Kalba ir kalbėjimas Maurice’o Merleau-Ponty fenomenologinėje filosofijoje Disertacijoje apmąstoma kalbos ir kalbėjimo dichotomija. Ferdinando de Saussure’o įvesta ir Merleau-Ponty interpretuota bei vaisingai išplėtota perskyra analizuojama todėl, kad individualus kalbėjimas, pasitelkus fenomenologinę perspektyvą, atsiskleidžia kaip gyvas ir intencionalus, – šiuo požiūriu jis įgyja pranašumų kalbos, kaip uždaros ženklų sistemos, atžvilgiu. Kalbėjimo reikšmės diakritiškumo problema darbe artikuliuojama, turint omenyje, kad juslinis suvokimas yra diakritinis. Dar daugiau, juslinis suvokimas pirmapradiškai yra išraiškingas ir visada koreliuoja su gyvenamo kūno ekspresyvumu, todėl Merleau-Ponty filosofijoje semantika yra įkūnyta semantika. Disertacijos autorei pritariant Merleau-Ponty įžvalgai, postuluojama, jog tapyba, literatūra bei filosofija taip pat yra kalbėjimo formos, kurių šaltinis inkrustuotas žmogaus kūniškume. Pratęsdamos gestą ir būdamos apspręstos prigimtinio žmogaus troškimo išreikšti ir pasakyti kažką vis naujai, jos išreiškia pirmapradį žmogaus patiriamą santykį su pasauliu bei liudija kalbinės žmogaus veiklos kreatyvumą. Formuluojant šio tyrimo objektą, tikslinga išskirti ir paties Merleau-Ponty filosofavimo stilių bei ypatingą, analogo neturinčią kalbėjimo manierą. Ji išlaisvina bei pagrindžia kiekvieno žmogaus giliai asmeninio santykio su jo paties kalbėjimu galimybę ir atveria kelią naujai filosofavimo tendencijai, kuri numano žmogiškojo aš savęs bei jo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The thesis reflects on the dichotomy of language and speech. The separation, introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure and successfully interpreted and developed by Merleau-Ponty, is analyzed from a phenomenological perspective where the individual speech appears as live and intentional act; from this perspective, it gains advantages against the language as a system of signs. The problem of the diacricity of the meaning of speech is articulated keeping in mind that sensory perception is also diacritical. Moreover, sensory perception is expressive initially and always correlates to the expressivity of the lived body; therefore, the semantics of the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty represents embodied semantics. The author of the thesis agrees with the insight of Merleau-Ponty and his postulates that artistic painting, literature, and philosophy are forms of speaking whose resources are incrusted in the corporeity of human beings. Representing the extension of gestures and being determined by natural willingness of human beings to say and express something new, such forms of expression disclose the initial relationship of human beings with the world and witness the creativity of the linguistic activities of human beings. Defining the object of the research, it is reasonable to set the philosophical style and unmatched manner of speaking of Merleau-Ponty. It deliberates and substantiates the possibility of individual relationship of every human being with his/her speaking, and opens the... [to full text]

The purpose of this study is to conduct an investigation of the lived experiences of asthma and sporting embodiment in non-elite sportspeople of different ages and levels of ability, involved in a range of sports. Asthma is characterised as a breathing disorder and the aim of this research is to add to embodied literature by providing ‘fleshy’ realities of the moving, sweating, sensuous sporting body, which holds meanings, purposes and interests for people who experience sport with asthma. Breathing is not only a physiological process, but it is also cultural and people may deal with their asthma symptoms in ways that reflect cultural attitudes embedded in sport. This qualitative study addresses five exploratory questions: 1) How do sportspeople experience asthma? 2) How do sportspeople negotiate their asthma and sporting identities? 3) How do emotional dimensions play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and sporting experiences? 4) How do perceptions of environment and illness shape one another by examining the relationship between the body, the self and environment? 5) What is the role of trauma in sportspeople with asthma? 6) How do key senses (sound) play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and embodied sporting experiences? Through a symbolic-interactionsist and phenomenological-inspired approach, this research places emphasis on the mind-body-self nexus in relation to sensory experiences with a focus upon the centrality of the ‘visceral’ body in the relationship between self-consciousness and the self. A bodily disruption (e.g., asthmatic attack) is likely to heighten awareness of the body-self and contingency and may amplify how sportspeople listen to their own embodied selves when engaged in sporting action. Therefore, sportspeople may become even more acutely aware of, and attuned to, their breathing in ways that link the physiological, the psychological, the social and the environment. This may lead to a permanent re-ordering/negotiation of identities (e.g., athletic identity - asthma identity) through ‘emotion work’ and ‘somatic (auditory) work’ in which a concern with the body is central. The findings are represented as a typology consisting of Conformers, Contesters and Creators, which may be used as a framework to assist health care and sporting professionals in developing more appropriate and effective rehabilitation regimes for sportspeople, in order to improve the quality of treatment and outcomes.

Aim: The overall aim of this study is to describe experiences of, and the association between, fear of childbirth and birth experiences of women with fear ofchildbirth. Methods: In studies I, II, and IV, a reflective lifeworld approach based on phenomenological philosophy was used to describe women’s experiences of fear of childbirth (I), previous birth experiences (II), and fear of childbirth and of birth experience in a long-term perspective (IV). In study III, differences between women who reported fear of childbirth and those who did not were calculated using risk ratios with a 95 % confidence interval and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Data were collected from interviews with eight (I) and nine (II) pregnant women with intense fear of childbirth, and with six women who had sought care for intense fear of childbirth 7 to 11 years prior to the interview (IV), and via questionnaire from a sample of 763 women during pregnancy and again one year following birth (III). Findings: Fear of childbirth was described as “to lose oneself as a woman into loneliness” (I). Previous birth experience was described as “a sense of not being present in the delivery room and an incomplete childbirth experience” (II). Fear of childbirth was associated with a previous negative birth experience and a previous emergency caesarean section (III). From a long-term perspective, fear of childbirth and birth experience was described as “an effort to make all the pieces come together” (IV). Conclusions: This thesis generates evidence on the importance of previous birth experience for women with fear of childbirth, from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. These perspectives illustrate the complexity where women´s experiences in the delivery room are central. To avoid creating fear of childbirth, it is important that maternity care services focus on women’s birth experiences and critically evaluate care in relation to childbirth.

This thesis aims at contributing to a critical discussion on the supposedly far-reaching secularity of Sweden on the one hand, and on the incongruence and inconsistency of lived religion on the other. At the center are people referred to as semi-secular Swedes – a group that is often neglected in the study of religion. These people do not go to church or get involved in any other alternative organized spiritual activities, neither are they actively opposed to religion or entirely indifferent to it. Most of them describe the ways they are – or are not – religious as in line with the majority patterns in Swedish society. The study is qualitative in method and the material has been gathered through interviews and a questionnaire. It offers a close reading of 28 semi-secular Swedes’ ways of talking about and relating to religion, particularly in reference to their everyday lives and their own experiences, and it analyzes the material with a focus on incongruences. By exploring how the term religion is employed vernacularly by the respondents, the study pinpoints one particular feature in the material, namely simultaneity. The concept of simultaneity is descriptive and puts emphasis on a ‘both and’ approach in (1) the way the respondents ascribe meaning to the term religion, (2) how they talk about themselves in relation to different religious designations, and (3) how they interpret experiences that they single out as ‘out-of-the-ordinary’. These simultaneities are explained and theorized through analyses focusing on intersubjective and discursive processes. In relation to theorizing on religion and religious people this study offers empirical material that nuance a dichotomous understanding of ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’. In relation to methodology it is argued that the salience of simultaneity in the material shows that when patterns of religiosity among semi-secular Swedes are studied there is a need to be attentive to expressions of complexity, contradiction and incongruity. / Religious ambiguities on the urban scene

Aim: The overall aim is to examine how a patient perspective, grounded in caring science, can be preserved and developed in the context of hospital care. Methods: The first study examines attitudes towards caring science in a clinical practice. Data were collected through focus group interviews with seven nurses, three head nurses and four senior preceptors. An interpretive approach guided the study. The results called for collaboration between clinical praxis and the academy, according to how caring science can be preserved and developed. Study II–III functioned in accordance with this goal and were conducted in collaboration with a hospital ward for people over seventyfive years of age. In an attempt to develop care the patients were invited to attend a team meeting. The data in these studies were collected using interviews and observations. Fifteen patients (study II) and nine nurses (study III) who had experienced patient participation in a team meeting participated. In these studies, a reflective lifeworld approach guided the research process. Study IV is presented as a general structure and philosophical examination in the light of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty’s philosophies. Main Findings: To preserve and develop a patient perspective is strongly connected to existential issues, such as lived time, intersubjectivity and a meaningful existence. For the patients, vulnerability is exposed and increased when the need for hospital care arises. The team meeting is experienced as an emotional situation where existential dimensions need to be recognized. The nurses desire to develop caring is challenged by organizational and economic demands. Time presents both a possibility for an encounter as well as a threat to excellent care. Conclusions: There is a need to challenge narrow processes in modern health care that value the staffs’ work and the patients’ vulnerability in quantifiable measures of efficiency. The challenge is to take into account something that is invaluable - human existence. / <p>Akademisk avhandling som för avläggande av filosofie doktorsexamen vid Linnéuniversitetet försvaras vid offentlig disputation, 15 september 2014, klockan 10.30 i sal Myrdal, Hus K, Växjö</p>

The voices of eleven Aboriginal and ten non-Aboriginal adult social work educators who volunteered to participate in this qualitative research study represent a diverse range of practice and teaching experiences. Participants with experience teaching social work courses that included the enrollment of Aboriginal students were interviewed to gain knowledge about their self-location, lived experiences, their insight, and their perceptions of the ways in which they have and continue to support and influence the retention of Aboriginal post-secondary students. This study utilized phenomenology as a philosophical approach. The interview process was guided by a phenomenological investigation to identify and explore themes that emerged from the data. The major findings of the study revealed the the many facets to the social work educator-student relationship. The major findings of the study revealed the ways social work educators with experience teaching Aboriginal social work students from northern and remote communities, are involved in providing personal and academic support. Examples of the support provided includes the daily maintenance of an open door policy, reaching out and providing offers of help to students, and assuming roles as advocates, resource brokers, mentors, advisors and counsellors. / October 2016

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Master of Science / Department of Marriage and Family Therapy / Joyce Baptist / Universities around the country are consistently focusing on increasing diversity among the student population, yet little is known about how minority graduate student populations fair academically and personally in predominately White institutions, specifically African American graduate students. This qualitative study examines the lived experiences of six African American graduate students. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide on their experiences in a predominately White graduate program. The findings support previous research that indicates that social conditions have not changed and minority students are still not well integrated into their programs. Findings also suggest that although Berry’s (1987) model of acculturation can be used to conceptualize the experience of African American undergraduate students, the experience of graduate students is more complex, and only partially supported by this model. Suggestions for how universities can better improve the environment for African American graduate students are included.

The broad aim of this thesis is twofold: firstly, I contextualise the Maausk movement and its practitioners’ understandings in relation to history and the surrounding society; secondly, I analyse the affective and embodied experiences of being a Maausk practitioner from a phenomenological perspective. The thesis focuses on the formation and practice of Maausk, which is perceived to be deeply tied to the society and history where it exists. Relatedly, this study examines how Maausk identity formation and practices have been influenced by the Soviet legacy, romantic nationalism and Estonia’s current economic and political situation. In order to analyse the Maausk experiences and narratives, this study draws from various phenomenologically oriented theories of affect, embodiment and emotion, as well as cultural theories of place, identity, tradition and authenticity. I have used economic anthropology and globalisation theories as well as historical studies of Estonia’s Soviet past to contextualise the Maausk movement. Further, to place Maausk in the European religious landscape, this study refers to native faith and Neo-pagan studies. Through sensory ethnography, this study draws on the affective and emotional aspects of the research material to analyse how the complexity of emotional experiences of being a Maausk practitioner produces Maausk meanings and values. The study also examines the role and function of the body and emotions during the process of embodying the Maausk practices, both techniques and meanings of the practices.

This thesis explores the political discourse´s portrayal of elderly needs in Sweden, as well as discourses the lived effects on the elderly population. The study is guided by the following research questions 1) What is the current political discourses construction of elderly´s needs? And 2) How could this discourse affect the elderly population? To fulfil the purpose and answer the research questions the study utilizes a critical discourse analysis. The study also employs a wide theoretical foundation with central concepts deriving both from a general sociological tradition, such as symbolic interactionism. As well as more specialized gerontological theories, such as ageism and structured dependency. By using a thematic analysis as well as a synthesising analysis the study provided both an in-depth and collected depiction of the discourse on elderly needs as well as its lived effects. The analysis found four thematics of interest, a) Emotional needs b) elderly´s need of others c) organizational needs and d) basic amenities. All of which were characterized by a dystopian and ageist portrayal of old age. Seemingly based on ageist stereotypes rather than the characteristics of the actual demographic. Similarly, the overall narrative showed that elderly where portrayed as a homogenized collective of others. The narrative also depicted elderly as a very simple, dependant and burdensome demographic. The lived effects were varied under the thematic analysis, these could be characterized under two overarching trends. Firstly, the risk that elderly embrace the dystopian role depicted in the discourse. Secondly the discourses skewed portrayal of elderly can lead to less effective and potentially destructive policies and resource allocation.