Esta tese investiga trajetórias de formação de professoras de escolas rurais do Brasil, da Bolívia e do México. Por meio de entrevistas biográficas buscou-se a partir das memórias de vida e formação das professoras, relações, diferenças e articulações em seus relatos de vida e itinerários formativos. A tese se desenvolve na linha de quatro grandes questionamentos que foram organizados em quatro partes. A primeira se ocupa das questões teóricas, na qual são apresentadas discussões mais gerais sobre formação de professores até as especificidades da educação rural no Brasil, na Bolívia e no México. Especificamente no contexto brasileiro apresenta-se um levantamento de dados sobre as pesquisas acerca da formação de professores de escolas rurais produzidas nos anos de 2000 a 2011, disponíveis no banco de dados da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) situando as principais questões presentes no debate nacional sobre formação de professores de escolas rurais. Além disso, há discussões sobre a formação de professores de escolas rurais no Maranhão, de onde são provenientes três das cinco professoras entrevistadas nesta pesquisa. A segunda parte trata do método e contexto de realização da pesquisa ou o campo de pesquisa, um quilombo, um assentamento vinculado ao Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), uma comunidade sem vínculo com os movimentos sociais, no caso brasileiro; uma comunidade rural chamada San Juan del Chaco, na Bolívia e Oaxaca, no México. Discute-se o método biográfico e abordagem da análise de conteúdo como abordagens teórico-metodológicas da pesquisa, além das cinco categorias de análise: trajetórias de formação profissional, práticas de docência, conhecimento da profissão, permanência na profissão e na docência rural e memórias da vida, trabalho e formação. A terceira é devotada à análise dos dados. Nela se verifica, dentre outras questões, que as cinco professoras são pertencentes à classe popular, tiveram dificuldades de acesso aos processos de escolarização e profissionalização docente, possuem, portanto, memórias de sofrimento e superação, encontraram na militância em organizações e movimentos sociais formas de combater a invisibilidade das escolas rurais, assim como, de compreender suas trajetórias de vida e de formação. A quarta, e última, parte apresenta considerações finais, limitações da pesquisa e, finalmente, propostas para as escolas rurais e formação de professores. A tese constata, deste modo, que não há nos três países políticas públicas consolidadas de educação rural, bem como, de formação de professores para as áreas rurais. / This thesis investigates learning paths of rural school teachers from Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico. Through biographical interviews it sought since the living memories and training of teachers, relationships, differences and joints in their reports of life and training routes. The thesis develops in the line of four major questions that were organized in four parts. The first, deals with the theoretical questions, in which are presented the general discussions from teacher training to the specificities of rural education in the three countries. Specifically in the Brazilian context is presented a data collection on researches about the formation of rural school teachers produced in the years 2000-2011, available in the database of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) [Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination], placing the main issues present in the national debate on training rural school teachers. In addition, there are discussions about the formation of rural school teachers in Maranhão, from where came three of the five teachers interviewed for this research. The second part deals with the method and the context of achievement the research or of the research field, a quilombo, a settlement linked to the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) [Landless Workers\' Movement], a community without ties with the social movements in the Brazilian case; a rural community called San Juan del Chaco in Bolivia and Oaxaca, in Mexico. It discusses the biographical method and the approach of content analysis as a theoretical and methodological approaches to research, besides the five categories of analysis: professional learning paths, teaching practices, professional knowledge, permanence in the profession and in the rural teaching and memories Life, work and training. The third is devoted to data analysis. Here can be verified, among other issues, that the five teachers are belonging to the working class, had poor access to schooling processes and teaching professionalization, hold thus suffering and overcoming memories, found in the militancy in social organizations and movements forms of combat invisibility of rural schools, as well as to understand their paths of life and training. The fourth, and final, part presents final considerations, research limitations and, finally, proposals for rural schools and teacher training. The thesis notes, therefore, that there are no publics polices consolidated in the three countries on rural education as well as on training teachers for rural areas.

The present study it has as objective to investigate, through a biographical study, the trajectory of teaching formation and professional performance of the sergipana intellectual Leyda Régis (1904 -1999). The metodological theoretical referencial is endorsed arrives in port in it of Cultural History. The concepts and analytical categories of Ginzburg, Le Goff, Roger Chartier, Elias, Pierre Bourdieu, Sirinelli, Dominique Julia, and literatures that turn on practical of the pertaining to school culture, formation and teaching performance, had lead the systematization, the aiming and development of this research. The trajectory of the teacher Leyda Régis helps to understand it us, through its formation and performance in the educational scene, the representations of the History of the Education, professionalization, field of work and social action in century XX. / O presente estudo tem como objetivo investigar, através de um estudo biográfico, a trajetória de formação docente e atuação profissional da intelectual sergipana Leyda Régis (1904 -1999). O referencial teórico metodológico está respaldado no aporte da História Cultural. Os conceitos e categorias analíticas de Ginzburg, Le Goff, Roger Chartier, Elias, Pierre Bourdieu, Sirinelli, Dominique Julia, e literaturas que versam sobre práticas da cultura escolar, formação e atuação docente, conduziram a sistematização, o direcionamento e desenvolvimento desta pesquisa. A trajetória da professora Leyda Régis ajuda-nos a compreender, através da sua formação e atuação no cenário educacional, as representações da História da Educação, profissionalização, campo de trabalho e ação social no século XX.

Submitted by Cláudia Bueno (claudiamoura18@gmail.com) on 2016-01-13T13:56:02Z No. of bitstreams: 3 Tese - Eduardo Barbaresco Filho - 2015.pdf: 7149914 bytes, checksum: 726ecf3ce92641e41a30292e9978808c (MD5) Estércio 6.JPG: 3100442 bytes, checksum: f209d42ac1a32a1128907169f94cb5f7 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-01-14T11:00:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 3 Tese - Eduardo Barbaresco Filho - 2015.pdf: 7149914 bytes, checksum: 726ecf3ce92641e41a30292e9978808c (MD5) Estércio 6.JPG: 3100442 bytes, checksum: f209d42ac1a32a1128907169f94cb5f7 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-14T11:00:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 Tese - Eduardo Barbaresco Filho - 2015.pdf: 7149914 bytes, checksum: 726ecf3ce92641e41a30292e9978808c (MD5) Estércio 6.JPG: 3100442 bytes, checksum: f209d42ac1a32a1128907169f94cb5f7 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-26 / The writing about an artist’s life permeates the universes of creation that reflects places from memory, affections, sensations, dimensions that are interpolated and unveiled by the historian in the construction of a biographical history narrative. We are going to course here, the just space, interstice, between music and history, having the composer Estércio Marquez Cunha (1941 - ), from Goiás, as a reference of thinking about these relations, the life and the work (vidobra – Dosse), the deed (Derrida) and the own testimony (Ricoeur). Therefore, we have two ways of research: interviews with the composer and sources from dissertations, tasks, work (precisely from 1965 to 2013), personal book reports. Estércio’s ´ production is marked by diversified pieces, with formation to solo instruments, orchestra, choir, chamber music groups. His creation process is strongly connected with the other arts, considering his songs with poems made by himself, or yet a highlighted genre, the theater music. Every sound, rhythm, move, can become material for a composition, since it is organized and thought artistically. In his pieces the image of silence, of the extended time, broaden, is outstanding, with preference for slow tempos, that stimulate the process of perception – the way the artist utilizes for aesthetic reflections, besides the exploration of the timbre, rhythmic, melodic – from the space of the criticism, and the positioning of the human being before the dimensions of solitude, anguish. Such questions are still little studied in the musicology in Goiás, or in the regional classical music scene, where Estércio is reference. Many sound desire become reverberated in a multiple temporal relation and superimposed from inspiration, intention, from deed and performance. With the purpose to talk, and unveil, the creator in his sound narratives, between the work and the discourse, we consisted a deployment of the historical and musicological thinking: Estércio in the history of music, his singularities and exemplarities. The aim is to register and present an intellectual biography (Dosse), a biographical writing, reaffirm an establisher moment of art in time-space dimension in Goiás, having Estércio as character of the action, of the historical plot, an unfinished tissue, contribute to the studies about art/music in the national scene, highlighting the directory group of CNPq INTERARTES. The life and the work of the artist align in the formulation of a historiography, with sights to the relations between archives, texts, contexts, institutions and aspects of the configuration of I, subject-composer. An evidentiary trajectory ensures the analysis, the interpretation, an hermeneutic vision of the structure in his fractures: the polyphonic field, that life and history mix, identity, creation, consciousness and liberty. / A escrita sobre a vida de um artista perpassa universos da criação que refletem lugares da memória, afetos, sensações, dimensões interpoladas e desvendadas pelo historiador na construção de uma narrativa histórico biográfica. Percorreremos aqui o justo espaço, interstício, entre música e história, tendo o compositor goiano Estércio Marquez Cunha (1941- ) como referência de se pensar essas relações, a vida e a obra (vidobra – Dosse), a escritura (Derrida) e o próprio testemunho (Ricoeur). Assim, têm-se duas vias de pesquisa: entrevistas com o compositor e fontes de dissertações, trabalhos, obras (precisamente de 1965 a 2013), fichamentos pessoais. A produção de Estércio é marcada por peças diversificadas, com formações para instrumentos solos, orquestra, coral, grupos de câmera. Seu processo de criação é fortemente interagido com outras artes, a considerar suas canções com poemas de sua autoria, ou ainda um dos gêneros de destaque, a música teatro. Todo o som, ritmo, movimento, pode tornar-se material de uma composição, desde que organizado e pensado artisticamente. Em suas peças a figura do silêncio, do tempo esticado, alargado, é marcante, com preferência por andamentos lentos, que estimulam o processo de percepção – maneira que o artista utiliza para reflexões estéticas, além da exploração timbrística, rítmica, melódica – do espaço da crítica, e o posicionamento do ser humano frente a dimensões da solidão, da angústia. Tais questões ainda são pouco estudadas na musicologia em Goiás, ou no cenário da música erudita regional, em que Estércio é referência. Várias pulsões sonoras tornam-se ecoadas numa relação temporal múltipla e sobreposta da inspiração, intenção, da escritura e performance. Com o propósito de dialogar, e desvendar, o criador nas suas narrativas sonoras, entre a obra e o discurso, constituímos um desdobramento do pensar musicológico e histórico: Estércio na história da música, suas singularidades, e exemplaridades. O intuito é inscrever e apresentar uma biografia intelectual (Dosse), uma escritura biográfica, reafirmar um momento instaurador da arte na dimensão tempo-espaço em Goiás, tendo Estércio como personagem da ação, da trama histórica, um tecido inacabado, contribuir para os estudos sobre arte/música no cenário nacional, com destaque ao grupo diretório do CNPq INTERARTES. Vida de artista e obra se coadunam na formulação de uma historiografia, com vistas às relações entre arquivos, textos, contextos, instituições e aspectos da configuração do eu, sujeito-compositor. Uma trajetória indiciária garante a análise, a interpretação, uma visão hermenêutica da estrutura em suas fraturas: o campo polifônico, que se mesclam vida e história, identidade, criação, consciência e liberdade.

Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2016-08-16T14:41:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 renatameffe.pdf: 54369456 bytes, checksum: 2caf91c9a5572b0b64e6d7bb216612ab (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: corrigir nome do programa (está Letras). on 2016-08-17T13:04:54Z (GMT) / Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2016-08-18T11:53:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 renatameffe.pdf: 54369456 bytes, checksum: 2caf91c9a5572b0b64e6d7bb216612ab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-08-18T12:09:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 renatameffe.pdf: 54369456 bytes, checksum: 2caf91c9a5572b0b64e6d7bb216612ab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-18T12:09:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 renatameffe.pdf: 54369456 bytes, checksum: 2caf91c9a5572b0b64e6d7bb216612ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-17 / Esta dissertação apresenta uma reflexão sobre o processo de criação cinematográfico do filme ¨Cortina de bambu passada a limpo¨ (título provisório), projeto de documentário que visa abordar as elaborações e reelaborações de memórias de ex-internos da Colônia Padre Damião, instituição destinada ao tratamento de hanseníase, em Ubá, Minas Gerais. O título faz alusão ao bambuzal que isolava a Colônia do resto do mundo e que não podia ser transposto pelos internos. Nesta reflexão, nos centramos principalmente em aspectos relacionados à construção de identidades e nas potencialidades - e limites - do audiovisual como espaço da memória em ação. / This dissertation presents a reflection on the process of the cinematographic creation of the film "Bamboo wall revisited" (working title), a documentary project that seeks to address the memories and their reworkings of former inmates of Colony Padre Damião, institution that focused on the treatment of Hansen's disease ('leprosy') in Ubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The title alludes to the bamboo grove that isolated the colony from the rest of the world and could not be transposed by the inmates. In this reflection, we focus primarily on issues related to the construction of identities, and on the potential - and the limitations - of the audiovisual as a space for memory in action.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:48:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ANDRISA KEMEL ZANELLA_Tese.pdf: 3971504 bytes, checksum: 8123646857519c962b53cb747a47815f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-25 / This thesis, which belongs to the line of research named Written Culture, Languages and Learning, aimed at describing a study of memories that were inscribed in Pedagogy students‟ bodies during their education process. The focus was the interpretation of gestures as a translation of the imaginary in the writings of the Biographical Body. The research was supported by studies of the Imaginary, whose main theoreticians are Gilbert Durand and Gaston Bachelard, and of the Biographical Body, based on Danis Bois and Marie-Christine Josso. The thesis that has emerged from it says that the memory of the body is part of everybody‟s developmental process. i. e., every meaningful experience is recorded and can be written down. Based on studies of the Imaginary, such experiences comprise a subject‟s imaginary reservoir which was, in this case, visualized by the students‟ gestures. The following question was the starting point of the research: could the visualization of the memory inscribed in the body help to think about somebody‟s (self)development project? In order to answer this question, four Pedagogy students participated in six meetings whose focus was the exercise of body biographyzation through theatrical improvisation. These meetings were video-recorded and reported in the Diary of Experience (a notebook in which the repercussion of the body work was recorded). Therefore, this thesis aimed at showing that the body has silent knowledge which is relevant to think about and plan Education in a singular-plural way. Finally, the analysis process followed three steps: 1) the descriptive and hermeneutic analysis of video records; 2) the analysis of four Diaries of Experiences written by four Pedagogy students in the classificatory, phenomenological and hermeneutic steps; and 3) the convergence of the research findings in symbolic kernels in order to get to the mythemes, which were: Childhood in the Suit-body; The wish to fly in the Captive-body; A being made of flesh that thinks while the other one acts in the Fractioned-body; and The search for freedom in the Moderate-body. Based on these mythemes, there is evidence that the body is a live writing of the experiences that were meaningful in a human being‟s life and were inscribed in his/her anatomy, with consequences to his/her physical, cognitive, affective and psychic dimensions to compose the body‟s biographical dimension. Therefore, the visualization of these memories has revealed some of the experiences that were meaningful in the students‟ lives, mainly in childhood, a fact that made me perceive how these reverberated memories constitute one‟s gestures to compose the writings of the Biographical Body. / Este trabalho inscreve-se na linha de pesquisa Cultura Escrita, Linguagens e Aprendizagem; teve por objetivo realizar um estudo sobre as memórias do trajeto formativo inscritas no corpo de acadêmicas do Curso de Pedagogia. O foco foi direcionado à interpretação do gesto como tradução do imaginário nas escrituras do Corpo Biográfico. O campo teórico está ancorado nos estudos do Imaginário e do Corpo Biográfico, tendo como principais autores-guia, Gilbert Durand e Gaston Bachelard, Danis Bois e Marie-Christine Josso, no que concerne ao Imaginário e ao Corpo Biográfico, respectivamente. A Tese que emergiu é de que a memória do corpo faz parte do trajeto formativo de cada pessoa, cujas experiências significativas ficam registradas como uma escritura. A partir dos estudos do Imaginário, tais experiências compõem o reservatório imaginário do sujeito, neste caso visibilizado através dos gestos das estudantes. A questão que embasou a pesquisa foi a seguinte: a visibilização da memória inscrita no corpo poderia auxiliar a pensar o projeto de (auto)formação? Para responder tal questão, contei com a participação de quatro acadêmicas do Curso de Pedagogia, que através de seis encontros focados exercitaram a biografização corporal pela improvisação teatral. Os encontros foram registrados em vídeo e também no Diário da Experiência (caderno de registro das repercussões do trabalho corporal). Portanto, nesta Tese, buscou-se evidenciar o corpo como um saber silenciado, porém relevante para pensar e projetar a Educação de modo singular-plural. Finalmente, o processo de análise desta pesquisa seguiu três passos: 1) análise descritiva e hermenêutica dos registros de vídeo; 2) análise do diário da experiência das quatro estudantes em três etapas: classificatória, fenomenológica e hermenêutica; 3) convergência dos achados da pesquisa em núcleos simbólicos para chegar aos mitemas. A saber: A infância presente no Corpo-terno; O desejo do voo no Corpo-cativo; Um Ser de carne que pensa, outro que age no Corpo-fracionado; A busca pela liberdade desejada no Corpo-comedido. A partir destes mitemas, ficou evidenciado que o corpo é uma escritura viva das experiências que foram significativas na vida do ser humano e ficaram inscritas em sua anatomia, repercutindo em sua dimensão física, cognitiva, afetiva e psíquica, compondo a dimensão biográfica do corpo. Portanto, a visibilização dessas memórias revelou algumas das experiências que foram significativas na vida das acadêmicas, principalmente no período da infância, levando-me a perceber como estas memórias, reverberadas, constituem o seu repertório gestual compondo as escrituras do Corpo Biográfico.

The first chapter of this thesis examines the textual transmission of Pu Songling's collection of tales, Liaozhai zhiyi, and through a study of extant manuscripts and editions concludes that in its original format the work consisted of eight volumes. After a review of evidence for dating the composition of the collection, the two volumes of earliest and latest date are identified and their contents analysed. There is traced a pattern of development from relatively simple supernatural and romantic stories in Pu's early work to more complex character configurations in the later stories, where social criticism also plays a more conspicuous role. The second chapter focuses on the life and times of Pu Songling and discusses the process by which the social realities of Shandong in the early Qing period - famine, military campaigns, bandit raids - and particular aspects of the author's personal experience - examination failure, observation of administrative abuses, professional activities, and family and personal relations - intrude persistently into his stories. Special attention is paid to Pu's examination career and the institutional factors which impeded his progress; his criticisms of the selection system are shown to be qualified by passive acquiescence. The third chapter questions conventional definitions of Liaozhai zhiyi's place in literary tradition. After a survey of the Classical tale from l500 to l700, it is demonstrated that Pu's work can be distinguished from the early-Ming story, and should be regarded as a development of existing trends in late-Ming and early-Qing fiction. In its romantic orientation, realistic detail, and prose style, Liaozhai zhiyi has a kinship with its immediate literary forebears. What links it has to vernacular fiction concern thematic and descriptive emphases rather than the occasional use of colloquialisms. Methods of determining the derivation of plots and motifs in Pu's tales are critically examined, and a distinction is drawn between analogues and written sources.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Patrick A. Knight / A commonly accepted practice in employment selection is to collect biographical information in the form of resumes. Surprisingly, little research is conducted in this area to learn how reviewers evaluate relevant biographical information and considerable less research is devoted to exploring possible methods on how to improve this evaluation process. Current research explored one possible training method that may later show great utility in improving accuracy and consistency in ratings for a number of work-related constructs. Frame-of-reference training, which is primarily utilized in the field of performance appraisal, was hypothesized to be a beneficial training technique in an effort to improve accuracy. Frame-of-reference (FOR) training attempts to create a common frame of reference among raters when assessing rates' behaviors. Through a process of practice and feedback, FOR training tunes raters to common notions of what good or poor would be on a particular dimension. The result is often more accurate ratings with less variation between raters. Personality (conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness only), general cognitive ability, and organizational citizenship behaviors were the constructs of interest. The analysis provided initial support for most of the hypotheses which suggested that frame-of-reference training would create more accurate and reliable estimates of applicant's personality, cognitive ability, and even organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition to influencing participants' estimates of applicant's scores on a number of workplace constructs, it was also found that participants were influenced as a function of type of training on their willingness to interview and overall impressions of the applicants. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Magister Scientiae - MSc (Medical BioSciences) / Organisations are by nature, dynamic entities that continuously undergo transformation in response to both internal and external pressures, which are imposed on them (Robbins, Odendaal & Roodt, 2003). Government departments are by no means immune to these changes, which pose challenges that affect their service delivery. During periods of fundamental transformation, individuals typically experience changes in their levels of organisational commitment, which impacts on effective and efficient service delivery. Organisational commitment as an area of research is one of the factors that could lead to greater morale, strong organisational climate, motivation and productivity in many organisations facing transformation (Salami, 2008). The aim of this study was to investigate the level of organisational commitment after a transformation process at a Provincial Government Department. Recent organisational transformations (both in the private and public sector) have included the redrawing of divisional boundaries, flattening of hierarchic levels, spreading of spans of control, revising compensation, streamlining processes and reforming governance (Ndlovu & Brijball Parusumar, 2005). The results of the research indicate that employees are moderately committed to the organisation. Statistically significant relationships were found between the dimensions of organisational commitment, except for affective commitment and total commitment which were not significant. Furthermore, results indicate that statistically significant differences exist based on the biographical characteristics (namely, gender, race, tenure, marital status, age and job level) but these characteristics do not significantly explain the variance in organisational commitment for this organisation. A limitation of the research is that the sampling composition and research design preclude the results of this study being generalised to other organisations and it is recommended that a stratified random sampling design be utilised for future research. / South Africa

From Integrative Summary: There has been a growing interest in successful entrepreneurs. Research on entrepreneurship has focused on the identification of personality variables that would assist in the prediction of entrepreneurial success. The present study moves away from attempting to predict entrepreneurial success and instead focuses on exploring and describing the personality of a successful entrepreneur. A psychobiographical case study was adopted by the researcher to explore and describe the extent to which Steve Jobs demonstrated the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007). A personality trait approach to entrepreneurship was adopted in the study. The study also attempted to explore the socio-cultural and economic context within which Jobs practised his entrepreneurial activities. Jobs was a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Apple and founded NeXT and Pixar, which were all companies that transformed various technological industries. His entrepreneurial orientation allowed him to produce innovative products that transformed society in various sectors which included personal computing, mobile phones, music, retail stores and films (Isaacson, 2011). A qualitative approach was adopted in the study. The data collection and analysis was guided by the three linked sub-processes proposed by Miles and Huberman (2002) which involved data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification. The findings of this study showed that Jobs demonstrated, at varying levels, all the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007) which included a need of achievement, risk-taking, innovativeness, autonomy, locus of control and self-efficacy. The researcher however noted that the desire for autonomy, risk-taking, innovativeness and self-efficacy were the most dominant characteristics driving his entrepreneurial orientation. The research thesis adopted the structure of a teaching case which can be used to explore and discuss the personality trait perspective to entrepreneurship in a classroom setting. The findings of the study can be recognised as positively contributing to the growing field of psychobiographical research on exceptional individuals, including entrepreneurs. The study can be considered as a foundation for future studies which will add to the body of knowledge relating to entrepreneurship and personality.

Psychobiographers study the lives of extraordinary, prominent, and enigmatic individuals. Psychobiographical research advances our insight into the uniqueness and complexity of the human personality and therefore makes a substantial contribution towards one of the major objectives of the field of psychology. Purposive sampling was employed to select Charlize Theron as the subject of this psychobiographical study. As the only South African who has won an Oscar, Theron is an exceptional individual who demonstrates tenacity and a will to succeed despite significant traumatic events in her childhood. The case study data was organised and analysed according to the general analytic approach developed by Huberman and Miles (2002) and one of Alexander’s (1990) strategies, namely questioning the data. Erikson’s psychosocial theory (1950, 1963, 1995) was selected to guide this study because it recognises the impact of socio-cultural influences on developmental processes and provides a comprehensive, staged framework for studying Theron’s personality development. This study contributes to the development of psychobiographical research in South Africa.