Ethnodrama has been identified as an effective and innovative qualitative research method and dissemination tool which aims to improve and inform society through theatrical performances. Researchers are increasingly utilizing ethnodrama in their work; however it is relatively new and remains unexplored. The lived experiences of this method have not been extensively documented in prior research.<p> Specifically, I focus on a project which involved ethnodrama workshops for women experiencing arm problems after breast cancer. The ethnodrama workshops revealed that women were feeling: 1) there is a lack of support, 2) a sense of isolation, and 3) a need to heal after breast cancer. The workshops began to break that isolation, provide support, and start a journey of healing. They also provided an unexpected finding that yoga is an effective and sought after method of healing for women after breast cancer. This finding moved the workshops into the creation of healing yoga program for women after breast cancer, instead of a research based theatrical performance (ethnodrama). <p> Phenomenological interviews took place with a yoga teacher, dramatists, and researchers who had lived experiences of ethnodrama. The researchers spoke of the challenges involved in ethnodrama creation including time, funding, participant recruitment, and data collection. I also focus on the themes of emotional connectivity, building trust, healing, breaking isolation, and social change as they were found to resonate across all their experiences with the method.<p> I also use the methodology of autoethnography to connect the common themes across the experiences of ethnodrama with my own experience. My participation in an ethnodrama project allows me to connect my participant and researcher involvement with this method.<p> Ethnodrama is an effective knowledge translation strategy for audiences; however I have found that it is also a method which emotionally connects researchers and participants. There are challenges to this method, but I learned they did not outweigh the benefits. The themes of healing, breaking isolation, building trust, and social change show that ethnodrama is a method which positively impacts researchers and participants involved.

Ethnodrama has been identified as an effective and innovative qualitative research method and dissemination tool which aims to improve and inform society through theatrical performances. Researchers are increasingly utilizing ethnodrama in their work; however it is relatively new and remains unexplored. The lived experiences of this method have not been extensively documented in prior research.<p> Specifically, I focus on a project which involved ethnodrama workshops for women experiencing arm problems after breast cancer. The ethnodrama workshops revealed that women were feeling: 1) there is a lack of support, 2) a sense of isolation, and 3) a need to heal after breast cancer. The workshops began to break that isolation, provide support, and start a journey of healing. They also provided an unexpected finding that yoga is an effective and sought after method of healing for women after breast cancer. This finding moved the workshops into the creation of healing yoga program for women after breast cancer, instead of a research based theatrical performance (ethnodrama). <p> Phenomenological interviews took place with a yoga teacher, dramatists, and researchers who had lived experiences of ethnodrama. The researchers spoke of the challenges involved in ethnodrama creation including time, funding, participant recruitment, and data collection. I also focus on the themes of emotional connectivity, building trust, healing, breaking isolation, and social change as they were found to resonate across all their experiences with the method.<p> I also use the methodology of autoethnography to connect the common themes across the experiences of ethnodrama with my own experience. My participation in an ethnodrama project allows me to connect my participant and researcher involvement with this method.<p> Ethnodrama is an effective knowledge translation strategy for audiences; however I have found that it is also a method which emotionally connects researchers and participants. There are challenges to this method, but I learned they did not outweigh the benefits. The themes of healing, breaking isolation, building trust, and social change show that ethnodrama is a method which positively impacts researchers and participants involved.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Doris W. Carroll / According to SAMHSA statistics, about 22 million people in the US meet the criteria for a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) being the most prevalent form of SUD. Of those with SUDs, only 10% or two million receive formal treatment. It is estimated that 64% of those completing treatment for SUDs relapse within the first year of sobriety. However, for individuals who manage to make it five years without relapsing, the risk of relapse reduces to 14%, suggesting that the needs of individuals in short-term recovery differ from those in long-term recovery. It has also been found that family involvement in the treatment and recovery process is beneficial to individuals in recovery. However, SUDs contribute to elevated levels of stress and dissatisfaction in couples and families, which puts them at high risk for divorce or dissolution prior to individuals seeking treatment. For families who remain intact until the individual completes treatment, the transition to a recovery lifestyle that supports the individual’s recovery presents a different set of challenges. Additionally, lingering frustrations and resentments from the period of active addiction may also serve to destabilize the couple or family, contributing to the high levels of divorce among those recovering from SUDs. In short, few couples are able to sustain their partnerships through active addiction, and the transition to recovery. While these couples are in the minority, their successful experiences can provide valuable insight into the recovery process. The present study examines the successful transition from active addiction to long-term recovery for one such couple. In particular, the study investigates the shifting narratives related to family roles, couple-hood, communication, alcohol, alcoholism, and recovery. The data is presented in the form of an ethnodramatic script. Ethnodrama is used to engage audiences both on emotional as well as informational levels. While ethnodrama may not provide specific answers, it is intended to provoke awareness, insight, and discussion by allowing audiences to vicariously experience the represented lives of the participants. Following the ethnodrama, an analysis of the script is presented, incorporating narrative theoretical frameworks so that the ways in which narratives function to facilitate (or frustrate) change within the individuals as well as the dynamics of the couple relationship can be expanded. The result of this analysis is the production of a Narrative Change Model, which can be useful in understanding the ways that narratives operate within the transition from active addiction to long-term sobriety and may have broader implications in explaining the narrative mechanisms behind other, more subtle change processes.

Through the use of autoethnography (Bochner & Ellis, 2000) and ethnodramatic performance (Saladana, 2003) this thesis presents an articulation of how the practice of meditation and silence influences identity and communication. Through self-reflection, interviews and conscious performance, I hope to contribute to literature describing health geographies and wellness communication. The data for this paper was collected during ethnographic fieldwork conducted at Bodhi Zendo, a Zen Meditation Centre located in the hills of Kodaiknal, in the province of Tamil Nadu on the southeastern coast of India. During a four-week period between December 1st 2012 and January 2nd 2013, I participated as a practitioner and researcher where I conducted interviews with other retreat participants, documented my own experiences, and recorded my own and other participants' reflections through photography, video, and self-reflective field notes. During my time at the Zen Centre I meditated for ten hours daily and I completed both a silent mini-sesshin and a silent sesshin . This paper includes thoughts and experiences prior to the fieldwork in India as well as thoughts and reflections experienced during the five months upon returning home to Canada. The pupose of this paper is to demonstrate the experience of self through a meditative lens and describe the liminal and transformative states between silence and sound.

Professional Ice Hockey, as it is played in the National Hockey League (NHL), has rules of engagement termed the “code” or “code of conduct” that govern the conduct and interaction of players during games that is separate from the rules as written in the National Hockey League Official Rules 2012-2013 (© Copyright 2012 National Hockey League). The research examined and interpreted the “rules and meanings” implicit in the “code” by reviewing and identifying themes in the popular media, academic literature and in depth interviews with two former NHL players. At the core of the research is a focus on the idea or concept of interpretation. The results and ideas presented were interpreted through the lens of the primary researcher. It was interpreted inductively from the interviews, transcript text, audio recordings, life experience and self-reflection. The ideas and themes developed were co-constructed somewhere within the relationship between the researcher, the recorded data, society, and the participants. In the fourth chapter, the research was interpreted, written and presented in the form of a play or ethnodrama. It was the intention of the research to present and explore themes surrounding violence in a non-polarizing manner. As a play, ideas that are usually sensationalized by the media can be expressed and identified through the life experience of “real” characters. The play form allows for a window into the motivation behind sanctioned and unsanctioned violence in the NHL, sport, and aspects of daily lives that are governed by unwritten rules. / Graduate / 0523 / 0534 / jbuxcey@uvic.ca

Ripples of Hope is a transdisciplinary project combining the social and political history of leisure, Black feminist/womanist thought, and performance and youth development theories. This project investigates the perception, portrayal, and performance of hope from a cultural lens using narrative and performance analysis. Interview and photovoice data were collected from 12 young women in their early 20’s, emerging into adulthood. Each of the participants was born in the United States, identify as Black or African American and participated in an exploratory qualitative study in 2007-2008 entitled The HerDentity Project. Entering into the second decade of the prolific use of Hope Theory, this study illuminates the complexity and intersectionality of race, gender, age, and nationality in understanding five defining dimensions, performative spaces, and portrayals of hope. This project adds to the current body of literature on hope by exploring hope from a cultural context. In addition this project utilizes ethnodrama to highlight the important use of cultural products of performance in youth development and leisure practice.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Sarah E. Riforgiate / At 47 years old, Lori is a high-functioning businesswoman, matriarch, and contributing member of society. Lori is also diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). From age 3, Lori was violently raped and assaulted by several perpetrators, yet views her multiple personalities as strength, as survival mechanisms, and wants to share her story to help prevent child sexual abuse. Utilizing methods drawn from communication studies, ethnodrama, and autoethnography, this study aims to tell a person’s story in her own words and in a format that can easily be shared with both academic and non-academic audiences. Lori’s story is woven together as an ethnodramatic play that includes original interview transcripts along with an autoethnographic monologue describing the experience of writing someone’s truth when it challenges the hegemonic views of society, and instead embraces the feminist ideals of equality and deconstruction of power. Academic research needs to reach further than academic journals to make a true impact. Through the non-conventional venues of autoethnography and ethnodrama, we can breathe life into our research and provide accessibility to innovative information for those who may need it most.

The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to investigate the influence of curricular mandates on the teaching practices of high school mathematics teachers. Narrative inquiry, philosophically based on John Dewey’s theory of experience (Dewey, 1938), provides the intimate study of an individual's experience over time and in context(s) (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). This study focused on the experiences of three high school mathematics teachers’ stories of educational change with data collected through interviews and personal documents. Socio-cultural narrative analysis was used to interpret the participants’ stories of adaptation. The data, presented as an ethnodrama, is composed of scenes taken from the interviews and interweaves the participants’ stories of evolution as they tackled the struggles of change on multiple levels: curriculum, student assessment, and teacher evaluation. Results indicated teachers adopt both traditional and reform strategies when deciding on appropriate teaching practices. Collaboration and professional development were two important aspects used by the participants to enlarge their toolbox of teaching practices when forced to challenge their existing beliefs. This study contributes to the scarce research on the impact of curricular mandates on teaching practices. It also highlights the experiences of high school mathematics teachers as they embrace the paradigm shift associated with the mandates and implement changes to their practices to promote a more student-centered, collaborative environment.

The number of women who are incarcerated has increased significantly in the past few decades. Originally designed to manage male offenders, jails and prisons are ill-equipped to address the unique needs of women inmates whose paths to incarceration often include histories of trauma, abuse, and addiction. This qualitative study investigated the lives of 13 women who while incarcerated at Dallas County Jail, participated in an educational program, Resolana. The purpose of this study was to understand the women’s lives prior to incarceration, as well as the impact of the program and changes they experienced, if any, as a result of what they were learning. Data were collected using semi-structured, life history interviews, and by engaging in field observations as a volunteer for each class for a period of one week. An in-depth analysis through a critical lens, using a holistic-content narrative analysis method, was done with one participant’s life history. The findings are presented as an ethnodrama illuminating the cultural, social, personal, and legal systems of oppression that she survived and that contributed to her path to incarceration. Analyzed through a lens of agency and resistance, the findings that emerged from an analysis of all the participant’s life histories reveal that the women’s criminalized actions were often survival responses. The women employed various strategies, both legal and illegal, in response to people or situations involving control, power or domination over their lives. An analysis of the women’s experiences with Resolana through a transformative learning theoretical framework indicates that the women experience transformation in various ways and to varying degrees. The learning environment served as a container in which transformative learning could be cultivated through opportunities for interpersonal and intrapersonal engagement. The results of this study reveal the need for more and targeted advocacy and education for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. The results also indicate that the process and content of Resolana’s programming had a transformative impact on participants, and for some, the transformation was enduring. Finally, the results challenge definitions of criminal behavior in the context interlocking systems of oppression, and encourage thinking about alternatives to incarceration.

This study explores the experiences of parents around video games and their adolescent children. Nine parents participated in individual and focus group interviews which asked them to reflect and consider their interactions, opinions, and beliefs about video games and their adolescent children who are gamers. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis the data revealed themes of power, fear, and judgment. The analysis is best represented by ethnodramatic scripts. These scripts depict parents’ concerns of video games, perceptions of their adolescent children, their beliefs about parenting, and the influence of societal messages. The complexities and sometimes contradictions available in the scripts suggest that more conversations are necessary about how parenting, video games, and gamers intersect so that many of the fears can be overcome and more critical approaches can be adopted. / Graduate