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The integration of Ukrainian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in host communities is as multi-dimensional as the political crisis of 2014 that led to the displacement. Having made a difficult choice to let go of their past lives to escape from the constant shelling and instability of the self-proclaimed republics, IDPs hoped to find shelter and be accepted by their fellow countrymen. While many surveys claim that Ukrainians generally seem to have tolerant attitudes towards IDPs, the findings of my study strongly indicate that quite often IDPs normalize stigmatization they face. This study employed qualitative research methods and relied on twenty-eight semi-structured in-depth interviews with internally displaced students – a group not often studied by researchers. Each interview explored issues relating to the identities of IDPs and their juxtaposition (Ukrainian, resettler and regional identity). Similar to other studies based on qualitative strategies, this research has its limitations, stemming from difficulties to extract opinions that would not be tainted by the desire to fit into a particular narrative or match perceived expectations. While researchers can attempt to remain unbiased and be aware of their subconscious beliefs, we cannot be certain that what interviewees share with us is what they sincerely believe. Nevertheless, taking into account these limitations, qualitative studies are essential for understanding the experiences of Ukrainian IDPs. While more research is needed to get to the roots of the issues surrounding the unique challenges of IDPs’ integration, this thesis makes a step to analyze what causes stigmatization of Ukrainian IDPs, how IDPs choose to respond to the stigma, what kind of strategies they use to manage it, how they interact with locals in the host communities and what are the consequences of such stigmatization. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur personer som ägnar sig åt kreativt skapande motiverar detta arbete, samt hur de uppfattar att detta skapandehar påverkat dem som individer. För att tillmötesgå detta syfte tillämpades en narrativ intervjumetod, respondenterna bestod av fyra individer som håller på med olika kreativa skapandeformer. Studiens resultat visar på att den största anledningen till att individerna väljer att skapa kreativt i sin vardag helt enkelt bygger på att de mår bra av det, det stärker deras identitet. Utöver detta visar även studien på att de genom sitt kreativa skapande även upplever att de blir en del i ett sammanhang, de känner tillhörighet med likasinnade.Vidaremenar även respondenterna att deras kreativa skapande har lett till att de känner sig mer självständiga och på så vis lättare kan stå emot olikanegativa sociala normer de annarsskulle påverkas av i högre grad.Slutligen kritiserar respondenterna även det rådande samhällsklimatet genom att hävda att det i hög grad fråntar individer deras möjlighet till kreativt skapande, och i och med det även stora delar av människor möjlighet till att skapa en identitet som en självständig och kritiskt tänkande individ.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter thrust Carson McCullers onto the literary scene at the age of 23. The year was 1940, and anticapitalistic fervor was at its peak. McCullers, familiar with the writings of Karl Marx, expresses in this novel her concern for the exploited classes, her disdain for a materialistic society that keeps the masses oppressed, and her conviction that societal reform was desperately needed. Marxist theory is evident in every aspect of this novel, from the characters to the setting. Alienation, failure to communicate, poverty, and an atmosphere of despair permeate the work. A product of the Great Depression era, McCullers was familiar with poverty; like many other intellectuals of the time, she embraced Marxism for its commitment to rid the world of this evil. This novel, arguably her finest, displays the influence that Marxist philosophy had on McCullers’s perception of society.

Social connectedness, learned helplessness, and alienation characteristics as related to graduate/dropout behavior for residents in alcohol abuse programs. Purpose The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which a set of predictor variables would discriminate between a group who successfully completed an alcohol substance abusers program from the group who failed i.e. (relapsed) to complete the program. The predictor variables were cognitive and affective measures for social connectedness, learned helplessness, and alienation characteristics. A preliminary step compared the total sample to the norm groups from the FIRO-B and the MMPI. Sample and Measurements Sixty-three subjects from two intermediate treatment groups from San Joaquin County (CA.) programs were selected as the sample group. Three months sobriety post treatment was selected as the successful completion criterion. The FIROB measured social connectedness, the MMPI measured alcohol addiction, alienation characteristics, and defensive response set. The ASQ was employed to measure "learned helplessness". Findings One sample t-test disclosed deviance between the sample group and the norm group for five of six scales of social connectedness. The respondents reported less need for inclusion and affection and more "control wanted" than the norm group on indicators from the FIRO-B. The sample also indicated greater addiction (MAC scale), "defensiveness" (validity scales), and alienation characteristics (Pd. clinical scale and Pd. research scales) from the MMPI. The sample group endorsed more familial discord, authority problems, social imperturbability, social alienation, and self-alienation. Three MMPI measures, the MacAndrew Alcoholism scale, the K scale (defensiveness), and the self-alienation research scale reliably differentiated graduates from dropouts using the t-test for independent means. The highest correlations between variables were indicated for alienation characteristics and defensiveness as indicated by the validity scales. A multiple regression analysis disclosed that addiction (MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale) correlated r = .34 with graduate status. Conclusions Within this sample those variables most predictive of at risk behavior (relapse potential) were addiction, defensiveness, and self-alienation characteristics. The graduate means were more aberrant than the dropouts in each of these categories.

The thesis considers Joyce's short stories "Araby," "A Painful Case," and the "The Dead," illustrating how these works present three intellectually and emotionally similar protagonists, but at different stages of life, with the final tale "The Dead" suggesting a sort of limited solution to the conflicts that define the earlier works. Taken together, "Araby" and "A Painful Case," represent a sort of life cycle of alienation: the boy of "Araby" is an isolated, deeply introspective youth who lives primarily within his own idealized mental world before discovering, through a failed romantic quest at the story's end, the complete impracticality of his own highly abstracted desires. In contrast, Duffy of "A Painful Case" is an extremely rigid, middle-aged bachelor who lives in a self-imposed exile from Irish society in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to escape the sort of mental and emotional pain that affects the boy, with his final epiphany being that such ideals still exist within him, but he now no longer has any hope of changing his life or taking part in society. The stories suggest that such idealized desires can neither be ignored nor fulfilled, and it is not until the chronologically final story "The Dead" that Joyce suggests any sort of limited solution to the dilemma. Gabriel of "The Dead" again displays the introversion, emotional fragility and extreme idealism of the earlier protagonists, but he, as a young, adult man, presents a break in the cycle and an alternate path. In contrast to the earlier protagonists, Gabriel refuses to exist within his own mental world alone, and instead takes part in and attempts to accommodate the desires of both society as a whole, and of specific individuals close to him, such as his aunts and his wife Gretta. Though Gabriel's attempts are not an unmitigated success, he earns a degree of satisfaction for his efforts, with his final revelation being of his connection to the rest of humanity, in contrast to the self-absorbed and hopeless reflections of the earlier protagonists.

My focus for this essay is on understanding the rhetorical process that occurs when people come together despite their differences—that is what rhetoric is all about. Kenneth Burke argues that this process, for alienated people especially, happens poetically, more than semantically because there are too many differences to overcome semantically between alienated people and the dominant community. This essay is about how the rhetorical process of identification as described by Burke helps us to explain how we cross barriers that divide people who are different to create moments of mutual understanding—identification. In this essay, I look at the experience of reading Gloria Anzaldúa's work from the rhetorical perspective that Burke's theory of rhetorical identification provides. In the case of Borderlands, Anzaldúa helps us understand how an alienated person can prompt a momentary, present space of shared experience through poetic language.

Gravity Fails is a collection of four short stories and two memoirs that explore the ways in which characters adjust and fit into to a world that is destructive, fragmented and sometimes alien. Many of these pieces deal not with the moment of crisis, but with the aftermath. In "Gravity Fails," the young Danielle struggles to feel safe after the violent murder of her mother. Eliza Morrison negotiates the disappearance of her husband in "More Colors." "Following Rebecca" chronicles a woman's return to normalcy after her alcoholic husband divorces her. These characters are not happy; they are not healthy. Their lives have, in some way, been fragmented. But they find ways to move on by whatever possible means, and at their core, they are searching not just for a way to survive, but for a way to put themselves back together and find wholeness.

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