In Critical Practice, Catherine Belsey states how traditionally, classic realism is interpreted as a genre that"presents individuals whose traits of character, understood as essential and predominantly given, constrain the choices they make" (Belsey 74). Belsey's claim is significant in that it articulates what is often the locus of tension and conflict in the genre: rigid, essentialist identitary discourse.In summarizing and considering the various identitary discourses at play within Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and The Street and Gérard Bessette's La bagarre and Les pédagogues, the purpose of this thesis is to analyse how issues surrounding constructions of identity are dramatized in these classic realist, satirical texts in order to show how their cultural work in terms of identity can be understood as being more ambivalent than has heretofore often been thought. The thesis' theoretical focus is rooted primarily in post-colonial theory, especially the ways it interrogates representations of cultural and ethnic struggles for recognition and power that are a result of colonial and/or cultural hegemonic domination. More specifically, the thesis discusses and appropriates the theory and concepts of the post-colonial critic Homi K. Bhabha, particularly in terms of how the selected primary texts can be said to exemplify Bhabha's notions of ambivalence, hybridity and a Third Space of identity; how the narratives' main conflicts and tensions around identity can be better understood by looking at how some of the characters can be said to inhabit a Third Space. However, the thesis will also show that while Bhabha's claim that instances of ambivalence, hybridity and the Third Space in the selected texts can be said to represent" neither the one [...], nor the Other [...] but something else besides which contests the terms and the territories of both [i.e. of competing identities]," (Bhabha 41) their concomitant essentialist discourses can be said to trouble the idealism of Bhabha's faith in such notions.In short, this thesis posits that though the selected texts perform important cultural work via their complex problematizations of the ambivalence of said discourses, they also satirize and critique essentialist and ethnocentric discourses.

Bakgrund: anorexia nervosa har under de senaste decennierna ökat i Sverige och liknande trend ses även i andra länder. Sjukdomens mångfacetterade och ibland svårförstådda natur baseras på dess upplevda för- och nackdelar. Behandling mot ätstörningar har förhållandevis hög andel som avslutar den i förtid och det påvisas att många uppvisar motvilja till att delta. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa erfarenheter av att leva med anorexia nervosa. Metod: En litteraturbaserad studie baserad på nio kvalitativa forskningsartiklar. Resultat: Ur analysen av datamaterialet framträdde tre kategorier; Ambivalens mellan gott och ont, Ett pendlande känsloliv samt Att andra människor påverkas och påverkar med fyra underkategorier. Slutsats: Att få kunskap om erfarenheter från de som lever med sjukdomen kan öka förståelsen om dess komplexitet. Därmed kan sjuksköterskor förmedla det stöd som behövs för att ge patienten ökad motivation till att bli frisk. / Background: during the last decades anorexia nervosa has had a rising incidence in Sweden as well as in other countries. The disorder may sometimes be difficult to understand due to its multifaceted nature of experienced pros and cons. Furthermore, reluctance toward treatment is frequent among people suffering from anorexia nervosa and treatment for eating disorders have rather high drop-out rates. Aim: The aim of this study was to highlight experiences of living with anorexia nervosa. Method: A literature based study consisting of nine qualitative research articles. Results: Three categories emerged from the analysis; the ambivalence between good and evil, varying emotions and other people are influenced and influences the person with four subcategories. Conclusion: Emphasis on achieving increased knowledge of the lived experiences of anorexia nervosa to enhance understanding for its complexity, might enable nurses’ support-providing to enlarge the patient’s motivation to recovery.

A presente pesquisa propõe conhecer e analisar os sentidos de aprendizagem e as estratégias de governamento da população escolar utilizadas pelo Programa Pacto pela Aprendizagem: todos temos o direito de aprender. O Programa, desenvolvido no munícipio de Novo Hamburgo/RS, foi criado como consequência das dificuldades de aprendizagens apresentadas pelos estudantes e do aumento do número de retenções escolares. Foi pensado sob uma rede de proteção social e sob uma gestão democrática, que articulou uma ação intersetorial entre três Secretarias (Secretarias Municipais de Educação, de Saúde e de Desenvolvimento Social). A pesquisa é desenvolvida através da análise de documentos que descrevem/informam sobre esse Programa e também é pautada em outros textos e normativas de âmbito nacional e internacional, os quais servem de balizas para entender perspectivas que impulsionam a criação de programas voltados para a aprendizagem, tais como o Pacto. A pesquisa articula os Estudos Culturais com os Estudos Foucaultianos. Da caixa de ferramentas foucaultiana, foi utilizada a noção de governamento para operar as análises, além de ter sido útil a essa investigação a compreensão de Bauman sobre nosso tempo focalizada em suas noções e metáforas, a saber: ambivalência, Modernidade Sólida e Modernidade Líquida. Estas metáforas, em articulação com as ferramentas de Foucault, estabeleceram-se como potentes noções para entender os sentidos de aprendizagem e estratégias de governamento direcionadas à população na atualidade. Com a análise desenvolvida, foi possível perceber, nos discursos sobre a educação escolar, um deslocamento de ênfase do ensino para a aprendizagem, conforme o demonstrado por Biesta (2013) e Nogueira-Ramírez (2011). Em vista disso, ainda que o Programa Pacto pela Aprendizagem: todos temos o direito de aprender busque desenvolver suas estratégias resistindo à mercadorização da escola, os sentidos de aprendizagem tornam-se ambivalentes. Pois mesmo que haja essa resistência, existe também a valorização de atributos próprios dessa inteligibilidade contemporânea: aprendizagem permanente, para além dos muros da escola e a diversidade cultural. Tais características fazem com que o Programa busque aquilo que leva alunos a terem dificuldades em aprender em fatores que vão além do ensino institucional, isto é, fatores socioeconômicos ou relacionados à saúde. Classifica-se estas duas condições para a aprendizagem como a gestão do social e a gestão da saúde. Além disso, os documentos do Pacto indicam como estratégia de governamento, algo que denomina-se como a tríade: mobilização, participação e articulação. Através disso, outras ações estratégicas de governamento são assumidas, como a sedução direcionada para a participação, a formação docente continuada e a responsabilização da comunidade escolar pelas aprendizagens ou dificuldade dos estudantes em aprender. / This research aims to understand and analyze the senses of learning and the government strategies of scholar population used by the Program Pact for Learning: we all have the right o learn. More specificlly, the meaning of learning and the strategies of government operated by the Pact for the life of the school population are problematized. Developed in Novo Hamburgo/RS, the Program was create as a result of learning difficulties presented by students and by the increasing number of school failure. It was thought in a network social protection and under a democratic administration, which have articulated na intersectoral action from three Municipal Secretariats (Municipal Secretariats of Education, Health, and Social Development). The research is developed through the analysis of documents that describe/inform about this Program. Besides, this research is also based on other texts: national and international regulations, which serve as beacons to understand perspectives that drive the creation of programs for learning, such as the Pact. This research joins Cultural Studies with Foucault studies. From Foucault’s toolbox, it was used the notion of government to realize the analyzes. Besides, it was very useful for this investigation Bauman’s thought on our current time, which is focused on his notions and metaphors, namely ambivalence, Solid Modernity, and Liquid Modernity. Together Foucault’s tools, these metaphors have established themselves as powerful notions to understand the learning senses and government strategies, which are aimed at the population nowadays. After the analyses developed, in discourses about schooling, it was possibel to notice a shift emphasis from teaching to learning, as it is demonstrated by Biesta (2013) and Nogueira-Ramirez (2011). In this sense, although the Pact Program for Learning: we all have the right to learn seek to develop its strategies resisting the commodification school, the learning senses become ambivalent. Even if there is such resistence, there is also the valuation of own attributes of this contemporary intelligibility: lifelong learning beyond the school walls and cultural diversity. These features make the Program seek what leads students to have difficulty learning on factors that go beyond the institutional education, ie, socioeconomic factors or related to health. These two conditions for learning were classified as management of social and management of health. In addition, the Pact documents indicate as government strategy, which is called as the triad: mobilization, participation, and articulation. Through this, other strategic actions of government are assumed as seduction directed to participation, continued teacher training, and accountability of the school community, both for learning, as the difficulties of the students in learning.

The scholarly field of traditionally religious women has during the last decade gone from a so called “paradox-approach” which identifies women’s agency with the capacity of acting autonomously – something most clearly demonstrated through acts of resistance – to a nonparadox approach defining agency as a continuum encompassing both resistance to and compliance with traditionally religious structures. While the latter approach assumes that women’s participation in traditional religions is not necessarily a paradox – mainly because some women value religious submission – this thesis argues that the paradox of women and religion becomes essential when speaking about religious feminism. This has proven particularly evident in this study’s Grounded theory approach to blog posts written by Mormon feminists. By combining theories on cognitive dissonance with religious ambivalence this thesis finds that Mormon feminist bloggers express an agency of virtuous ambivalence where they perceive the relationship between their faith and their feminism as dissonant but simultaneously describe this as an ambivalence of religious virtue which bestow upon them a sense of freedom, authenticity and creative potential.

Understanding the etiological and maintaining processes of problematic drinking continues to be a challenge. There has been a growing amount of research focusing on the decisional processes that act to maintain addictive behaviors. Elucidating this underlying process is key to understanding the range of drinking behavior observed among individuals. Rather than relying on one theory, examining overlap between multiple theories of alcohol use may lead to a better understanding of such a process. Using a construct validation approach, this study utilized motivational (Ambivalence Model of Craving), cognitive (Alcohol Outcome Expectancy Theory), and behavioral theories (Behavioral Economics) of alcohol use to examine the extent to which they tap into a common underlying decisional process of alcohol use behaviors. Two methods were used including establishing motivational profiles using latent profile analysis and an experimental manipulation of situational context to examine the effect of setting on constructs of interest. Results from the two studies provided partial support for the overlap between these theories as it pertains to a common underlying process.

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Interviewing eighteen older parents (aged 65 and older) with two or more children for this project established support for the emotional experience of intergenerational ambivalence. Seventy-five parent-child relationships were discussed. Two major themes arose over what healthy, independently living parents feel ambivalent about in their relationships with their midlife children. The first theme focused on how parents simultaneously felt sadness and pride about the busyness of their children's lives. In some respects, parents sensed themselves left out of their children's everyday life, yet they accepted these feelings with a gratified knowledge that their children were functioning adults in society. The second theme of intergenerational ambivalence that surfaced from the interviews was the issue of respecting and negotiating boundaries around spheres of influence. Parents oscillated between positive and negative feelings and thoughts about the appropriateness of offering advice to children. Parents shared conflicted thoughts about stepping back, allowing their children to live their own lives even if they disapproved of certain aspects of it. A few parents shared situations when they felt they did interfere and overstepped their right to comment on their children's life decisions. This theme centered around four issues: financial matters, core beliefs of politics and religion, romantic partnerships, and parenting styles. This study also examined management strategies parents used to sort out and think through complex feelings and thoughts about their midlife children. A contribution this project gives to the emergence of intergenerational ambivalence as a theoretical concept of study in parent-child relations over the lifecourse is the experience of older mothers and fathers. I found no evidence parents experienced qualitatively different emotions because of their gender. Instead, the underlying experience of intergenerational ambivalence was very similar for mothers and fathers. From the results presented in this study, mixed emotions seem to be a natural and normative experience in late life. Older parents experienced ambivalence on a psychological level. Conflicting inner thoughts and mixed emotions resulted from everyday interactions and conversations with midlife children. / Graduation date: 2004

During the last decades, immigration to Sweden has increased. As a result of this, a larger number of individuals are growing up with two languages. This means that the field of bilingualism has emerged as topic of relevance in Sociology, as well as other disciplines of Social Sciences. Bilingualism has been studied from different perspectives in Linguistics. However, in Sociology, focus has been mostly on the questions of integration, culture and ethnicity, where language has been seen as one of many aspects. I argue that bilingualism is an important social phenomenon in its own right, since it shapes the everyday lives of bilingual individuals and changes the landscape of our society. Using Grounded Theory, bilingualism in the everyday life is analyzed and explored, using material from qualitative interviews with ten individuals who have grown up with Swedish and one other language. It is here suggested that bilingualism in the everyday life can be understood as a process of handling ambivalence. This process takes place between the social context and the self and is influenced by and influences them both. A central part of this process is bilingualism seen simultaneously as tension and as resource.

Every year in America, nurses provide care to 1.5 million women before during and after abortions. While the procedure continues to be legal, the experience for women often remains secret, unshared and unexplored. A grounded theory approach was used to explore women's perceptions of the abortion experience and to investigate the processes women use to create meaning from the abortion experience over time. Parse's Man-Living-Health Model provided a theoretical orientation for this research. Subjects included six nulliparous women aged 25 to 37 who experienced a legal abortion between 1 and 12 years ago. Using grounded theory methodology, a phenomenon of Integrating Ambivalence was developed to describe the circular process by which women are reminded of the abortion experience, and re-evaluate their decision within the context of their lives. Using a variety of strategies, the women moved toward increasing integration of the experience while remaining, to varying degrees, ambivalent about the abortion decision and its consequences.

No description available.