While the great poet, James Whitcomb Riley, a native poet from my hometown of Greenfield, has a strong sense of Indiana and his Hoosier-ness. I compare myself to Whitcomb Riley, only in the sense of place, because my understanding of poetry was shaped around his work growing up in Hancock County. I am personally influenced by other poets such as Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, and James Wright in style and in content. My poetry contains a mixture of confessionalism and pastoral poems and doesn’t shy away from critiquing every aspect of place, family, and mental illness. These intersecting ideals and styles (confessional and pastoral in fixed forms/free-verse) place me at a crossroads of my own, where navigating my position within these frameworks alters my view of the Midwest and how a mental illness may, in fact, be worse off because of the isolation, dissociation, and perception.

Aim: This study aims to clarify the role of Lutheran confessional theology in informing and shaping policy and practice for Australian Lutheran school education. In doing this, it also seeks to provide another step in the on-going process of developing for Australian Lutheran schools a comprehensive theoretical framework that reflects insights from both Lutheran confessional theology and educational theory and research. Scope: The thesis begins with the presupposition that education is a value-laden process and that schools need shared beliefs and values to function effectively. In the current scenario of change in society in general and in education in particular, such a common vision is difficult to maintain. However, Australian Lutheran schools begin with theology as the starting point for their value base. This means that they can share a common vision drawn from God's revelation in Scripture. However, this theology needs to be expressed in such a way that it can be brought into dialogue with educational theory and research in order to develop insights relevant for determining the nature and purpose of Australian Lutheran schools. Since Lutheran theology sees itself as 'confessional' in nature, and since the Lutheran Church defines itself in relation to its confessional writings, the Book of Concord (1580) is taken as the theological basis for this thesis. While the Book of Concord could be seen as containing documents from a different era, nevertheless it is still the accepted theological basis of Lutheranism and any attempt to provide a theoretical framework for Australian Lutheran schools would need to be consistent with its theology. Before examining the theology of the Book of Concord, the study briefly traces the development of Lutheran schools in Australia and the aims and purposes for which they were established. The role of theology in motivating the establishment of those schools is also considered. The rapid expansion of Australian Lutheran schools during the past three decades is then investigated for the purpose of identifying current issues faced by these schools which need to be addressed through insights from Lutheran confessional theology. The study then turns to the Book of Concord in order to summarise major emphases of Lutheran confessional theology. This is done to identify critical Lutheran theological perspectives which need to be brought into dialogue with the educational challenges faced by Australian Lutheran schools in the current context of rapid social, cultural and educational changes. The central teaching of the Book of Concord, the doctrine of justification by grace through faith on account of Christ, is examined first. This is followed by theology of the cross, law and gospel, the perspective of the 'two kingdoms' and the individual as saint and sinner. Throughout this process, the dialectic nature of Lutheran confessional theology is emphasised. In bringing these major teachings of the Book of Concord into dialogue with the educational issues identified earlier in the thesis, a number of implications are developed for Australian Lutheran school education. In particular, the Australian Lutheran school is considered as a 'confessional community' and examined from the perspective of the 'two kingdoms'. Other educational issues are explored, including Lutheran anthropology of the individual, the place of the Bible in Lutheran schools, the role of the law in Lutheran schools and the implications of 'theology of the cross' for life in the church and the world. Conclusions: In attempting to clarify the role of Lutheran confessional theology for Australian Lutheran school education this study deduces that theology and education exist in a process of 'dialectic dialogue' with each other, 'listening to each other' but also retaining certain levels of dialectic tension as each side responds to the other. However, this study also emphasises the dialectic nature of Lutheran confessional theology which must be preserved in order to avoid the danger that only one side of the theological tension will be considered in the dialogue with education. Thus this study concludes that if Lutheran confessional theology is to play its vital role in developing a comprehensive theoretical framework for Australian Lutheran school education, then a 'double dialectic' needs to be maintained - the dialectic tension within Lutheran confessional theology in dialectic dialogue with educational theory and practice. In this way balance can be maintained in developing insights into the nature and purpose of Australian Lutheran school education based on Lutheran confessional theology.

The present research deals with new confessional movements (sects). The paper discusses problematical terms, presents classification of NCM in Lithuania and shows their differential features. Later on, the relation of NCM and person is examined. That contains presenting causes of involving, methods of crimping / manipulation and its dangerous influence. One of the most important issues is supporting and helping those, who were involved into NCM. In that concern aspects of helping methods and the demand of information were introduced. The paper refers to works of Lithuanian and foreign sociologists and researchers of NCM (M. Weber, P. Berger, A. Giddens, A. Dvorkin, E. Barker, D. Glodenis, A. Peškaitis, A. Navickas). NCM (sects) can be regarded as a controversial and dangerous social phenomenon. That shows the importance of examining the level of the problems caused by it. The youth, as the most active part of the society was chosen for the present research. The aim of the paper is to indicate their opinion and to show their experience in different aspects of NCM. The research was made to see if the topic of NTC is relevant and problematic for youth, to find if young people are informed enough and to know if there are tolerant to different NCM (sects). The hypothesis was made that confession is important for youth and those, who had some relations with NCM will have negative impression. It was also assumed that the lack of information about NTC encourages young people to be... [to full text]

Submitted by Andressa Lima (andressa@uepb.edu.br) on 2017-08-22T17:56:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PDFC-DISSERTAÇÃO - SAYONARA LIMA DAWSLEY.pdf: 24862641 bytes, checksum: a83f920678ad6ef2edda27b3657fa18b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Medeiros (luciana@uepb.edu.br) on 2017-08-25T16:17:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 PDFC-DISSERTAÇÃO - SAYONARA LIMA DAWSLEY.pdf: 24862641 bytes, checksum: a83f920678ad6ef2edda27b3657fa18b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T16:17:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PDFC-DISSERTAÇÃO - SAYONARA LIMA DAWSLEY.pdf: 24862641 bytes, checksum: a83f920678ad6ef2edda27b3657fa18b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-30 / OUTROS / In late decades,there has occurred a kind of proliferation of the studies on introspective narratives upon great social and historic happenings - a broad field encompassing these narratives that internalize the writings of the self - memories, letters, diaries autobiographies, and auto fiction. Highlighting the importance of the confessional genre as a means to rescue the memory expressed in such works, we point out the trajectory of Celie e Bitita respectively from Alice Walker´s and Carolina de Jesus` novels, as a process of construction of the black woman identity in their historical and social contexts, The United States and Brazil. The present research has as theorethical support the contributions of Michel Foucault (2004), Georges Gusdorf (2012), Philippe Lejeune (2014), among others. During the survey, we could understand the trajectory and the rescue of the writing of memory up from their historical and cultural implications once we looked into the confessional lines written by the elected writers. We will point out the configurations round the writing of the self as practices of caring expressed by the instinct of narrating the self, this fragmented although dynamic tissue. Both Alice Walker as much as Carolina Maria de Jesus are conscious of their functionality as writers. Tis way, they construct narratives that reelaborate happenings, since their main interest is to recognize through memory the presence of otherness and of autonomy in these writings of the self. In writings like these. During this study we became convinced that the writing of this self will resist and will be eternized in paper, and in this way, letters and diaries will be written solely, separately, as practice of asceticism, but they undoubtedly will re-signify individual and collective memories. / Nas últimas décadas, ocorreu uma proliferação de estudos sobre as narrativas introspectivas em detrimento dos grandes acontecimentos sociais e históricos. Um amplo campo compreende essas narrativas que internalizam as escritas do eumemórias, cartas, diários, autobiografias, autoficção. Levantando a importância do gênero confessional como meio de resgatar a memória expressa nas obras, apontamos a trajetória de Celie e Bitita, respectivamente dos romances de Alice Walker e Carolina Maria de Jesus, como processo de construção da identidade da mulher negra em seus contextos históricos e sociais, os Estados Unidos e o Brasil. A presente pesquisa recorre às contribuições de Michel Foucault (2004), Georges Gusdorf (2012), Philippe Lejeune (2014), entre outros. Compreenderemos, no decorrer da pesquisa, a trajetória e o resgate da escrita da memória a partir das suas implicações históricas e culturais, ao nos debruçarmos sobre a escrita confessional das autoras escolhidas. Apontaremos as configurações em volta da escrita de si como práticas de cuidado manifestadas pelo instinto de narrar o ‘eu’, essa tessitura fragmentada, porém dinâmica. Tanto Alice Walker quanto Carolina Maria de Jesus são conscientes de sua funcionalidade como escritoras. Assim, elas constroem narrativas reelaborando acontecimentos, pois seu grande interesse é reconhecer, pelas memórias, a presença da alteridade e da autonomia nessas escritas de si. Ao longo deste estudo, convencemo-nos de que a escrita desse ‘eu’ resistirá e será eternizada no papel. Desse modo, as cartas e os diários serão escritos solitariamente, como práticas da ascese, mas, indubitavelmente, ressignificarão as memórias individuais e coletivas.

A recent trend in the study of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath often dissociates Confessional poetry from the subject of the writer and her biography, claiming that the artist is in full control of her work and that her art does not have naïve mimetic qualities. However, this study proposes that subjective attributes, namely negativity and abjection, enable a powerful transformative dialectic. Specifically, it demonstrates that an emphasis on the subjective can help manifest the process of transgressing the law of One. The law of One asserts a patriarchal, monotheistic law as a social closed system and can be opposed to the bodily drives and its open dynamism. This project asserts that unique, creative voices are derived from that which is individual and personal and thus, readings of Confessional poetry are in fact best served by acknowledgment of the subjective. In order to stress the subject of the artist in Confessionalism, this study employed a psychoanalytical Kristevan approach. This enables consideration of the subject not only in terms of the straightforward narration of her life, but also in relation to her poetic language and the process of creativity where instinctual drives are at work. This study further applies a feminist reading to the subject’s poetic language and its ability to transgress the law, not necessarily in the political, macrocosmic sense of the word, but rather on the microcosmic, subjective level. Although Sexton and Plath possess similar biographies, their work does not have the same artistic value in terms of transformative capabilities. Transformation here signifies transgressing of the unity of the subject and of the authoritative father, the other within, who has prohibitive social and linguistic powers. Plath, Kristeva’s the “deadmost,” successfully confronts the unity of the law, releasing the death drive through anger. Moreover, Plath’s psychic borders are more fluid because of her ability to identify with the pre-Oedipal mother. This unsettling subject is identified by shifts in texts marked by renewal, transgression, and jouissance. Unlike Sexton, Plath is able to achieve transformation as she oscillates masochistically between the “inside” and the “outside” of her psychic borders, and between the symbolic and the semiotic. Furthermore, this enables Plath to develop the unique “Siren Voice of the Other.” In comparison, Sexton, the “dead/less,” evades any confrontation with the maternal and the performance of death in her poetry. Her case is further complicated by the discovery of a second mother. As a result, passivity becomes a main characteristic of her work. This passivity remains until the maternal abject bursts in her text and she reacts to this by performing cleansing rituals, and gravitating toward a symbolic father. Without the dynamism of transgression, Sexton’s work is heterogeneous but does not achieve ultimate transformation and jouissance. Confessional poetry, in this sense, takes on a new dimension. The life stories of the poets become important not for their pejorative, pathological aspects that focus on narrative mimesis, but rather for their manifestation as an aesthetic process. The subject of the writer becomes important as an aesthetic identity in the poems, which are rooted in real life. The main concern then becomes the aesthetic transformative dialectic between the semiotic and the symbolic in her work of art.

The preface to this collection, "Speculation and Silence," argues that confessional poetry remains integral to contemporary poetics, though the implications of the term have changed since its "first-generation." Confessional poetry must not be dependent on simply the transmission of sensational details and the emotional consequences, but on poets' implementation of silence and restraint in both the diffusion of ideas and in the crafting of the piece. Vulgar Moon is a collection of poems in which I explore the implications of events ranging from erotic love and motherhood, to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, and Jewish history. In addition, these pieces explore the inner workings of the human psyche, both tender and malignant, and the inherent human need for absolution.

This thesis is a collection of poems that meditates on the legacies we inherit and the legacies we leave behind.

Magister Artium - MA / This portfolio of poems, prose poems and short fiction pieces is quasi-autobiographical and tracks the trajectory of my life, from childhood in Cape Town (‘pre-exilic’) to emigration abroad (‘exilic’) and return to Cape Town in late middle age (‘post-exilic’). Themes explored include the deceptive nature of memory and the risk of imbuing a childhood recollected in later life with affective or narrative nostalgia; the psychologically dislocating nature of exile on personal identity and notions of home; and Cape Town as both an imaginary construct and a multi-layered reality: specifically, ‘my’ Cape Town – now as well as half a century ago – and ‘other’ Cape Towns, reflecting a diversity of highly unequal experiences within this city. The dominant mode of expression chosen to explore these largely personal themes is confessional.

Lost in Perception is a manuscript of narrative poems that are unflinching honest explorations of the self—emotional states-of-mind such as anxiety and anger, and states-of-being such as feelings of self-worthlessness. Confessional in nature these poems derive from familial relationships, domestic abuse, desire, sex and/or a combination of the aforementioned. To an extent, Lost in Perception is a manuscript of a diarist. It features a number of poems concerning a romantic relationship with an alcoholic that present a cohesive narrative within the collection. The narrator in Lost in Perception views the self as divergent from the self it once was and should be again—the self lacks well-being or wholeness—to become whole again most of the poems turn toward the natural world. The narrator perceives the self as existing in an unnatural state and what exists in nature is harmonious. The narrator wishes to take something from nature and apply to the self such that the self becomes whole again. There are two primary landscapes within Lost in Perception—Florida coastal lands and Southwest Virginia Appalachian foothills and valleys. The natural world is also the space where the narrator enacts an emotional response to work through personal turmoil. The narrator turns toward nature as a place to figure out and/or admit something about the self, rid the self of negativity and to articulate a desire—primarily for change to occur. Lost in Perception is an unabashed and clear presentation of an individual who once felt whole, but who now feels broken or stuck. / Master of Fine Arts

This thesis explores the experience of telling and constructing truths and lies, and receiving and interpreting truths and lies within the context of contemporary culture. This thesis both augments and is founded in the production of the digital video In the Absence Of, itself an exploration of truth, self and identity.