This multiple case study describes the relationships between literate practices of five self-identified Mennonite youth and their faith identities. It also examines other salient identity enactments for each participant and the relationships among salient identities. Specifically, this research addresses the question: How do Mennonite high school students who engage in leisure reading enact identities in their literate practices? Participants were in 11th grade at a Mennonite high school. Theoretically based on the social practice theory of identity, data sources included field notes from nine weeks of observations in English and Bible classes, interviews with each participant and the English and Bible teachers, written documents from both classes, and two verbal protocols for each participant with self-selected texts, one of which was faith-related. Multiple analytics were used to analyze the various data sources. Findings suggest that the relationship between faith identity performances and literate practices plays out in different ways for different youth based, in part, on the salience of the faith identity. / Literacy & Learners

abstract: This dissertation is a detailed rhetorical analysis of interviews with rice farmers in central Java, Indonesia and documents published by the global NGOs United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR. Using theories of materiality, literacies, and environmental rhetorics, I examine how seemingly distinct and disparate humans, organizations, and inanimates are actually entangled agents in a dynamic conversation. I have termed that conversation the discourse of rice farming. Studying local and global together challenges conventional dichotomous thinking about farming and food. Looking at this conversation as an entanglement reveals what Karen Barad has defined in Meeting the Universe Halfway as the intra-relatedness of all agents. I focus on rice farming because rice is a food staple around the world and a major component of global agriculture initiatives by FAO and CGIAR. I argue that farmers construct their jobs in terms of production, food sovereignty, and community. The NGOs construct agriculture in terms of consumption, food security, and poverty alleviation. In my project I emphasize the need for global agents to better account for how farmers construct agriculture. Accounting for how all agents impact the discourse of rice farming is the only way to come to an objective understanding rice farming's impact on local and global scales. My argument adds to the field of environmental rhetorics because most published case studies are about the United States and thus are limited in their applicability. And it enriches global conversations about food security and food justice because it shares accounts from actual farmers who are often conspicuously absent from literature on those topics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2015

Submitted by Eunice Novais (enovais@uepg.br) on 2018-08-13T21:53:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Mirely Dimbarre.pdf: 2062824 bytes, checksum: 6549a91c9674c49ca58d2b6d63da75f0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T21:53:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Mirely Dimbarre.pdf: 2062824 bytes, checksum: 6549a91c9674c49ca58d2b6d63da75f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-08 / Considerando as atuais demandas sociais, trabalhar a produção textual com alunos do 5º Ano do Ensino Fundamental a partir das práticas de letramento desenvolvidas nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa, direcionando o olhar para a (re)negociação das identidades sociais, é uma “tarefa” a ser (re)pensada e aprimorada por professores. Mediante isso, a presente pesquisa visou a investigar como os alunos do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental (re)negociam suas identidades sociais nas produções escritas a partir das práticas e dos eventos de letramentos desenvolvidos nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa. Para tanto, elegeram-se duas turmas de uma escola da rede pública da cidade de Ponta Grossa/PR, no 2º semestre do ano de 2016, e, nessa inserção etnográfica, os dados foram gerados por meio de observações e das produções textuais desenvolvidas pelos referidos alunos. Sendo assim, a pesquisa se orienta nos conceitos de letramento, de dialogismo, de enunciado, de gênero do discurso, de produção escrita escolar e também, nos que envolvem questões de identidade e sujeito. Os dados gerados foram analisados à luz dos estudos bakhtinianos, considerando as relações dialógicas e de autores que norteiam os estudos sobre o conceito de letramento(s) e de identidade(s). Além disso, a investigação apoiou-se, nos documentos oficiais do Ensino Fundamental I em nível nacional e municipal. Dos participantes da pesquisa, foram 13 alunos da Turma A (TA) e 9 alunos da Turma B (TB) e suas respectivas professoras. Primeiramente, para o desenvolvimento deste estudo, foram realizadas as observações nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa, com o intuito de verificar como as práticas de letramento eram desenvolvidas pelas duas professoras e como os alunos participavam. Constatou-se que as duas professoras em suas turmas e alguns alunos, de ambas, discutiam a respeito dos textos abordados em sala de aula, e após as possíveis leituras, posicionavam suas vozes. Em relação aos alunos, poucos se engajavam/ram nas discussões estabelecidas. Em seguida, foram analisadas as produções textuais dos alunos participantes, sendo escolhidas apenas 8 (oito) para as análises – 4 de cada turma. Sendo assim, a partir dessas produções, constatou-se que esses alunos posicionaram/(re)negociaram suas identidades sociais (de gênero e religiosa, conforme os textos bases e os gêneros do discurso trabalhados nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa). Dessa forma, verificou-se que mesmo o número efetivo de alunos participantes tenha sido pequeno, os que se fizeram presentes nas observações e nas produções escritas, se posicionaram e trouxeram suas vozes, baseadas nas vozes do(s) outro(s), a partir das esferas sociais que participam/transitam e das práticas letradas desenvolvidas nas aulas de Língua Portuguesa. Enfim, os alunos (re)negociam suas identidades sociais nas produções escritas. / Considering current social demands, working textual production with Elementary School students from the 5th grade, through literacy practices developed in Portuguese Language classes, looking at re-negociation of social identities, is a “task” to be thought and improved by teachers. This way, this research aims at investigate how the students from the 5th grade of Elementary School re-negociate their identities in writing productions through literate practices and literacy events developed in Portuguese Language classes. For this, it were elected two groups of a public school in Ponta Grossa/PR, in the second semester of 2016, and, in this ethnographic insertion, data were generated through observations and also through textual productions developed by those students. Thus, the study is carried within literacy concepts of dialogism, wording, speech genres, writing production at school and also issues about subject and identity. Data were analyzed in light of Bakhtin studies, considering dialogical relations, and authors who guide concepts about literacy(ies) and identity(ies). Besides, this investigation is based on official documents of Elementary School in national and municipal level. The research participants were 13 students of Group A and 9 from Group B and their respective teachers. First, for referral this study, observations were done in Portuguese Language classes, with the objective of verify how literacy practices have been developed by the teachers and how the students participate of them. It was found that both teachers and some students in their classes discussed about the mentioned texts, and after possible readings, they pointed their view. As for students, a few of them was engaged in set discussions. Then, it was analyzed the students’ writing productions, being chosen just 8 – 4 of each group. At this, through these productions, it was noted that these students placed / re-negociated their social identities (of gender and religious, according to main texts and speech genres worked in Portuguese Language classes). So, even if the effective number of students was not so large, those who participated, brought their writing productions and expressed themselves and their voices, based on one another voices, through social places where they live and the literacy practices which are developed in Portuguese Language classes. At last, the students re-negociate their social identities in writing productions.