This research represents an autobiographical case study of my practical knowledge and conceptual change as an environmental educator. My purpose for this work is to chronicle a personal evolution of metaphor in my teaching practice and to document the effect on the implemented curriculum. / My research is a story of my work as a cooperating teacher with two student interns whose experiences and questions served as catalysts for my change process. The interns provided a "mirror for reflection" on my practice thus promoting a "re-viewing" of my life history and a reevaluation of my beliefs on teaching and learning. The Reflective Cooperating Teacher Model is introduced in this work which facilitated my reconceptualization of previously unknown interests and beliefs through the construction and analysis of narrative in the research text. / A variety of strategies were utilized to collect and organize the field texts for this study including the use of journals, planning books, audio-tape transcripts, observational notes, and autobiographical texts. Document analysis was performed on Q. S. R. NUD$\cdot$IST 3.0.5 (1994) software. / Throughout this research, I was able to resolve many of my personal conflicts in teaching and learning by using constructivist theory to make sense of the way I had constructed myself as a learner while a teacher and a graduate student. Through the use of personal experience methods, several thematic patterns were explored including the evolution of metaphor in my practice, the influence of role models in my education, the importance of having a passion for one's discipline and work, and the influence of stress on the development of survival strategies in teaching and learning. The understanding and resolution of these issues and others through interpretive autobiography facilitated a reconstruction of my environmental education curriculum to one that is driven by authentic science practice in which the processes and spirit of science rather than the products become the curriculum. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4361. / Major Professor: Nancy T. Davis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

A reabilitação pós-queimadura caracteriza-se pela busca da recuperação das funções e da aparência e pela retomada das atividades diárias. O sujeito atribui significados diversos à experiência, refletindo aspectos da dimensão complexa que integra sua vida: afetiva, social, econômica, natural e sobrenatural. Os objetivos deste estudo foram compreender o significado da reabilitação na perspectiva dos sujeitos, vítimas de queimaduras, e de seus familiares; identificar as prioridades estabelecidas para suas vidas e delimitar os principais elementos acionados para o enfrentamento da reabilitação. O referencial teórico baseou-se na Antropologia Interpretativa pela busca da compreensão da experiência vivida do ponto de vista dos participantes, pela articulação entre cultura, saúde e doença e pelos modelos explicativos (disease, illness, sickness) utilizados no adoecimento-reabilitação. A etnografia foi o método utilizado por proporcionar o estudo das pessoas no ambiente natural; permitir ao pesquisador observações do fenômeno no contexto onde ele ocorre e descrever densamente o universo de crenças e práticas de saúde, significados sociais e atividades cotidianas do sujeito, favorecendo a compreensão do comportamento de saúde e doença e do modo de vida desse sujeito. Participaram deste estudo 16 sujeitos, sendo 11 vítimas de queimaduras, adultos, com idades entre 25 e 67 anos, moradores de Ribeirão Preto/SP, que estiveram internados na Unidade de Queimados do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto e que atendiam aos critérios de inclusão estabelecidos e cinco familiares desses pacientes que demonstraram interesse em participar. As visitas domiciliares aconteceram de um ano e seis meses até três anos, após o trauma. Todos os participantes apresentaram sequelas visíveis estéticas e funcionais, em consequência da queimadura, e se encontravam em acompanhamento pela equipe. As técnicas usadas para coleta dos dados foram: observação direta e entrevista semiestruturada. Os dados coletados foram analisados separadamente, comparados entre si, visando a identificar as semelhanças e divergências. Os temas identificados foram: O impacto da queimadura: ruptura no processo de vida; Alteração no senso de identidade: \"convivendo\" com a queimadura e A Família: compartilhando e participando da experiência da reabilitação pós-queimadura. O primeiro tema inclui: conscientização das sequelas físicas e psicológicas; repercussão da alteração na aparência e no humor; percepção negativa da autoimagem e autoestima; revelação da perda da identidade e percepção do estigma sofrido na reabilitação. O segundo inclui a experiência da alteração ou intensificação dos vínculos e conflitos preexistentes; alteração na sexualidade, nas rotinas de lazer, na capacidade para o trabalho e no sentido de autoeficácia. O terceiro inclui a percepção dos familiares das sequelas nos aspectos alterados: físicos, psicológicos, sociais e na capacidade para o trabalho; o apoio ao cotidiano e os recursos (financeiros, emocionais e instrumentais) considerados importantes para a reabilitação. O trabalho em conjunto da equipe de saúde, família e rede social deve focalizar as necessidades que os sujeitos identificam para tornar possível a reabilitação. A interação família-sujeitoequipe possibilitará compreender condutas, crenças e valores relacionados ao adoecimento e cuidado à queimadura e ampliará a comunicação entre equipe e sujeitos, com repercussões positivas na qualidade da assistência, pois os objetivos serão construídos nessa coparticipação. / Post burn rehabilitation is characterized by a process of recovering functions and appearance and also an attempt to resume daily activities. Individuals attribute various meanings to the experience, which reflect aspects of the complex dimension that integrates their affective, social, economic, natural and supernatural lives. This study sought to understand the meaning of rehabilitation from the perspective of burn victims and their family members; identify the priorities established for their lives and delimit the main elements used in coping. The theoretical framework was based on Interpretative Anthropology aiming to understand the experience from the participants\' perspectives, through the interconnections among culture, health and disease, and through explanatory models (disease, illness, sickness) used in the illness-rehabilitation process. Ethnography was the method used to study individuals in their natural environment and enabled the researcher to observe the phenomenon in the context in which it occurs and densely describe the individuals\' universe of health beliefs and practices, social meanings and daily activities in order to understand their behavior in health and disease and life style. A total of 16 individuals participated in the study: 11 adult burn victims between 25 and 67 years of age, residents of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil who were hospitalized in the Burn Unit at the Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto Medical School and met the inclusion criteria, in addition to five family members who showed interest in participating. Home visits were made from one year and six months up to three years after the trauma. All the participants presented visible aesthetic and functional sequelae caused by their burns and were undergoing follow-up. The data collection techniques were: direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Data collected were separately analyzed and compared with each other aiming to identify similarities and divergences. The themes identified were: The impact of the burn: rupture in life processes; Altered sense of identity: living with the burn; and Family: sharing and participating in the experience of post-burn rehabilitation. The first theme includes: becoming aware of the physical and psychological sequelae; implications of altered appearance and mood; negative self-image and perception of self-esteem; revealing loss of identity and perception of stigma experienced during rehabilitation. The second includes the experience of changing or intensifying preexistent bonds or conflicts; altered sexuality, leisure, work capacity, and self-efficacy. The third theme includes the perceptions of family members concerning the altered aspects: physical, psychological, and social aspects and work capacity; support provided within the individual\'s routine and financial, emotional and instrumental resources, considered important for the rehabilitation process. The work jointly with the health team, family and social network should focus on the needs the individuals identify themselves in order to enable rehabilitation. The interaction among family, individual and team enables the understanding of practices, beliefs and values related to the disease and care provided for their burns and broadens communication between the team and individuals with positive repercussions for the quality of care delivery because the objectives are determined in this co-participation.

A reabilitação pós-queimadura caracteriza-se pela busca da recuperação das funções e da aparência e pela retomada das atividades diárias. O sujeito atribui significados diversos à experiência, refletindo aspectos da dimensão complexa que integra sua vida: afetiva, social, econômica, natural e sobrenatural. Os objetivos deste estudo foram compreender o significado da reabilitação na perspectiva dos sujeitos, vítimas de queimaduras, e de seus familiares; identificar as prioridades estabelecidas para suas vidas e delimitar os principais elementos acionados para o enfrentamento da reabilitação. O referencial teórico baseou-se na Antropologia Interpretativa pela busca da compreensão da experiência vivida do ponto de vista dos participantes, pela articulação entre cultura, saúde e doença e pelos modelos explicativos (disease, illness, sickness) utilizados no adoecimento-reabilitação. A etnografia foi o método utilizado por proporcionar o estudo das pessoas no ambiente natural; permitir ao pesquisador observações do fenômeno no contexto onde ele ocorre e descrever densamente o universo de crenças e práticas de saúde, significados sociais e atividades cotidianas do sujeito, favorecendo a compreensão do comportamento de saúde e doença e do modo de vida desse sujeito. Participaram deste estudo 16 sujeitos, sendo 11 vítimas de queimaduras, adultos, com idades entre 25 e 67 anos, moradores de Ribeirão Preto/SP, que estiveram internados na Unidade de Queimados do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto e que atendiam aos critérios de inclusão estabelecidos e cinco familiares desses pacientes que demonstraram interesse em participar. As visitas domiciliares aconteceram de um ano e seis meses até três anos, após o trauma. Todos os participantes apresentaram sequelas visíveis estéticas e funcionais, em consequência da queimadura, e se encontravam em acompanhamento pela equipe. As técnicas usadas para coleta dos dados foram: observação direta e entrevista semiestruturada. Os dados coletados foram analisados separadamente, comparados entre si, visando a identificar as semelhanças e divergências. Os temas identificados foram: O impacto da queimadura: ruptura no processo de vida; Alteração no senso de identidade: \"convivendo\" com a queimadura e A Família: compartilhando e participando da experiência da reabilitação pós-queimadura. O primeiro tema inclui: conscientização das sequelas físicas e psicológicas; repercussão da alteração na aparência e no humor; percepção negativa da autoimagem e autoestima; revelação da perda da identidade e percepção do estigma sofrido na reabilitação. O segundo inclui a experiência da alteração ou intensificação dos vínculos e conflitos preexistentes; alteração na sexualidade, nas rotinas de lazer, na capacidade para o trabalho e no sentido de autoeficácia. O terceiro inclui a percepção dos familiares das sequelas nos aspectos alterados: físicos, psicológicos, sociais e na capacidade para o trabalho; o apoio ao cotidiano e os recursos (financeiros, emocionais e instrumentais) considerados importantes para a reabilitação. O trabalho em conjunto da equipe de saúde, família e rede social deve focalizar as necessidades que os sujeitos identificam para tornar possível a reabilitação. A interação família-sujeitoequipe possibilitará compreender condutas, crenças e valores relacionados ao adoecimento e cuidado à queimadura e ampliará a comunicação entre equipe e sujeitos, com repercussões positivas na qualidade da assistência, pois os objetivos serão construídos nessa coparticipação. / Post burn rehabilitation is characterized by a process of recovering functions and appearance and also an attempt to resume daily activities. Individuals attribute various meanings to the experience, which reflect aspects of the complex dimension that integrates their affective, social, economic, natural and supernatural lives. This study sought to understand the meaning of rehabilitation from the perspective of burn victims and their family members; identify the priorities established for their lives and delimit the main elements used in coping. The theoretical framework was based on Interpretative Anthropology aiming to understand the experience from the participants\' perspectives, through the interconnections among culture, health and disease, and through explanatory models (disease, illness, sickness) used in the illness-rehabilitation process. Ethnography was the method used to study individuals in their natural environment and enabled the researcher to observe the phenomenon in the context in which it occurs and densely describe the individuals\' universe of health beliefs and practices, social meanings and daily activities in order to understand their behavior in health and disease and life style. A total of 16 individuals participated in the study: 11 adult burn victims between 25 and 67 years of age, residents of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil who were hospitalized in the Burn Unit at the Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto Medical School and met the inclusion criteria, in addition to five family members who showed interest in participating. Home visits were made from one year and six months up to three years after the trauma. All the participants presented visible aesthetic and functional sequelae caused by their burns and were undergoing follow-up. The data collection techniques were: direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Data collected were separately analyzed and compared with each other aiming to identify similarities and divergences. The themes identified were: The impact of the burn: rupture in life processes; Altered sense of identity: living with the burn; and Family: sharing and participating in the experience of post-burn rehabilitation. The first theme includes: becoming aware of the physical and psychological sequelae; implications of altered appearance and mood; negative self-image and perception of self-esteem; revealing loss of identity and perception of stigma experienced during rehabilitation. The second includes the experience of changing or intensifying preexistent bonds or conflicts; altered sexuality, leisure, work capacity, and self-efficacy. The third theme includes the perceptions of family members concerning the altered aspects: physical, psychological, and social aspects and work capacity; support provided within the individual\'s routine and financial, emotional and instrumental resources, considered important for the rehabilitation process. The work jointly with the health team, family and social network should focus on the needs the individuals identify themselves in order to enable rehabilitation. The interaction among family, individual and team enables the understanding of practices, beliefs and values related to the disease and care provided for their burns and broadens communication between the team and individuals with positive repercussions for the quality of care delivery because the objectives are determined in this co-participation.

This dissertation examines the motivations for and consequences of biomedical health care use in a medically plural region in the Hunza valley of northern Pakistan. Hunza valley has undergone significant social, economic, and political changes in the past twenty-five years, including the construction of the Karakoram Highway and the rapid expansion of development programs initiated by non-government organizations that offer biomedical services, education, and financial and welfare opportunities to inhabitants. The primary force behind these changes is the Aga Khan, the affluent and influential supreme spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect of Shi'a Islam. Since a majority of Hunzakuts (inhabitants of the Hunza Valley) are followers of the Ismaili sect, the expansion of biomedical health care and other modernization policies promoted by subsidiary organizations of Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Development Network have religious significance. I explore religion as it affects changes occurring in Hunza, and more specifically, to understand the circumstances affecting Hunzakuts' medical ideology and health-seeking behavior The results of this research show that health care decisions are important sources of social information and can be venues through which individuals actively seek to effect changes in their social relationships. Ismaili Hunzakuts are preferentially choosing biomedicine and other aspects of development in an attempt to exhibit their faith publicly in a religiously prescribed manner and reinforce their own sense of morality and piety. This study also shows that the arena of health care serves as an alternate social context for creating, redefining, and renegotiating one's religious identity and for acquiring religious prestige. Secondary benefits of an affiliation with biomedicine include economic benefits and acquiring political power that can contribute to the restructuring of existing social hierarchies This study has major implications for the understanding of Western-based constructs of religion and secular and for the relationship between Islam, development, and modernization. Findings show that Islam is compatible with a Western understanding of progress and modernity, but it has achieved it on its own terms through religious means rather than by relegating religion to the private sphere / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation explores an emerging transition of reproductive choice in rural Northeast China where a significant number of peasant couples have chosen to have a singleton-daughter (one child, a daughter) rather than take advantage of the modified birth-planning policy that allows them to have a second child if their first birth has produced a girl. This dissertation reveals that, notwithstanding the persistence of patriarchal biases in reproductive choices, since the late 1980s a significant number of peasant couples have willingly embraced a singleton-daughter. Further exploration suggests that this transition of reproductive choice is a result of the transformations of the traditional big family ideal and preference for sons in the Han Chinese society. Firstly, the majority of peasant couples have pursued a new ideal of happiness defined by material consumption and leisure enjoyment, which contradicts the big family ideal. They have also preferred fewer children, in most cases, only one child, in order to concentrate limited family resources on only one child to secure the best upbringing of the child. Secondly, the transformation of the belief and the practice of filial piety which has now designated daughters as more filial and reliable for old-age support, and a weakened dedication to the ancestors and a decline of the belief to have a son to continue the patrilineage, have significantly challenged the long-standing tradition of son preference. Finally, women's empowerment in marriage and family relations due to a sex-ratio imbalance has undermined the necessity for a woman to have a son to secure her status in her husband's family. This dissertation suggests that studies on the reactions of the Chinese population toward China's birth-planning policy need to be shifted from a focus on strong resistance to an inclusion of varying degrees of reactions, including general acceptance of the policy in some rural regions. Meanwhile, studies on the childbearing practice of peasants in China need to include the changing value of sons and daughters and its implications on reproductive choices / acase@tulane.edu

The research of this dissertation took place in San Francisco Quezaltepeque, a community of the much understudied region of el oriente in the Eastern Highlands of Guatemala. This ethnographic study in a municipio of Chiquimula privileges local understandings of peoples' concepts of social identity. In this community the generic labels 'ladino' and 'indigena' which in the anthropological literature are usually referred to as labels of ethnic identity are embedded with relevant meanings of other social identities. In Quezaltepeque labels of identity such as 'natural, sambo, misteado, verdadero ladino' and campesino which, although not exclusive in existence and usage of this community, defy the social and political significance of the pervasive and paradigmatic dichotomous model that has been used in studies of Guatemala. Constructions of social identity are particularly examined in the contexts of two institutions, the cofradia system and the Comunidad de Indigenas which currently keeps control of the communal lands of the municipio. The research takes place over a decade's spans (starting in 1993), a period in which social identity was much contested academically and socially in the country given the important political implications that such identities could spare. Therefore this work is not only contextualized in the identity politics of the 1990's but documents in part the changes in discourse that have taken place at the local level along this time. Finally, an overall intent is to draw attention to studies of populations in regions that have been much under the shadow of the interpretations generalized from the long decades of dedicated ethnographic search of the Western Highlands / acase@tulane.edu

The research presented here argues that monkeys are central to Guaja cultural identity in ecological, sociological, and symbolic domains. The Guaja Indians are a foraging people who are currently in transition to a more settled, horticultural mode of production. The Guaja number approximately 265 individuals and are located today on four indigenous areas on the eastern border of Amazonia, in the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Also located in the area are seven species of monkeys with which the Guaja interact: the red handed howler monkey (Alouatta belzebul belzebul), the owl monkey (Aotus infulatus), the brown capuchin ( Cebus apella), the Ka'apor capuchin (Cebus kaapori), the black-bearded saki (Chiropotes satanas satanas), the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), and the golden-handed tamarin (Saguinas midas niger). Ecologically, monkeys are a key seasonal food resource. They are the most frequently eaten animal type in the wet season and largely determining the trekking behavior of the Guaja. Further, much of the ethnobotanical knowledge of the Guaja focuses on plants edible for monkeys, reflecting their importance in the diet. When adult female monkeys are killed for food, their orphaned infants are raised as pets, which are considered to be nearly human, to the extent of being incorporated into their kinship system and treated as surrogate children. The apparent contradiction between monkeys as food and monkeys as kin is rendered logical in the symbolic cannibalistic beliefs of the Guaja religion which are largely animistic and bear similarities to the religious beliefs of other Tupi-Guarani speaking peoples of lowland South America / acase@tulane.edu

Among the extant examples of ancient Mexican screenfold manuscripts, those painted by the Mixtec people of southern Mexico include the only native manuscripts on historical themes made before contact with Europeans that have survived to the present day from any area of Mexico. These are the focus of this study. The Mixtec screenfold manuscripts are also distinguished from other native Mexican screenfold manuscripts by the addition of painted red guidelines dividing their pages into registers that read back and forth in alternate directions In alphabetic writing, format does not normally contribute to the meaning of a text, but in the Mixtec pictorial narratives meaning derives from the arrangement of the painted motifs in the manuscript, and therefore from the form of the manuscript, as well as from the motifs themselves. This is the proposition investigated in this study. It is a study of the elaborate Mixtec manuscript format, but also of the nature of the ideas expressed in the painted manuscripts The study has two parts. Part I is general, while Part II focuses in detail on the Mixtec screenfolds. Part I considers the origins, shapes and sizes, two physical types (having even or odd numbers of leaves), functions of the covers, and the location and arrangement of the painted texts on one or both sides of the manuscripts, for all known screenfold manuscripts from all areas of prehispanic and early colonial Mexico Most of the Mixtec screenfold manuscripts employ one or the other of two general variants of the Mixtec multiple-registers system. In one, the horizontal manuscripts are divided into registers that are vertical and parallel to the folds of the manuscripts, while in the other variety the registers are horizontal and parallel the length of the screenfolds. Part II of this study examines the role of the format in the individual historical texts of the Mixtec manuscripts and compares differences of structure, style and meaning that stem from these alternative designs. Rather than mere technical options, the evidence suggests, the two basic varieties of the Mixtec screenfold format were features of different approaches to the painting of Mixtec history / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation is a grammatical description and comparison of two expatriate varieties of a Caribbean creole language; Belizean Creole. The varieties described are spoken in two United States communities, one in New Orleans and one in the boroughs of New York City. This grammar differs from others in that it incorporates cultural and social variables in the formal grammatical analysis. In this way, the grammar describes linguistic 'performance' as well as communal 'competence'. The cultural and social variables affecting speech on which this dissertation focuses are ethnicity, expatriatism and migration, gender, and the circumstances of language change. Two appendices are included at the end of the text; an abridged Belizean Creole-English dictionary, and a group of sample dialogues which have been phonetically transcribed and translated / acase@tulane.edu

In this study of a grassroots political pressure group, I have assessed the role of religious motivations alongside that of the professional organizer. These organizers, affiliated with Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation, must work to present a united coalition made up of congregational groups of diverse backgrounds. This need for coherence and organizational planning is balanced with the members' desire to constructively help the city through the empowerment of its citizens. Limited time and resources are divided between internal meetings and efforts to obtain concrete results. At the same time, there are questions of whether organizational power resides in the formal roles taken up by the group's leaders or on the periphery, being wielded by the congregational pastors / acase@tulane.edu