Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1979. / Title from title page screen, viewed Feb. 7, 1979. Dissertation Committee: Edward Schapsmeier (chair), Ira Cohen, Charles Gray, Clinton Bunke, L. Moody Simms. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-128) and abstract. Also available in print.

In 2007 a new government-funded initial teacher training programme was introduced in China. Emergent problems associated with the implementation of this policy call for a new research agenda that is able to illuminate aspects of the history of teacher education in China. Through the exploration of the hidden and often untold stories of ordinary teachers’ lives from the past, this research project seeks to construct a more authentic and comprehensive historical account of teacher education in China from 1949 to 1982. It also strives to help in raising an awareness among teachers, researchers and policy makers of the significance of reflecting on the history of teacher education, in both individual and collective ways. Three types of qualitative sources, namely documentary, visual and oral data were assembled from archival and online searches, and by the conducting of 40 in-depth oral history interviews. Drawing on former student teachers’ testimonies, this thesis investigates key features and major trends marking the formal pattern of the Chinese teacher education system since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. It is argued that despite a number of radical structural and theoretical changes brought about by political campaigns over time, from the perspective of the student teachers themselves, continuities were more fundamental in this particular historical period. Aspects central to these continuities were a tiered teacher education system and two major approaches to teacher training. Compared to teacher education in the higher education sector, the normal school approach was recognised as having a systematic advantage in preparing teachers for classroom teaching. This dissertation also scrutinises the impact of educational reforms upon the teaching profession and teachers’ identities (individual and collective) from a rhetorical perspective. Evidence from a variety of documents, visual materials and interviewees’ recollections suggests that, as an inherent linguistic and cultural characteristic of the Chinese language, metaphor, together with narratives and other literary devices, plays an important role in shaping key concepts relevant to teacher education in China. The thesis resists conventional perceptions which associate a collectivist ethos among teachers chiefly with political propaganda, attributing it rather with traditional Chinese cultural values.

The diploma thesis is focused on the town of Habry and its everyday life. It deals with the life changes of local inhabitants in the period from the late sixties to the present. The main objective is to report on the changes in everyday life as they are perceived and reflected and evaluated by the local inhabitants. The thesis focuses on the fundamental topics of life in countryside. The research focuses on both the areas of employment and the closely related themes of transport, civic amenities, leisure time and important historical moments. The thesis is aimed at the changes that occurred in these areas in Habry during the concerned period. This thesis is based on field research, which is based on the method of oral history and acquired semi-structured interviews with local inhabitants. The practical part is preceded by a theoretical part, which proceeds from professional and thematic literature. The sources of information in this area also include the locally focused press and literature, including archive documents maintained by the Habry Municipal Office. Key words: Habry, everyday life, history, research, oral history

Continuous Curatorial Conversations is a practice-led exploration of conversation, both as a medium and as a tool for capturing supplementary histories of the curatorial. The primary question of this research project is how the medium of conversation can be explored to write supplementary histories of the curatorial which thus far have been omitted from extant publications on the subject. Three important sub questions guide this exploration. First, what is and has been the role of conversation within the curatorial? What are the possibilities and limitations within the medium of conversation? What roles do conviviality and hospitality play within the process of conversation? This thesis reflects upon a series of curated projects that explore the sp/pl/ace for curatorial conversation and also reviews a collection of one-to-one recorded conversations conducted by the author, including conversations with Alfredo Cramerotti, Hedwig Fijen, Mel Gooding, William Furlong and Sarah Lowndes. Sites of fieldwork include: the 54th Venice Biennale; Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. Through these projects and related recordings it unpicks the norms and possibilities of what and when one can record on the subject of the curatorial. The hypothesis of this study is that a great deal of curatorial activity is locked up in conversation, yet a disproportion makes it to the pages of the history of the field. Furthermore, in its clean transcribed form it misrepresents the fragility and nuance of the original exchange. The theoretical context of this research looks at Nicolas Bourriaud’s notion of Relational Aesthetics, the writing of Maria Lind and Paul O’Neill, with a focus on Audio Arts. A new methodology relating to curatorial conversation and its recording has therefore been identified as ‘critical conviviality’. The writing relating to Continuous Curatorial Conversations research takes the form of four books. The book ‘An Introduction’ comprises the PhD thesis and sits next to a bespoke online platform www.continuous-curatorial-conversations.org which hosts a selection of audio recordings collated during the research process. The books ‘Continuous’, ‘Curatorial’, and ‘Conversations’ unpack the lineage and context of Alexandra C.M. Ross’s practice and projects conducted during her research and are to be read in no strict order. The new knowledge resulting from this thesis and relating practice is the attention to the subtleties of conversation and its capture as it relates to the instigation, recording and presentation of semi-private matters in semi-public contexts.