Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-98).

One significant feature of this dissertation is an alternative reading of an eminent thinker of the Enlightenment such as Kant, specifically in the arena of art theory and art history. In so doing, one cannot claim that contemporary theory is free of past shortcomings that characterize the assumptions of the Enlightenment; neither should we forget that the past contains the seeds for future theoretical and practical directions. The focus of this dissertation is to elucidate how Kant's conception of fine art can be reinterpreted in such a way that it can be perceived as both Modernist and Postmodernist. Initially, I state the position of Kant in terms of a Formalist understanding of art. This focus on the form of an artwork coheres with certain basic Modernist tenets. Kant's aesthetics is shown to converge with that of the Modernist art critic, Clement Greenberg. Based on this Modernist reading of Kant, I analyze the paintings of Newman and Hoffman, who are both Abstract Expressionists. Thereafter, I question Kantian and Modernist aesthetics with the use of Postmodern theories. The Formalist work of Abstract Expressionism is critiqued first from the perspective of Pop art strategies and then by using the philosophical stance of Conceptual art. Lastly, Kant is reinterpreted in the light of Postmodern theories, such as the linguistic turn, the sublime and the metaphorical nature of art. In exploring the overlapping of Kant's aesthetics with Postmodernism, the boundaries between Modernism and Postmodernism become somewhat blurred. In this way, Newman is reevaluated in such a way as to eschew a purely Formalist critique and to offer a critical perspective closer to a Postmodern viewpoint. / Art History, Visual Arts and Music / (M.A. (Art History))

The study explores perceptions of nursery education held by staff, parents and children in three state nursery classes in a single local education authority. I have adopted a theoretical framework combining ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979,1992) and phenomenography (Marton, 1981,1988a and 1988b) which have not been combined in previous research in early years education. Such a paradigm synthesis allows me to interpret perceptions within the context of the nursery class, of the broader social milieu and of the research process itself. The research employs a variety of interviewing techniques, observation and documentary analysis. I have developed an interviewing technique specifically for the study in order to overcome some of the problems associated with obtaining young children's perceptions of their educational experience. I consider textual representation of voice, context and processes as problematic, a situation which has effected a change in my epistemological position and my move towards postmodernism. Therefore, I present the research within the context of my development over time. The research suggests that young children are able to voice their own perceptions of their nursery education, and that these perceptions, and children's ability to voice them, may be influenced by certain characteristics of the nursery class setting. Also illustrated is the complex and relative nature of adult perceptions, which must be considered within their situational and temporal context

M.A. / This study explores social constructionism as a paradigm for looking at emotional pain. Social constructionism has its philosophical underpinnings in postmodernism. In this mini-dissertation pre-modern, modern and postmodern epistemological assumptions are explored. Various views of postmodernism, both its origin and its effect on other spheres are reflected upon. The impact of postmodernism on psychology is explored by tracking the path of cybernetics, constructivism and finally social constructionism. The way emotions and emotional pain is seen through history is explored. By using social constructionism as a paradigm, the meaning making around emotional pain provides another lens for researchers and therapists in dealing with emotional pain.

The interjection of a new and dynamically different reading of Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy is imperative, if scholars want to clearly see many of the hidden facets of the novel that have gone unexamined because of out-dated scholarship. Ian Watt’s assumption that Sterne “would probably have been the supreme figure among eighteenth-century novelists” (291) if he had not tried to be so odd, and the conclusion that he draws, that “Tristram Shandy is not so much a novel as a parody of a novel” (291), is incorrect. Throughout the thesis, I argue that Sterne was not burlesquing other novelists, but instead, was engaging with themes that are now being examined by postmodern theories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jean François Lyotard: themes like the impenetrability of identity (“Don’t puzzle me” (TS 7.33.633)), the insufficiency of language (“Well might Locke write a chapter upon the imperfections of words” (5.6.429)), and the unavailability of permanence (“Time wastes too fast” (9.8.754)). I actively engage with their theories to deconstruct unexamined themes inside Tristram Shandy, and illuminate postmodern elements inside the novel. However, I do not argue that Tristram Shandy is postmodern. Instead, I argue that if the reader examines the novel outside of its usual context inside the eighteenth-century novel, there are themes that are apparent in the narrative which have gone unexamined because of the way it has been classified inside academia, and that postmodernist theory allows for these themes to be re-examined in the postmodern culture in which we now reside.

Typically, students have had limited voice in their schooling (Erickson & Schultz,1992). The purposes of this study were to explore the concept of student voice in the elementary school and to develop strategies that develop student voice in the curricula. An elementary school principal and four teachers participated in an action research study that examined and attempted to develop student voice in their classrooms. Acting as a coach, the principal supported the four teachers as they implemented their classroom research on student voice. Four case studies were developed based on artifacts such as journals (student and participant), lesson plans, meetings, surveys and observations. Data were analyzed for emerging themes and compared across cases.Findings indicate that there was a difference in the teachers' emerging understanding and promotion of student voice. These differences were explained on the evolving commonalities being discovered in each case study. First and foremost were the instructional strategies utilized by the participants that engaged the learners and promoted their voice? Next, the organizational structure of the building and classes played an important role. Time and size of classes either promoted or restrained student voice. Finally, the culture of the organization and the belief system of the individual teacher played an important role. / Ed. D.

No description available.

Regardless of one's position on what has come to be called postmodern theory, there is no denying that this theoretical perspective is challenging the legitimacy of many of the traditional concepts of political and social theory. Foremost among these challenges is the opposition that postmodern theory pose to any attempt to provide foundational certainty on which subjectivity, our sense of who we are and our place in the world, can be established. This thesis explores this postmodern "decentering" of subjectivity and argues that is a useful insight for contemporary political theory. Using the work of Judith Butler and William Connolly, I argue that a perspective that refuses to assume any foundational premises on which essential subjectivity can be established leads to a more ethical negotiation of difference and, ultimately, to a re-invigorated democratic ethos that allows for multifarious ways of being to be politically recognized. / Master of Arts

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Moral theories often view the problem of abortion as oppositional: either fiercely "pro-life" or adamantly "pro-choice". A closer view at their respective arguments suggests that extreme polar views are hardly tenable. The principle of the sanctity of life has its limits, and the liberal view on abortion leading to the logical conclusion that even infanticide is permissible is counterintuitive and at loggerheads with common morality. Softer views on both polar positions are more appealing and more acceptable. The soft "pro-life" stance has serious limitations for it appeals to the doctrine of double effect or to a secular but similar position, the doctrine of self-defence, which would allow abortion only in cases of rape or incest. The soft "pro-choice" position appeals to the concept of sentience: only the abortion of a presentient embryo/fetus is permissible. The difficulty, however, is that we know little about the sentience of the unborn and its occurrence during intra-uterine development. Both extreme and softer views are basically oppositional (either/or). The postmodern mind aims at deconstructing oppositions in order to highlight the ideologies underscoring the advocacy of either view. In a poststructural perspective that takes into account the complexity of life, it becomes possible to understand and to accept the view that a "pro-choice" stance is far from being "pro-death". This is the position which is argued for in the present essay. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die probleem van aborsie word dikwels deur morele teorieë beskou as een van oposisies: "pro-lewe" aan die een kant of "pro-keuse" aan die ander. Wanneer die onderskeie argumente van naderby beskou word, word dit duidelik dat hierdie uiters polêre sieninge skaars geregverdig is. Die beginsel van die heiligheid en onskendbaarheid van lewe het sy beperkinge, en die liberale standpunt oor aborsie, wat onvermydelik en op 'n logiese wyse lei na die konklusie dat selfs kindermoord geregverdig kan word, is kontra-intuitief en gaan die algemene moraliteit teen. Standpunte wat 'n minder radikale blik op beide die polêre posisies het is beide meer aantreklik en meer aanvaarbaar. Die sagte "pro-lewe" uitgangspunt het belangrike beperkinge, omdat dit sigself beroep op die doktrine van dubble-effek, of op 'n sekulêre, maar soortgelyke posisie, die doktrine van selfverdediging, wat aborsie sou wou toelaat in die geval van verkragting of bloedskande. Die sagte "pro-keuse" posisie beroep sigself op die konsep van waarnemingsvermoë: slegs die aborsie van die embrio/fetus wat nog nie oor waarnemingsvermoë beskik nie is toelaatbaar. Hierdie standpunt word egter bemoeilik deur die feit dat ons nie oor veel kennis beskik aangaande die waarnemingsvermoë van die ongebore, of van die voorkoms van waarnemingsvermoë gedurende intra-uterinêre ontwikkeling nie. Beide die uiterste en die sagter uitgangspunte is uiteinelik oposisioneel. Postmoderne denke stel hom ten doe Iom oposisies te dekonstrueer, ten einde lig te werp op die idoelogieë wat die aanhang van enige posisie onderskraag. In 'n poststukturele perspektief wat die kompleksiteit van lewe in ag neem, word dit moontlik om die siening dat 'n "prokeuse" uitgangspunt ver verwyderd is daarvan om "pro-die dood" te wees, te aanvaar. Dit is die posisie waarvoor daar in hierdie opstel geargumenteer word.

The last three decades have seen the Southern Mexican city of Oaxaca evolve to become an autonomous centre for the creation and promotion of contemporary art on state, national and international levels. The present research's original contribution to knowledge is the analytical investigation of an art movement's response to the political and technological effects characteristic of postmodernity and effected through globalisation. The research uses a hybrid theoretical framework that includes the work of: Fredric Jameson to discuss postmodernism; Nelly Richard to characterise a postmodern Latin America; Homi K. Bhabha to analyse the postcolonial context and the creation of agency; and, inherent to this structure and the context, the work of Néstor García Canclini. The theoretical investigation is supported by ethnography that ascertains how hybrid political thought and community altruism characterise the Oaxacan art community and the aesthetic expression practised by a new generation of its members. Oaxacan contemporary art is based on the success of the post-Rupture primitivist magical realism practised originally by important Oaxacan artists living and travelling in other locations. The most recent generation of contemporary artists in Oaxaca integrates with, upholds and promotes the model of cultural production that is now inextricably intertwined with the local and wider communities. Participant observation and the analysis of the behaviour of the artists studied, focused the investigation on the efficient interaction between artists and collective action as an integrated sector of civil society. The research determines how the artists studied and the wider Oaxacan art community applies their knowledge of global communications and information technology to create and market a cultural product and promote a postmodern social and political perspective. Regarded as a solid sector of the local and regional community due to its national and international standing, the Oaxacan art community constructs political power from significant, direct involvement with micro-projects to engaging in partnerships with state and federal stakeholders in large-scale cultural endeavours. The research discusses projects instigated and undertaken by the artists studied, including the call for a pacifistic solution to the Oaxaca Conflict of 2006, a six-month socio-political uprising caused by actual and historic conditions in the national and regional Left-Right political duel. The strength of the art community is founded on necessary and reinforcing collective action in both artistic and altruistic projects; often combined through the direct use of art in the creation of funds and media-empowered support towards achieving a perceived common good that centres on the protection of identity and the political defence of diversity.