The loss of intimacy is a pervasive tale, felt especially poignantly when the particular story, with its plot lines of love and betrayal, soaked as they are in rage and grief, is my own. By inverting the research process, whereby I call upon friends, and strangers who become friends, to assist me in the meaning-making process, this autoethnographic account of the twenty year downward spiral of my now defunct marriage makes tangible the shared project of making sense of intimacy, love and loss. It connects the personal to the social, cultural, and (most especially) the politically gendered nature of heterosexual relationship experience. It speaks of the process that makes it possible for me to tell my story and of the ethical tensions involved in telling a story of

In this dissertation the author embarks on a journey of storying and re-storying her life. Autoethnographic evocative personal narratives are used as the method of presentation. Congruent with a postmodern stance, the text repositions the reader as a co-participant in dialogue. In this journey there is a move from a reductionistic understanding of "self" to an understanding of "self" as socially constructed, multiple and changing processes. The author's process of differentiation is embodied and informed by this changing view of "self" as part of, being informed by, shaping and being shaped by the conversations she co-creates in dialogical contexts. This means taking a double-sided, reflexive view of relationships and systems, opens a space for a flexible way of being and imparts sensitivity to the discourses she co-creates. This journey entails taking action that keeps a self-reflexive dialogue going, allowing for different voices to emerge and various encounters to become possible. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This autoethnography explores the phenomenon of marriage after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Capturing as its data, through a series of audio-recorded conversations and journal entries, the first-hand, co-constructed experiences of a married couple, it provides an ‘insider’ and as such, intimate perspective on life together following such an unexpected, disruptive and life-altering event. Situated within ‘a systemic constructionist’ epistemology, it spotlights, in particular, the relational aspects of the post-TBI marriage unfolding over time, rather than just the individual perspectives of each spouse at a single point in time - as most existing studies on the topic do. As a qualitative study, it made allowance for the collection and use of rich, nuanced data so as to do some justice to the complex nature of the topic being studied. David Reiss’ explanatory theory on ‘crisis and the development of the family paradigm’ was applied deductively during the carrying out of a thematic analysis of the data, with the intention of bringing new insights to the understanding of the phenomenon of the post-TBI marriage. Data were also analysed inductively, in that themes emerging from the data itself were also used. A discussion based on the findings of the data analysis was proffered. Based on these findings, recommendations on what issues therapists working from within a family-systems orientation might focus their attention on were made. A recommendation for TBI couples to receive support from early intervention and follow-up services was also made, along with identifying the consequent need for research first to be done on developing and implementing such a service / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

This autoethnographic journey started out as a qualitative research study to discover a new framework for student communication at Unisa. However, I found Unisa and myself reflecting each other, defenceless. Although autoethnography is defined as a research methodology that brings the story of the self into an ethnographic cultural description, it is much more than that. It is a way of being a researcher, where self and culture merge into one ecological unity to present the world with a story that is honest and reflective. The purpose of this study was to present Unisa with a new framework for student communication by exploring new epistemological perspectives. This journey took me from the beginnings of humanity where love and collaboration were our foundations, through our evolution into civilisation, competition, science and education. These contributed a great deal to our intellectual development through mechanistic thinking and a scientific approach but alienated us from each other, which could potentially lead to our destruction. I also explored cybernetics, complex and ecological thinking as new epistemological horizons to view distance learning from. Such a perspective requires a radical epistemological shift from hierarchical, mechanistic and reductionist thinking towards creating an ecology of learning, one that is more dynamic, living, vibrant, caring and empowering. Through my intimate reflective struggle with others, trying to understand how to create this vibrant student communication context I discovered in the quietness of reflection the patterns that connect us all, students, Unisa and myself. Our dialogical relationship emerged, one where there is an epistemological split between our reductionist and mechanistic thinking that requires us to be efficient on the one hand and ecologic and complex thinking that requires a caring, connected and collaborative ecology on the other hand. The question then is how we create this ecology where we reclaim our original humanness and co-evolve into an ecology of learning that is truly empowering. This can be done by co-evolving a new culture of learning grounded in passion, curiosity, openness and preparing us to be responsible and participating citizens of this most beautiful planet. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Water scarcity and water contamination are persistent problems facing large numbers of people in India. In order to combat scarcity, the Indian Federal government designated 2016 to be the Year of Water Conservation. In order to prepare for the success of this initiative, different management strategies and awareness campaigns began in 2015. Critics have generally responded favourably to these shifts in water management because conservation is considered a benevolent and even environmentally-friendly, or “green” process that can successfully combat water scarcity. However, these initiatives often change the ways in which people access water based upon new governing mentalities. The governing mentality most strongly underpinning these initiatives is based on a neoliberal rationality, which is generally admonished by academics and activists due to the production of uneven socio-economic landscapes under neoliberal economics. Similarly, in an effort to combat water contamination, governing authorities have initiated programs and policies to ensure that safe water is provided for citizens. However, this too has often been influenced by neoliberal governing mentalities. In order to analyze these shifts, this dissertation takes a closer look at the narratives of water conservation, water scarcity, and water contamination using a political ecology framework in three states in North Western India: Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Haryana. The following manuscript style thesis consists of five independent papers, plus an introduction and conclusion, linked thematically through the discussion and analyses of the shifting nature of the hydro-social cycle under the pressure of various neoliberal reforms and processes initiated by federal and state governing authorities in North Western India. Having independent papers lends itself to a more nuanced discussion of the ways in which neoliberal water management strategies are lived-out in various communities. Neoliberalism is not an overarching hegemonic project or phenomenon, and as such the discourses of neoliberalism have had different consequences for different communities and populations. As such, this thesis highlights the ways in which the shifting hydro-social cycle has changed gender-related activities of water collection, the ways in which contamination is a form of slow violence, the ways in which defacto public-private partnerships operate in water scarce urban centres, and the ways in which discourses of conservation can be misleading and even manufactured. / Graduate / 2019-05-23

This study focuses on exploring the relationship between domestic workers and the children they help to raise from the child’s perspective, using attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988) and psychoanalytic theory (referring specifically to Klein (1952) and Fairbairn (1952/2006) as some theoretical bases). Also, the concepts of the social unconscious (Weinberg, 2007) and social ghosts (Gergen, 2000) are used to provide a link to the relationship having social implications and functions in the South African context. All theories were used in an anti-essentialistic, reflexive and heuristic way, without reification or objectification of the various terms and concepts within the theories. Also, the paradigmatic point of departure for this research is postmodernism (Apignanesi, Sadar, Curry&Garrat, 2003), focusing on the contextual and socially constructed view of knowledge production. From this point of departure, the methodology is qualitative and the research design autoethnographic (Bochner, 1997; Ellis 1998; 2000; Muncey, 2005; Holman Jones, 2005). My own story is presented where I have used various data sources such as my own memories, a letter (Babbie&Mouton, 2008), and photographs which were analysed according to the principles of visual narrative analysis found in Riessman (2008) primarily. Further data was collected through the use of two radio talk shows, where participants were invited to share their stories with regard to being raised by a domestic worker. This data was analysed using thematic narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008), in which the narratives (kept as whole as possible) were analysed, each case in turn, using themes from the narratives themselves and deductive psychoanalytic themes. Some of the themes elicited were possession (where charges felt in possession of their domestic worker), absence (in relation to the child’s biological mother experienced both by domestic workers biological children and the domestic workers charges), loss (especially in relation to a caregiver), the male caregiver (a paternal figure to his charges), the politicisation of the relationship (the relationship between domestic worker and charge as product of a political system), reconciliation and action (a call for empathy and change), and an intertwining of cultures (where black and white, male and female, rich and poor exist inextricably linked with one another as a product of segregation). I have also maintained a consistent critical and reflexive stance throughout. In conclusion I have presented the contribution of this work to social science and society. Similarly, some limitations of this study are presented, as well as directions for further research. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Psychology / unrestricted

After sixteen intensive months, I quit my employed position as a security guard at a local hospital. By drawing on my autoethnographic experiences in the form of “ethnographic fiction writing”, as well as eight interviews with my former male colleagues, I explore how the guards’ constructions of masculinity intersect with their security assessment and subsequent application of force, chemical incarceration, and other coercive security tactics on involuntarily-committed mental health patients. The narratives are framed by the available literature on gender and masculinity within the security, police, prison and military institutions, as well as the theoretical notions of gendered institutions (Acker), hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt), doing gender (West & Zimmerman), and Dave Holmes’s application of Foucauldian biopolitical power to forensic healthcare settings. These concepts are used in tandem with a creative methodological tool to reveal the “messy”, “bloody” and “gendered” ways in which hospital life unfolds between the guard, the nurse, and the patient prisoner. By escaping more traditional forms of academic writing, I am able to weave raw, sensitive and reflexive thoughts and emotions into the research design and analysis. The analysis is divided into two narratives: “Us” and “Them”. “Us” emphasizes the gendered ways in which the hospital guard learns, reproduces, resists, lives up, or fails to live up to the masculine codes of the profession. Here, the guard must confront cultural demands to demonstrate physical prowess, authority and heroism during a patient battle. “Them” explores how hegemonic masculinity shapes the hierarchical and coercive relations between the guard, the nurse, and the patient, and reinforces psychiatrized discourses that promote punishment, pain, bureaucracy and control. Overall, these findings call for the abolition of physical restraint, chemical incarceration and other coercive security measures within our healthcare institutions, and encourage future research to give voice to the lived experiences of women guards and security management teams.

Hierdie verhandeling bestaan uit die ongepubliseerde manuskrip (gedigte) ʼn blaar hierdie boot, ʼn mini-verhandeling en ʼn tuisvervaardigde CD met ʼn paar gedigte. Die studie bespreek teoretiese terme en begrippe soos outoëtnografie, individuasie en vaslegging (imprinting), uit die vakgebiede van Sielkunde, Sosiologie, Opvoedkunde en Kommunikasiekunde. Die toepaslikheid van hierdie terme ten opsigte van geselekteerde literêre tekste word genoem en geïllustreer aan die hand van spesifieke skrywers. Daar word kortliks gekyk na die verstradisies van Sjina en Japan om die verwantskap met die Afrikaanse gedigte vas te stel. Sogenaamde “close reading” word geteleskopeer op geselekteerde verse uit ʼn blaar hierdie boot. ENGLISH : This dissertation consists of an unpublished anthology of poetry, ʼn blaar hierdie boot and a dissertation of limited scope, together with a home-recorded CD of poems. The study takes stock of theoretical terms and concepts like autoethnography, individuation and imprinting from the disciplines of Psychology, Sociology, Education and Communication. The relevance of these terms regarding selected literary texts is illustrated by the mention of specific authors and poets. A brief view on poetry traditions in China and Japan is offered, to illustrate the relation to Afrikaans poetry in general and the candidate’s poems in particular. So-called close reading is applied to selected poems from ʼn blaar hierdie boot Additional information available on a CD, stored at the Merensky Library on Level 3 Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Afrikaans / unrestricted

I’m a first generation, previously low income, Christian, African American administrator at a California community college who struggled and felt alone throughout my journey. This autoethnography helped me make peace within my broken pieces. Within this dissertation, I highlight the impacts and hindrances within my education, family and career experiences. The purpose of this study is to offer the reader an insider view of how I ultimately became an administrator and with this information provide scholarship on how to more successfully integrate African American female leaders into higher education. The bonus chapter provides young women lessons learned along the way to shorten their learning curve on the way up the ladder.

This thesis builds upon ethnography of Apple Watch user experience and explores its connections with Apple's different branding strategies such as official website advertisements for Apple Watch Series 4, Supplier Responsibility Progress Report (2019) and Today at Apple sessions held in Apple Stores. I draw on sociomaterial approaches with special emphasis on John Law's (2004) method-assemblage and the feminist critique of ANT managerial vision that allow me to conceptualize corporate practices as means of enacting singular and coherent commercial out-thereness and absences. The goal of this thesis is to explore possible connections between the user's experience and the corporate branding strategies which craft a series of commercial realities in order to translate the needs of other actants and enroll them in its corporate network. This paper also argues that ambivalence is central to this process as corporate branding is being constantly reshaped and reconfigured by both the branding strategy itself and the actants involved. Chapter I provides a semiotic analysis of advertisements inspired by Woolgar's (1990) concept of moral universe. The second chapter follows with examining the Progress Report which provides information on the production processes that are completely absent in exclusively...