering' away from ourselves, a 'transformation' or 'transfiguration' of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault's anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power - understood through Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' - works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a 'truth' through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault's orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the 'rationalities' within games, which are the conditions under which players' practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault's work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense - they are revisited through the lens of Schiller's play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance.