Le sujet n'existe pas en dehors de son rapport à la culture et à la société, ni du langage qui le construisent. Le passage transculturel peut déchoir le sujet de la place qui lui était donné au sein de sa langue maternelle. Et ce dernier se retrouve inévitablement étranger, en recherche d'une modalité d'existence. Le passage touche les fondements mêmes des identifications et peut confronter le sujet à une bascule entre l'angoisse de disparition et la liberté due à une illusion d'un affranchissement de la castration. Cependant, une coupure dans le rapport du sujet à l'Autre n'élimine pas les questionnements sur son être sexué : au contraire, le hors-norme de leur position est susceptible de les réactiver. Tout le monde connaît le fameux aphorisme de Simone de Beauvoir : « On ne naît pas femme on le devient »1. Ce constat fait un écho à la position de Sigmund Freud qui s’interroge jusqu’à la fin de sa vie sur ce que veut la femme. Le premier à mettre en doute les normes innées du sexe biologique, il démontre, grâce au complexe d’Œdipe, les chemins qu’emprunte le sujet comme être social pour devenir homme ou femme. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous examinons les chemins que peuvent emprunter certaines femmes – migrantes russophones de la première génération – prises dans la problématique du devenir féminin dans le contexte d'un entre-deux du passage. / The subject doesn't exist apart from its relation to culture and society nor frome the language that constructs it. The transcultural passage can deprive the subject of his place within the mother-tongue, and he finds himself inevitably foreign, in search of a modality of existence. The passage touches the very foundations of the identifications and can confront the subject to a rocking between the anguish of disappearance and the liberty due to an illusion of the freedoom from castration. However, an abruption in the relation of the subject to the Other does not eliminate the questions about his sexual being : on the contrary, the out-of-norm of their position is susceptible to reactivate them. Everyone knows the famous aphorism of Simone de Beauvoir : « One is not born, bay rather becomes, a woman ». This observation echoes the position of Sigmund Freud who questions himself until the end of his life on what the woman wants. The first to question the innate norms of sex, he demonstrates, with the aid of the Oedipus complex, the paths that the subject takes as a social being to become a man or a woman. In this thesis, we examine the paths that find some women taken in the issue of women's becoming in the context of a transcultural passage. All of them are the first-generation Russian-speaking migrants.

Hearing loss is a silent, often overlooked condition which deprives people of the most basic of human needs--the ability to communicate effectively. The notion that there is a dearth of understanding by health care professionals when caring for persons with hearing loss has been acknowledged. This research study aimed to describe the meaning of what it is like to live with a different sense of hearing for seven Canadian participants. The process of inquiry was guided by Parses human becoming theory for nursing (1981, 1987, 1992, 1998). The Giorgi (1970, 1971, 1975, 1985, 1989, 1992) modification of the phenomenological method was used for analysis-synthesis. Five women and two men employed and ranging between 25 and 70 years shared their lived experiences with the researcher via email correspondence. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured. Participants were asked to write about what it is like for them to live with a different sense of hearing. The central finding of this study was: Living with a different sense of hearing is experiencing the joy-sorrow of hearing-not hearing unfolding through discovering gained-lost communication surfacing all-at-once with diminished-enhanced feelings of self while choosing the rhythm of revealing-concealing amid potential regard-disregard of others. The findings of this research build on Parses (1981, 1998) theory of human becoming and may enhance nurses understanding of what it is like to live with hearing loss, which may in turn alter the way nurses structure practice with persons who live with a different sense of hearing, making a difference in their quality of life.

Changes have occurred within educational settings over the past 30 years, creating a more equal learning environment for women. Despite the fact that women aged 18-39 years now outnumber men within New Zealand universities, there is still evidence of inequality for pregnant university students.A qualitative case-study approach was used to explore and describe the stages and patterns of transition from being a university student to becoming a pregnant university student. Each woman demonstrated the complexity of the transitions. The pregnant body and becoming visible were factors that impacted on all five women who participated in this study. The case studies describe how pregnancy intervened in the experience of being a student.Various coping mechanisms were employed by these pregnant university students. The research suggests that they find balance through compartmentalizing aspects of their lives. They attribute educational and personal outcomes to luck. These strategies have enabled these women to aim for educational or personal success. Yet it remains clear that the university does not provide adequate support for these pregnant university students. Policies and resources need to be established to aid pregnant university students in this process of transition.

This study reports on an investigation into individuals’ experiences of spiritual leisure. Though there is a range of literature and research that examines the independent concepts of leisure and spirituality, there continues to be a lack of empirical research into the existence and experience of leisure that may be spiritual. Given that both traditional and ongoing understandings of leisure emphasise their impact on the whole of the person, this lack of attention to the spiritual dimension creates a gap in our understanding. Leisure is increasingly seen as having a role to play in human well-being. What is less well known is the role and place of spirituality in that interplay. It is recognised that a sense of spirituality can be accessed in a diversity of ways, through, for example prayer, meditation and an engagement with sacred places. The spiritual forum of leisure however, remains less acknowledged and understood despite the fact that spiritual benefits have been identified as part of leisure participation. The purpose of this study was to develop insight into the existence and nature of this relationship by exploring the phenomenon of spiritual leisure experiences. As a primary research focus, this topic is rarely directly considered. Rather it is most often raised as an anecdotal benefit of leisure, a philosophical potential for leisure, or more recently, a component of people’s spiritual and general well-being. Based on personal interest, informed by intuition and grounded in the theoretical and philosophical concepts of leisure and spirituality, this study sought to fill some gaps in our understandings of spiritual leisure experiences. Using a phenomenological approach, this descriptive, qualitative study aimed to explore the subjective meanings individuals give to experiences they refer to as spiritual leisure. Thus, 24 co-researchers were invited to share their self-defined spiritual leisure experiences, through open, unstructured interviews and reflective journaling. The leisure experiences the co-researchers described as spiritual occurred within various locations and involved multiple contexts. These included social and solo experiences, nature based or urban environments and active or passive pursuits. Reflective of what happened, the descriptions of the co-researchers revealed that spiritual leisure experiences could vary in situation, conditions, activity and contexts. The meanings behind these descriptions were also sought and three groupings of common themes were recognised: namely triggers; responses and outcomes. These structural components of spiritual leisure were interrelated in the co-researchers conscious understandings and represented a suite of feelings, thoughts, sensations and meanings embedded in the context, actions and locations of their leisure. Finally, the research included an exploration of the underlying essences of the experiences. Five interrelated essences of spiritual leisure emerged representing the phenomenon of spiritual leisure. These were: experiencing self; time and space for self; being; becoming; and belonging. Overall, the results demonstrated that experiences of leisure that were spiritual were evident for the 24 co-researchers. The experience of spiritual leisure was understood as an event that was lived physically, emotionally and affectively and while it varied in context it also shared the characteristics of providing a forum for knowing, being and becoming more of the self. In spiritual leisure, individuals found a life-space in which to discover and know aspects of themselves and to feel a sense of belonging. This study clearly identifies leisure as a valuable and edifying aspect of some people’s lives in relation to developing their spiritual self or for experiencing their spirituality. The essential themes remind us of the true potential leisure can have in people’s lives. More broadly, the study acknowledges the nature of spiritual leisure, its structural components and the value of studying the phenomenon from the perspective of the experiencing person.

<p>The overall aim of this thesis was to expand the knowledge and understanding of the processes of breastfeeding and becoming a mother in mothers of preterm infants. </p><p>For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 mothers, whose very preterm infants had received care in seven neonatal units (NU) in Sweden, 1-12 months after discharge (I-II). In addition, prospective population-based register studies were performed of infants born 1993-2001; among 35 250 term and 2093 preterm infants (III), and a subpopulation of 225 very preterm infants (IV). Data were obtained from the Child Health Service registry of breastfeeding in Uppsala and Örebro, the Medical Birth Registry, and Statistics Sweden. </p><p>The experiences of mother-infant separation, institutional authority, emotional exhaustion and disregard of breastfeeding as a relational interplay, comprised major hindrances to mothers’ experiences of breastfeeding as reciprocal and of a secure mother-infant relation, during and after the discharge from an NU (I-II). All studied socioeconomic factors, i.e. lower educational level, receiving unemployment benefit or social welfare or having a low equivalent disposable income, were individually adversely associated with breastfeeding up to six months of infants’ postnatal age, but were not found more decisive for weaning in mothers of preterm infants compared to those of term infants (III). Preterm infants were breastfed for a shorter time than term infants (III), but a long breastfeeding duration was evident. In addition, gestational age and neonatal disorders were not associated with breastfeeding duration in very preterm infants (IV).</p><p>In conclusion, this thesis shows that improvements in the NU environment and the caring paradigm are called for. Furthermore, as socioeconomic status clearly has an impact on breastfeeding duration, increased equity in health care in accordance with the individuals’ needs must be sought, where resources are allocated to ensure fulfilment of needs in more vulnerable mothers and infants. </p>

The overall aim of this thesis was to expand the knowledge and understanding of the processes of breastfeeding and becoming a mother in mothers of preterm infants. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 mothers, whose very preterm infants had received care in seven neonatal units (NU) in Sweden, 1-12 months after discharge (I-II). In addition, prospective population-based register studies were performed of infants born 1993-2001; among 35 250 term and 2093 preterm infants (III), and a subpopulation of 225 very preterm infants (IV). Data were obtained from the Child Health Service registry of breastfeeding in Uppsala and Örebro, the Medical Birth Registry, and Statistics Sweden. The experiences of mother-infant separation, institutional authority, emotional exhaustion and disregard of breastfeeding as a relational interplay, comprised major hindrances to mothers’ experiences of breastfeeding as reciprocal and of a secure mother-infant relation, during and after the discharge from an NU (I-II). All studied socioeconomic factors, i.e. lower educational level, receiving unemployment benefit or social welfare or having a low equivalent disposable income, were individually adversely associated with breastfeeding up to six months of infants’ postnatal age, but were not found more decisive for weaning in mothers of preterm infants compared to those of term infants (III). Preterm infants were breastfed for a shorter time than term infants (III), but a long breastfeeding duration was evident. In addition, gestational age and neonatal disorders were not associated with breastfeeding duration in very preterm infants (IV). In conclusion, this thesis shows that improvements in the NU environment and the caring paradigm are called for. Furthermore, as socioeconomic status clearly has an impact on breastfeeding duration, increased equity in health care in accordance with the individuals’ needs must be sought, where resources are allocated to ensure fulfilment of needs in more vulnerable mothers and infants.

The mothering role of African American women has largely been ignored in the literature. Contemporary research on the construct of becoming a mother has focused on upper middle class, White women who are partnered. When African American women are included in research, they are often poor, single, teenage mothers and their experiences have not been described within the context of the African American worldview. Hermeneutic phenomenology from an afrocentric feminist perspective is the methodological approach used in this study to provide insight, analysis, and understanding of the experiences of three generations of African American women in the transition to motherhood. A purposeful sampling of eighteen women from three generations was used to identify information-rich cases that would provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. Generation one included seven women, between the ages of 65-83, who became mothers between 1950-1970, prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Generation two included five women, between the ages 51-58, who became mothers between 1971-1990, after the Civil Rights Movement, and there were six women in generation three, between the ages of 30-42, who became mothers between 1991-2003. All of the women in this study described themselves as middle-class; four women were single when they became pregnant with their first child, and education ranged from high school to master’s degree. Three constitutive patterns and their associated themes were identified. The first pattern, It Took Me a Minute, had three themes, Finding Out, Realizing What Mothers Do and Way Tricked! The second pattern, Preserving Our Home had four themes, Mothering Within the –isms: racism, classism and sexism, I Did the Best I Could, Mothers and Others, and Spiritual Mothers. Eat the Meat; Throw Away the Bone, the third pattern had two themes, The Ways in Which We Learn and Someone Who Looks like Me. The results of this study reveal some consistency with current descriptions of maternal identity and maternal role attainment and add to our understanding of the complexities that racism, classism and gender play in the lives of African American mothers and their families. The data from this study also suggests that future development of theoretical frameworks and analytical tools, used to assess the effects of stress and other psychosocial factors on health, need to be grounded in an historic understanding of the African American experience and of the African influence on family and cultural knowledge. Additionally, this study demonstrated the impact that the media, both professional and mass media outlets, has in defining and perpetuating our beliefs and feelings of the ‘good mother/bad mother’ dualism. The description of motherhood for this group of African American women illustrates that motherhood is a source of power and provides significant meaning, satisfaction and respect within the family and the larger community. It also highlighted the communal role that “othermothers” and spiritual mothers have in facilitating the transition to motherhood and providing strong social support.

Förskolan ska erbjuda en varierad och utmanande lärmiljö. Miljö och material skiljer sig åt mellan förskolor och materialets tillgång och tillgänglighet ser ofta olika ut beroende på barns ålder. Med utgångspunkt i vår egen erfarenhet av arbete med de yngsta barnen i förskolan har vi kommit att intressera oss för deras förutsättningar  och möjligheter till meningskapande lek och utveckling i olika gruppkonstellationer. Syfte med studien är att ta reda på hur lärare verksamma inom olka gruppkonstellationer på förskolan samtalar kring miljö och material med fokus på barn mellan ett och tre år. Detta gör vi genom tre övergripande frågeställningar som behandlar materialets betydelse för små barns meningsskapande, skillnader och likheter i olika gruppkonstellationer ur materialsynpunkt samt hur lärarna beskriver hinder och möjligheter i organiseringen av miljö och material. Studien tar sin sin utgångspunkt i ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv.  Vår tanke med studien är att undersöka två avdelningar med olika åldersinriktningar. Studiens metod utgörs av fokusgruppsamtal och observationsmallar. Sammanlagt deltar sju lärare och materialet analyseras med hjälp av en Foucaultinspirerad diskursanalys. Resultatet visar att de yngre barnen har liknande möjligheter och förutsättningar till meningsskapande lek och materialtillgänglighet på båda avdelningarna. Utbudet av material är större på syskonavdelningen vilket också är ett dilemma ur säkerhetsaspekt på grund av smådelar. Lärarna på syskonavdelningen uttalar fler hinder än möjligheter i organiseringen av innemiljön än de på småbarnsavdelningen. Det kan härledas till den större åldersspridningen i barngruppen. Olika syn på barn framträder i samtalen beroende på situation. Materialets tillgänglighet speglar lärarnas barnsyn och vilket material som finns på förskolan.

The main objective of this master&rsquo / s thesis is to examine the concept of difference according to French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Henri Bergson. In order to explicate this crucial concept and its emphasis in these thinkers&rsquo / philosophies, this dissertation is focused on the notion of time and memory. Through the thesis, first Deleuze&rsquo / s critical attitude towards representational and dialectical approachs for difference is elucidated. After the comprehensive examination for the meaning of difference according to Deleuze, the understanding of time is revealed by means of Deleuzian comprehension of repetition and Bergsonian notion of duration. Throughout the thesis what is virtually hidden beneath the arguments, what is common in both philosophers finally is exposed as the concept of becoming. For Deleuze, whose philosophy of time is certainly dependent on Bergson, time creates a renewed conception in order for subject to be an individual as the state of permanent becoming. And an individual which is qualified as a state of becoming, is the memory of time where the latter is an infinite virtuality.

The purpose of the present study is to assess the explanatory value of the concept of the World Soul in the cosmological account of Plato&rsquo / s Timaeus. The World Soul plays a crucial role in the account of the world of Becoming in the Timaeus and in Plato&rsquo / s philosophy of science. The World Soul explains why there is motion at all in the universe and sustains the regularity and uniformity of the motion of the celestial objects. Its constitution and the way it is generated by the Demiurge endow it an intermediary status between the world of Being and the world of Becoming. Through this status the World Soul facilitates the applicability of the items of the former world (Forms and Numbers) in the explanation of the latter, hence makes natural science possible. The appreciation of the place of the World Soul in the natural philosophy of Plato leads us to a better place to view Plato&rsquo / s contribution to ancient natural philosophy and science.