Multiple disabilities does not just affect the individual, it affects caregivers as well. Once a child and parent receives the diagnosis of multiple disabilities they find themselves in a new territory, a new mindset. This study is a longitudinal autoethnographic personal narrative of a mother of a child with multiple disabilities using an intimate inquiry framework. Intimate inquiry allowed me as the researcher to explore my experiences as a reflection of the culture of caregivers of children with multiple disabilities. The purpose of this research was to attempt to understand what it means to raise a child with multiple disabilities from the inside with regards to the positive and negative transformations associated with raising and educating a child with multiple disabilities while achieving personal growth. Findings from my autoethnography suggest that caregivers from all aspects of the child’s life (family, home, school, child care, medical professionals) may share similar experiences and reactions addressed in the themes I identified. While this study specifically relates to caregiving for a child with multiple disabilities, it has the potential to relate to caregivers of any nature; those caring for their children, a spouse, or a parent or other family member.

This dissertation examines how relatives of gun-violence victims, specifically Black women, move about their environments in the aftermath of sudden and tragic loss. I explore the following research questions: 1) How do Black women, who are co-victims of gun homicide, navigate spaces of trauma? 2) How does the experience of trauma extend into other spaces and spatialities of their lives? 3) What are the social, political, and health implications for Black women with limited mobility who are co-victims of gun homicide? This study draws on a literature synthesis on health geographies, geotrauma, and Black Feminist Geographies, as well as auto-methods, specifically a Black Feminist auto-ethnography (BFA). BFA involves analyzing your own experiences in relation to others in their family and community. My autoethnography of my lived experiences in the neighborhood I grew up in started with the observation of my mother in the aftermath of losing my brother to gun violence in 2012. My dissertation develops a research agenda to theorize how racism, poverty, and trauma compound and how Black women craft survival strategies as they navigate landscapes of trauma. I describe the ways that conventional approaches to understanding gun violence can overlook the layers of trauma and fail to capture the nuances or lived experience of being a co-victim of gun violence. I propose BFA to center and understand the lived experience of co-victims of gun violence and to bear witness to the ways we engage with the world around us while processing the trauma that is carried with us. My autoethnography uncovers key strategies my mother and I used to cope with our loss, especially in the face of institutional failures from the policy. This research points towards a need for better mental health resources for co-victims of gun violence as they process their grief. / Geography

Using autoethnography, combined with qualitative data collected through innovative online methods, this dissertation explores the experience of navigating the emotional geographic space of graduate school for non-visibly disabled students such as learning disabilities, and mental health disabilities at two southern Ontario universities. Autoethnography merges tenets of ethnography and autobiography to allow researchers to prioritize their own experiences as valuable data and “making it possible to construct the ethnographic scenes that happened and the fictional scenes that didn’t—but could have” (Ellis, 2004, p. xx). As such, the work produced by autoethnography is “expressive rather than representational” (Kiesinger, 1998, p. 74) This dissertation is a narrative based on real and fictionalized events told through dialogue between the author, a composite character, and six co-participant graduate students who provide their stories through e-mails and a collaborative blog. Academic literature, observations, areas for future research, and recommendations are woven into the dialogue and layered throughout the dissertation in non-dialogic sections. Davidson and Milligan (2004) posits, “Our emotional relations and interactions weave through and help form the fabric of our unique personal geographies” (p. 523). By focusing on unacknowledged and misunderstood “emotional labor” (managing emotions in paid work environments) and emotion work (managing emotions in unpaid work environments) (Hochschild, 1983), this dissertation demonstrates how non-visibly disabled students must perform “extra work” that distinguishes their experiences and the effort required to navigate the spaces and places of academia. With a specific focus on the process of acquiring and implementing academic and workplace accommodations, it draws on the literatures and theoretical insights of emotional geography and critical disability studies to demonstrate how these disabilities are misunderstood and stigmatized, which results in an accommodation process that is both humiliating and inadequate to support non-visibly disabled graduate students. Thus, understanding the emotional geography of the accommodation process is vital to creating effective academic and workplace accommodations for non-visibly disabled graduate students. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Over the last few decades, the popularity of video games has skyrocketed thanks in part to their unique ability to engage their audience and to create empathy. Among them, serious games have an additional purpose beyond entertainment; to teach and help people. Serious games have been successfully applied in a variety of different fields, such as: education, health, tourism and also in bringing knowledge about cultural heritage. In this context, this thesis describes a serious game designed to promote Brazilian cultural heritage and  increase interest in tourism. The objective of this serious game was to involve the player in an interactive virtual exploration of Brazil, in order to teach more about its rich cultures and history. Our results show that the  majority of people learned something new about Brazil and became interested in traveling to Brazil, even  people familiar with Brazil.

This qualitative case study examines the service-learning program at a charter high school (Austin Charter Academy [ACA]). The two-fold purpose of the study was to: (a) describe and explore the service-learning experience at ACA with attention to the structures of power shaping the program and (b) to examine the role of a White, female administrator in the service-learning program. The research questions for the study were: How does one high school charter community describe their experiences in service-learning programs? Who is being centered and what logics are being reinforced in service-learning projects? The study employed a decolonizing, critical community-based service-learning framework (Santiago-Ortiz, 2018) as its theoretical framework, adding an examination of decision-making processes, structural designs, and power dynamics, and highlighting where ACA’s program perpetuates colonizing notions often found in traditional, mainstream approaches to service-learning. By exploring the experiences of multiple stakeholders, this case study presented a holistic understanding of ACA’s service-learning program. Data for the study were collected through in-depth interviews with ACA staff and community partners, alumni focus groups, document analysis, and autoethnographic data. Using an inductive approach to data analysis, emergent themes were identified across data sources. Findings indicated although ACA’s approach to service-learning has good intentions, when examined with a decolonizing framework one can see misalignment between vision and outcomes for students, staff, and community partners. Without a clear vision and approach, staff have diverse interpretations of service-learning, resulting in confusion for students and families. Additional findings highlighted access to programs have not been equitable, leading to disproportionate outcomes and the need for supports to be put in place. Examining the program from a decolonizing lens presented the ways the current program has upheld colonial notions and centered the academic setting and student need over the community. The findings supported the need for ACA to build in reflective practices to shift their service-learning program from performative to providing authentic, meaningful learning experiences for all parties, in line with a decolonizing framework. Recommendations for policymakers and administrations include revisiting policies and program documentation with a decolonizing framework.

This thesis explores how the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) network may constitute a form of sustainable tourism on the Baltic Island of Gotland, Sweden. To do this, I narrate my own personal journey as a WWOOF volunteer trying to find my way as an organic farmer, in an autoethnographic account of my experience at Tjeldervik Gård during the spring and summer of 2023. In the account, I make observations concerning economic, environmental, and social/cultural sustainability, focusing especially on my interpretations. In this way, I hope to shed more light on WWOOF from the perspective of sustainable tourism studies, and to contribute by sharing one of few first-hand accounts as a WWOOF volunteer reflecting on more established knowledge. 2.14.0.0 / <p>2.14.0.0</p>

This paper takes an autoethnographic approach in exploring the growth of an African American preservice teacher during internship. This research involved daily self-reflections from the preservice teacher and observations by the supervising teachers and university liaison in order to respond to the guiding questions of how the African American preservice teacher will find a need for her presence in the classroom. As a result of the procedure, the preservice teacher was able to make meaningful connections with all students but especially with African American students who benefit from having at least one African American teacher between grades three and five within public elementary schools (Gershenson, Hart, Lindsay, & Papageorge, 2017). Additionally, findings from the reflections hope to inspire more African Americans to consider the teaching profession.

There is a divide between the fields of Conflict Resolution (CR) and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) that impacts on the transfer of knowledge and skills. This is the central hypothesis investigated and confirmed through analysis of the literatures of the two fields, the responses to a questionnaire to practitioners, and autoethnographic interrogation. A generational analysis of authors is combined with the results of a (N=28) questionnaire with practitioners from both fields. This delineates the divide in the theory and literature as well as how those operating in each field identify, conceptualise mediation and what they read. The autoethnography explores the fundamental impact of on conflict role definitions generally and the mediator specifically. It then looks at the impact of crossing the ADR/CR divide on mediation practice, highlighting the necessity for practitioners of a ‘both and’ approach to skills/ knowledge and attitude/qualities. This leads to the consideration of a framework for mediator competence across the ADR/CR divide. The interaction of the mediators’ normative project and the ability of parties to self-determine is explored practically and ethically. This highlights a range of issues with expectations mediation and mediators and foregrounds the impact on the mediator of the mediator role. It ends with a call for further research using innovative methodologies, such as autoethnography, that illuminate mediation as a relational process.

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