The farm workers who diligently tend and harvest the US fields and produce is a major component of the agriculture industry. This research explores the current issues and challenges that domestic, seasonal farm workers face through the lenses of embodiment and habitus theory. Narratives and insights from interviews were integrated with current literature to present a complete picture of the cyclical life of the domestic farm worker in San Luis, Arizona. This thesis argues that farm work is a unique profession which has left its mark on the body and the behavior. Those in the border region have added agency due to the opportunities the border presents. As this research highlights, additional attention and research is needed to redesign policies and initiatives to adequately assist and provide for a population that provides so much.

I investigated linguistic patterns in middle school students' writing to understand their relevant embodied experiences for learning science. Embodied experiences are those limited by the perceptual and motor constraints of the human body. Recent research indicates student understanding of science needs embodied experiences. Recent emphases of science education researchers in the practices of science suggest that students' understanding of systems and their structure, scale, size, representations, and causality are crosscutting concepts that unify all scientific disciplinary areas. To discern the relationship between linguistic patterns and embodied experiences, I relied on Cognitive Linguistics, a field within cognitive sciences that pays attention to language organization and use assuming that language reflects the human cognitive system. Particularly, I investigated the embodied experiences that 268 middle school students learning about water brought to understanding: i) systems and system structure; ii) scale, size and representations; and iii) causality. Using content analysis, I explored students' language in search of patterns regarding linguistic phenomena described within cognitive linguistics: image schemas, conceptual metaphors, event schemas, semantical roles, and force-dynamics. I found several common embodied experiences organizing students' understanding of crosscutting concepts. Perception of boundaries and change in location and perception of spatial organization in the vertical axis are relevant embodied experiences for students' understanding of systems and system structure. Direct object manipulation and perception of size with and without locomotion are relevant for understanding scale, size and representations. Direct applications of force and consequential perception of movement or change in form are relevant for understanding of causality. I discuss implications of these findings for research and science teaching.

Psychological research into women’s embodied experience in pregnancy and the first year after birth is contradictory and mainly quantitative in nature. In response to these inconsistencies and the paucity of qualitative research in this area, this study investigated the embodied experience of women during pregnancy and the postpartum year. The study was conducted in Lithuania and the UK, using semi-structured interviews and drawings; the data were analysed using the qualitative methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Six women participated, all primigravidae, aged 26-35. Each woman was seen five times; thrice during pregnancy and twice after her baby was born. A rich description of the women’s embodied experience emerged from the accounts, supporting the notion of bodily experience in pregnancy being dynamic, complex and firmly embedded in their life-world. Due to limitations of size with regard to the PhD thesis, only the results of one consecutive case and four superordinate themes which emerged from the interviews with all of the women in the second trimester of pregnancy viz: the uncontrollable body, the body as my teacher, uncertainty about inner and outer boundaries and embodied identity in the making, were presented and discussed. The study provides insights into this lived experience that may be useful in psychological theory and in practice when working with women at this important transitional life stage. / Psichologijoje įkūnytas moterų patyrimas nėštumo metu ir pirmaisiais metais po gimdymo vis dar retai tyrinėjamas, o esantys tyrimai yra dažniausiai kiekybiniai, atskleidžiantys prieštaraujančius rezultatus. Šiame tyrime buvo siekiama identifikuoti, aprašyti ir struktūruoti tai, kaip savo įkūnytą nėštumo ir pogimdyminio periodo patyrimą supranta ir įprasmina pačios pirmą kartą besilaukiančios moterys. Tyrimas atliktas Lietuvoje ir Didžiojoje Britanijoje, taikant giluminius pusiau struktūruotus interviu ir piešinius. Tekstai analizuoti naudojant kokybinį interpretacinės fenomenologinės analizės metodą. Tyrime dalyvavo šešios 26–35 metų amžiaus moterys. Su kiekviena moterimi buvo susitikta penkis kartus: tris kartus joms besilaukiant ir du kartus jau gimus vaikui. Gautas labai turtingas moterų įkūnyto patyrimo aprašymas, leidžiantis galvoti apie kūno patyrimą nėštumo metu kaip apie dinamišką, sudėtingą ir stipriai jų gyvenime įsišaknijusį fenomeną. Disertacijoje išsamiai pristatomas ir aptariamas vienas nuoseklus motinystės atvejis ir keturios metatemos (besilaukiančio kūno nekontroliuojamumas, kūnas – mano mokytojas, kūno vidinių ir išorinių ribų neaiškumas, besiformuojantis kūniškas identitetas), kurios buvo suformuluotos atlikus visų moterų interviu analizes antrajame jų nėštumo trimestre. Tyrimas suteikia galimybę pamatyti, kaip kasdienybėje yra patiriamas šis fenomenas, praturtindamas teorinę ir praktinę šio reiškinio sampratą.

Psichologijoje įkūnytas moterų patyrimas nėštumo metu ir pirmaisiais metais po gimdymo vis dar retai tyrinėjamas, o esantys tyrimai yra dažniausiai kiekybiniai, atskleidžiantys prieštaraujančius rezultatus. Šiame tyrime buvo siekiama identifikuoti, aprašyti ir struktūruoti tai, kaip savo įkūnytą nėštumo ir pogimdyminio periodo patyrimą supranta ir įprasmina pačios pirmą kartą besilaukiančios moterys. Tyrimas atliktas Lietuvoje ir Didžiojoje Britanijoje, taikant giluminius pusiau struktūruotus interviu ir piešinius. Tekstai analizuoti naudojant kokybinį interpretacinės fenomenologinės analizės metodą. Tyrime dalyvavo šešios 26–35 metų amžiaus moterys. Su kiekviena moterimi buvo susitikta penkis kartus: tris kartus joms besilaukiant ir du kartus jau gimus vaikui. Gautas labai turtingas moterų įkūnyto patyrimo aprašymas, leidžiantis galvoti apie kūno patyrimą nėštumo metu kaip apie dinamišką, sudėtingą ir stipriai jų gyvenime įsišaknijusį fenomeną. Disertacijoje išsamiai pristatomas ir aptariamas vienas nuoseklus motinystės atvejis ir keturios metatemos (besilaukiančio kūno nekontroliuojamumas, kūnas – mano mokytojas, kūno vidinių ir išorinių ribų neaiškumas, besiformuojantis kūniškas identitetas), kurios buvo suformuluotos atlikus visų moterų interviu analizes antrajame jų nėštumo trimestre. Tyrimas suteikia galimybę pamatyti, kaip kasdienybėje yra patiriamas šis fenomenas, praturtindamas teorinę ir praktinę šio reiškinio sampratą. / Psychological research into women’s embodied experience in pregnancy and the first year after birth is contradictory and mainly quantitative in nature. In response to these inconsistencies and the paucity of qualitative research in this area, this study investigated the embodied experience of women during pregnancy and the postpartum year. The study was conducted in Lithuania and the UK, using semi-structured interviews and drawings; the data were analysed using the qualitative methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Six women participated, all primigravidae, aged 26-35. Each woman was seen five times; thrice during pregnancy and twice after her baby was born. A rich description of the women’s embodied experience emerged from the accounts, supporting the notion of bodily experience in pregnancy being dynamic, complex and firmly embedded in their life-world. Due to limitations of size with regard to the PhD thesis, only the results of one consecutive case and four superordinate themes which emerged from the interviews with all of the women in the second trimester of pregnancy viz: the uncontrollable body, the body as my teacher, uncertainty about inner and outer boundaries and embodied identity in the making, were presented and discussed. The study provides insights into this lived experience that may be useful in psychological theory and in practice when working with women at this important transitional life stage.

No description available.

For most people in North America, undergoing treatments for cancer occurs exclusively in a healthcare setting. All too often, this healthcare setting provides a backdrop privileging the technological requirements of conventional medicine over the well-being of the people who inhabit it. Conversely, this practicum project is founded on a different, more holistic approach to cancer care called integrative oncology. The project investigates how an integrative cancer treatment centre can be designed to be more than a technological backdrop, endeavoring to become an active entity that truly supports those dealing with cancer. The investigation includes an extensive literature review of theoretical and evidence-based sources that relate to fostering connections to nature on a variety of levels. Informed by this, a review of relevant design precedents and the functional issues of integrative cancer treatment, the investigation concludes with a design solution for an integrated cancer treatment centre and related findings.

This thesis comprises an exploration of the practice of Holistic Massage, working across the sociological areas of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM), body work, emotional labour, sociological phenomenology and narrative inquiry. Holistic Massage is one of a plethora of practices encompassed by the field of CAM. While there has been steadily increasing sociological interest in CAM in recent years, much research has treated this diverse group as relatively homogeneous. This thesis looks at one practice in depth, in order to address issues specific to Holistic Massage – including what ‘holism’ adds up in to in practice, and the devaluation of knowledge based on touch(ing) – as well as those concerning CAM more broadly. Hence, whilst drawing on existing research on CAM, this research also addresses a lacuna within it. This thesis employs the conceptual tool of ‘touching work’, which brings together the concepts of ‘emotional labour’ and ‘body work’ in a way that draws out relevant aspects of each around the fulcrum of touch, thus accounting for the latter in both its sensory and emotional meanings. In so doing, it also contributes to the recently burgeoning literature on the senses in sociology, and to an embodied sociology more generally. The thesis also draws on sociological phenomenology, in particular the notion of the intersubjective ‘stock of knowledge’, and the understanding of talk as constitutive of the everyday social world. The overall methodological approach taken brings together phenomenological theory with narrative inquiry, and specifically with the analysis of the form and content of talk. The analysis presented is based around data from loosely-structured interviews with ten women who do Holistic Massage. The interviews were analysed in terms of their overall shape and distinctive features (Chapter Three) and, in subsequent chapters, with respect to both what was said and how it was said. This analysis examines the constitution of a Holistic Massage stock of knowledge (Chapter Four) and how the practice is bounded (Chapter Five), and concludes in Chapter Six by taking a step back from the detail of the data to look at what can be known from it about Holistic Massage and touching work Piecing together the constitution by practitioners of a stock of professional Holistic Massage knowledge makes a significant contribution to the sociology of CAM. Also, by uniting phenomenological sociology and narrative inquiry, it provides a novel perspective on a form of work which is part of a small but significant contemporary occupational field in the UK. In particular, it draws out the multiple aspects of touch which can in fact be known and articulated through talk and challenges ideas about the supposedly ineffable character of touch. In this regard, it points to similarities between how practitioners talk about this and the Foucauldian challenge to the ‘repressive hypothesis’, which sees people as in fact talking readily and in detail about matters where they claim silence prevails.

This thesis explores young people’s transgenderings through negotiations of language, bodies and experiences of different peer and community-based support spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand. It critically examines what ‘support’ means for young people in relation to developing subjectivities and embodiments shaped by being both young and transgender/ gender non-conforming. While these perspectives are varied, I argue that the production of community and peer-based support for those who are both young and transgender or gender non-conforming has been undergoing a period of significant change, reflecting queer and postmodern shifts which have worked to re-conceptualise the ways queer and transgender communities and peers are imagined, incorporating a greater inclusive focus on diversity. Utilising Sara Ahmed’s concept of queer phenomenology and post-structuralist theory, the thesis thinks beyond binary approaches to gender and support, to consider support and gender non-conformity through the process of ‘disorientation’. Throughout this project both ‘gender’ and ‘support’ are positioned as being subjective, embodied and discursive knowledges and actions, represented in multiple and contradictory ideas, identities and expressions of the different participants. The study utilises in-depth qualitative interviews with participants who are young people (aged 16-30 years) and support providers and developers of transgender/queer based support in Aotearoa New Zealand. Working with young people and support providers, this research provides an analysis of support development for transgender and gender non-conforming young people in Aotearoa New Zealand, arguing that all participants in support (both providers and recipients) are shaping its provision.

Institutional transformation initiated the creation of an online forum by academic staff at the North- West University. This forum functioned as an official space on the intranet of the institution as a result of the need of academics to communicate their opinions and concerns. Participants in the forum judged the university and other co-discussants according to their ideals of a democratic, multiracial and self-reflective institution of higher learning. Debates which interested the broad academic community focused on the practice of religion, the student culture, hostel traditions and the language of instruction. The threads which dealt with these subjects were usually characterised by intense emotion and conflict as divergent racial and cultural identities constituted a pervasive presence in the discussions. The study explored the reasons, strategies and consequences of internal exclusion which participants exercised within the forum discourse and the external incidences of exclusion practised within the larger discursive contexts (institutional, socio-political) of the forum. The inclusive focus of the communicative model of democratic discourse on emotion as an expansion of reason determined the exploration of patterns of exclusion. The online discussion has been in existence for more than twelve years. The forum is not in the public domain and only administrative and academic staff within the institution has access to it. The asynchronous participations are authored and archived since 2004. Six discussants who acted as protagonists in the thread on racism were the main participants in the interviews. Five more participants were interviewed as their presence in, perceptions of and relationship with the forum and its participants were significant to the researcher and other discussants. Qualitative research methodology informed the critical phenomenological approach of the study. The researcher conducted interviews and analyses between August 2010 and July 2011. The methodology of grounded theory directed the coding of interview transcripts and the text of the forum thread. The research diary and reflective notes enabled the researcher to find synergy between the practical field experience and theory. The study found that strong ideological positions led to frustration with the idealised role participants contributed to the forum as a vehicle for change. These frustrations were incorporated in their rationalistic and moralistic strategies of interaction with participants holding equally strong but opposing positions. Eventually those who were motivated to participate because of their dissonance with discourse, within and outside the context of the forum, either excluded themselves or became excluded as their voices were not appreciated. They could also not persuade others or effect structural change. Participants with mediating presences brought an amiable nuance to the forum and influenced protagonists to assume less declarative styles of interaction and reflect on their own unemancipatory positions. Based on the inclusionary and exclusionary elements found in the analyses, the study concludes with recommendations for the design and moderation of an inclusive and equalising space. This redefined space could subverse the dominating discourse of protagonists and foster a democratic discourse within the context of the forum and the university. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Development Innovation and Evaluation))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

In her article “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema” (1975) Laura Mulvey explains how film portrays the female characters as passive sexualised objects, on display for the male (erotic) gaze. Although, Mulvey did make amendments to the original article after it was criticised, her original article is still influential and referenced in academic writing on film. This dissertation investigates how the three selected mainstream American films, namely, Alice in Wonderland, Monster and Transamerica, have female protagonists who deviate from Mulvey’s initial standpoint and enact a new dynamic, whereby the female characters possess active bodies. In order to explain this new dynamic, the dissertation provides an overview of relevant theory in order to establish the necessary analytical tools to investigate the representation of the female body. These tools are taken from feminist notions of the body, most importantly Mulvey’s notions, in order to establish what constitutes an active female body that subverts the male gaze. This subversion is most notable when examining the iconography of the active female body. The dissertation also draws from the overview the importance of place and space, the embodiment of the characters’ inner workings in specific locations, and their relationship with the locations in which they are depicted. Since all three films include a physical journey on which the respective protagonists embark the examination of borders and border crossings is included. The dissertation shows that journeys bring with them the opportunity for the body to be active, as each female protagonist is on a journey to self-discovery. The changing settings in which the protagonists find themselves are an embodiment of their inner workings. Topographical borders mark the entering of new locations. However, concomitant symbolic and epistemological borders are also crossed. The female protagonists need to make choices concerning their lives and as a consequence alter the representations to reflect bodies that subvert the male gaze. These female bodies are active. However, they are active in different ways. Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, delves into her psyche to emerge a changed and independent Victorian woman. Bree, from Transamerica, heals the relationships with her family and is able to have her gender reconstructive surgery to become a physical woman. These two female protagonists have positive representations of the active female body. The protagonist from Monster, Aileen, is represented in a constant state of abjection and her active body is portrayed in a negative light. Whether represented in a positive or egative light, these chosen films all portray an active female body that does subvert the male gaze, and hence represent a new dynamic different from the one Mulvey described. / MA (Language Practice), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014