Graduation date: 2006 / Two decades of literature from national college student climate reports measuring student attitudes toward people who are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) indicate, “anti-GLBT intolerance and harassment has been prevalent” (Rankin, 2003). This study seeks to explore the determinants of such attitudes and explore the life contexts of students’ processes by which they came to hold such attitudes through a qualitative interview approach. The eight themes that emerged from the interviews reflect participants’ own voices and their worldviews about LGBT people. These themes inform a framework of general recommendations for student affairs programming efforts to reduce homophobia and resistance to LGBT people and lifestyles throughout campus.

This is a dissertation on education that focuses on leadership making at the departmental level of higher education. The aim of this dissertation is to generate knowledge about the making of leadership, seen as identity development in the discourse on academic leadership. This by studying the logic and tensions of discourse, what leadership identities the discourse expresses at different times and by describing an understanding of different processes of leadership identity development. The frame of reference in this study is based on a relationistic and non-dualistic theoretical framework, which suggests that discourse theory can help us understand the reality as discursive and the view on leadership in higher education as socially constructed through talk and other actions within a specific discourse. Two empirical studies were performed by making interviews and then a multivariate correspondence analysis of the nodes (symbolic areas of talk) that the informants attached significance were carried out. Study I focuses on the discourse on academic leadership expressed by 15 departmental heads at five occasions, from the time where the heads were novices to a time four years later when they were more experienced. These interviews were used for the construction of three empirically based study objects; the novice discourse, the problem discourse and the experience discourse. Study II was conducted in four case departments. Its aim was to shed light on the discourse on academic leadership from the point of view of staff members, rather than from that of departmental heads themselves. Totally, in these four departments, 33 interviews with different categories of staff members were performed. The empirically based study object was here the staff members’ discourse. Each discourse construction may be said to be built up by the discourse episteme, subepisteme and subject positions and a relational analysis of the discourse structure have been used to describe the discourse’s logic and tensions and its identity expressions. By contrasting the discourse constructions over time also identity development was illuminated. For study I, one of the aspects of the logic of discourse on academic leadership is that in the course of time it goes from being a heterogeneous discourse with only a few common episteme nodes towards being a more homogeneous, unified and coherent discourse with a larger common core. The shared leadership identity base is thereby made more extensive. Six central symbolic areas of talk recur in similar ways at the three points of time for the analysis of study I: the handling of the economy, staff management (HRM), laws, ordinances and rules for the headship, the heavy workload and time shortage, delegation of tasks and responsibilities and support through leadership training and education. Examples of three relatively common identity development processes in the discourse on academic leadership are: 1) a vague development process where a non-head of department leadership identity is strong over time, 2) a process of development from an uncertain and fuzzy to a positive and obvious manager identity, and 3) a process of development from an uncertain and fuzzy to a gender-related and problem-orientated leadership identity. Thus the main result of the studies is the visualisation of the gender segregation process that the discourse makes possible and the different ways in which academic leadership is expressed in the male-dominated versus the female-dominated positions. The discourse logic for staff members in study II also shows a partly gender-separated discourse. On the other hand, there are not much content similarities, through nodes, in the gender-separated relational structure in the sense that the female staff/heads and the male staff/heads in both studies express similar symbolic areas of talk.

The key purpose of this research has been trying to understand, and study how assyrian/syriac youth create their identity under the influence of two or several different cultures. We have also looked upon how different factors such as history, religion, language, family and school play a role in the youths identity development. We have used a qualitative method in our study where we have interviewed six assyrian/syriac youth. Because of their Christian faith the assyrian/syriac group has been forced to migrate from their countries to different parts around the world. In the new countries the group has been forced to create and live in a diasporaculture. The city Södertälje in Sweden has developed to become a metropole for this ethnic group where they have founded a substantial diasporaculture. In the new countries the assyrian/syriac youth have developed an attitude towards the new country and its culture, which is a mixture of their home culture and the majority communitys. Having to integrate and adjust to two different cultures, while at the same time trying to create ones own identity can sometimes lead to conflicts within the own ethnic group and the majority community. It appeared in the study that the assyrian/syriac youth felt like a duality between the home culture and the culture of the majority community, which felt like living a dual life.

This paper explains at the intersection of Memory theory, Feminist Theory, Existential Psychology, Faith and Contemporary Art, I have found a way to embrace and integrate memories and experiences into my art and be a more fully integrated, emotionally healthy person living fully in the present moment. I articulate my exploration of the broad concept of memory and addressing unresolved negative memories in order to realize healthy change in forming my identity. Through art and philosophical research I have found substantial corroboration, conceptually supporting my information supporting my Post Minimal art making process. I employ memory evoking materials through the use of repetitive acts and strict self-imposed rules throughout the art making process, communicating ne living in the present moment, embracing yet uninhibited by their past.

According to Erik Erikson (1950), adolescents and young adults are highly engaged in the process of identity development with intentions to avoid a state of diffusion and role confusion. Several researchers (e.g., Bordin, 1990; Krumboltz, 1979; Lofquist & Dawis, 1991; Super, 1957) in the area of career development have attempted to explain how identity relates to the career selection process for young adults, all seeming to describe a similar construct, that of self identity. Perhaps the most popular theory of career development, Holland’s (1959) theory, clarified the identity construct by Holland's Vocational Identity is first compared to Marcia's four ego identity statuses (Diffusion, Foreclosure, Moratorium, and Achieved), indicating a positive relationship to ego identity development. Second, person-environment (P-E) congruence was compared to Erikson's/Marcia's four identity statuses and Vocational Identity, revealing no relationship between the variables. However, strong relationships were apparent for P-E Congruence and well-being measures, including satisfaction with academic major, stability in academic major, and academic achievement. In further investigation of the identity formation process, identity variables were compared to measures of well-being. Using canonical correlation analysis, the first canonical function showed Vocational Identity as a strong indicator of well-being. Canonical correlation analysis was also used to compare measures of career development with Erikson's/Marcia's ego identity development. Results revealed a strong statistical relationship with the first canonical root, indicating Vocational Identity and career decision making both appear to be strongly related to the Achieved identity status. These findings further support the theoretical connection between ego identity and career development process. Considering limitations of the study, implications for theory and practice and recommendations for future research are provided. describing Vocational Identity as the possession of a clear and stable picture of one’s goals, interests, and talents. This study sought to clarify similarities between Erikson’s theory of identity development and Holland’s theory of vocational choice. To assess the relationship between identity formation and career development, 206 college students completed scales measuring ego identity formation, using Marcia’s (1966) empirical representation of Erikson’s theory, Vocational Identity, measures of congruence, measures of well-being, and Career Indecision.

Despite exposure of educational disparities for students of color, as well as the notion that educational training rarely discusses race and racism, there continues to be a lack of discourse on race, racism, and anti-racism in educational leadership. Subsequently, it is important to challenge deficit thinking and encourage further examination of the deeply-rooted foundation of oppression. The study explored personal narratives of white educational leaders who oppose racial inequity to heighten awareness about conceptualizations of race, racism, and anti-racism. The research involved interviewing educational leaders in three groups: 1) aspiring, 2) currently-practicing, and 3) recently-retired. Eight participants were selected to engage in two semi-structured interviews about their experiences aligned with the following research questions: 1) How do white educational leaders frame the impact of race and racism? and 2) How do white educational leaders describe their perceptions and experiences recognizing, confronting, and dialoguing with others about race and racism? The findings revealed commonalties about the subtle nature of racism, as well as how to confront racism through thoughts and actions. While participants considered dialogue beneficial in their own awareness of race and racism, the lack of venues to dialogue were emphasized. The findings suggest implications for further contextualizing negotiations of race-related tensions and framing the impact of race and racism, particularly in relation to creating purposeful spaces and relationships to encourage such dialogue. Additionally, interpretation of the findings adds insight to further conceptualizing racial identity models and anti-racism.

In this thesis, I critique the representation of pre-adolescent and teen femininity in M and the influence of the teen fan genre on identity development. This discussion revolves around a social semiotic analysis of four texts and two sub-texts, and a social semiotic auto-ethnographic exploration of my experience as a reader of teen fan publications. Among the texts, a feminine identity is represented through eight interlocking semiotic themes: fashion and beauty, celebrity idolization, entertainment, consumerism, heterosexuality/romance, friendship, celebrity as occupation, and affluent lifestyle. My research findings show that the portrayal of femininity in M is a narrow and unrealistic ideal. Conveyed through celebrity worship, femininity is a highly (hetero)sexualized, racialized, thin, able-bodied, affluent, mass-mediated, and (self-)commodified ideal that perpetuates age ambiguity As the discussion of my adolescence shows, the representation of femininity in the teen fan genre can thwart creativity and contribute to a negative self-concept. Finally, teen fan magazines were important in assisting in the creation of a (pre-)adolescent feminine self, but it was only one institution in which my identity formed. My self-concept emerged from social regulation via the interconnected relationship among teen fan magazines, mall and school cultures, and family.

The phenomenon under investigation in this study was the experience of having an Asian identity while in a U.S. counseling psychology graduate/professional-training context. Using a qualitative methodology involving 12 participants, descriptive phenomenological analysis of in-depth interview data illuminated five structures which comprise the essence of the phenomenon. These essential structures include: Need to negotiate or cope with cultural value conflicts, Feeling subtle effects of marginalization, Navigating through unique dynamics in working with ethnically-similar clients, Understanding the strengths afforded by Asian identity, and Desire for increased assistance in the integration of cultural and professional identities. These findings suggest that Asian identity within the context of U.S. counseling psychology professional-training can, at times, be a source of struggle as well as a strength/asset. Recommendations to training programs include suggestions for providing resources that increase the empowering aspects related to Asian identity and reduce any hindering effects. Recommendations to supervisors include suggestions to spend more time discussing how Asian trainees' ethnic/cultural identity may impact their work with clients.

This work examines the learning outcomes of a French professional development program for science education in primary school, ASTEP. The program is based on a partnership between a primary school teacher on one hand and a subject expert on the other. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the subject expert is a young university student who is challenged to be assessed on his/her learning for academic credits. Compared to most other professional development programs, ASTEP displays an alternative knowledge hierarchy, it is neither top down nor bottom up, but rather a form of knowledge exchange. Data on students´ and teachers´ reflections on the collaboration were analyzed through a grounded theory approach and subsequently organized within the interconnected model of teacher professional growth (IMTPG). Although the analyses indicated significant changes in the practice of the teachers, the learners who individually seem to benefit the most were the university students. The ASTEP program appears to provide a low stake high support scaffold for the students to refine their values and beliefs about a professional life and develop a professional identity.

The practice of paying non-household members to do the reproductive labour of looking after children has a long history. The nanny phenomenon is closely allied to colonialism where servants administered ruling class needs. In South Africa, nannies are most often historically disenfranchised, working class, black woman. Beginning with Freud’s self analytic considerations of his kinderfraü, through the post war British object-relations tradition, scholarly reflection and later empirical research, have at best been anecdotal or en passant. The present study specifically concerned white apartheid-era men’s memories and subsequent appropriation of the experiences of being cared for by a nanny. Having a theoretical home between narrative and psychoanalysis, it began with the assumption that as much as there are deeply rooted unconscious motives and conflicts, white apartheid-era men demonstrate identity strategies which are intensely local (situationally realised) and global (dependent on broader conditions of intelligibility). In-depth interviews with nine research participants extended Frosh et als’ (2002), Hollway’s (1989) and Hollway and Jefferson’s (1997; 2000; 2001) “free association narrative technique”. The data was analysed in its thematic and narrative aspects. Results revealed that nanny memories comprise two distinct kinds of stories, dubbed “remembered black hands” and “kaffir se plek” narratives. In “remembered black hands”, recollections were imbued with tenderness, love and care; these were heart-warming stories of what it was to be the object of nanny’s ministrations. In these accounts they affirmed the importance of nanny’s place in the home: be it in daily care, as an ally, a retreat, a player in the family drama, even imbricated in their childhood sexuality. In “kaffir se plek” narratives the protagonists were situated in social space, recognised and granted identity. There were canonical imperatives to accept that nanny’s personhood counted for nothing, that she was dispensable and that she had a distinct, lesser place in the social order. The co-existence of these competing stories signify her position at a rupture in the fabric of apartheid life. Participants’ resolutions to this anomaly entailed compromise formations, the specific forms of which were considered. Kristeva’s reconsideration of the diachronic relation of the Lacanian registers of Imaginary and the Symbolic in the light of abjection provided a developmental framework to understand how the little boy’s early intimacy could be transformed into his later assumption of his master’s mantle. Where the extant literature is willing to concede that nanny exists screened behind parental imagos, the present investigation takes this further suggesting that repression, screen memories and “eclipsing” (Hardin, 1985) are an inevitable means of accession to political subjectivity. Results suggest that for those who would have been cared for by a nanny there are traces of this experience to be found in memory, the unconscious and their very sense of self. Nanny’s continued existence in the minds of her charge takes various forms - as (usually fond) memories, a real relationship or as a symptom. / Thesis (PhD (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted