Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Other Studies In Human Society'
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1
Jacobs, Susan (Susan Mary). "Constructing a woman: gender, genre, and subjectivity in the autobiographical works of Sibilla Aleramo." Thesis, University of Auckland, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/1972.
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Both Sibilla Aleramo (1876-1960), one of Italy's most renowned and controversial women writers, and autobiography, as a generic minefield for debates on theories of the subject, have received a good deal of critical attention over the past fifteen years. The uncompromisingly autobiographical nature of Sibilla's work has been, at various times, revered and reviled, be it for what she says, or how she says it. My focus is precisely on the different forms she uses to write her self in four texts - a fictional autobiography, lyrical novel, epistolary novel and a diary - and how these construct, modify and deconstruct her self-representations in a continual process of intertextual reading and revising. Yet her texts resist easy classification. While sometimes confirming boundaries of genre and gender, they also constantly call them into question by exposing their limits, their intersection with fictional norms, and their shifting discursive affiliations. Because Sibilla was all her life concerned with gender, and the relationship of femininity to her writing, many aspects of her work appear relevant today. I explore how they anticipate feminist theories on the construction of female subjectivity in a combination of theory and autobiographical practice which highlights the interrelationship of the two. Here Sibilla's focus on the maternal is particularly indicative of this tendency, where it is woven into the generic structures of her texts as well as being an important focus of the autobiographical "story". Furthermore, her texts challenge the notion of self defined by male bias, and present opportunities for critical testing of autobiographical theories themselves by offering not one, but several, works for examination.
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Webber, Chris. "Maori issues for remediation of bio-hazards, chemo-hizards and natural disasters : a thesis completed in part satisfaction of a Masters in Philosophy at Massey University." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1005.
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This study sets out: 1. To identify and demonstrate a body of knowledge relevant to Maori and remediation of biological hazards, chemical hazards and natural disasters (disaster recovery) 2. To do it in a Maori-appropriate way that supports Maori research approach 3. To provide something new and useful for Maori and other stakeholders involved in such issues A Kaupapa Maori mixed-methodology was used to guide research decisions and actions, including the development of a ‘Haurapa’ approach based on the journey of a ‘typical Maori researcher’. Through literature review, case studies and semi-structured interviews, a pool of knowledge was identified and used to draw out a set of themes and indicators which complement others in related fields. New knowledge was validated against related findings. Use of the findings is demonstrated, along with ideas for future application and testing. A conceptual ‘Pa model’ is proposed as a useful way to approach the subject for engagement with Maori and improved understanding of the overall context. Existing frameworks are adapted to work for this topic, including a useful tool for filtering potential indicators. In conducting this study, the following hunches or hypotheses were considered: ? That Maori are not adequately prepared or included regarding modern hazards and disaster response ? A lack of Maori involvement results in inequalities ? Valuable gains can be made with a Maori-centred approach and proper treatment of Maori issues The conclusion supports the statements and recommends further work in the area.
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Rata, Elizabeth 1952. "Global Capitalism and the Revival of Ethnic Traditionalism in New Zealand: The Emergence of Tribal-Capitalism." Thesis, University of Auckland, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2015.
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The social and economic restructuring accompanying increasing globalisation has provided new opportunities and new limits for social and ethnic movements in New Zealand as elsewhere. The purpose of this thesis is to establish the theory of tribal-capitalism through an examination of the responses to these changing global economic circumstances that have characterised the Maori ethnification, indigenisation and retribalisation movements since the 1970s. Although both the initial 'prefigurative' and the later 'strategic'(Breines, 1980:421) routes to tino rangatiratanga ('Maori sovereignty') were attempts to restore traditional social relations and secure political and economic autonomy from the dominant Pakeha society, the projects are distinguished by different approaches. On the one hand the 'prefigurative' traditionalist project indicted both capitalism and Pakeha society as its exponents sought a return to the precapitalist social relations of the pre-Contact era. On the other hand exponents of the 'strategic' project sought to establish a concordat with capitalist Pakeha society based upon the assumption that a capitalist economy could be made compatible with Maori political and cultural autonomy. It is argued that neither project, 'prefigurative' traditionalism nor the 'strategic march through the institutions of capitalism', achieved the objective of tino rangatiratanga. Irrespective of approach, Maori ethnification, indigenisation and retribalisation became reshaped and reconstituted by the conditions that made the movements possible and that shaped them in decisive ways. These tino rangatiratanga movements emerged from the institutional channels enabled by Pakeha bicultural idealists and given substance by the Waitangi Tribunal as a tribal-capitalist regime of accumulation characterised by exploitative class relations and reified communal relations. An extensive range of case studies is employed to provide evidence that tests the hypothesis of the emergence of tribal-capitalism from out of the projects that attempted to retain the traditional in a world dominated by capitalist relations. Despite the structural opportunities provided by Pakeha bicultural idealists, and despite the different approaches of the Maori tino rangatiratanga projects, it was not possible to restore communal relations of production. Objective forces, rather than internal miscalculation, ineptitude or corruption, brought about the failure as firstly 'prefigurative' and then 'strategic' projects became doomed attempts to sidestep class location within capitalist structures. The various studies examine the ways in which the 'prefigurative' and 'strategic' projects not only led to the transformation of the ethnification and indigenisation movements into the new class formations of tribal-capitalism, but actually became constitutive of the class fractions that define the regime. The dialectical interactive of agency and structure which transformed the projects became a reconstituting and shaping mechanism of change. First the study of the Pakeha new class's bicultural project grounds the later studies by locating the institutional inclusion of Maori indigenous particularity in the universalism of the new class humanists. Biculturalism established relatively benign conditions for the tino rangatiratanga projects by providing both opportunities and resources for Maori development. It is in the retribalising form of that development that an indigenous version of the capitalist regime of accumulation is located. The next three sections of the thesis examine the 'prefigurative' and 'strategic' routes of this indigenous particularity into the new inclusive structures in studies of: a reviving Maori family, an ascendant tribe, a separate Maori education system and the creation of the national Maori fishing industry. The outcomes of each study are examined to trace the failure of both approaches as particular groups within the retribalisation movement developed new and exclusive relationships to the traditional lands, waters and knowledge. The concluding section contrasts culturalist theories of the Maori tino rangatiratanga projects with the hypothesis of the emergence of tribal-capitalism advanced in this thesis. The claim that cultural strength can resist the imposition of capitalist class relations is found not to be sustained.
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Cragg, Melissa. "The application of custom to contemporary Maori resource development : a thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Maori Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." Massey University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1326.
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Maori have always sought to carefully manage the natural environment – to ensure the sustainability of resources and the well-being of future generations. The dynamic nature of any culture provides flexibility for growth and development, so that new challenges can be faced with assurance and that dynamic and meaningful solutions can be found. This concept of flexibility and willingness to embrace change has been a feature of Maori culture and is documented throughout Maori history and within korero purakau. Therefore the requirement to embrace contemporary approaches to resource management has not been resisted. However, the desire to align traditional concepts with contemporary resource management conventions has at times been met with opposition and disapproval. This, despite the fact that the two world views have much in common and are not necessarily inconsistent with each other. ‘The Application of Custom to Contemporary Maori Resource Development’ is both the title of the thesis and the name given to the framework which it describes. The framework is a tool for future resource management that provides three levels of information. First, it identifies the resources where customary and contemporary methodology is currently being utilised. Second, it outlines the alignment and synergies that exist, and finally, it identifies barriers to the amalgamation and integration of both approaches. The framework by itself will not address all the complex issues associated with Maori resource management; there are many other considerations that are beyond the scope of this thesis that would need to be dealt with in order to achieve that outcome. However, the framework does provide a mechanism through which Maori values and practices can be considered alongside Western views and perspectives. The Framework will contribute to the development of more effective strategies, policies and planning. Thus, ‘The Application of Custom to Contemporary Maori Resource Development’ will contribute to improving the sustainable utilisation of natural resources.
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Titchener, Sharyn. "Entering unknown territory : exploring the impact on indigenous field researchers when conducting gender based violence and child abuse research in the Solomon Islands : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Philosophy in Social Work, Massey University, New Zealand." Massey University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1318.
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This study explores the reflective experiences of indigenous field researchers who were involved in conducting the first population representative research study on gender-based violence and child abuse in the Solomon Islands. The purpose of this thesis study was to gain an understanding and insight into the field researchers’ perceptions of the positive and negative impacts such involvement may have had on their lives. The term ‘impact’ was applied holistically and focus was given to whether negative impacts were mitigated by the positive benefits that may be present from being involved in such research. The research study design was exploratory and qualitative in nature, underpinned by a phenomenological approach. The participants were 29 Solomon Island women who had been employed in the role of ‘field researcher’ for the Solomon Island Family Health and Safety Study. Data collection methods included the use of both in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Eleven interviews were conducted using a semi-structured approach. Three focus group discussions were facilitated, with the assistance of an open-ended questionnaire guideline. The findings identified a number of themes that emerged from the data collected. The themes highlighted primary impacts that included an emotional, physical and life-changing dimension. There was a pattern where different themes were more prevalent, dependent on what phase of the ‘research journey’ that the researchers’ were reflecting on. A significant finding was that although field researchers’ primarily reported negative impacts, they all unanimously stated that they would be interested in being involved in conducting research on violence against women and children in the future. These findings not only suggest that the positive benefits from being involved in such research mitigated the many negative impacts as reported by the field researchers, but also suggest that through being involved with such research, they developed an increased commitment within their own communities to assist in reducing violence against women and children. Conducting research on violence against women and children in a developing post-conflict country brings with it many physical and emotional challenges for indigenous field researchers. It is essential that field researchers are provided with considerable support during all phases of the research study. The application of ethical and safety standards needs to reflect the unique characteristics of the country where the study is being conducted, taking into account the situational and ambient dangers that field researchers may be confronted with during their time in the field.
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Barnes, Helen Moewaka. "Arguing for the spirit in the language of the mind: a Maori practitioner's view of research and science : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosphy at Massey University." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1008.
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This thesis explores the ways that colonisation has resulted in Maori being cast as different and the other in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It challenges perceptions of relationships between Maori and western knowledge and between science and practice, drawing on a range of theorists, scholarly writings and multiple research and evaluation projects. The study examines how these perceptions, and the definitions arising from them, tend to compartmentalise Maori knowledge and research and, in doing so, serve non-Maori agendas more than they serve Maori aspirations. The thesis looks at the impacts that the world of the coloniser has had on our ways of knowing and ways of practising. Through illustrating initiatives that operate within Maori paradigms and collaborations between Maori and non-Maori, the development of equitable relationships is explored. Key findings are the need for a more inclusive understanding of knowledge and research practice in order to reframe the way we (coloniser and colonised) look at and express our understandings of the world and how these might be operationalised through research relationships. Part of the contribution of this thesis is to provide a framework for more equitable research relationships, focusing on non- Maori development. This is suggested as a counter to the constant examination and defining of Maori as different and in need of development.
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Wallace, Leonelle. "Tryst Tropique: Pacific Texts, Modern Sexualities." Thesis, University of Auckland, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2279.
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Tryst Tropique questions some of the assumptions that have been made about the heterosexual trajectory described by European desire as it has informed literary, artistic and anthropological representation of the South Pacific. It reads a series of contact encounters and Pacific residencies for their unfolding of European sexual inscription and discovers their inevitable entanglement with problematics of homosexual definition. This thesis arcs between two readings wherein the sexual conduct of Polynesian men both requires and escapes European definition. The first, which settles on the documents of Cook's third voyage, uses British indifference to Hawaiian sodomitical desire to help measure a representational space from whence the European homosexual will emerge (Chapter Two). The next reading considers the erotics of male visibility legible across a number of Marquesan contact texts including Herman Melville's Typee (Chapter Three). Chapter Four discovers that the suspicion of sodomitical misconduct which clouded the career of William Yate, an early nineteenth-century New Zealand missionary, continues to involve twentieth-century commentators in the interpretative dynamics of sexual entrapment. Chapter Five turns to Gauguin's Tahitian writings and paintings to engage with the place of ambivalence in contemporary analyses of colonial discourse. Chapter Six extends the parameters of the thesis in terms of gender and of geography, taking up the controversy generated by Derek Freeman around the early Samoan fieldwork of Margaret Mead. It argues that in the example of Mead's career, we can observe the way in which female sexuality acts as the cipher by which culture multiplies and maintains ignorances and knowledges across the discursive field of sex in both cosmopolitan and primitive locations. The final chapter, which analyses a contemporary documentary representation of Samoan fa'afafine, finds the pertinence or applicability of European sexual description to Polynesian behaviour again at stake, though now we find that the liberal gesture of cultural relativism is co-optable to a homophobia already drilled and proficient in erecting a difference without to forestall a difference within. Reading against the grain of much postcolonial work on the South Pacific, Tryst Tropique finds that it is the male body-whether native or European-not the female, which provides the sexual vanishing point which structures many of these narratives. In each of these Pacific moments a privileged figuration occurs: the body which stands as a placemarker for erotic capacities-both indulged and forsworn-is indicatively male. These inscriptions of masculinity betray a certain amplifying anxiety; the discrepant sexual availabilities recorded in each text break with increasing urgency on the shore of heterosexual and homosexual definition. Even as these Pacific journal keepers, these writers and artists, map identity more and more ferociously onto the known grid of gender, it seems as if the horizon of sexual certainty further and further recedes.
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Mullenite, Joshua. "Engineering Colonialism: Race, Class, and the Social History of Flood Control in Guyana." FIU Digital Commons, 2018. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3800.
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Overabundance and scarcity of water are global concerns. Across the world’s low-lying coastal plains, flooding brought on by sea level rise acts as an existential threat for a multitude of people and cultures while in desert (and increasingly non-desert) regions intensifying drought cycles do the same. In the decades to come, how people manage these threats will have important implications not only for individual and cultural survival, but also for questions of justice. Recent research on flooding and flood management probes the histories of survival, and adaptation in flood threatened regions for insights into emergent flood-related crises. However, scholars have thus far overemphasized the technical aspects of how engineered flood control systems functioned, overlooking both the specific social, political, and economic contexts within which past practices emerged and the social worlds that they helped create. This dissertation examines the social, economic, and political histories of flood control projects in the South American country of Guyana in order to understand the long lasting social, political, and environmental impacts of colonial-era projects.
To do this, I utilized archival data collected from the National Archives in London, UK, historical newspaper articles collected through online newspaper databases, press release statements from Guyana’s major political parties, and unstructured and semi-structured interviews with residents from coastal Guyana. These data were imported and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software in order to make connections across spatial and temporal scales.
The key finding of the dissertation is that, in Guyana, flood control engineering has historically played multiple social, political, and economic roles beyond the functional explanations assumed in many present environmental management discourses. Colonial engineering projects served as a way to protect colonizers from economic crises and social upheaval and were not just a means for protecting the coast from flooding. Additionally, the dissertation found that these projects were key to creating the racial geographies that helped to protect colonialism in its final years and which continue to shape coastal life today. Finally, the dissertation found that, after the end of colonialism, flood engineering projects were incorporated into larger projects of racialized regime survival.
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Feary, Mark S. "Statistical frameworks and contemporary Māori development." Lincoln University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/664.
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Māori have entered a period of development that, more than ever before, requires them to explore complex options and make careful decisions about the way forward. This complexity stems from three particular areas. First, from having essentially two sets of rights, as New Zealanders and as Māori, and being active in the struggle to retain those rights. Second, from trying to define and determine development pathways that are consistent with their traditional Māori values, and which align with their desire to participate in and enjoy a modern New Zealand and a global society. Third, from attempting development within a political and societal environment that is governed by a different and dominant culture. Māori, historically and contemporarily, have a culture that leads them to very different views of the world and development pathways than pakeha New Zealanders (D. Marsden, 1994, p. 697). Despite concerted effort and mis placed belief the Māori world view has survived and is being adopted by Māori youth. The Māori worldview sometimes collides with the view of the governing pakeha culture of New Zealand, which values rights, assets and behaviours differently. Despite these differences and the complexities it remains important to measure progress and inform debate about best practice and future options. In this regard, statistical information is crucial, and is generally recognised as one of the currencies of development (World Summit of the Information Society, 2003). Māori increasingly desire to measure and be informed about the feasibility and progress of their development choices in a way that is relevant to their values and culture. Where a Māori view of reality is not present there is a high risk that decisions and actions will reflect a different worldview, will fail to deal with cultural complexities, and ultimately will not deliver the intended development outcomes.
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Davis, Kim, Changkun Shen, and Aymeric Maratea. "Contributing to a Transition towards a Sustainable Society : Education Matters." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för ingenjörsvetenskap, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-3062.
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This research aims to shed insights and produce supportive tools to help stimulate the design of education programs. First a characterization of opportunities and challenges for education programs is given from a global sustainability standpoint. Second a characterization of what education programs may contain and take into account from a full sustainability standpoint, as an outline of education programs in a desired future at a principle level, is provided to help inspire purpose-led education services organizations. Third an outline of possible tools and strategies to help strategically close the gap between the current unsustainable state and the desired sustainable future is provided. A special focus is put on the Template for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD) process tool, originally used to help industries in their production chain, but here adapted as the “Sustainability Potential” Express Strategic Assessment for Education Programs to benefit education programs stakeholders. The authors also propose a set of three abilities acting in synergy: Creativity, “Knowledge Making” & “Open Values” (CKMOV) that are at the heart of Strategic Sustainable Development and thus may help form three equally vital pillars, which education programs may strategically take support from while helping society transition to a sustainable equilibrium.+86 13637758331
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Sunzel, William. "“No one is born a terrorist” : A study of Securitization, Human Rights and Terrorism." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-352151.
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Securitization is the move in which an issue is argued to pose an existential threat to a referent object. Speech acts are considered to be the starting point for the securitization of an issue. This thesis viewed governmental counter-terrorism strategies as potential carriers of speech acts - hence the strategies could constitute the start of terrorism becoming securitized by a government. By using a generic speech act typology created by Stritzel, which combines critical discourse analysis with the securitization theory on Swedish and British counter-terrorism strategies, the thesis identifies a speech act in the most recent British strategy. The second finding is that in the case where the speech act occurred, the human rights discourse was significantly lower, compared to the cases where no speech act occurred. The thesis also provides suggestions for future research on the topic of speech acts.
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Hosseinioun, Mishana. "The globalisation of universal human rights and the Middle East." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8f6bdf79-2512-4f32-840a-3565a096ae8d.
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The goal of this study is to generate a more holistic picture of the diffusion and assimilation of universal human rights norms in diverse cultural and political settings such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The overarching question to be investigated in this thesis is the relationship between the evolving international human rights regime and the emerging human rights normative and legal culture in the Middle East. This question will be investigated in detail with reference to regional human rights schemes such as the Arab Charter of Human Rights, as well as local human rights developments in three Middle Eastern states, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Having gauged the take-up of human rights norms on the ground at the local and regional levels, the thesis examines in full the extent of socialisation and internalisation of human rights norms across the Middle East region at large.
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Enqvist, Johan. "Stewardship in an urban world : Civic engagement and human–nature relations in the Anthropocene." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-146193.
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Never before have humans wielded a greater ability to alter and disrupt planetary processes. Our impact is becoming so noticeable that a new geological epoch has been proposed – the Anthropocene – in which Earth systems might no longer maintain the stable and predictable conditions of the past 12 millennia. This is particularly evident in the rapid expansion of urban areas, where a majority of humans now live and where environmental changes such as rising temperatures and habitat loss are happening faster than elsewhere. In light of this, questions have been raised about what a more responsible relationship between humans and the rest of the planet might look like. Scholars in sustainability science employ the concept of ‘stewardship’ in searching for an answer; however, with multiple different applications and definitions, there is a need to better understand what stewardship is or what novelty it might add to sustainability research. This thesis investigates stewardship empirically through two case studies of civic engagement for protecting nature in cities – Bengaluru, India and New York City, USA. Further, the thesis also proposes a conceptual framework for how to understand stewardship as a relation between humans and the rest of nature, based on three dimensions: care, knowledge and agency. This investigation into stewardship in the urban context uses a social–ecological systems approach to guide the use of mixed theory and methods from social and natural sciences. The thesis is organized in five papers. Paper I reviews defining challenges in managing urban social–ecological systems and proposes that these can more effectively be addressed by collaborative networks where public, civic, other actors contribute unique skills and abilities. Paper II and Paper III study water resource governance in Bengaluru, a city that has become dependent on external sources while its own water bodies become degraded and depleted.Paper II analyzes how locally based ‘lake groups’ are able to affect change through co-management arrangements, reversing decades of centralization and neglect of lakes’ role in Bengaluru’s water supply.Paper III uses social–ecological network analysis to analyze how patterns in lake groups’ engagements and collaborations show better fit with ecological connectivity of lakes.Paper IV employs sense of place methods to explore how personal bonds to a site shapes motivation and goals in waterfront stewardship in New York City. Finally,Paper V reviews literature on stewardship and proposes a conceptual framework to understand and relate different uses and underlying epistemological approaches in the field. In summary, this thesis presents an empirically grounded contribution to how stewardship can be understood as a human–nature relation emergent from a deep sense ofcare and responsibility, knowledge and learning about how to understand social–ecological dynamics, and theagency and skills needed to influence these dynamics in a way that benefits a greater community of humans as others. Here, the care dimension is particularly important as an underappreciated aspect of social–ecological relations, and asset for addressing spatial and temporal misalignment between management institutions and ecosystem. This thesis shows that care for nature does not erode just because green spaces are degraded by human activities – which may be crucial for promoting stewardship in the Anthropocene.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript.
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Southard, Nicole. "The Socio-Political and Economic Causes of Natural Disasters." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1720.
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To effectively prevent and mitigate the outbreak of natural disasters is a more pressing issue in the twenty-first century than ever before. The frequency and cost of natural disasters is rising globally, most especially in developing countries where the most severe effects of climate change are felt. However, while climate change is indeed a strong force impacting the severity of contemporary catastrophes, it is not directly responsible for the exorbitant cost of the damage and suffering incurred from natural disasters -- both financially and in terms of human life. Rather, the true root causes of natural disasters lie within the power systems at play in any given society when these regions come into contact with a hazard event. Historic processes of isolation, oppression, and exploitation, combined with contemporary international power systems, interact in complex ways to affect different socioeconomic classes distinctly. The result is to create vulnerability and scarcity among the most defenseless communities. These processes affect a society’s ideological orientation and their cultural norms, empowering some while isolating others. When the resulting dynamic socio-political pressures and root causes come into contact with a natural hazard, a disaster is likely to follow due to the high vulnerability of certain groups and their inability to adapt as conditions change. In this light, the following discussion exposes the anthropogenic roots of natural disasters by conducting a detailed case analysis of natural disasters in Haiti, Ethiopia, and Nepal.
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Sullivan, Martin Joseph. "Paraplegic Bodies: Self and Society." Thesis, University of Auckland, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/1917.
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In this dissertation it is argued that humans constitute themselves as subjects in a complex of interrelationships between body, self, and society, The effects of these interrelationships are examined through the ways in which traumatic paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects following their accidents. Subsequent to paralysis there is a radical break in how paraplegics experience their bodies, in what they are physically able to do, and in the ways in which their bodies are interpreted socially, assigned meanings, and allocated space in which to do and be. Experiential accounts of paraplegia are presented as a means to exploring the implications of these changes in the ways paraplegics constitute themselves as subjects.
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Alkhedaiade, Adel Qlayel Hamdan. "Studies of αvβ integrin functions in human B cell precursors." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2011. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3044/.
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The αVβ5 integrin is a member of integrin family that binds to different ligands such as vitronectin, fibronectin and soluble CD23 in order to mediate different biological responses such as cell growth, adhesion and metastasis. It is expressed by B cell precursors and by different acute lymphocytic leukaemia cell lines such as SMS-SB cells. This thesis is an attempt to explain how the sCD23- αVβ5 integrin interaction stimulates SMS-SB cell growth and to study the role of the αVβ5 integrin and other receptors such as PDGF receptor and CXCR4 in B cell development in the bone marrow. The maturation and differentiation of B-cells occur due to several factors that impact on gene expression in its development program. This program is divided into two main phases, the antigen-independent B-cell development phase and antigen-dependent B-cell development phase, respectively. The antigen - independent phase of B cell development starts from the pluripotent haemopoietic stem cell (PHSC) and progresses through several successive stages which are identified by somatic recombination and rearrangement of both heavy and light chain genes. Soluble CD23 and LP (a synthetic peptide derived from soluble CD23) significantly stimulate SMS-SB growth while a smaller growth stimulation is caused by either SDF1-α or PDGFAB. There are different signalling targets involved in the αVβ5 integrin-mediated proliferation due to its binding to either sCD23 or LP. These ligands enhance the association between the αVβ5 integrin and the PDGF receptor which promote the phosphorylation of both Jak2 and STAT5. Moreover, cell growth was reduced and the phosphorylation of Jak2 and STAT5 was also knocked down with using either PDGF receptor inhibitor (AG1295) or Jak2 inhibitor (AG490). Both soluble CD23 and LP activate the STAT5-DNA binding and strongly increase its transcriptional activity. In addition, both ligands induce the phosphorylation of other different substrates such as STAT2, c-Src, c-yes and AMPKα2 which might be related to cell growth stimulation. The αVβ5 integrin ligands also promote the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p90RSK and activate a SRF transfected reporter gene. However, ERK1/2 and p90RSK phosphorylation was completely blocked by the specific MEK inhibitor (U0126). In similar context, SDF1-α stimulates the transcriptional activity of SRF but not STAT5 while PDGFAB does the opposite. Finally, soluble CD23 induces the proliferation of 697 and BAF03 which are other pre-B cell line models. These data suggest that the αVβ5 integrin-ligated ligands stimulate SMS-SB cell growth by promoting different signalling pathways, mainly Jak2/STAT5 and MEK/ERK1/2 pathway. Further work is required to determine the role of STAT5, p90RSK, c-Src and SRF in stimulating either the proliferation or apoptosis that promoted by the αVβ5 integrin-sCD23 interaction and to investigate the relationship between the activation of these targets.
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Al, Dahi Amer. "Studies on microbes, including potential human pathogens, from insects and other invertebrates." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/15978/.
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A wide range of bacteria were obtained from the exterior, and from the body fluids, of insects collected locally, and Lepidoptera species obtained from an Entomological supplier. The insects were found to contain a wide range of bacteria, both internally and externally including Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium used in the biocontrol of larval pests. Although not major pathogens, many of the bacterial isolates can cause infection in immune-compromised patients, a possibility which is discussed. Larvae of the Peacock butterfly (Vanessa io) were fed nettle leaves which were deliberately covered with a range of bacteria. Feeding with B. thuringiensis not surprisingly, lead to the death of all of the larvae after 4 hours. The results show that feeding with B. subtilis and E. coli can lead to larval death, while MRSA was shown to be less toxic. Feeding the larvae with the other bacteria killed some larvae, with the death rate after feeding B. subtilis and E. coli being identical. Bacillus cereus was isolated from the larvae fed B. thuringiensis and B.subtilis. Bacteria were isolated from the Dermestidae (beetle larvae) obtained from human cadavers. The dominant species of bacteria was Enterococcus faecalis which was isolated from inside the larvae extracted from a human corpse. Two species of Clostridium were also isolated; Clostridium cochlearium was isolated from the Dermestid larva, the other, Clostridium paraputrificum was isolated from inside the larva. Brevibacterium ravenspurgense, Staphylococcus hominis, Lishizhenia tianjinensis and Bacillus safensis, were also isolated from inside larvae, extracted from human body. The biocontrol agents Bacillus thuringiensis and Paenibacillus popiliae were shown to be capable of mediating in vitro, transformations which are important in the major environmental mineral cycles These bacteria are likely to reach the agriculture soils following treatment and, on germination can presumably participate in mineral cycling Both bacteria were shown to be capable in vitro hydrolysis of urea, and were shown to oxidize ammonium and elemental sulphur and also to solubilize a source of insoluble phosphate. It is not clear however, to what extent the ability of these bacteria to participate in these reactions in vitro correlates with the same activity in soils and other environments. Insects were sampled at a height of 120 meters using a drone–towed fabric sleeve and their microbial content studied. The major point of interest behind this work is the use of a drone-towed sleeve to sample the insects. As far as can be determined, this is the first reported use of this approach to sample high flying insects in relation to a study of their microbiology. The use of a drone was shown to be ideal for the high altitude sampling of insects since it proved to be both powerful and highly manoeuvrable and there is no doubt that the drone used could have been used to sample at greater heights than the 120 m used here. The results relating to the microbiology of the insects sampled using the drone are not surprisingly similar to those obtained using other sampling methods, since the drone, of course, does not necessarily sample insects which differ from those obtained using more traditional approaches. An octanol-based midge sampler (Predator) was used to obtain large numbers of midges from the air, in relations to studying their microbiology this approach appears to be novel. The midge-biomass collected was found to contain microbes and was shown to break down in an agricultural soil to release ammonium and nitrate. The potential use of this material as an agricultural or home fertilizer is discussed. Finally, larger moths were trapped using a Robinson UV light trap. The moths were found to carry filamentous fungi on their bodies, some of which are plant pathogens, notably of trees.
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Radsky, Alex. "Re-Evaluating the Public Sphere in Russia: Case Studies of Two NGOs." The Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366388627.
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Rosen, Michael D. "The Apatow Aesthetic: Exploring New Temporalities of Human Development in 21st Century Network Society." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6579.
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This thesis offers a critical examination of what I call the “Apatow aesthetic” in order to analyze the social processes of growing up in contemporary neoliberal network society. While doctors, psychologists and social scientists still proffer a model of mid- 20th century human development centered around a chronologically-determined life cycle, the Apatow aesthetic imagines a non-linear reality where traditional life events and social practices don’t always correspond to specific age groups. Specifically, I argue, the Apatow aesthetic subjects the spectator to the pleasures and pains of these life-cycle disruptions, and reveals the unfolding of a new cultural shift which challenges the legitimacy of mid-century heteronormative, adulthood.
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Booth, Michael P. S. "Structural studies of the human glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase (GRHPR) and other proteins." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/a1ba2fd6-0a7f-4f2f-9f9e-92583d8f4a72.
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Human glyoxylate reductase/hydroxypyruvate reductase (GRHPR) is a D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenase found predominantly within the liver, and is essential for the removal of the reactive metabolic product glyoxylate. Primary hyperoxaluria type 2 (PH2) disease, which is characterised by increased urinary oxalate and L-glycerate levels leading to calcium oxalate deposition and decreased renal function, is caused by mutations in the gene for GRHPR. In this study the first crystal structures of the human GRHPR enzyme are reported. Structures of apo, binary and ternary forms of GRHPR are reported, the latter being the first structure of a true ternary complex of an enzyme from the D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenase family.
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Lu, Jenny. "Between homes : examining the notion of the uncanny in art practice and its relationship to post-colonial identity and contemporary society in Taiwan." Thesis, University of the Arts London, 2007. http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/5251/.
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My research focuses on the notion of 'not being at home' in relation to identity issues, post-colonial society and art practice, focusing in particular on Taiwan. I explore Sigmund Freud's theory of the 'uncanny' (unheimlich) and argue that in contemporary society, experiencing the 'uncanny' is common, while it is nearly impossible to obtain the feeling of 'being at home'. This phenomenon is, shown to be present in art, film and literature. My research asks how artists deliver a sense of the 'uncanny' within their artwork, and how they create feelings of unease in the viewer. I will examine work produced by contemporary artists, focusing especially those in Taiwan, such as Chen Chieh-jen and Wu Mah. I will argue that artists living in a post-colonial society such as Taiwan experience the feeling of 'not being at home' to a greater extent, due to their country's unique history and the ongoing contentious political situation. Re-reading Freud's concept of the 'uncanny' in relation to post-colonial theories and the attempt to construct personal identity, notions such as the 'return of the repressed', 'thedouble' and 'death drive' will be applied to explore identity confusions. I base my argument on issues of confusion about personal and cultural identity, which originate in contrasting ideals and beliefs about 'home' (ideas that are formed by the divergent return of repressed memories that evoke the 'uncanny' social experience). I also present a body of art-work that explores these issues. Intertwined with psychoanalytic theory, the work informs and contextualises the earlier arguments, and creates new insights into the theory of the 'uncanny' and its origins. While allowing me to draw new interpretations of my own art practice, it reinforces my earlier conclusions about the sensation of 'not being at home'.
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Dasgupta, Rohit K. "Digital queer spaces : interrogating identity, belonging and nationalism in contemporary India." Thesis, University of the Arts London, 2016. http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/8960/.
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Contemporary Indian sexual identities are constructed out of the multiple effects of tradition, modernity, globalisation and colonialism. The nation as we understand it is constructed on the basis of a commonality which ‘binds’ its citizens, and also banishes and expels those who do not conform to this commonality. Within this logic of disenfranchisement I firmly place the Indian queer male. This thesis examines the online ‘queer’ male community in India that has been formed as a result of the intersection and ruptures caused by the shifting political, media and social landscapes of urban India. Through multi-sited ethnography looking at the role of language, class, intimacy and queer activism, this thesis explores the various ways through which queer men engage with digital culture that has become an integral part of queer lives in India. Through this approach, this thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge. Widely available scholarship has explored the historical, literary and social debates on queer sexualities in India. To reach a more holistic understanding of contemporary Indian queer sexualities it is necessary to engage with the digital landscape, as India’s global power stems from its digital development. By looking at the multiple ways that the queer male community engages with the digital medium, I illustrate the multifaceted, complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which this community understands, accesses and performs their sexual identities within both the context of the nation and their local space. This thesis combines textual and visual analysis along with ethnographic data collected through field research in India using multiple research sites including online forums and digital spaces such as Planet Romeo, Facebook groups and Grindr as well as engaging with individuals in offline spaces (New Delhi, Kolkata, Barasat). Studying digital queer spaces across several research sites especially a cross-ethnic and cross-social comparison is unusual in this field of study and produces new insights into the subjects explored.
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Le, Belle Jane Ethel. "Studies of metabolism in human astrocytes and astrocytomas using NMR spectroscopy and other analytical techniques." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.341926.
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Lasley, Carrie E. "Catastrophes and the Role of Social Networks in Recovery: A Case Study of St. Bernard Parish, LA, Residents After Hurricane Katrina." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2012. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1504.
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The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of St. Bernard Parish, La., residents as they coped with the impact of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. An estimated 50,000 St. Bernard Parish residents relocated to a new home one year after Katina in 2006, and many of those residents moved again. This study examines the effects of the decisions of St. Bernard residents to relocate or to return on their social connections. The utility, adaptability and durability of social networks of these residents will be explored to enrich our knowledge about the social effects of recovery and the role that distance plays in the way residents connect to each other six years after Hurricane Katrina. It also examines the applicability of disaster theory as it relates to this case and develops a methodology for examining the impact of geographic dispersal on social networks.
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Thompson, Christopher P. "Discreet Feminism: Neil Gaiman’s Subversion of the Patriarchal Society in American Gods." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2015. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2026.
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Neil Gaiman’s use of a hyper-masculine American culture in American Gods sheds light upon the multiple issues surrounding a misogynistic society in which women are treated as sexual objects and punished for their independence as sexual beings. Gaiman’s efforts at highlighting these issues are discreet and hidden under layers of patriarchal expectations, but through the use of his protagonist, Shadow, Gaiman is able to provide an alternative to the society he represents. While he successfully illustrates this more “ideal” society, his endeavors fall short and are almost imperceptible throughout his novel. Gaiman’s work in American Gods, while lacking in its overall presence, brings attention to the issues within a hyper-masculine society and it is through this unique, feminist approach that Gaiman is able to present his strong argument for change.
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Humphrey, Branna. "It’s Not All ACEs: The Role of Negative Parental Influences and Criminal Thinking in Juvenile Offending Behaviors." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2021. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3889.
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The role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and criminal thinking in causing criminal behavior has been explored extensively in criminal justice research. Based on the concepts of ACEs and the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Scale, the negative parental influences and criminal thinking styles of 1,354 juvenile offenders were examined to establish that negative parental influences and criminal thinking are separately associated with juvenile problem and offending behavior, and that criminal thinking mediates the relationship between negative parental influences and juvenile problem and offending behavior. Analyses showed support for criminal thinking as a pathway from negative parental influences to juvenile problem and offending behavior. Focuses for juvenile offender intervention programs are suggested.
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Broad, E. "From Market Place to Superstore: The connections between retail product, advertising method, popular culture and art. A study focused on a Harvey Norman store in Launceston, Northern Tasmania." 2005. http://eprints.utas.edu.au/227.
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From Market Place to Superstore reflects on 21st century retail presentation of home furnishing consumer goods. In particular the artwork focuses on the lounge suite. Inside the Harvey Norman superstore, which stands on the site of a 19th century colonial marketplace, the retail space with its ironically palace-like dimensions is divided into a series of tableaux of methodically ordered furniture. Carefully chosen colour-coordinated accessories are arranged and lit by softly glowing lamps promoting seductively comfortable home scenarios. Glossy catalogues take the production line furniture beyond the store to demonstrate the almost seamless retail/home experience. Still life settings interact and merge with contemporary lifestyle expectations. Merchandise can be the substance of desire. The research artwork sought to capture an art image from retailing, advertising and specific elements derived from popular commercial TV lifestyle programs. The concept of the work was to ascertain if the lounge-suite-as-image retained its aura of aesthetic expendability and collapsed into contemporary art when transferred to the white box of the gallery space. To this end digital photographs, miniaturised models, video and actual merchandise were installed in the gallery space. Using varying scales and tactility the viewer was asked to engage in an alternative retailing experience within the Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania at Inveresk.
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Schmidt, Johanna Mary. "Migrating genders: westernisation, migration, and Samoan fa'afafine." 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2309.
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This thesis is an investigation of how fa’afafine identities are constructed, maintained, and changed in the contexts of contemporary Samoa and New Zealand. Fa’afafine are biological Samoan males who, to varying degrees, enact feminised gender identities. In existent representations, fa’afafine tend to be interpreted through western conceptualisations of sex/gender/sexuality, or using models of ‘primitivism’, which locate them as instantiations of expressions of gender or sexuality that are more ‘natural’ than those of the ‘civilised’ west. ‘Traditionally’, all gender in Samoa is primarily marked through labour, although the influx of western material and discursive culture has led to a shift in emphasis on sexuality in expressions of Samoan gender. These shifts have inevitably affected how fa’afafine identities are enacted, experienced, and understood. These influences are even more marked for fa’afafine who migrate to New Zealand, who appear to go through a number of ‘stages’ in first assimilating into western sex/gender discourses, and then asserting their unique identities as fa’afafine. However, the paths followed by individual migrants vary according to the dominant ideologies of the time. The processes by which migrant fa’afafine locate physical and social spaces in which they can enact feminine identities are outlined, which usually initially involve identifying as either ‘gay man’ or ‘woman’. In order to identify explicitly as ‘fa’afafine’ in a New Zealand context, participants must understand themselves as somewhat ambiguously gendered. Data collection has been primarily through in-depth interviews, supplemented by observation, to enable analysis of how fa’afafine themselves understand their identities and lived experiences. The particular problems outlining these processes in the light of the exigencies of cross-cultural research are discussed in the methodology chapter. The theoretical approaches underlying the thesis as a whole incorporate the perspectives of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Judith Butler in understanding gender as performative and open to slippage in response to the availability of particular discourses, yet also sedimented over time in a manner which configures the body in ways which are not easily altered.
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Crozier, Susan. "TV love: television and technologies of intimacy." 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2567.
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TV Love is a study of the emotional and imaginative possibilities summoned and sustained by television programmes, possibilities that are here gathered under the rubric of love. By taking seriously a vernacular claim to love particular television programmes, this thesis intervenes in conventional practices of academic television criticism. It does so in order to develop an approach that would allow a focus on what television programmes make possible for the viewers who love them. I argue that the transactions between viewers and television texts constitute forms of emotional training that not only reproduce social subjectification, but also enable diverse forms of intimate experience. This is especially important for those subjects who struggle to find forms of psychic sustenance in an off-screen context. The critical approach taken in this thesis is termed reparative, following the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, in so far as it describes a process of restoring value to much maligned cultural objects. As a rationale for critical practice, reparation recognises the inadequacy of the social context in which diverse subjects must make a possible world for themselves. In particular, reparation describes the processes by which queer subjects have been able to mark out the terms of their own possibility in the face of difficult social or psychic conditions. The value of reparative criticism is not limited to queer readers or viewers, although queerness frequently demonstrates what is at issue between the conventions of academic television criticism and the alternate mode developed in this thesis. While academic criticism most often focuses on the ideological lessons presumed to be delivered by television programmes, this frequently overlooks the smaller scale emotional work that subjects carry out every day. Television programmes can both enable this emotional work and be the subject of its labours. In order to develop a fuller and more useful practice of television criticism than currently exists, TV Love contends that it is necessary to attend to the affectively enlivening potential of television for its viewers. The first chapter considers television as a technology of intimacy in terms of its domestic location and critically analyses television scholarship that has sought to address the specificity of that context. The second chapter further develops this theoretical overview by examining approaches that more explicitly deal with the affective engagements television allows. It then moves on to outline the particular reparative approach taken in this thesis. Chapter Three considers the series of documentaries that began with Seven Up in 1964 and, in a departure from the conventional discussion of class associated with the documentaries, this chapter focuses on the affective training the series carries out over its four decade history. The situation comedy Bewitched is the focus of the fourth chapter, which explores the way in which sitcoms can be profoundly imbricated in the very experience of childhood and family life. The repetition of a favourite programme from childhood, even years later, can generate emotional returns that demonstrate this intimate connection. Chapter Five continues the discussion of situation comedy with an analysis of the seventies hit The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In particular this chapter attends to the reiterations of the Mary Richards character across other textual contexts in order to identify the emotional competencies the Mary character makes possible beyond her seventies context. Chapter Six takes on the heritage criticism that has framed academic thinking about the serial drama Brideshead Revisited and presents an alternate reading in which high-cultural forms serve to connote homosexuality. The final chapter examines a series of programmes about the late Diana, Princess of Wales in order to identify the affective politics those programmes might be seen to enable.Images removed from thesis for copyright reasons
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Coupe, Nicole Michelle. "Whakamomori : Māori suicide prevention : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Māori Studies at Massey University, Turitea Campus, New Zealand." 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1695.
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Suicidal behaviour is a major public health issue globally. The incidence of suicide and attempted suicide internationally is excessive, particularly among indigenous populations. The Māori (indigenous people of New Zealand) suicide and attempted suicide rates have exceeded the non-Māori rates in New Zealand. In an attempt to address the high incidence of Māori suicidal behaviour an epidemiological case control study was initiated. Method: 250 consecutive cases of Māori who attempted suicide who were admitted to one of the three Auckland public hospitals were compared to 250 random, Māori community-based controls (found through door knocking). Participants were compared on a variety of measures including the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), CAGE Alcohol Screening Test; Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-suicidality), Beck's Scale of Suicide Intent (SIS); and cultural identity validated questionnaires. Results: Response rates were high for both cases (85.6%) and controls (81.2%). The multivariate analysis revealed that poor general health status was the key risk factor associated with attempted suicide among Māori. Once the health indicator is taken out of the analysis, cultural identity, marijuana utilisation and interpersonal abuse are the next major risk factors in attempted suicide among Māori. Conclusion: Suffering from poor general health can increase attempted suicide among Māori. Having a notional identity and not being connected to Māoritanga (those things Māori; Māori culture) is associated with the risk of suicidal behaviour.
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Pere, Lynne Mereana. "Oho mauri : cultural identity, wellbeing, and tāngata whai ora/motuhake : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Māori Studies at Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand." 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1567.
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This study, Oho Mauri, seeks to understand the experience of mental illness from the perspective of those it affects most- the consumer. In order to test the assumption that mental health depends as much on culture and identity as psycho-biology, Oho Mauri examines the worldviews of 17 Indigenous people – Māori - who have had experience of mental illness (Tāngata Whai Ora/Motuhake). Their views on mental illness, within the context of the recovery approach, constitute the core of the thesis. Oho Mauri examines the relationship between cultural identity and wellbeing, in order to answer the research question: "Does a secure cultural identity lead to improved wellbeing for Tāngata Whai Ora/Motuhake?” Indigenous people the world over have considered this relationship, generally maintaining that greater wellbeing is a function of ethnic values, customs, and practices. A methodological approach that is cognisant of Māori knowledge and understandings was key to this research. So too was the Kaupapa Māori research paradigm that was employed alongside other relevant qualitative methodologies: feminist, case study, empowerment, narrative, and phenomenological approaches. Two main sets of conclusions emerge from Oho Mauri, both of which are drawn from the cultural values and cultural worldviews that Tāngata Whai Ora/Motuhake hold. First, just as a secure cultural identity pays dividends in the recovery process, so can a cultural identity that has not been allowed to flourish increase the intensity of confusion and complexity that accompanies mental illness. Second, understanding mental illness has two dimensions: clinical; and personal. Whilst a diagnosis is a valuable clinical tool, understanding mental illness also requires recognition of the interpretations made by Tāngata Whai Ora/Motuhake and the meanings they attach to their personal experiences. Often these provide alternative explanations and understandings of the experience of mental illness and are perceived as the most significant aid in a journey towards recovery. The findings in Oho Mauri do not claim that a secure cultural identity will necessarily protect against mental illness. They do demonstrate, however, that cultural identity is an important factor in the recovery process and that the recovery process itself can contribute to a secure cultural identity.
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Nightingale, Richard Beresford. "Maori at work : the shaping of a Maori workforce within the New Zealand state 1935 - 1975 : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social and Cultural Studies, Massey University." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1422.
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This thesis examines the dynamics of the shaping of a Maori workforce within the New Zealand nation 1935 - 1975 as a significant outcome of colonial and postcolonial engagements under the introduced capitalist system. It is argued that this was part of a larger process of acculturation and assimilation of Maori. That Maori labour formed a second stage in the incorporation of three indigenous components into the New Zealand domain of a global capitalist market system is accepted conditionally with some modification. Essentially, the first stage (from about 1840) was the need for land for the production of farm commodities; the second stage (from about 1935) was the need for industrial labour power for manufacturing production; and the third stage (from about 1975) was the appropriation of socio-cultural values as instruments to be utilized in social and economic administration by the State. The focus is on the second stage of this process. The central objective is to assess the outcomes of this process on Maori, socially, economically and culturally. Two broad assumptions are interrogated: first, that pools of surplus Maori labour were created as an outcome of the expansion of capitalism on pre-capitalist economies; second, that the incorporation of this surplus labour via migration from about 1935 arose from patterns of capital accumulation that created excess labour demand in urban secondary industries. Successive government policies of racial amalgamation, assimilation, adaptation and integration from 1840 through to the early 1970s, assumed that civilisation and integration were one-way processes. Government policies were predicated on concepts of assimilation and individualisation in a plethora of government initiatives in health, education, housing and social welfare, most of which were unilaterally justified on the grounds of progress and modernisation. These policies, which came to be called 'integration' in the decade of the 1960s, were perceived by government to be for the benefit of Maori and the whole nation, Pakeha and Maori. Arguably, the Hunn Report of 1960/61 marked the high point of this postcolonial ideology. The narrative of the key developments in government policies is inter-woven with an account of race relations and Maori affairs. It is emphasised that these policies were instituted during a period of enormous change· in Maori society and in the configuration of relationships between Maori and Pakeha. The focus is shifted in the last section of the thesis to the response by Maori to government policies. The retreat by Maori from issues of class deprivation to the promotion of issues that centred on loss of land, language and culture is traced. It is noted that the concern with class that marked the rhetoric of many similar global protest movements was remarkably mild in the Maori protest litany. This thesis marks a first attempt to discuss the shaping of a Maori workforce by taking an approach which recognises that the separation between culture and political economy is itself culturally constructed by the dominant actor in the nation-state.
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Waldon, John Allan. "He whakaturanga mo te hauora tamariki : a picture of child health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Maori Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/821.
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This research investigated the use of a self administrated health assessment questionnaire by children, and the significance of the translation from the source instrument (in English) into te reo Maori. The translation of a child health questionnaire was undertaken to produce a health survey tool that could be completed by a child over the age of 8 years in English or in te reo Maori. The questionnaire was pre-tested then used in a survey to determine both reliability and validity. The parents and caregivers of the children surveyed were also interviewed. The parent’s responses were compared with those of their children. The research undertaken has provided a new opportunity for children to take a central role in research into their own health. Children contributed as key experts, focus group participants and translators of the child questionnaire, alongside adults in some cases. Children provided a new perspective of their health and well-being by translating the questionnaire. This child-centred process added depth to the research of questionnaire validation and testing. The questionnaire was shown to perform adequately as a survey tool. New research is required in order to theorise beyond the questionnaire’s original two-factor conceptual model and to develop clinical and public health applications using a child-centred research process. The translation provided by the children demonstrated they are informed participants, who have an interest in their own health, are reliable and understand their health in a different manner to adults. This thesis argues that the direct and full involvement of participants in research that is designed to investigate their health is critical if new knowledge is to emerge. It also concludes the self administered questionnaire can be useful tools to understand the health of Maori speaking children.
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'Ilaiu, Siaosi L. "The Tu'i Kanokupolu Matai establishment and why would Tu'i Tonga Fuanunuiava have vied to become one? : a genealogical analysis of post 1550 AD new political hegemony in Tonga." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/822.
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This work examines some issues relating to specific social, political and ideological developments that have shaped the pre-contact history of Tonga especially the puzzling ideas that revolve around the co-existence of the three kingly lines that survived into the era of written record. There are competing versions of how each dynasty came about and what kinds of contribution they accomplished. I endeavour to go further than what current research has brought to light so far. In fact, current research on Tongan history is stagnant due to some great lack in research methodology whereby easy problems cannot be logically deciphered. I believe this is because present disciplinary guidelines limit the scope for attaining a deep understanding of things not to mention the failure of comparative method (comparing chronologies in neighbouring islands) to underpin the historical realities on offer. One of my main concerns in this study rests on how well the contact period reflects the reality of what we may refer to as Tongan tradition or what is really traditional about Tongan ways of life prior to the seventeenth century. This thesis is designed to use Tongan genealogy as a guide in attempting to make sense of what the European records can offer to our understanding of post-contact Tonga. Historical documentation in this context refers simply to post-contact recording of events, whereas traditional history, ordered by genealogy, gives us access to a more distant past. This work argues further that genealogy unravels an ever-presence of conflicting tendencies that existed even in times where Tongan society was perceived to enjoy long-term peace. This thesis is aimed at a complete rethinking of political transformations in ancient Tongan polity and how such transformations introduced new patterns of social, political and ideological realities that current scholars have not yet recognised. I also show how genealogy is useful in determining the course of Tongan political history, especially the major changes that took place a few centuries before contact with Europe came about in the early 17th century AD. In Chapter one, I introduce an alternative theory about the political history of Tonga since the inception of the TK dynasty1. I also delineate how genealogy reflects major changes in all aspects of life in both pre- contact and post-contact Tonga. In the light of this better understanding of Tongan political history I employ Antonio Gramci’s dialectic to harness and clarify matters relating to social processes in the past that have remained unexplained up to now. I discuss here the hegemony of the Tu’i Tonga dynasty i.e. how it was achieved and maintained for over a thousand years from 450 AD until around 1500 AD when there was an unsuccessful counter-hegemony by the Tu’i Ha’atakalaua line. In 1550 shortly after the Tu’i Ha’atakalaua failure every commentator of Tongan society has overlooked another counter hegemony by the third dynasty. The Tu’i Kanokupolu hegemony will be critically discussed with reference to a further counterhegemony by the Tu’i Tonga by which strategy the old dynasty managed to survive a bit longer. Chapter 2 then, offers a critique of old notions about Tongan society in works written mostly by the socalled Polynesianist revisionists who have constantly revisited Tongan history for the past two decades. I also show why Tongan traditionalists and scholars alike could not understand what had been happening in Tonga’s past. This work focuses on the creation of the third dynasty in Tonga around 1550 AD. There are a number of issues relating to this event that have not been discussed by any commentator of Tongan society so far. These include the indirect but significant importation of a quasi-Samoan matai system that eventually formed the basis of Tongan polity encountered by European explorers starting from Souten and Le Maire in 1616 during the reign of the third Tu’i Kanokupolu (Mataeletu’apiko), when the matai system was locally practised in the narrow confines of Hihifo2. It had gained momentum at the time of Captain Cook’s last visit in 1777. The system grew stronger and spread to all corners of the Tongan archipelago within the duration of only two centuries. It is the growth of this system that this study determines to underpin, as it will provide a more lucid explanation for a number of important puzzles that still confuse contemporary historians. First, the reason why and how the Tu’i Kanokupolu came into existence, the odd nature of Tu’i Kanokupolu political practices, and the secrets behind the mass production of titles as family and extended family gifts plus how these gifts determined the outcome of social, political, and religious activities that all three dynasties engaged in, in their tensely unavoidable coexistence especially in the eighteenth century. Chapter 3 - offers a general discussion of Ama’s possible schemes and plots. I argue in this part that Ama was determined to recapture and rule Safata. In Samoa I identify a connection between a political struggle (civil war) that took place in Upolu around 1500 – 1520 AD with the creation of the Tu’i Kanokupolu in Tonga about 1550 AD. This war is discussed here for two reasons. First, it was an attempt by Samoan high chiefs to create a centralised in Upolu state to be headed by a Samoan monarch for the first time in their history. Second, the end result of this war affected Tonga more than Samoa since the vanquished Ama fled from his district Safata to Tonga. This chapter concentrates on discussing the major players in the said war. Chapter 4 – This part discusses Samoan politics at the time of Ama’s exile. I also unfold here the structure of Samoan polity by discussing the matai system and how it generates political, social and religious responsibilities among Samoan lives in general. This chapter discusses significant principles of Samoan social and political organisation such as matai (title system), tafa’i (royal protector), faleupolu (political advisors), ‘aiga (extended family), sa (family – royal lines), ali’i-pa’ia (sacred chief/district monarch), ali’i (high chief), tulafale-ali’i (minor chief), and tulafale (chief’s attendant). These organisations will be compared with the Tu’i Kanokupolu political system so that the resemblance is not confused with the Tu’i Tonga and Tu’i Ha’atakalaua systems. Chapter 5 - discusses with critical analyses the real characters of the Tu’i Kanokupolu political establishment. Such discussion includes TK status, the conception of ‘ulutolu (chief’s protector), hingoa – fakanofo (title system), falekanokupolu (political advisors), kainga (extended family), ha’a (titled chiefs related to an original royal line), ‘eiki lahi (paramount chief), eiki (high chief), ‘eiki si’i (minor chief), matapule (chief’s attendant). I argue in this part, that the TK political organisation is essentially structured in Samoan fashion both in theory and in practice and I will show the basic difference between this system and the quintessential Tu’i Tonga organisational principles described in the next chapter. Chapter 6 – This chapter depicts the basic structure of the Tu’i Tonga political organisation and how it countered the powerful hegemony of the TK expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries when there was an internal struggle for political supremacy among the three ruling dynasties. I discuss here counter hegemony by the Tu’i Tonga, which resulted in the creation of several new statuses such as the Tu’i Tonga fefine (female Tu’i Tonga), tamaha (sacred being – female), falefisi (sacred house of Fiji). This chapter also highlights the collision between the old political system and the new and also shows how the new system paved its way to an undisputed status in the mid 19th century after the last conflict of 1852. I discuss the new Tu’i Kanokupolu ha’a system and the kind of impact it propagated in the dominions of Tu’i Tonga and Tu’i Ha’atakalaua. Chapter 7 – My main concern in this chapter rests on a case where a highborn female Tupou moheofo successfully usurped the Tu’i Kanokupolu title and became the first female titleholder in this dynasty. She was very ambitious and pried into politics on a number of occasions when she made attempts to revolutionise the norm of Tongan tradition such as her well known move to dethrone her husband Tu’i Tonga Pau in favour of their son Fuanunuiava and also her desperate instigation to abolish the office of the TK in the 1770s. Chapter 8 – Discusses how TT Fuanunuiava aspired to obtain political authority and his strange ambition to be named Tu’i Kanokupolu after the death of TK Mumui in 1798. Why should a Tu’i Tonga vie to be named TK will be discussed here in great detail. Chapter 9 - Conclusion – general summing up of debates and arguments.
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Nixon, Marie Ann Zillah. "Credibility and validation through syntheses of customary and contemporary knowledge : a thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Maori Studies, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand." 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1547.
Full textAbstract:
Content removed due to copyright restriction: Nixon, M. (2001). What are the potential benefits of eel consumption for Maori health? Te Taarere aa Tawhaki 1, 132-135.This ground breaking doctoral thesis brings together science, history and the values derived from lore and tikanga to address a significant health issue for contemporary Maaori. The specific contribution of this research thesis is the combination of knowledge bases from two perspectives. The thesis first presents a scientific view, then a Maaori view, discovered through an interface of customary and contemporary knowledge. The method first examines Western academic theoretical methodologies, then, Kaupapa Maaori methodologies, then introduces and develops the concept of inherited knowledge supported by the mandatory Standards required in an academic context. Therefore the major findings present the syntheses of the two approaches. The framework used is reproducible through an accepted or approved example of something against which others are judged or measured. At this point the thesis explores the theoretical framework for a health intervention by surveying whether it is possible to combine knowledge traditions in a contemporary setting. Thus the accessed inherited traditional and scientific knowledge discovered in this thesis has been adapted for the nine point health intervention designed for Maaori participation. This thesis hypothesises that the staple long finned eel diet contained the essential fatty acid omega-3 and is presented as a metaphor for Hauora, thus being consistent with modern scientific knowledge where the scientific findings presented. The long finned eel was chemically assayed for the presence of the unsaturated essential fatty acid omega-3, and assayed again to assess the stability and quality of fresh and smoked eel. Type II diabetes mellitus is offered as a story and why it has suddenly occurred in Maaori subsequent to urban migration and thereafter. In addition a ten year study of Waikato hapuu supports the research that regular consumption of the long finned eel prevents Type II diabetes. And that prior to urban migration holistic practice, through established lifestyle choices and inherited knowledge, provided nutritional, other physiological benefits and broader wellness outcomes. The double vowel has been used for all te reo Maaori words in the thesis because that is the kawa or protocol of the Tainui Kiingitanga.
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Mahat, Ishara. "Integrating gender into planning, management and implementation of rural energy technologies : the perspectives of women in Nepal : a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies, School of People Environment and Planning at Massey University, New Zealand." 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1744.
Full textAbstract:
Women in rural Nepal are heavily involved in management of energy resources particularly biomass, which constitute the main form of rural energy as is the case in most developing countries. Women's most time consuming activities in rural areas of Nepal are cooking, collecting firewood, and processing grain, all of which are directly associated with the rural energy system. Despite women's strategic interests in improved rural energy in Nepal, energy planners (normally male) rarely consider women's roles, needs, and priorities when planning any interventions on rural energy. This study targeted at rural women in the mid hill region of Nepal, has examined the socio-economic implications of alternative energy technologies (AETs) especially in terms of saving women's labor and time and increasing opportunities for them to participate in social and economic activities. The analysis indicates that there is a positive implication of AETs on women's workload especially with access to the micro hydro mills available in the villages. In general, women have been able to save their labor and time in collecting firewood, and milling activities, although this is not always apparent due to women using the saved time for other household chores. However, AETs were rarely used for promoting end use activities (such as, energy based small cottage industries) in order to enhance women's socio-economic status. In addition, AETs had rather limited coverage and were not able to fulfill the energy demands of all rural households. There were also limitations in the adoption of such technologies mainly due to financial, technical, and social problems. For instance, the solar photovoltaic system and biogas plants were still costly for the poorest households even with subsidies. Consequently, socio-economic gaps within small communities widened and became highly visible with access to such technologies. Women's participation was mainly in terms of their involvement in community organizations (COs) and representation in Village Energy Committees (VECs) rather than their active participation in planning and decision-making processes with regard to AETs. Nevertheless, women were actively involved in providing labor in construction work relating to AETs, and creating and mobilizing saving funds as a means to be involved in small income generating activities associated with AETs. This study ultimately suggests a framework for increasing women's participation in rural energy plans and programs at local and national level, and develops policy measures to enable integration of gender into energy planning and policies. This would help to address practical and strategic gender needs in terms of fulfilling basic energy needs managed by women, and providing them with opportunities to be involved in some social and economic activities, which lead towards the self-enhancement of women.
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Broad, E. "From Market Place to Superstore: The connections between retail product, advertising method, popular culture and art. A study focused on a Harvey Norman store in Launceston, Northern Tasmania." Thesis, 2005. https://eprints.utas.edu.au/227/1/01Front.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
From Market Place to Superstore reflects on 21st century retail presentation of home furnishing consumer goods. In particular the artwork focuses on the lounge suite. Inside the Harvey Norman superstore, which stands on the site of a 19th century colonial marketplace, the retail space with its ironically palace-like dimensions is divided into a series of tableaux of methodically ordered furniture. Carefully chosen colour-coordinated accessories are arranged and lit by softly glowing lamps promoting seductively comfortable home scenarios. Glossy catalogues take the production line furniture beyond the store to demonstrate the almost seamless retail/home experience. Still life settings interact and merge with contemporary lifestyle expectations. Merchandise can be the substance of desire.
The research artwork sought to capture an art image from retailing, advertising and specific elements derived from popular commercial TV lifestyle programs. The concept of the work was to ascertain if the lounge-suite-as-image retained its aura of aesthetic expendability and collapsed into contemporary art when transferred to the white box of the gallery space. To this end digital photographs, miniaturised models, video and actual merchandise were installed in the gallery space. Using varying scales and tactility the viewer was asked to engage in an alternative retailing experience within the Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania at Inveresk.
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Wigglesworth, Ann. "Becoming citizens: civil society activism and social change in Timor Leste." Thesis, 2010. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15530/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis focuses on a generation of Timorese who were educated during the Indonesian occupation. Conceptual frameworks of community development, participation, civil society and citizenship, are drawn upon to analyse the processes of development taking place in the first years of nationhood of Timor Leste. Within this context, three themes are developed. First, a generational divide related to education and the language policy which leaves the Indonesian educated young people marginalised within the new national development framework; second, the limitations that customary practices place upon the ability of young women to participate in political and social activities; third, an analysis of the centralised processes of development that have resulted in young men leaving the rural areas for opportunities in the urban areas and consequent implications for social organisation. These three themes are analysed in the context of a civil society largely run by young Timorese. I investigate the roles of power holders in contemporary Timor Leste – the government, the traditional leaders and international development agencies and analyse the place that civil society has in this new nation. I argue that Timorese activists are able to bridge the traditional Timorese world with international values of development and human rights, but their roles and contributions have to date been inadequately supported.
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(9844208), Barbara Webster. "'Fighting in the grand cause': A history of the trade union movement in Rockhampton 1907-1957." Thesis, 1999. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/_Fighting_in_the_grand_cause_A_history_of_the_trade_union_movement_in_Rockhampton_1907-1957/13421954.
Full textAbstract:
"Research of a wide range of primary sources informs this work, including hitherto unstudied local union records, oral testimony, contemporary newspapers, government and employer reports. Conclusions reached in this dissertation are that while the founders of the local trade union movement shared a vision of improving the lot of workers in their employment and in the wider social context, and they endeavoured to establish effective structures and organisation to this end, their efforts were of mixed success. They succeeded eminently in improving and protecting the employment conditions of workers to contemporary expectations through effective exploitation of political and institutional channels and through competent and conservative local leadership. However, the additional and loftier goal of creating a better life for workers outside the workplace through local combined union action were much less successful, foiled not only by overwhelming economic difficulties, but also by a local sense of working-class consciousness which was muted by the particular social and cultural context of Rockhampton." -- abstract
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Hyde, Michael. "River's edge (a young adult novel) : an investigation of youth suicide and its relationship to the struggle for the meaning of human existence." Thesis, 1997. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18179/.
Full textAbstract:
The high incidence of violent suicides by young males is
well documented. But why does a young man choose death? Why
does he choose darkness over light?
My thesis investigates by way of a novel, the problem of
youth suicide and its relation to the meaning of human
existence.
There were two subsidiary aims of the thesis. First, to
establish an intimate narrative tone. Second, to explore the
technique of ''magic realism' which David Lodge defines as
'when marvellous and impossible events occur in what
otherwise purports to be a realistic narrative.'
Due to the method of analysis and the interactive nature of
a novel, conclusions were not cut and dried, as my Afterword
suggests. Answers were discovered creatively, not clinically
or empirically. Nevertheless, the important role of parents,
the healing nature of story, the need to seek one's
spirituality, the ability to express one's own feelings and
to have and show compassion to others - all emerged as the
main answers to the problem of youth suicide and its
relationship to the meaning of human existence.
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(9839195), Davina Taylor. "Family inclusion and people with profound intellectual disabilities: An exploration of policy-practice interface and the experiences of adult siblings." Thesis, 2008. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Family_inclusion_and_people_with_profound_intellectual_disabilities_An_exploration_of_policy-practice_interface_and_the_experiences_of_adult_siblings/13436594.
Full textAbstract:
"Investigates [Queensland] government documents relating to family inclusion and disability service provision using content analysis.... [and] explores the experiences of adult siblings of people with profound disability living in group home supported accommodation"--Abstract.
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Zirngast, Natalie. "Demanding to be human : the moral authority of human rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)." Thesis, 2013. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/22017/.
Full textAbstract:
Women’s rights occupy a contested moral and political position internationally. They
are neither accepted as core values everywhere, nor always struggling for acceptance. The
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, was designed to be an ‘international bill of
rights for women’ (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 2009). It codified
non-discrimination within an international treaty to add legitimacy and strength to the
implementation of women’s rights. The treaty’s reception reflects the contested nature of
women’s rights. While the vast majority of UN member states are signatories, of all
comparable treaties CEDAW has the largest number of reservations, many counter to
fundamental provisions. CEDAW has supported women’s rights for more than three decades.
Several barriers to implementation have been highlighted; a lack of resources for the
CEDAW Committee and associated bodies and the quarantine of women’s rights from the
human rights work of the UN (Chinkin 2010, p. 5; Lawson 1996, p. xxix). Delegates at the
1993 World Conference on Human Rights raised the slogan ‘women’s rights are human
rights’ to force acknowledgement that human rights were not equally applied to women.
While these difficulties have begun to be addressed within UN processes, CEDAW’s
efficacy has not been explored. The treaty’s content has received little critical attention, and
my research helps fill this gap. Using philosophical inquiry, I have compared CEDAW to the
International Bill of Human Rights (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
associated Covenants). Also I have assessed CEDAW against criteria drawn from Amartya
Sen’s perspective on human rights as an ethical system and considered a range of feminist
viewpoints critical of international law. I have found that, as well as strengths, CEDAW has
limitations, omissions and flaws. Importantly, CEDAW does not provide a list of women’s
rights (Burrows 1986, p. 80). Its focus on ending discrimination means that women’s relation
to rights is mediated through actions by the state. This failure to recast the claimant of human
rights as female undermines CEDAW’s legitimacy.
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(9827189), Kim Polistina. "Minions, mates and linchpins: A qualitative examination of the local social-ecological context of neoliberalist bullying impacting on sustainability domains and responses through community sustainability frameworks." Thesis, 2019. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Minions_mates_and_linchpins_A_qualitative_examination_of_the_local_social-ecological_context_of_neoliberalist_bullying_impacting_on_sustainability_domains_and_responses_through_community_sustainability_frameworks/13447520.
Full textAbstract:
The current global sustainability crisis is a cultural crisis (Bokova, 2013; NASA, 2018). This crisis is due largely to the negative effects created by the amorphous nature of neoliberalism (Gittins, 2010; Latouche, 2010a; Washington, 2015). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2011) outlined seventeen goals sought to rectify this crisis. The practical realisation of these goals has proven elusive to those seeking social change as they navigate negative human behaviours in local social contexts. This research explored adult bullying behaviours as one way to examine the clash between neoliberal and sustainable systems and the dysfunctionalities found in this social dynamic at a local community level.
Cross-case study research methodology generated qualitative data from economically focussed developments in two communities in regional Australia. The presence in each case study of social interactions between individuals advocating for the perpetuation of neoliberalism and people seeking sustainability aims guided the selection of cases for this research. This first case context was a community (Arendelle community) living, and co-existing, near a non-towered aerodrome. Historically a holiday destination, the community had a range of socio-economic groups and encompassed a number of nature reserves. The case begins in 2006 with the introduction of a regional aviation company moving into the area for the purpose of implementing a portion of an international aviation contract. The second case (Gumnut Landcare) was a semi-rural community near forest and protected natural areas. Evident in the daily life of the community was a high level of understanding and implementation of sustainability practices including many forms of sustainable eco-centric lifestyle. The area also had a European dairy farming history. This case began in 2001 with the initial negotiations to purchase a parcel of land for a community site development and the desire for a special interest group to develop much of the land for an 18-hole golf course. The cross-case analysis allowed the examination of issues that represented not only the comparison of adult bullying by those advocating neoliberal aims in each case but current topical concerns relating the impacts on elements of sustainability domains and achieving sustainability aims.
This methodology and associated methods were suitable for a critical social constructionist form of interpretivist research. The data collection instruments included in-depth interviews (seven in the first case and six in the second); continual personal communication with key individuals in each case (a long-term RA committee member in Arendelle case and long-term permanent employee of Gumnut Landcare); documentary analysis of public, organisational and historical records; and researcher observations. This research contributed to the extension of our understanding of cross-case study research through the discovery of interconnected units of analysis. This strengthened the value of case study methodology in social-ecological research.
A key concept that emerged in this research but was absent in the literature on social change towards sustainability, was the need for an understanding of human behaviours considered detrimental to achieving sustainability aims, in particular, adult bullying, and the skills to alleviate those behaviours. The research extended, therefore, on the theoretical understanding of adult bullying in the social-ecological contexts of sustainability at a local community level. Firstly, it extended on the literature that examines bullying in corporate settings by constructing a normalised pattern of bullying behaviour for business development at the community level. Secondly, three categories of social connections between bystanders who utilised bullying behaviours to support individual neoliberalists emerged in each case—minions, mates and linchpins. A deeper understanding of the perpetuation of this social normalisation of bullying transpired through the surfacing of the linchpin as a new type of bystander pivotal in linking the bullying events in both cases and these cases to the broader neoliberal system.
The research contributed to greater theoretical clarity around the barriers to implementation of social change towards sustainability at the local community level. It filled a gap in the literature by providing a critical understanding of human behaviours detrimental to change towards sustainability, such as adult bullying behaviours, and their use to implement neoliberal aims. This included a heightened understanding of how community residents in both cases failed to identify or acknowledge the behaviours they experienced as bullying. The community residents’ lack of understanding of how bullying was normalised in the local context meant it was difficult for them to respond in ways that supported sustainable alternatives. This conundrum was exacerbated with the identification that some community members also lacked awareness that many of their everyday actions supported sustainability.
This research provided a framework for future research into the social-ecological context of adult bullying behaviours in local community settings, particularly as they are manifested in the behaviours of those implementing neoliberal aims. Future research needs to extend on two knowledge bases in local communities. The first is local community identification and responses to alleviating neoliberal bullying. The second is a greater ability to identify, understand and safeguard sustainable behaviours at the community level. One avenue of future research identified was the development of community sustainability frameworks (CSFs) that incorporate these knowledge bases. These CSFs would need to be developed to coincide with the increased recognition that social change towards sustainability requires a transdisciplinary and in some communities a supradisciplinary approach to policy, research, and practice at all social levels.
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Mahoney, Helen Joanne. "Retired professional women's past, current and future perceptions of their life satisfaction, health status and locus of control." Thesis, 1997. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15268/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines one hundred retired professional women's (remembered) past, current, and future perceptions of their life satisfaction, health status, and locus of control. Participants in this Melbourne study completed a
questionnaire which included the Life Satisfaction Index-A (LSI-A), Levenson's multidimensional locus of control scale, and a self-rating of health status. In addition, participants were asked a series of questions concerning the differences between their pre-retirement expectations and their actual retirement experiences.
Participants also provided written responses to several open-ended questions. Eighty-four of these retired women took part in an interview.
Results show that most retired professional women have substantial life satisfaction, robust health, and an internal control orientation. For a majority of women, their retirement life satisfaction, health status, and internality reflects their experience in pre-retirement. Achieving key life preferences and priorities in preretirement,contributed to the life satisfaction, and, to a lesser extent, the health and internality of most women. A failure to achieve key life preferences and priorities usually resulted in diminished life satisfaction and health for participants.
Whilst not achieving key life preferences and priorities may have challenged women's control capacities, it does not appear to have altered their locus of control orientation.
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(87659), M. Lee. "Smark Power : the collective intelligence of the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) and its influence on the career of former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit." Thesis, 2010. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Smark_Power_the_collective_intelligence_of_the_Internet_Wrestling_Community_IWC_and_its_influence_on_the_career_of_former_WWE_World_Heavyweight_Champion_Chris_Benoit/13453472.
Full textAbstract:
Typically they are known as ‘smarks’, collectively they are known as the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC). This study of the mostly internet-based texts of the IWC shows that members of that informal alliance largely conform to the norms of fan culture and behaviour described in previous studies of fans in other entertainment genres. Celebrity is shown to be a product of publicity, promotion and fanaticism, and audiences connect with stars through involvement with the characters they portray and they identify with actualities as presented in the media. Fan culture involves obsession to know everything about the stars, worship and moral judgement. However, it is contended in this dissertation that there are factors that distinguish the IWC from other large fan groups. These arise in part from the unique format of pro-wrestling as a blend of theatrical and sporting product, and in part from the convergent technological ground that enables such a widely-disbursed, anarchic and yet cohesive body to exist and exert influence. It is argued that the collective intelligence of the IWC members who produce, filter and remediate all manner of source material from gossip, rumour and speculation, to news, to secret wrestling ‘insider’ information has forced the dominant industry player, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to revaluate its production strategies. The role of the IWC in the breaking of kayfabe—the industry code of silence on the illusory aspect of wrestling—is highlighted. Using textual analysis technique this study focuses on the career rise and tragic downfall of former WWE performer Chris Benoit. It is contended that this wrestling veteran became a significant marketing image of the WWE’s global media empire as a direct result of the influence of the smarks of the IWC.
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Kizinska, Rose. "Dead cars in Westall: a narrative exploration of multicultural migrancy, postcolonial sexuality and commodity culture in cosmopolitan Melbourne." Thesis, 2003. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18184/.
Full textAbstract:
Dead Cars in Westall is a collection of interlocking narratives, examining the
everyday practices of multicultural migrancy, postcolonial sexuality and commodity
culture in the cosmopolitan global/local nexus of Melbourne. These narratives are
supported by postmodern and poststructuralist theoretical underpinnings pertaining to
gender, sexuality, class, race/ethnicity and popular culture. Utilizing a bricolage of
qualitative methodology, the stories are autoethnographic and automobilic and
describe mobile subject positions, which traverse time and space. The 'dead car way'
of resistance, influenced by Chela Sandoval's Methodology of the Oppressed and
explicated throughout the text, produces a third space of cultural possibility, that of
the Uiminal' or the space in-between, whereby the subject is constantly in flux.
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(9776384), Wayne Ah-Wong. "Living between cultures: Reflections of three Mackay elders: Aboriginal, Torres Strait Island and South Sea Island residents in Mackay from the 1930s to 2000." Thesis, 2007. https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Living_between_cultures_Reflections_of_three_Mackay_elders_Aboriginal_Torres_Strait_Island_and_South_Sea_Island_residents_in_Mackay_from_the_1930s_to_2000/13420676.
Full textAbstract:
The Thesis explores the life situations of the three Mackay-based groups: Aboriginal, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander through oral history research and the lived experience of an Elder from each of these groups. Using a combination of oral and written approaches, the project seeks to document ongoing interactions between the three groups from the 1930s and assess their implications for culture, identity and mobility
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Nguyen, Thi Kim Cuc. "The relationships between gender, students' achievement and dropping out in rural Vietnam." Thesis, 1998. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18197/.
Full textAbstract:
The theme of the thesis relates to the relationships between gender, students'
achievement and dropping out in lower secondary schools in rural Vietnam. More
specifically, the thesis investigates the extent to which gender influences students'
achievement and dropping out as well as the extent to which dropping out influences
students' achievement and the possibility of students' achievement in predicting
dropping out.
The field work was conducted in two lower secondary schools: Hong Chau and Tho
Tang which are located in two communes, each at different socio-economic levels of
development. Hong Chau is a predominantly agricultural commune whereas Tho
Tang is richer and combines agriculture and trading. The scores in two subjects -
maths and Vietnamese language - of the randomly-selected sample of students from
each school were analysed with the aid of SPSS. Frequency tables, box plots, charts
and graphs were used to describe and illustrate the relationships between gender,
students' achievement and dropping out. Analysis of variances (ANOVA), chi-square
and logistic regression were employed to test the significance of statistics. In-depth
interviews and group discussions were also adopted to complement the quantitative
analysis.
Gender is found to have an impact on students' achievement in Vietnamese language
in both schools as the mean scores of female students is significantly higher than that
of their male counterparts. Dropping out is influenced significantly by gender in both
schools; female students are more likely to drop out than male students.
The relationship between dropping out and achievement appears to be different in
Hong Chau and Tho Tang. The differences in the scores of both subjects - maths and
Vietnamese language - of continuing and dropout students in Hong Chau are not
statistically significant while those in Tho Tang are statistically significant. However,
in Tho Tang students' achievement in maths can predict dropping out but not
Vietnamese language: In Hong Chau achievement cannot predict dropping out either
in maths or Vietnamese language. It is revealed from the qualitative analysis that
social mobility, the need for learning and economic levels have an impact on the
relationship between achievement and dropping out.
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Delpero, Jackie. "The Tide of History: Australian Native Title Discourse in Global Perspective." Thesis, 2003. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/18157/.
Full textAbstract:
Australian native-title law has many inconsistencies and contradictions. Emanating
from the Mabo decision is the central contradiction that the Crown's acquisition of
sovereignty in Australia was illegitimate but valid. This thesis attempts to identify the
underlying structures beneath this and other contradictions and inconsistencies by
tracing the features of a recent determination of a native title claim back through time.
In 1994, the Yorta Yorta people of south-east Australia made a claim under the Native
Title Act of 1993. The Court framed its determination of the claim within the
metaphor of the 'tide of history'. To make his decision, Justice Olney reconstructed
the Yorta Yorta people's ancestors as native inhabitants from within expansionist
ideology. Within that ideology, the term 'native inhabitant' is synonymous with
inferiority, incompetence and externality. This thesis argues that these representations
justified the processes of cultural modification. Modification is a feature of
colonisation that seeks to make natives resemble Europeans. This thesis argues that
these processes are linked to dispossession and are the essence of the 'tide of history'.
A feature of expansionist ideology is the sovereign imperative to maintain exclusive
power to make, enforce and suspend law. This thesis argues that the sovereign need
for exclusivity in Australia is central to the Native Title Act and the Yorta Yorta
decision. To trace the 'tide of history', this thesis begins with the early Roman
Church and follows its development as it pursued the Petrine mandate. It continues
into the secular era of discovery and considers how the 'tide of history' manifested in
North America and produced the Marshall judgements. It follows the 'tide of history'
into Australia from the Crown's claim to discovery and considers its role in the Mabo
decision and the Native Title Act. It analyses the Yorta Yorta people's claim for
native title through the logic that underpinned the majority judges' reasoning. This
thesis concludes that the 'tide of history' that washed away the Yorta Yorta people's
native title is a product of European expansionist ideology. From within that
ideology, the judiciary and the legislature imposed a two-way loss on the Yorta Yorta
people, which enhanced the Crown's exclusivity, rendering benign the conception of
the Crown's acquisition of sovereignty as illegitimate but valid.
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Kidd, Jacqueline Dianne. "Aroha mai: nurses, nursing and mental illness." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2414.
Full textAbstract:
This research takes an autoethnographical approach to exploring the connections between being a nurse, doing nursing work, and experiencing a mental illness. Data is comprised of autoethnographical stories from 18 nurses. Drawing on Lyotard’s (1988) postmodern philosophy of ‘regimes of phrases’ and ‘genres of discourse,’ the nurses’ stories yielded three motifs: Nursing, Tangata Whaiora (people seeking wellness) and Bullying. Motifs are recurring topical, emotional and contextual patterns which have been created in this research by means of the formation of collective stories from the content of the nurses’ stories, artwork, fictional vignettes and poetry. Interpretation of the motifs was undertaken by identifying and exploring connected or dissenting aspects within and between the motifs. Using Fine’s (1994) notion of hyphenated lives, the spaces between these aspects were conceptualised as hyphens. The Nursing motif revealed a hyphen between the notion of the nurses as selfless and tireless carers, and the mastery requirements of professionalism. The nurses’ hope for caring, belonging, expertise and ‘goodness’ were also features of the nursing motif. The Tangata Whaiora motif revealed the hyphen between being a compliant patient and a self-determined person seeking wellness, and also foreshadowed the notion that the nursing identity does not ‘permit’ the dual identities of nurse and tangata whaiora. This research has found that nurses who have experienced, or are vulnerable to, mental illness negotiate a nexus of hyphens between societal, professional and personal expectations of the nurse. Ongoing unsuccessful negotiation of their identities is exhausting and leads to enduring distress. At times, negotiation is not possible and the nurse is immobilised in a differend of silence and injustice. At such times, the only resolution possible for the nurse is to leave the nursing profession. Bullying surfaced as a feature of the hyphen between the nursing and tangata whaiora identities, as well as being a part of each identity as colonising, silencing and/or discriminatory acts. Successful negotiation between and among the nursing and tangata whaiora hyphens requires a radical restructuring of the nursing image and culture across the education, workplace and personal/clinical areas. Three strategies are proposed for the discipline of nursing to achieve this change: transformatory education, a conscientisation programme, and mandatory emancipatory clinical supervision.