Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-207).

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2003. / Bibliography: leaves 124-129.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-100). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11835

A work of creative fiction in novella form, this dissertation follows the first-person travails of Mitch Zeller, a 26-year-old gay man who is faced with an unexpected choice. The dissertation opens with a preface which examines the form of the novella and the content of this particular work.

This thesis consists of two major sections. The first is the text of the play In The Waiting Room that I wrote and performed on April 16, 2010 in the Lab Theater on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. The second section is a paper on the process of writing and performing the piece, including script development and the rehearsal process, as well as final reflections on my work and the time I spent here in the MFA in Acting program. / text

This dissertation examines changes in the meaning of family and what this reveals about the complex, socially grounded mechanics of meaning-making more generally. Examining the discourse from interviews with 23 gay and lesbian parents, I show that they have very concrete and definable ideologies of family that reflect an American/ Western concept of kinship in which family is made up of those who are related by blood, marriage or adoption; as well as an understanding that family can also be chosen and therefore outside of traditional biogenetic structures. For these men and women, family of choice and the dominant American kinship structure are not mutually exclusive. Through an analysis of the participants' definitions of family, this dissertation finds that the parents gave both a narrow definition (that which includes only blood and legal relationships) and a broad definition (that which includes those not related by blood, marriage or adoption). Based on these definitions, both from the participants themselves and from those who have spoken out nationally against same-sex marriage and parenting, I apply Lakoff's Prototype Theory to offer a way to understand the disconnection between those who believe being gay and being a parent are incompatible, and those who see it as one of many types of family that do not conform to a dominant ideology. I identify a prototype of FAMILY made up of two radial categories to account for two central, yet opposed, ideologies, separated solely by whether parents could be the same sex. I also discuss the parents' positioning of their narratives toward local and nonlocal interactants and their use of generic and personal features in their discourse. The parents both draw upon external influences and become meaning-makers themselves through negotiations of their family identities in the context of dominant ideologies of family that often regard them as illegitimate. The outcomes of the negotiations that the parents undertake do not reflect a new, radical kind of family on the whole, but often a traditional sense of family that sometimes gets more broadly defined to include a supportive network of family and friends. The discursive micro-shifts in definition that these parents perform inform our understanding of the bridge between local negotiations and global shifts in ideology. / text

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by Yuen Yun Chou. / Thesis submitted in: December 1997. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-166). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review and Theoretical Framework / Introduction --- p.5 / New Social Movements --- p.5 / Alberto Melucci's Analytical Framework of Social Movement --- p.14 / Charles Taylor's Interpretative Framework of Human Action --- p.18 / An Interpretative Framework for Social Movement Studies --- p.26 / Objectives of this Study --- p.33 / Methodology --- p.34 / Outline of the Thesis --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- The History of Hong Kong Gay Men and Lesbians / Introduction --- p.37 / Gay Men and Lesbians: Rise as A Subaltern Group --- p.37 / Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Groups --- p.46 / Terminology --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- The Gay Self / Introduction --- p.52 / Discovering a Gay Self --- p.52 / Coming out: Living a Gay Life --- p.64 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Interpreting Predicament / Introduction --- p.69 / The Predicament: an Ideal Way of Life --- p.69 / The Predicament: the Concerns --- p.71 / Authenticity and the Perception of Predicament --- p.79 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- The Gay Selves: Entering the Gay and Lesbian Groups / Introduction --- p.81 / Making Sense of Participation --- p.81 / Locating the Process of Collective Identity --- p.98 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- In Search of Authenticity in Everyday Life / Introduction --- p.109 / The Submerged Networks in Everyday Life: the Alternative Space --- p.109 / Everyday Resistance and Accomplishment --- p.120 / The Limited Authenticity in Everyday Life --- p.131 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Conclusion / From “I´ح to “We´ح --- p.135 / The Ideal of Authenticity --- p.148 / The Issue of Identity in Social Movement --- p.151 / Limitation / Appendix / Bibliography

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-226).