It is 30 years after Post-Mao reforms, 20 years after Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and the next generation of “comrades” are emerging in China. They are called the Balinghou or “Post- 80s” generation, referring to the cohort born between 1980 and 1989. This study addresses an empirical gap by exploring the narrative resources Shanghai’s Post-80s young adults call on to construct their identities, given the historical situation in which they live. This exploration is achieved through qualitative empirical data by employing a combination of narrative analysis and ethnography. Data analysis uncovers narrative resources clustered around three common themes: generational identity, structural resources, and personal lives. Further refection reveals that the extent to which identity is narratively expressed can be culturally constrained. Although the Balinghou encounter unique external factors such as the One Child Policy and rapid economic growth and reform in China, their narrative identity resources are more related to their perceptions of life stages than unprecedented historical circumstance. Keywords: narrative, identity, life course, symbolic interactionism, China, Shanghai, Balinghou, Post-80s generation

Thesis (PhD.(Pastoral Family Therapy))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this research voyage of discovery, we story the voices of me (the research inquirer), my family and a teacher about our experience with a young woman with Autism Spectrum Disorder – my youngest sister Leyna.1 This is our attempt to give Leyna and (dis)ability a voice. Their voices have been silenced from research for too long. I try to explain a narrative research lens as a foundation for this document – one that views autism not as a disorder, but as a difference that needs to be embraced. People often live their lives according to the problem stories they tell themselves, and do not see the alternative stories that surround them every day. On this voyage I therefore tell our story to document the inspirational experiences that people with autism bring about in the lives of those supporting them. Little research that focuses on alternative stories about autism has been done on a global scale. Moreover, little research has been done on autism specifically in the South African context. This thesis relates the stories of the people involved in caring for my sister with autism. It brings a message of hope and suggests possibilities for future research voyages about autism. 1 Pseudonym / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie navorsingsontdekkingsreis vertel ons 'n storie deur verskeie stemme te laat hoor: ek, die navorsingsondersoeker, my gesin en 'n onderwyseres vertel 'n storie oor ons ervaringe met 'n jong vrou met Outisme Spektrum Versteuring – my jongste suster Leyna.2 Hierdie is ons onderneming om vir Leyna en gestremdheid 'n stem te gee. Te veel stemme is al te lank deur navorsing stilgemaak. Ek probeer die narratiewe navorsingslens te verduidelik as 'n grondslag vir hierdie dokument – een wat outisme nie as 'n versteuring sien nie, maar eerder as 'n verskil wat aangegryp en gerespekteer moet word. Mense leef dikwels hul lewens uit op grond van die probleemgesentreerde stories wat hulle aan hulself vertel, en sien nie die alternatiewe stories raak wat hulle daagliks omsluit nie. In hierdie reis vertel ek dus ons storie om die inspirerende ervarings wat mense met outisme in die mense wat hulle ondersteun teweeg bring, te dokumenteer. Min navorsing wat op die alternatiewe stories oor outisme fokus is tot op hede op 'n globale skaal gedoen. Verder is daar nog min navorsing oor outisme spesifiek in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks gedoen. Hierdie studie vertel die stories van die mense wat betrokke is in die versorging van my suster met outisme. Hiermee word 'n boodskap van hoop gebring en moontlikhede voorgestel vir toekomstige navorsingsreise oor outisme. 2 Skuilnaam is gebruik

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-188).

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the Swedish term for reading promotion, läsfrämjande, and gain a greater understanding for the meanings inherent in the word. To do this, narrative theory in the form if Harding's typology of six different types of narratives arranged on a scale from general to particular has been used for the analysis.The study focuses on librarians that work with children and young adults in public libraries and their rela-tionships with reading promotion. On the surface the Swedish word for reading promotion is simple, but exam-ined closely it becomes apparent that it is in fact multifaceted. The word consists of many different narratives that interact and in different ways change and affect each other. This study has identified five different types of collective narratives connected to the word läsfrämjande. These are the democratic narrative, the narrative of qualitative litterateur, reading for the soul, the enabling narrative and the literacy narrative. Together with the other types of narratives these form the basis of the personal narrative the librarians form around their reading promotion work and the word läsfrämjande.The personal narrative connected to the word will always be unique to the individual librarian, and it is be-cause of this that the word is so hard to define. The meaning will differ in small ways between different people, but because the personal narratives are built from the same collective narratives there will appear to be consensus in the meaning.This study has been produced as a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The purpose of this research is to use semiotic and narrative theory to unpack the layered meanings related to postage stamps and handwritten letters and explore their similarities. The theories of Peirce on icon, index and symbol, provide a systematic framework from which to explore the parallel narratives in a personal collection of postage stamps and letters received between 1996 and 1999. Postage stamps and letters are sent as a unit, allowing their public and private narratives to arrive in parallel. Both the practical and theoretical components of this research explore these narratives, treating letters and postage stamps as both personal and impersonal objects of communication. They are archival objects of national and personal history and of an era that is slowly fading. This research does not reinforce the different modes of communication offered by postage stamps and letters, but rather unpacks and compares, from a personal perspective, their many layers of meaning. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

Bibliography: leaves 127-134 / Integrating psychology and spirituality to open up discussion on spiritual identity and its effects on the whole person was birthed in a counselling context, as individuals sought answers for various problems, having an effect on their psychological and spiritual well-being. The body, soul and spirit approach unfolded, as we explored their identity, more specifically, their spiritual identity, thus integrating psychology and spirituality. The aim was to explore how the discovery of their spiritual identity had an effect on them holistically. I chose a qualitative research design because my research questions required the collection and analysis of rich, in-depth data regarding participants’ psychological and spiritual journeys (Phipps, & Vorster, 2011; Ryan, 2006). My data collection method was twofold, using both in-depth interviews (narrative storytelling), as the initial stage for the individual to tell their story and the effects on their psychological and spiritual well-being, as well as semi-structured interviews (brainstorming), as the second stage in the research. The objective was to see what effects the problem had on them as a whole person. I used two stages of data analysis to reach this objective namely a collaborative deconstruction technique, together with the individual as the first stage and secondly a thematic analysis to interpret the main messages, patterns that repeated, as well as the highlights, having an effect on them as a whole. The results confirmed that individuals “discover” their spiritual identity when their self-identity reaches a limit of coping with problems and have more positive effects on them as whole persons. The significance of the research is that it has contributed to a more integrated counselling approach, within psychology, for counsellors and psychologists, to explore spiritual identity with the individual. Through the integration of seeing individuals as whole beings, including a spiritual dimension, awareness was created within the counselling context of the value of seeing individuals in a more integrative and holistic manner. Such a psycho-spiritual integrative approach is more relevant in the field of counselling in journeying with individuals in wholeness and affecting their dimensions of body, soul and spirit positively in the context of identity. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

A thesis submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy / The perturbing phenomenon of wastage (revealed through incidences of unsatisfactory levels of student retention, poor pass and completion rates and an increase in repetition rates) is a course of concern for universities as it has a bearing on financial expenditure as well as institutional reputation. For the purpose of this study being at-risk is synonymous with being vulnerable.Student vulnerability is not a homogeneous phenomenon and therefore different student support structures, strategies and policies need to be devised for different issues and problems experienced by vulnerable students. This study argues that as long as effective and adequate institutional support is lacking, student vulnerability will continue to be a 'wastage' catalyst. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version - Abstract would not load onto DSpace]

For a 25-year period during the apartheid era in South Africa, all school-leaving white men were issued with a compulsory call-up to national military service in the South African Defence Force. It is estimated that 600 000 men were conscripted between 1968 and 1993, undergoing military training and being deployed in Namibia, Angola and South Africa. The purpose of this system of military conscription was to support both the apartheid state’s role in the “Border War” in Namibia and Angola and the suppression of anti-apartheid resistance within South Africa. It formed part of the National Party’s strategy of a “total response” to what it perceived as the “total onslaught” of communism and African nationalism. While recruiting and training young white men was the focus of the apartheid government’s strategy, all of white South African society was caught up in supporting, contesting, avoiding and resisting this system in one way or another. Rather than being a purely military endeavour, conscription into the SADF therefore comprised a social and political system with wide-ranging ramifications. The 1994 democratic elections in South Africa heralded the advent of a very different political, social and economic system to what had gone before. The focus of this research is SADF conscripts’ narrations of identity in the contested narrative terrain of post-apartheid South Africa. The thesis begins with a contextual framing of the historical, social and political systems of which conscription was a part. Drawing on narrative psychology as a theoretical framework, the thesis explores discursive resources of whiteness, masculinities and perceptions of threat in conscripts’ narrations of identity, the construction of memory fields in narrating memories of war and possible trauma, and the notions of moral injury and moral repair in dealing with legacies of war. Using a narrative discursive approach, the thesis then reflects on historical temporal threads, and narrative patterns that emerge when analysing a range of texts about the psychosocial legacies of conscription, including interviews, research, memoirs, plays, media reports, video documentaries, blogs and photographic exhibitions. Throughout the thesis, conscripts’ and others’ accounts of conscription and its legacies are regarded as cultural texts. This serves as a means to highlight both contextual narrative negotiations and the narrative-discursive patterns of conscripts’ personal accounts of their identities in the post-apartheid narrative terrain. The original contribution of this research is the development of conceptual and theoretical framings of the post-apartheid legacies of conscription. Key to this has been the use of narrative-based approaches to highlight the narrative-discursive patterns, memory fields and negotiations of narrative terrains at work in texts that focus on various aspects of conscription and its ongoing aftereffects. The concept of temporal threads has been developed to account for the emergence and shifts in these patterns over time. Existing narrative-discursive theory has formed the basis for conscripts’ negotiations of identity being identified as acts of narrative reinforcement and narrative repair. The thesis concludes with reflections on the future possibilities for articulating and supporting narrative repair that enables a shift away from historical discursive laagers and a reconfiguration of the narrative terrain within which conscripts narrate their identities. / Also known as: Edlmann, Theresa

This Qualitative research investigated and explored using a Narrative approach with teachers to find ways to improve the quality of teachers’ lives through the use of stories in Pastoral Counselling. A small group of teachers from a local primary school were invited to share their stories as a means to explore care and support actions for other teachers in the South African context. Statistics seem to point to a crisis in the South African education system, especially regarding the well-being of teachers. Various factors contribute to this including issues of diversity in the teaching context and challenges posed by inclusive education. It is my belief that a Narrative approach can assist Practical Theology to make a significant contribution towards helping struggling teachers nurture resilience and create more meaningful lives. Narrative Inquiry, a relatively new Qualitative methodology, was used to study the teachers’ experiences. This required a “collaboration between researcher and participants” which happened over time, in a particular context (Beaumont Primary School in Somerset West) and in social interactions with the research participants: a small group of teachers from Beaumont Primary School. African and South African views were investigated. Data collection methods included: interviewing; attentive listening; and observation, through which stories (data) was collected from the focus group. After analysing and interpreting the research data, an integrated Narrative Pastoral model was constructed which could assist Practical Theology and Pastoral Counselling to better equip teachers to deal with the challenges they are facing. It is hoped that this model will ultimately help the teachers involved in this research project to grow into integrated, whole (quality) beings who can make a difference where they work and live. The vision is that this model can also be implemented in the rest of South Africa’s teacher population. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)