Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff & Johnson 1980; Lakoff, 1983, 1987, 1993, 2008, 2009), the most prominent cognitive approach to metaphor comprehension, argues that the nature of interconnections within the conceptual system is inherently metaphoric-analogical and that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor reveal these cognitive interconnections. Relevance Theory (RT, Sperber & Wilson, 1986; Wilson & Sperber, 1993; Sperber & Wilson, 1995; Wilson & Sperber, 2002, 2004) and Graded Salience (GS, Giora, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003; Peleg et al., 2008; Peleg & Giora, 2011) disagree that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor can be taken as direct evidence of their cognitive representation. A metaphor consists of two concepts, a source and a target concept. The metaphor implies an analogy between the two concepts. To comprehend a metaphor is to infer under which conditions the implied analogy holds. The meaning of the two concepts is pragmatically enriched by these additional assumptions. Metaphor comprehension is an inferential process. The result of this process is the enriched meaning of the metaphor. This meaning can become conventionalised, in which case it often serves as an inferential shortcut: instead of having to consider all conceptually possible interpretations and their plausibility in the context of the analogy, speakers who are familiar with the conventional (i.e. idiomatic) meaning are provided with a default interpretation. According to CMT, the inferential process is a process of interconnecting primary embodied concepts to ever more complex higher-order concepts. On this view, a metaphoric idiomatic meaning is such a complex concept where the conceptual interconnections are conventional. According to RT, the inferential process is a process of inferring a meaning that is in line with the speaker's communicative intent, the discourse context, and interlocutors' expectations of the cognitive relevance of potential inferences. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences with a high degree of contextual relevance because speakers' expectations of relevance are conventionalised. According to GS, the inferential process consists of two modules that work in parallel: a module that infers salient meanings based on linguistic knowledge and a module that enriches the meaning by taking non-linguistic knowledge such as conceptual, experiential, perceptual, contextual, and world knowledge into consideration. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences because of speakers' knowledge of non-conceptual linguistic conventions. This thesis investigates the claims made by CMT, RT and GS by experimentally testing the cross-linguistic communicability of metaphoric proverbs with idiomatic meanings. Proverbs are selected such that the similarity of metaphors' source and target concepts, expectations of contextual relevance, and the degree of familiarity with proverbs' conventional wording is cross-linguistically maximised. If CMT is correct, then when cross-linguistic conceptual similarity is maximised in this way, monolingual native speakers should find L2 language-specific metaphors communicable. If RT and GS are correct, then monolingual native speakers should find L2-specific metaphors less communicable than L1-specific and non-language-specific metaphoric proverbs because they lack knowledge of the necessary non-conceptual linguistic conventions. Cross-linguistic metaphor communicability is measured in three ways in the experiments: (1) through reading/response times, (2) through plausibility judgements, and (3) through a context creation task. Results show that cross-linguistic metaphor communicability of L2-specific metaphors is lowered for monolingual native speakers on all three measures.

O presente trabalho possui como tema a importância da presença de sentido nas aulas de Geografia. Nossa delimitação analítica está pautada na relação do sentido) como facilitador ou não do processo de ensino-aprendizagem em Geografia. O caminho investigativo emprega o Paradigma da Complexidade como desafio para a compreensão do mundo pautado nas técnicas da Pesquisa Qualitativa. As lentes desta pesquisa estão projetadas a partir do estudo do Espaço Geográfico, da Paisagem e do Lugar. A pesquisa possui como preocupação inicial o estudo de caminhos metodológicos que propiciem a percepção do sentido nas aulas, por meio da criação, vivência e atitude dos estudantes, a fim de que tenhamos clareza epistemológica para buscarmos aproximações com as demandas da área do ensino de Geografia. A partir disso, problematizamos os desafios que encontramos nas salas de aula, as proximidades que esta ciência pode possuir com o estudo do sentido e investigamos as possibilidades que favorecem maior atribuição do mesmo por parte dos alunos. Utilizamos como referência para o trabalho, as contribuições da linha psicanalítica denominada Logoterapia, formulada pelo psicoterapeuta vienense Viktor E. Frankl (2008), seu trabalho aponta para a superação das dificuldades a partir do encontro com o sentido que os sujeitos atribuem às suas vidas. Após tais aproximações teóricas, apresentamos atividades pedagógicas, baseadas nas contribuições da Logoterapia, nas teorias de Ensino da Geografia e na Epistemologia Genética de Piaget (1974), que consideramos apresentar elementos que favoreçam a atribuição de sentido pelos sujeitos envolvidos em suas aulas e propiciem a construção do conhecimento. O trabalho indica a necessidade de repensarmos nossas práticas, a fim de que nossas aulas possam ir ao encontro da vida de quem estuda Geografia, para que esses alunos desenvolvam habilidade de análise, de reflexão e aplicação do conhecimento estudado para com a vida. / The present work has as theme the importance of the presence of meaning in Geography‟s classes. Our analytical delimitation is based on the relationship of meaning as a facilitator or not of the teaching-learning process in Geography. The investigative path applies the Complexity‟s Paradigm as a challenge for understanding of the world based on Qualitative Research Techniques. The lenses of this research are projected from the study of Geographic Space, Landscape and of Place. The research has as initial concern the study of methodological ways that enable the sense‟s perception in the classes, through the creation, experience and attitude of the students, in order that we have epistemological clarity to seek approximations with demands of the Geography teaching‟s area. From this, we problematize the challenges that find in the classrooms, the proximities that this science can possess with the study of meaning and we investigate the possibilities that favor a large attribution of the same on the part of the students. We have like contributions of the psychoanalytic line named Logotherapy, it was developed by the Viennese psychotherapist Viktor E. Frankl (2008), his work aims at overcoming the difficulties from the encounter with the sense that the subjects attribute to their lives. After these theoretical approaches, we show pedagogical activities, based on the contributions of Logotherapy, in Geography‟s Teaching and the Piaget Genetics‟ Epistemology by Piaget (1974), which we consider as showing elements that favor the attribution of meaning by subjects involved in their classes and allow knowledge‟s construction. The work indicates the necessity to rethink our practices, so our classes can come to the meeting of life of those who study Geography, and these students develop analysis‟ ability, reflection and knowledge‟s application studied to life.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Gabor Hardy, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Speech Communication, presented on 8 March, 2012, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: A RITUAL IN PERSPECTIVE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF A LAKOTA SUNDANCE AT HOOSIER NATIONAL FOREST MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jonathan Gray Using ethnographic methods, interviews, observations, and participation of and in indigenous rituals, I discuss the ways in which Western and American Indian notions of spirit, human beings and their place in the world, and the practice of spirituality differ in action, thought, and word. Since the time of the Renaissance the supremacy of "rational" or "reasonable" modes of thinking has influenced the modern world. Many American Indian writers, shamans, and Sundance chiefs believe that an understanding of their approach to the Divine may never be apprehended without some sort of actual experience. This indigenous perspective differs in substantial ways from hegemonic, Christian and Western linear modes of thinking. I draw on my attendance at numerous Sundance rituals, readings by American Indian spiritual leaders, and ethnographic work done at the Salt Creek Sundance ritual to articulate and streamline major differences and similarities that exist in both approaches. Through participation and dialogue, a distinct indigenous spiritual approach emerges that is difficult to reconcile with traditional Christian and Eurocentric world views. As I hope to demonstrate, the appearance and performance of American Indian ritual serve to not only challenge Western colonial perspectives, but also to empower indigenous approaches to spirit. In order to cultivate a more tolerant approach to the diversity and various modes of spiritual expression, a change in consciousness is needed, not necessarily for the American Indian worldview, but from the current ethnocentric worldview of the US Government which holds this form of government as the highest accomplishment of any nation thus far. This dissertation offers an approach that probes the relationship between an earth based religion and a monotheistic religion. Finally, I present a vision that allows for an understanding and/or appreciation of a spiritual approach which remains alien to Western approaches and conceptualizations of spirit. Key words: rational mind, symbolic meaning, ritual, myths, sacred, ideology, truth, indigenous worlds, cosmology, spirituality, reason, ethnography, Sundance, performance, and Native American.

abstract: The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate what students in three high school music groups perceived as most meaningful about their participation. I also examined the role that context played in shaping students' perceptions, and sought potential principles underlying meaning and value in instrumental ensembles. Over the course of six months I conducted a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six student wind ensemble members, five student guitar class members, and six jazz band members at three high schools in Winnipeg, Canada. I interviewed the participants' music teachers and school principals, observed rehearsals and performances, and spoke informally with parents and peers. Drawing upon praxial and place philosophies, I examined students' experiences within the context of each music group, and looked for themes across the three groups. What students perceived to be meaningful about their participation was multifaceted and related to fundamental human concerns. Students valued opportunities to achieve, to form and strengthen relationships, to construct identities as individuals and group members, to express themselves and communicate with others, and to engage with and through music. Although these dimensions were common to students in all three groups, students experienced and made sense of them differently, and thus experienced meaningful participation in multiple, variegated ways. Context played a substantial role in shaping not only the dimensions of meanings most salient to participants but also the ways that music experiences became meaningful for those involved. What students value and find meaningful about their participation in instrumental music education has been neither well documented nor thoroughly explored. This study raises questions about the ways that meaningful musical engagement might extend beyond the boundaries of school, and contributes student perspectives sorely needed in ongoing conversations concerning the relevance of music education in students' lives. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music Education 2012

Purpose: Many lives are affected by cancer. The number of people in England who have had a diagnosis of cancer exceeds one million. Previous research shows that one third of patients have unmet needs post-discharge from cancer treatment, including psychological issues such as negative impacts on self-identity and a lack of meaning in life. Studies have identified identity as an important factor in meaning making, but evidence regarding cancer’s impact on identity is limited to specific cancer sites and specific identity roles. Little is known about cancer’s general impact on global identity or how threats to identity relate to meaning making. The aim of this study was to understand patients’ experiences of cancer’s impact on their identity and what sense they made of these experiences. Methods: Twelve participants in the post-treatment phase of cancer shared their experiences in individual semi-structured interviews. Key themes regarding identity and meaning making in the post-treatment phase were identified using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results and Conclusions: Four key themes in the participants’ experiences were identified. These were 1) disrupted identity roles, 2) highlights what is important, 3) focused on priorities, and 4) reducing awareness of loss and uncertainty. Relevant literature and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

DANTAS, Deuzimar da Silva. Os significados da economia solidária: o caso da Rede Cearense de Socioeconomia Solidária. 2013. 105f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2013. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-30T14:33:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_dsdantas.pdf: 1011308 bytes, checksum: ca40e31c2373e20ecaf68e6fae4a3534 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-07-01T11:18:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_dsdantas.pdf: 1011308 bytes, checksum: ca40e31c2373e20ecaf68e6fae4a3534 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-01T11:18:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_dsdantas.pdf: 1011308 bytes, checksum: ca40e31c2373e20ecaf68e6fae4a3534 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / This research focuses on the field of solidarity economy. It seeks to comprehend the meanings this social phenomenon incorporates within the context of Rede Cearense de Socioeconomia Solidária (RCSES). RCSES is one of the institutions that represent the named solidarity economic businesses in Ceará. The objective was mainly to understand their political potential of creating new meanings and practices which are capable of confronting dominant notions of politics, economy and sociability, as well as the various forms of exclusion and discrimination which are within social relationships in Brazil. In this sense, the methodological approach used is qualitative and understanding because the research looks for noticing the meaning of the social actions that are part of the solidarity economy movement in Ceará. The work tries to understand how the movement is organized taking into account the actions of people who belong to RCSES. First, it is possible to say RCSES creates “the politics of meaning” because it has as focus discuss alternatives ways of thinking about material subsistence, and of building new social bond. On the other hand, there are ambiguities and reproduction of discourses and practices in the movement that restrain an effective participation of people in the main decisions about economic and political issues. / Esta dissertação focaliza o campo da economia solidária na busca de compreender os significados que esse fenômeno social assume no contexto da Rede Cearense de Socioeconomia Solidária (RCSES). A RCSES é uma das instituições que representam os chamados empreendimentos econômicos solidários no Ceará. Meu objetivo foi entender, especialmente, seu potencial político de gestar novos significados e práticas, capaz de se confrontar com as noções dominantes de política, economia e sociabilidade e com as diversas formas de exclusão e discriminação presentes nas relações sociais no Brasil. Nesse sentido, minha abordagem metodológica é qualitativa e compreensiva, pois, busco perceber o sentido das ações sociais que configuram o movimento de economia solidária no Ceará, sobretudo, a forma como ele é configurado a partir das ações dos sujeitos que integram a RCSES. Preliminarmente, diria que a RCSES gesta uma “política do significado”, pois, tem como foco de discussão pensar formas alternativas de sobrevivência material e de construção de um novo laço social. Por outro lado, há ambiguidades e reprodução de discursos e práticas que restringem uma participação efetiva desses sujeitos nas principais decisões sobre o campo econômico e político.

By using the theoretical framework developed by Schaefer and Moos (1998), this study examined the mechanisms through which personal beliefs in ultimate justice affect posttraumatic growth in female survivors of sexual assault. Problem solving, spiritual coping, and meaning making were examined as potential mediators between beliefs in ultimate justice and posttraumatic growth through a path analysis. In total, 144 female community survivors, psychology students, and other participants were recruited from a large mid-western university (mean age = 29.3). The online survey was composed of a demographic questionnaire, the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007), Emotion Thermometer (Mitchell, 2001), Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), Belief in Immanent and Ultimate Justice Scale (Maes, 1998), Trauma Resilience Scale (Madsen & Abell, 2010), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). Results indicate that problem solving and spirituality significantly mediated the relationship between belief in ultimate justice and posttraumatic growth. Search for meaning significantly mediated the relationship between beliefs in ultimate justice and distress. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Keywords: sexual assault, posttraumatic growth, belief in a just world, meaning making, coping

This dissertation considers the supportive and complementary relation between Mark Johnson’s embodied realism and Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do as a philosophical practice. In exploring this relationship, the emphasis on one’s embodiment condition and its relationship with metaphor and self-expression are the primary focus. First, this work involves providing an introduction to and an exploration of Johnson’s understanding of embodiment and his pragmatic realism with its foundation in metaphorical expression. Second, Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do serves as a kind of exemplification and possible case of effective metaphorical development founded upon a desire for metaphorical-based self-expression of a combat philosophy of embodiment. Third, an analysis of the convergence between the use of metaphor-based embodiment in Lee’s and Johnson’s philosophies is considered. In this respect, both views serve to promote communication and evolution of self-expression as a consequence of certain metaphors. In the final area of analysis, Peirce’s phenomenology offers an understanding of how Lee’s and Johnson’s metaphor-based embodiment provides a fuller context and awareness of the phenomena of embodiment.

This work was undertaken with a view to developing a textbook for United States secondary schools on the subject of death and dying through a religious lens. The purpose of this work is to provide high school teens with the means of coping with loss and a foundation for crafting their own meaning of life and death. Taking a close look at death attitudes among young people in the United States, as well as high school faculty and staff for the purpose of determining whether or not death education can be provided for public high school students, the work starts from the premise that said death education, using a religious model, should be provided for teenagers because the religious model provides the necessary elements of idea, ritual, and community, so necessary for building a world-view. Research was conducted in the form of survey and historical review to determine the efficacy of the proposed course of study. Upon analysis of the available information on death education history and course offering, as well as analysis of the survey results, the conclusion was reached that the provision of death education in the nation‟s public high schools would go a long way to reducing death anxiety amongst United States teenagers, and also give the adolescents a model for creating their own sense of meaning for all of life that includes death. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

This research explored older Slovenians’ occupations, including the ways in which the transition into a care home influenced their occupational engagement. The research encompassed three stages. Stage 1 investigated Slovenian older people’s individual experiences of occupational engagement, with a particular emphasis on their personally meaningful occupations. Stage 2 aimed to enhance understanding of the impact of transition into a care home on older Slovenians’ meaningful occupations. Finally, Stage 3 sought to provide an insight into older people’s occupational engagement in one Slovenian care home. The first two stages of this research took a phenomenological approach; focusing on the participants’ individual experiences of occupational engagement; using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to approach and analyse the data. Ten older adults were interviewed in Stage 1 and six older adults were interviewed in Stage 2 at three time points: before the relocation into a care home, one month after and six months after the relocation. The final stage was ethnographic in nature; exploring occupational engagement among Slovenian care home residents as a culture-sharing group; using observations for collecting the data and analysing the resulting field notes using Thematic Analysis. The findings consistently highlighted the significance of occupations and routines in participants’ everyday lives as important parts of their identities. The first two stages highlighted the importance of a continuous experience of meaning in occupation, across participants’ lives and throughout their transition into a care home. Some of these meanings were specific to Slovenian socio-cultural, historic and geographical context. The participants especially valued productive occupations such as gardening, family-related occupations such as looking after and passing knowledge to younger generations and occupations related to particular places, such as spending time at their weekend cottages and home surroundings, walking familiar pathways or hiking Slovenian mountains. These Slovenian older adults purposefully engaged in health-promoting occupations in order to maintain their health, in turn influencing their occupational engagement. Since their everyday routines were related to particular places, Stages 2 and 3 highlighted that some of these occupations were disrupted by their new living environment. The care home residents managed this situation by trying to maintain their engagement in occupations that they perceived personally meaningful and enjoyable. This research is foundational in the Slovenian context, with the findings also being transferrable to individuals and contexts outside Slovenia. From exploring the impact of older people’s living environments on their meaningful occupational engagement, the findings contribute original knowledge to occupational science regarding the link between occupation, place, identity and the transactional perspective of occupation. This indicates the need to develop further therapeutic programmes and services for older people making the transition to care home living.