Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-102).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 331-334, 355-367).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-154).

Thesis (M.A.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan Kollin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-77).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-245).

This multi-layered and multi-perspective inquiry focuses on adult adoptees’ sense-making of, and presentation of, their sexuality and self/identity. It is situated firmly within postmodern and social constructionist traditions, whereby both the personal/particular and social/shared dimensions of experiences are negotiated, disenfranchised/marginalised voices are privileged, and the distinctions between, research, art and therapy are disrupted. Due to the adoptees being placed in, and conceived as, marginalised group members, their local and marginalised voices are privileged within this thesis. The aims of this research were:  To gain access to, and gather, adult adoptee’s personal narratives/stories around the subject of their sexuality, their sexual identity and their adoption;  To give ‘voice’ to adult adoptees around the subject of sexuality and adoption;  To represent, and then present, these narratives/stories, honouring both the individual particulars of ‘lived experience’ and also to highlight any shared thematic qualities of the participants. A bricolage approach was used, using Kinchloe and Berry’s (2004) formalised theoretical concept of the ‘POET’ (the point of entry text). To capture the multiplicity of the research, and the POETs, a three-phase approach was applied. Phase one incorporated my auto-ethnographic account, of my lived experience of sexuality as an adoptee, through an analysis of my narratives and poems. Phase two explored the participants’ understanding, and presentation of, their sexuality from the analysis of their interview data. These data were analysed through a heuristic approach, developing individual depictions, a group depiction and then a final creative synthesis. In phase three, an interpretative phenomenological analysis, was applied to highlight thematic individual and shared themes of the participants’ data, to present a more structured and thematic representation. The data from phase one, two and three, highlighted the vulnerability, and cultural socio-political constructs, that can affect the self-formation and sexuality of an adoptee. The data from phase three established four superordinate themes: 1. Sexual attitudes, 2. Vulnerability, 3. The ‘Other’, and 4. The Feminine. The research demonstrates that adult adoptees, as vulnerable, are more open and susceptible to external influence regarding their sexuality and self-formation, and proposes an ‘inherent potential toward vulnerability’ within the adoptee. Therefore, there is a relationship between the adoptee, as inherently vulnerable, and how they constitute their sexuality and self-formation. Implications for practice require careful ethical consideration of the adoptees’ inherent vulnerability and how this impacts their sexuality and self-formation. These considerations for good practice/therapeutic intervention are underpinned by an awareness of potential ethical, political and social issues regarding the adoptee’s susceptible influence by the ‘other’. Therefore, an awareness of how ‘non-directive practice’ can be integrated ethically by the practitioner is emphasised. These implications are not always evident in counselling/psychotherapy training and supervision, and therefore need careful consideration by the practitioner at a personal level, and in relation to social policy, when working with adoptees.

Segmentation has long been used by companies as the main strategy to succeed in the marketplace. This method is mainly about dividing the marketplace into smaller segments, where individuals are divided according to predefined variables. These variables are based on the solid social positions of individuals, of a modern society and have been questioned by researchers who believe that this method should be reviewed. The reason is that the modern society is considered to have been replaced by the postmodern society, which is dynamic and fragmented, in which these variables are considered irrelevant. It is from this perspective that the term "Consumer tribes" was chosen to be studied in more detail in this paper. As a starting point, Bernard Cova's theory of the social link, has been used. The purpose of the study was to find out to what extent the idea of consumer tribes are present in practice. In order to investigate this, segmentation was chosen as a point of view inthe study. To carry out the survey, a deductive research effort was adopted with a qualitative method. The data has been generated from ten qualitative semi structured interviews that have been held with people who work in the subject area. The study's results show that the majority of companies are familiar with the concept of consumer tribes. Although most companies do not use the concept in those terms, the result shows that the idea is used by the companies in other terms. However, the traditional segmentation variables are most common among the companies in the survey, although someof the postmodern reasoning can be found in the result. Furthermore, it is noted that the most common way for companies to try to position themselves in the chosen customer segments is through different types of opinion shapers.

Ph.D. (Communication Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis will explore Watchmen as an event in postmodern art and literature. When a postmodern event occurs, no language game exists at that moment to make the event comprehensible. Limitations therefore of incommensurable language games are exposed and scholars are left without language, scrabbling to decipher what happened. This is the case with Watchmen. Comics and literature collided and there is no language to discuss what has come out of that collision. Through chapter analysis, character study, and inquiry into the postmodern mood this project will demonstrate Watchmen as a turning point in the discussion of comics and literature.