This study focuses on street-involved youth’s experiences with substance use and how it may impact their access to social services, specifically their access to housing and shelter services. I chose to use narrative interviews when speaking with the youth and it was through the sharing of their narratives that different themes, and recommendations for practice were revealed. During the analysis of the data, critical theories were applied, specifically a post-structural and intersectional framework. The youth who participated in this study shared experiences of their hardships, feelings of low motivation in seeking housing, feelings of self-agency regarding their substance use, and the need for more anti-oppressive approaches within housing and shelter services. These anti-oppressive approaches were described by the youth to include more flexible hours, less restrictive shelter rules and a need for more understanding and empathetic service providers. This research highlights important overall insights on the experiences of these youth and how they make sense of their substance use and life on the street. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This thesis aims to explore autobiography as a rhetorical genre and to explore the personal narrative of Aleshia Brevard, an MTF (male to female) transsexual. The critical analysis employs a form of narrative criticism created from the work of several rhetorical critics. Narrative coherence is examined through looking at Brevard's arrangement of events, and narrative fidelity is examined through looking at Brevard's use of ultimate terms. This thesis suggests that the personal narratives told by transsexual individuals may constitute a previously undiscovered rhetorical genre and makes recommendations for future investigations of these narratives. / Master of Arts

The relevance of the Swedish alcohol monopoly has been widely debated for years in Sweden. In 2015 Systembolaget celebrates 60 years as the only actor on the alcohol market. To celebrate this, Systembolaget launched a campaign where the commercial The Expert is included, in which contrasts between the Swedish and the American ways to sell alcohol is addressed. In my essay I’m examining the commercial through a narrative analysis to find out how Systembolagets self image is created. In particular, how the narrative works in order to create this self image. Rhetorical agency is a way for me to reach my conclusion. Through my narrative analysis and the use of the rhetorical situation as well as rhetorical agency, I reach the conclusion that Systembolagets (self constructed) self image is a positive one where Systembolaget is to be viewed as experts in their area, in contrast to the American “expert” who is ridiculed. Systembolaget is portrayed as a responsible actor with sole rights and the implicit argumentation suggests they wish to maintain that position in Sweden.

In the 1990s, the topics of development and poverty, once dominated by development economists, appeared on the radar of management, organizational studies and innovation scholars. A huge variety of terms, some historical like ‘appropriate technology’ and some others totally new like ‘frugal innovation’, ‘Jugaad innovation’ and ‘inclusive innovation’ began to populate the business and management literature. Concurrently, the field of development studies became progressively hybridised with elements from business and innovation studies. This thesis contributes to the analysis of this ‘cross-pollination’ between the discourses of development and the discourses of Innovation. The research discusses how the meaning of innovation, an interpretively flexible and contested ‘buzzword’ with the capacity to shelter multiple political agendas, is constructed within the discourses and practices of development to support and further the values and interests of those actors who employ it. By telling the stories of four different communities of practitioners in Bangladesh and India, this thesis validates, on one hand, some of the conclusions of the extant literature concerning innovation in resource-constrained environments. On the other hand, it provides original insights about the construction of the discourse of innovation and technical change in situated practices. The cases confirm that innovation can and does spring from resource-constrained conditions, where it is often driven and shaped not only by malfunctioning formal and informal institutions, market mechanisms and a weak private sector, but also by traditional knowledge, empathy and cultural motives. At the same time, the findings reveal that technological innovation is neither necessary nor sufficient to reverse the causes of poverty and exclusion, historically major targets for development. In certain circumstances, innovation can even reinforce unequal power relationships by favouring those who already enjoy privileged positions in the community. In three of the four cases analysed, the discourse of innovation attempt to transform the social practices of ‘the beneficiaries’, promoting all the features typical of neoliberal agenda such as competitiveness, ownership, productivity, efficiency and market-oriented production, while at the same time dismissing pre-existing or alternative subsistence patterns of life and nonmarketable solutions. These dynamics present within an emergent, hegemonic discourse of ‘Inclusive business’, which is inspired by the desire to include people within the framework of the market economy, fighting the informal economy and, ultimately, erasing subsistence. What emerges from the research is that discourses of social justice and political transformation have been marginalised, if not completely neglected, in discourses of innovation and development. The thesis, however, describes that the meaning of innovation in the context of development remains contested. There exist countervailing voices that, despite being a minority, have and continue to open up the debate about the value of innovation and technological change as an instrument for social transformation.

Little is understood about the process by which individuals maintain or lose a positive sense of wellbeing in the face of a chronic disabling condition such as stroke (Clarke, 2003). It appears that the impact of residual impairments and disabilities can pose significant problems for wellbeing in older adults, but the presence of such sequelae is not necessarily correlated with subjective wellbeing – some adapt well while others are devastated by minor sequelae (Clarke, 2003). Additionally, little is known about recovery in stroke survivors in relation to normal ageing processes (Green & King, 2007). Through narrative we bring a sense of order to the disorder in our lives, and gain a sense of temporal continuity as we define ourselves in the context of our experiences (Murray 2008). A qualitative study examined the narratives of a sample of six older people with stroke in the East of Scotland. Participants took part in an episodic interview exploring their experience of stroke and the impact it has had on them and their lives. Narrative analysis was used to explore these stories. A story analytic approach was used to examine the content and structure of stroke narratives. A performative analysis revealed that narrative anchors relating to health, relationships, activity and ageing were used by participants to make sense of stroke, while stroke itself was an anchor point in participants‟ ongoing life stories. These findings were interpreted in relation to theories of ageing, suggesting that a developmental approach may be helpful in understanding the experiences of stroke survivors entering frailty, rather than focussing on the active ageing strategies which benefit those in the younger-old age groups. An approach similar to that used in working with grief is proposed as a framework to help health and social care staff and service users understand the process of adjustment following stroke.

Nos livros 6 e 7 das Histórias, Tucídides narra a expedição de Atenas à Sicília, que terminaria com a desastrosa derrota ateniense diante dos siracusanos e seus aliados. O relato engloba desde a assembleia em Atenas na qual os preparativos são discutidos até a derrota final do exército ateniense. Nota-se o destaque que a personagem Nícias, um dos generais atenienses que comandavam a expedição, tem no relato, pois muitas das suas ações e dos seus discursos são destacados pelo narrador. O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar a construção da personagem ao longo da narrativa e compreender o motivo do seu destaque. Para isso, utilizamos o instrumental da Narratologia, enfatizando o nível da narrativa (narradores primário e secundário) e as diferenças ou semelhanças entre a focalização primária representada pelo narrador primário (que relata a história principal) e a focalização secundária representada por Nícias. Depois de fazer a comparação entre os narradores, pode-se perceber que um narrador valida as informações transmitidas pelo outro, ou seja, as palavras e ações de Nícias ratificam o relato primário e vice-versa. Além disso, funcionam como um fio condutor no efeito interno no relato, proporcionando ao narrador primário a continuidade na sequência lógica do relato, ou seja, a derrota ateniense na Sicília. A caracterização da personagem Nícias é definida pelo seu modo de ação caracterizado como inação e o medo que demonstra diante da opinião pública desde o livro 6 e se intensifica no livro 7. Nícias, tal como retratado por Tucídides, desempenha uma função proléptica, pois, desde o início, o seu comportamento e os seus discursos já sinalizavam a sua dificuldade diante da liderança do exército. A importância de Nícias está no fato de que é por meio da sua focalização que o narrador indica a mudança da sorte ateniense, ao longo dos dois livros, ante a derrota do exército ateniense. A comparação entre o teor dos discursos de Nícias a medida em que a situação ateniense vai se tornando cada vez mais prejudicada, acompanha e intensifica o desânimo representado pela narrativa primária, corroborando assim com o objetivo do narrador primário de narrar, mais do que a expedição, a derrota. / In books 6 and 7 of Histories, Thucydides recounts the expedition of Athenas to Sicily, which would end after the disastrous Athenian defeat before the Siracusans and their allies. The report includes from the assembly in Athens in which the preparations are discussed until the final defeat of the Athenian army in Sicily. It is noteworthy the prominence that the character Nícias, one of the Athenian generals who commanded the expedition, has in the story, since many of his actions and his speeches are highlighted by the narrator. The objective of the dissertation is to investigate the character\'s presentation throughout the narrative of the books 6 and 7 and to understand the reason for its prominence in the narrative. For this, we use the Narratological instruments, emphasizing the narrative level (primary and secondary narrators) and the differences or similarities between the primary focalizer represented by the primary narrator (which reports the main story) and the secondary represented by Nícias. After comparing the narrators, it can be seen that one narrator validates the information transmitted by the other, that is, the words and actions of Nícias ratify the primary narrative and vice versa. Nícias also has the function as a guiding thread in the internal in the narrative, providing the primary narrator with continuity in the logical sequence of the account, that is, the Athenian defeat in Sicily. The construction of the character Nícias, his mode of action characterized as inaction and the fear he proves before public opinion define the performance of the Athenian general since book 6 and intensifies in the book 7. Nícias, as portrayed by Thucydides, plays a proleptic function, since from the beginning his behavior and his speeches already signaled his difficulty before the leadership of the army. The importance of Nícias lies in the fact that it is through his focalization that the narrator indicates the change in Athenian fortunes over the two books of the defeat of the Athenian army. The comparison between the content of the discourses of Nícias as the Athenian situation becomes increasingly impaired, accompanies and intensifies the discouragement represented by the primary narrative, thus corroborating with the primary narrator\'s purpose of narrating, besides the expedition, the defeat.

This thesis provides a situated understanding of the ways in which the reality of a new technology is socially constructed. In particular, it examines how members of the aged interpretive community made sense of the computer as an interruption event, a technology not yet routinised as part of their everyday taken-for-granted reality, and needing to be consciously considered and evaluated to make it understandable. Members' sensemaking is studied as a narrative process in which meaning is produced by drawing on a repertoire of narratives, evaluating and developing localised responses to those narratives for the purpose of action taking. Two hundred and four participants over the age of 55 years, recruited predominantly from senior citizens' and SeniorNet organisations in the North Island of New Zealand, were interviewed in 28 focus groups over an eighteen month period between September 2001 and May 2003. Participants were categorised according to their self-identified membership of one of three groups: computer users affiliated to SeniorNet member organisations; computer users without SeniorNet organisational affiliation; and non-computer-users. Their computer-related stories were analysed using narrative analysis to identify and map the similar and different ways in which they constructed computers and themselves in relation to computers, in the stories they told. The research findings from this interpretive study augment the largely functionalist literature on older people and computers and provide insights not identified in previous studies. In particular, the findings indicate that participants identified a common meaning for the computer as actually or potentially useful for older people, but their meanings also varied according to their membership of one of the three participant groups, with SeniorNet members tending to identify the computer as an opportunity; Users, as a tool; and Nonusers, as a threat. Participants' meanings were traced through a storying process that identified three narrative elements as key: the settings in which accounts of the principal protagonists older people and computers were produced; the strength of the narrator's identification with old stories and values; and the ways in which the narrators oriented to the computer in the context of other technologies and events, or in isolation from them. The study makes a contribution to knowledge by enhancing understanding of older people's relationships with computers, through a micro level investigation of their experiences with, and meanings for, the technology. In addition, by identifying and explicating the processes through which the ongoing reality of a new technology is constructed and negotiated, and compared and contrasted in relation to three separate sub-groups of the one demographic population, the study contributes to social construction of technology theory. The study also makes a contribution to practice by showing how the alignment of old stories and new stories is a crucial component in the process for enabling those new to a technology to negotiate an appropriate placement for it, and how such alignment can be influenced by age-peer groups and the imperatives of inter-generational family communication.

In this dissertation, I use a hermeneutic framework drawing on critical and postcolonial theory and interpretive inquiry (narrative analysis) to explore the postsecondary curriculum for German as a foreign language and culture (GFL) in Canada, its history, and its current manifestation, in relation to the twenty-first-century Canadians who study it. I pursue the questions, What is the GFL curriculum? How did it come about? What is it like for students? and What would curriculum innovation look like if it were based on students interests? In part one, I discuss research paradigms, the influence of hermeneutics, the research process, the role of the researcher, and my research acts. In part two, I critique the history of GFL as taught at university in Canada. In part three, I examine the subject positions that have informed that history. I find that the Canadian postsecondary GFL curriculum reflects and benefits the symbolic sociocultural position of native-speaker literary professors and not the educational needs and interests of nonnative-speaker students. The Canadian postsecondary GFL curriculum has been articulated by a cross-cultural divide and withheld knowledge. Using postcolonial perspectives, I propose the diaspora and the less native speaker as potentially counter-hegemonic positions from which to conceptualize the teachers and learners of GFL and reconstruct the curriculum. I follow these initial theoretical analyses with four narrative analyses based on interviews with four Canadian undergraduate students of GFL that explored their experiences of instructional materials, teaching approaches, and curriculum design. The narratives include an episodic account, a mock epic, a psychological case with allegorical digressions, and an allegorical tale and tell of an unrequited love, a quest, shame, and an anti-quest in order to reveal how some are failed by existing curricula and yet make progress toward their linguistic and intercultural goals. In the final chapter, I present a fictional case study of a small German program where I have attempted to rethink curriculum and instruction based on the perspectives and student experiences explored in the previous chapters. I thus offer new vantage points from which to understand the GFL curriculum and enact more constructive teaching and learning.

This qualitative study was aimed at developing an understanding of how persons involved in the investigation or deliberation of child abuse and neglect cases think and feel about the process of weighing evidence and drawing conclusions from it. Twenty investigators, supervisors, and administrators employed by the Child Protective Services agency in Texas were asked to describe cases they had investigated or reviewed that had been particularly difficult because of conflicting or ambiguous evidence. They were also asked opinion questions about the agency's actuarial risk assessment instrument and the concept of preponderance of evidence. Finally, participants were asked to respond to two short case vignettes describing allegations of sexual abuse. Constant comparative and narrative analysis of interview data revealed that the process of case deliberation in CPS makes use of both intuitive and analytic decision-making styles, and there is a general movement from intuition to analysis as a case ascends the decision-making hierarchy. This movement entails a shift from narrative forms of thought and an outcome-oriented ethic to analytic forms of thought and a rule-based ethic. Though intuitive decision making is at least partly guided from personal experience and personal values, and does produce error because of that, it is nonetheless a form of rationality as capable of being guided by scrupulousness and fidelity to truth as analysis is. The personal value and outcome-oriented ethic that intuition brings to the decision making process not only cannot be eliminated, it is necessary to the program's achievement of its mission. It is recommended that the training of new investigators should, first, acknowledge the large role that intuitive thinking plays in CPS decision making and, second, develop ways to help decision makers discipline intuition, in the words of one participant, and to create conditions that foster its optimal functioning.

Narratives about life-changing events like cancer have become more common in today’s society. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether gender patterns in society can also be found in pathographies about cancer, and further to investigate how gender is expressed in these cancer related narratives. Questions were posed on characteristics of the autobiographical cancer narratives, how gender is constructed by the authors of these narratives, and what these narratives say about gender structures’ liability to change in the individuals affected by this disease. The material consisted of two Swedish pathographies about breast cancer, written by women, and two Swedish pathographies about prostate cancer, written by men. These works were published in the first decade of the present century. Narrative interpretation was used as the analysis method. The results show that gender patterns expressed in these narratives mainly follow conventional standards. Gender structures appear to be resistant to change in men and women diagnosed with cancer. The narratives by the women authors appear though to be somewhat more open to using the notions of manhood than was sees in narratives by the male authors regarding norms of femininity.