During the recent exponential rise in the use of alternative medicines (AM) in the West and increasing integration into the health service, little research has been done on AM in the context in which it is practised, or over time to look at changing belief systems. This thesis provides an anthropologically informed analysis of one alternative therapy in depth - homeopathy- explored from the multiple perspectives of biomedical and lay homeopaths, users and students of homeopathy. The ethnography comprised 18 months participant observation in 4 settings in south London: the surgery of a homeopathic GP; a homeopathy adult education class; a vaccination support group; and a low cost homeopathy clinic for victims of crime. The fieldwork is contextualised by a critique of the existing research on users of AM; a review of the history and politics of integration of AM and a review of anthropological conceptions of the body and health. Analysis of the empirical data reveals different groups of users of homeopathy with differing beliefs around health, healing and the body. 'Pragmatic users' had a normative biomedical view of health. 'Committed users' moved away from the normative biomedical position and were enculturated into a different view of health and the body through interaction with lay homeopaths. Inherent in these practitioners' and users' beliefs and practices were a number of oppositions to science-based medicine. Prolonged fieldwork enabled the changing views of users to be charted as they moved from biomedical to alternative views. The medical homeopath stayed allied to many biomedical beliefs about the body and health, partly as a result of general practice constraints of time, colleagues and training. Tensions between his biomedical and homeopathic practice lead to paradoxical behaviours that confused his patients. These findings problematise the notion of integration, of trying to incorporate two opposing ideologies into one system. Implications for alternative medicine more widely are discussed.

This study analyses the growing area of research that explores the evolution of technology from social and cognition perspective – and how the design and various implementation of technology are being shaped by the factors related to social-constructivism and beliefs systems of individuals. The newly developed technological phenomena of Cryptocurrency – the digital currency for all, provides us with an excellent case to study. We apply social and cognitive processes to understand technology trajectories across the life cycle of cryptocurrency. We thus deepen our understanding by analyzing why and what causes the various technological trajectories in the era of ferment and concluding our research by deriving various technological 'themes'. – that might evolve as the phenomena of cryptocurrency while moving towards the era of dominant design.

Includes bibliographical references / This thesis explores the beliefs of mathematics teachers working in a rural school in South Africa. This is premised on the argument that understanding the beliefs of teachers is a necessary, even if insufficient, prerequisite to designing effective teacher development programmes. I postulate that take-up rates of new content and teaching methods are low due to unmanaged cognitive conflict with pre-existing beliefs about the nature of teaching. A broad review of the literature on beliefs as a concept is conducted to establish theoretical grounding for the study of beliefs as an abstract object of analysis (Green, 1971; Nespor, 1987; Pajares, 1992). I particularly refer to Ernest's (1989) models of mathematics epistemology, and Adler's (2001) dilemmas of teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. Multiple studies of mathematics teachers' beliefs are drawn upon to relate beliefs to classroom practice. Qualitative data on two mathematics teachers working in a rural school in the Eastern Cape was gathered over the period of a month, using ethnographic methods as outlined by Thompson (1992) for gathering evidence of beliefs. Primary data, which consisted of pre-interviews, multiple lesson observations and stimulated-recall post-interviews, was analysed for evidence of teacher beliefs. Secondary data, in the form of a researcher journal and socio-economic information about the school, was also gathered to provide rich context data in which to situate the teachers' work. Particular attention was paid to teacher beliefs about teaching and learning, mathematics and language. Further evidence for beliefs was then obtained through close examination of an observation extract using classroom discourse analysis. The main finding of this thesis was that not only does a school's context provide logistical constraints to curriculum implementation and pedagogical change, but that the worldviews of teachers affect their interpretation of the curriculum (Chapman, 2002). Significantly, a relationship between the mathematics epistemology a teacher holds and their ability to admit language as a critical pedagogical factor is suggested. I conclude that detailed understanding of what teachers believe may provide a productive approach for teacher development programmes that aim to effect change.

The central problem of this study was to identify and compare the basic beliefs of teacher-coordinators, local supervisors, state supervisors, and teacher educators of business and office education in Virginia regarding the coordination of high school cooperative office education programs. A secondary problem was to determine if there was a relationship between specific biographical variables (years of coordination experience, years of employment experience, and previous course work in cooperative education) and the basic beliefs expressed by the business and office education personnel and if there was a relationship between school location (urban, suburban, middle-sized, and rural or smaller community) and the basic beliefs expressed by the teacher-coordinators in the study. / Ed. D.

Les réflexions des chercheurs en didactique de l'anglais ont contribué à l'avancement des notions de la langue-culture (Cain, 1981, 1984) et à la compréhension de l'enseignement de l'anglais dans un environnement créolophone (Alleyne 1971, 1980, 1989 ; Craig, 1990, 2000 ; Devonish, 1986, 2004 ; Pollard, 1998, 2003). Bien qu'aujourd'hui, la valeur culturelle du créole jamaïquain soit largement reconnue, peu de recherches ont toutefois, abordé la question des représentations des enseignants sur l'interaction entre les deux langues. Cette thèse étudie les univers de croyance et les représentations sociales des enseignants jamaïquains sur leur prise en charge des défis provoqués par les réalités sociolinguistiques de l'île. Les enseignants sont des conteurs (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) et ils utilisent naturellement une structure narrative pour parler de leur vie professionnelle (Raymond Butt, McCue, & Yanagishi, 1992). J'ai donc opté pour une analyse de 30 heures de récit de pratique professionnelle d'enseignants. Les récits sont prélevés auprès de 10 sujets via MSN Messenger. L'objectif étant d'appréhender les croyances des enseignants du primaire en matière d'alternance codique entre créole et anglais et d'interculturalité en classe.L'angle méthodologique emprunté pour cette thèse est inspiré de la perspective ethnobiographique de Jean Poirier, Sylvie Clapier-Valladon et Paul Raybaut. Les dix récits sont tout d'abord soumis à une analyse sociolinguistique à l'aide de techniques d'analyse thématique, prenant en compte la théorie structurelle de la représentation sociale d'Abric et Flament. Les thèmes ainsi identifiés et analysés sont soumis à une analyse de discours inspirée de la théorie des opérations énonciatives d'Antoine Culioli. Les conclusions sont nuancées à l'aide des données secondaires en provenance de 100 questionnaires administrés à un échantillon d'enseignants jamaïquains et d'une analyse de six textes officiels. L'analyse croisée de ces données vise à assurer la fiabilité et la validité des résultats. / Reflections of language education researchers have contributed largely to the advancement of the notions of language and culture (Cain, 1981, 1984) and the teaching of English in a Creolespeaking environment (Alleyne 1971, 1980, 1989; Craig, 1990, 2000; Devonish, 1986, 2004; Pollard, 1998, 2003). Today the cultural value of the Jamaican Creole is widely recognized, little research has, however, addressed the teacher representations on this issue. This thesis investigates the belief systems and social representation of Jamaican primary school teachers relative to their handling of the challenges brought on by the sociolinguistic realities of the island. Teachers naturally appropriate a narrative structure to talk about their professional lives (Butt Raymond, McCue, & Yanagishi, 1992). Indeed, teachers, even more so than the rest of us, are storytellers who lead storied lives (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). I have therefore opted for an analysis of 30 hours of teacher narrative collected from 10 subjects via MSN messenger, with the objective of investigating beliefs and cultural identification with regards to Creole, English, code-switching and interculture in the Jamaican classroom at the primary level. The general methodological angle for the PHD is inspired by the ethno biographical perspective of Jean Poirier, Sylvie Clapier-Valladon and Paul Raybaut.The narratives are analyzed first from a sociolinguistic standpoint using thematic analysis techniques, specifically taking into account Abric and Flament's structural theory of social representations. The themes thus identified and analyzed are subjected to discourse analysis inspired by Antoine Culioli's theory of enonciative operations. The findings are then futher explored with the help of 100 questionnaires from Jamaican teachers and 6 official texts. This additional data provides a wider internal and external framework which ensures reliability and validity to the findings.

No description available.

No description available.

Increasingly, cultural workers and artists from many disciplines are finding themselves involved in the creation of public and private rituals, ceremonies and celebrations. Focusing on ritual and celebration in Australian contexts, this thesis posits a new categorisation of the types of event that might be encountered, grouping and examining them according to their action upon participants with the aim of enabling a more practical methodology of design in contemporary societal conditions. Existing categories, which have defined these age-old activities in terms of anthropological observation or social intention, must now be regarded as obsolete because they take no account of rapid and widespread changes in degrees of adherence to traditional belief systems, in social orientation and in Western cultural practices. There is a need to reappraise why individuals and communities might continue to hold rituals and celebrations, and how these can be designed, managed and operated most effectively. The thesis identifies four major categories of ritual: Transformation, Reinforcement, Transcendence and Catharsis. It argues that, by recognising the differences between how each category operates for participants and also certain commonalities across categories, effectiveness of design is facilitated. In developing parameters for each category and giving examples of contemporary praxis, the writer stresses the importance of understanding traditional ceremonies so that elements of a rich repertoire of techniques developed over long periods can be planned into new rituals for contemporary application, despite the dissipation of shared, coherent belief systems in a highly secularised culture. This impels consideration of questions of cultural sensitivity, raises the need for close community involvement in design, and requires exploration of managing the challenges of multiple signification. Contemporary cultural contexts for ritual and celebratory events are marked by plurality, multi-vocalism and multicultural experience. Designers thus need to achieve, out of difference, an event that produces coherence, deep effects for each participant and a sense of shared experience. The thesis demonstrates means to this end through informed praxis, that is, by practitioners ensuring that theory and practice are working together in these complex contexts that involve the well being of individuals and communities. The categories have been identified through investigations into the literature of myth, ritual and celebration, helpful frameworks developed in cognitive science, and extensive research provided by thirty years of practice in the field. As a designer and director of rituals and celebrations, the writer seeks both to confirm the importance of the artist within the process and to demonstrate a new, practical, ethically located and effective approach for the education of intending practitioners. No claim is made that the four categories are definitive or mutually exclusive of one another. It is accepted that in many situations the categories might coalesce, be added to and/or fragment. However, the categorisation provides a fresh vantage point from which to view the potentially powerful effects of ritual experience, an effective tool of construction for the use of artists and cultural activists working in this field, and an informed basis for praxis. In developing this new categorisation the writer argues an ongoing need for rituals and celebrations to clarify and enrich the lives of individuals and the community while stressing the importance of careful and appropriate design of such events.

Thesis (M.A. (Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Children of alcoholics (COAs) are those who grow up in a home where one or more parent is an alcoholic; once adulthood is achieved, they are referred to as adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs). Several risk factors have been identified as a potential result from exposure to an alcoholic environment; however there is a dearth of literature exploring resilience in this population. Descriptive Narrative Inquiry was used to explore the question, Describe the qualities, processes, or internal motivational factors which have facilitated resilience for adult children of alcoholic parents. Two ninety-minute life history interviews were conducted with four participants, including the researcher. The participants were female, middle class, university students who considered themselves to be adult children of alcoholics who are resilient. A composite narrative was used to depict the results of this study, combining the data from each participants life story. The narrative was written in the first-person through the character of Sophie, and the data included is the result of a narrative analysis from the transcripts of the participants data. The narrative depicts the developmental stages of the participants lives, including childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the present. Their experiences of growing up in an alcoholic home were documented at each stage. A thematic analysis was conducted, extracting the common themes, meaning made, and personal characteristics that were generated within and across participants that contributed to their development of resilience. The results are discussed in four major themes: Being in Relation: Others Create a Difference; Belief Systems: Spirituality, Religion, and Values; The Self: An Evolving Being; and Alcoholism: Meaning in Itself. It is through the dialogue of the participants experiences of resilience that awareness creates opportunity for advocacy for children and adult children of alcoholics. The implications of this research in relation to the experiences of resilience are discussed for children and adult children of alcoholics, educators, and counsellors. Directions for future research are addressed.