Thesis--M.A., University of Hong Kong, 1984.

Mediation promises a way for conflicting parties to address differences and reach an agreement to settle their dispute. This study looks at mediation discourse of five cases from a university conflict resolution center through the lens of Girard’s (1977) theory of mimetic desire. Girard (1977) suggests that we are all in a pattern of mimesis. Antagonism that is prevalent in conflict develops, in Girard’s view, from the cycle of desire when one person wants an object and another person copies that desire for the object. The two parties quickly forget the object, but antagonism emerges as the mimetic desire continues. Girard argues parties have a tendency to place blame on a scapegoat to break the antagonism pattern. Alternatively, in her application of Girard’s theory, Cobb (1997, 2003, 2010a, 2010b) advocates a social constructionist perspective where disputants work on turning thin conflict stories into thicker ones to break the pattern. This project addresses a need for research on cycles of antagonism in discourse constructed by disputants during real mediation sessions. Knowing how disputants construct discourse lends insight into how people handle their most challenging interpersonal problems. The analysis of discourse through the guiding frameworks of conflict tactics, production format, and tenor of discourse sheds light on how disputants construct perpetuated mimicked antagonism and how they break the pattern. Additionally, findings highlight the emergence of weapons and wounds in the discourse suggesting that communicative violence is constructed whether or not there was actual physical violence. Components of thin conflict narratives are evident in findings from all five cases. Yet, while two cases are characterized by discourse of perpetuated mimicked antagonism, three represent a break in that pattern without placing blame on a scapegoat or constructing a thicker conflict narrative. The distinctions between a perpetuated and broken cycle are unpacked through the discussion of: a) animator-only position; b) indirectness and presumptive attribution; and c) shift in footing between talking to the other disputant and the mediators. This project provides a more nuanced understanding of the Girardian perspective relating to conflict mediation to contribute to the extant literature on conflict discourse and mediation practice. / text

Rapping has long been used by people who are from the margin of society as a way to give a voice (Campbell, 2005; Ibrahim, 1999). As a member of the marginalized group and as the first and only Asian who claimed a seven-time victory on Freestyle Friday on Black Entertainment Television (BET), Jin Au-Yeung has received a noticeable amount of attention. At the same time, he has faced a lot of unfavourable experience as an Asian rapper in American society. This study employs Fairclough’s (1989) model of CDA approach to find out how Jin constructs his identity and establishes his ideology through his lyrics, and how his construction of identity and establishment of ideology reflect the social practice in American society. Fifteen songs written by Jin were chosen for the analysis according to the three interrelated stages in CDA: description, interpretation and explanation. Results show that Jin constructs his personal identities as a professional rapper and as a Chinese American and establishes his ideology of having one human nation despite the difference in races through his rap lyrics. These are achieved through the co-occurrence of “I” and “to be”, and promoted through the use of rhyming and code-switching. It was also interpreted that Jin’s personal identities and ideology are shaped through the social ideology on Asian Americans, which is probably reflected through the social practice in American society. / published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

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Recent literature in the social sciences has emphasized the socially constructed nature of knowledge. Consequently, this has had a bearing upon the understanding of science; interpretations of the natural world; and issues associated with understanding 'the Other'. The relevance of these wider social debates can be extended into a consideration of 'natural' hazards in different cultural contexts. This thesis attempts to develop a 'middle ground', drawing on theories of critical realism, that appreciates the socially constructed nature of scientific practice, but that retains the empancipatory, positive potential of science and that allows intervention in other cultural contexts. The remainder of the thesis attempts to put some of these ideas into practice and to develop the implications of these arguments for those interested in understanding and mitigating 'natural' hazards in other cultures. Two case studies are used, relating to Egypt and the U.K., which explore the scientific understandings of 'natural' hazard events in two different cultural contexts. Fundamental to the approach adopted is the need to acknowledge science as a social practice and how it functions within different societies. Examples are given, pertaining to both Egypt and the U.K., of what this might mean in 'practice'. In summary, therefore, there is an appreciation of the implications of recent social science literature for hazards research and the development of a practical approach to hazards with a social and philosophical justification

Since the 1980s, pre-registration nurse education has undergone dramatic changes that have led to the creation of a new course - Project 2000 - and its delivery within the Higher Education sector. Very little written during this period has addressed the issue of nurse learner wastage/persistence. The literature on nurse learner wastage/persistence prior to this period has tended to be largely atheoretical in nature. One of the chief objectives of this study was to produce a much more complex picture of wastage/persistence. This involved the building of a theoretical framework designed to explore one aspect of voluntary wastage - the interaction between integration and wastage/persistence, and which could capture the complexity of the phenomenon by taking into account the interaction between the individual and the institution within the process of wastage/persistence. This study draws on Tinto's (1975) Student Integration Model, which identified the learners' integration into an institution to be one of the critical factors in understanding the wastage/persistence of learners, as well as on some of the studies within the area of nurse learner wastage/persistence which have examined the role of a learner's identity in the wastage/persistence process. Accordingly, this study defined integration in terms of how well a learner has adopted the identity/ies afforded to them by the institution. Finally, drawing inspiration from Foucault (1988, 1990,1991), this study re-conceptualised identity in terms of the concept of subjectivity and defined integration in terms of how well the learner was able to subscribe to the discourses (and the subject positions that these made available) that constituted the given institution. A multiple case study was carried out that focused on leavers and stayers in the first year of a Project 2000 course in three particular cohorts within a particular institution. A modified version of discourse analysis, referred to as MODA (Meaning Orientated Discourse Analysis), was used. Two major discourses were identified which offered the learner a number of contradictory subject positions regarding what it means to be a learner and a nurse - the 'autonomous' and the 'apprentice' discourse. It was found that stayers were those most able to manage these contradictory subject positions offered by these discourses. This meant that they were more playful in their discursive reading patterns than leavers. This playfulness implied they were not only doing a lot more with these discourses, but that that the nature of what they were doing enabled them to accept and embrace the contradictory notions of what it means to be a learner and a nurse existing in the institution. The stayers' management of discourses was a reflection of the high level of integration that they had achieved within a institution that is riddled with two incommensurable discourses which offer competing definitions of what it means to be a nurse and a learner.

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This study examines the racial discourses of six and seven year old Puerto Rican children participating in small group literature circles over one academic year. The main research question is "How do Puerto Rican young children in a multiage classroom construct race through dialogue within the figured worlds of literature circles?"This study is based on teacher research qualitative research design, using methods and techniques from ethnography and case study research. This study describes the dialogue of 20 Puerto Rican children, during 4 literature circles. These were chosen as case studies to examine in depth student's racial ideological explorations. Data gathering methods included field notes from participant observation, audiotapes, videotapes, and transcripts.A detailed description and analysis of children's responses to literature, this study documents how young Puerto Rican children's ambiguity and inconsistent usages and meanings of racial terminologies to signify their worlds. Through emerging ideological discourses such as colorblindness and esentializing discourses, young children explore discomfort instead of neutral, inclusive and unifying racial constructions, along with racial harmony that celebrates goodwill and benevolence. Literature circles as figured worlds informed by Rosenblatt's reader-response theory and Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner and Cain (2003) social practice theory of identity, are proposed to be a space were racial identities form and reform, facilitating variable forms of racial talk.The findings of this research illustrate the importance of teacher research as one form of qualitative research to illustrate the complexity of children's racial talk aimed toward educational racial understandings and change. The importance of racial discourses in young children's racial explorations to signify their worlds.