This study embarked on exploring the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor from a psychological perspective. Six participants were interviewed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the research method. Race and gender are divided equally amongst Black, Caucasian, male, and female participants. Numerous dimensions relating to the lived experience of lay volunteer counsellors are investigated in the present literature, suggesting that the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor is multifaceted. The subjective experience of each of the participants was explored, with the optimism that this exploration would expound on the multilateralism of these facets. Although specific experiences remain exclusive to each participant, the intersecting and co-creation of meanings culminated in the cultivation of themes common to the participants. These themes are examined against the literature, critically appraising supportive and distinct suggestions. As is evident from the results, participants have a profound appreciation of the stimuli which influence their experiences of lay volunteer counselling, but also of the circumstances surrounding the origins of their sense of volunteerism. Even though some of the literature addressed themes relevant to the participants’ experiences, a small number of themes could not be juxtaposed against available literature. Based on the narratives of the participants, as well as data in the literature, volunteers constitute a reasonable component of the service sector and assist a sizeable population. Therefore, the value of the lay volunteer counselling population should be recognised in order to develop further training and support programmes for this subpopulation. As it appears, recognising the essence of this value begins with appreciating the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Psychology / unrestricted

African Religion offers new images and symbols of reconciliation that may enhance existing Christian reconciliation metaphors and liturgies. Traditionally, Christians understood reconciliation through the images of either Augustine’s victory model, Anselm’s objective model or Abelard’s subjective model. While these images offered valuable insights, they are limited and increasingly difficult to understand in our modern context. Postmodern philosophy presents theologians with the possibility of deconstructing dominant discourses in order to consider new possibilities. This approach is eminently applicable to the traditional Christian reconciliation models. A comparative study of Western Christian and African reconciliation myths, rituals and concepts is used to deconstruct the accepted positions on the matter of reconciliation. Interviews with four African theologians, John Mbiti, Agrippa Khathide, Daniel Ngubane and Tinyiko Maluleke, reveal that African Christians have often understood reconciliation in more and different ways than those available in traditional Christian thought. They often derived their ideas from African Traditional Religion as well as the modern liberation struggle. In studying African Traditional Religion, it becomes clear that that African religion offers very different options to traditional Christianity with regard to its view on God, ancestors and spirits, life force, and of special importance for this study, shame, guilt and sin. African religion’s this-worldly focus views reconciliation as taking place on a mostly human level rather than between humans and God. African reconciliation rituals can be classified according to the purpose or the myths behind them. Some rituals are intended to create or restore community, while others are meant to propitiate or at least transfer guilt. A third grouping of rituals have the purpose of either expelling or accepting (and thus in a certain sense neutralising) evil (or perceived evil) in the community. Other rituals have a number of intentions, and can use unlikely rituals like open rebellion or dance to bring about reconciliation. A comparison between two religions should treat the religions equally. An investigation that examines both the integrating and transcending possibilities of religions can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various reconciliation models without reference to some sort of supernatural reality. The anthropological and social sciences also offer valuable insights into the possible structure of reconciliation. And the South African context demands some minimum requirements for reconciliation in this country. When all these criteria are used to evaluate African and Christian reconciliation models, new possibilities emerge. Different models show themselves to be useful in different contexts. Some African models can improve our understanding of reconciliation between humans and God, while others fit the social context of South Africa. It seems that African thought and religion has a lot to offer to the study of reconciliation. The African emphasis on this-worldliness and community, the use of rituals and symbols, as well as Africa’s still-coherent myths presents new and exciting perspectives. These insights and models can be incorporated into Christian liturgies and rituals that will deepen Christians’ understanding and celebration of reconciliation. / Thesis (DD (Science of Religion and Missiology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

AFRIKAANS: Die navorsing is gedoen vanuit 'n postfundamentalistiese narratiewe prakties- teologiese benadering. Die fokus van die studie was tweeledig. Die eerste was om na die stories van 'n groep meisies, wat hulself as homoseksueel gesien het en daarom gemarginaliseer is, te luister. Die tweede deel was dat deur die proses daar intervensie sou wees wat aan die meisies die kennis en die mag sou gee om hulle verhale op so 'n manier oor te vertel dat hulle die hoofrolle van hulle eie lewensdramas sal word en nie net karakters of ekstras op die verhoog van die lewe sou wees nie. Verhale van nood moet dus verruil word vir verhale van hoop. Om die verhale van die meisies beter te verstaan is daar van 'n groep interdissiplinêre helpers gebruik gemaak. Die meisies se verhale is verder ook sosiaal-konstruksionisties benader. Die meisies se verstaan van hulle konteks, die kerk, hulle vriende, homoseksualiteit, God, kerkleiers en hulle inskakeling by die kerk en hulle identiteit is ondersoek en saam met die groep gedekonstrueer. Die navorsingsverhaal is dus 'n verhaal waar daar weer opnuut gekyk is na die hantering van tieners, hulle wêreldbeeld en soeke na identiteit en aanvaarding binne 'n wêreld wat hulle nie altyd verstaan nie, en die rol van die geloofsgemeenskap in die proses. ENGLISH: The research was done from a post-foundational, narrative, and practical theological position. The focus of the study had two intentions. The first was to listen to the stories of a group of girls, who saw themselves as homosexual and because of that was marginalised. The second intention was that in the process there would be intervention in their stories. This intervention was supposed to give the girls the necessary knowledge and power to help them to tell their stories. This telling would then place the girls not as extras on the stage of their own lives but as playing the leading roles. Negative stories had thus to be exchanged for stories of hope. To get a better understanding of the stories of the girls, there was made use of an interdisciplinary team of helpers. The stories were also interpreted from a social constructionist point of view. The understanding the girls had of their context, the church, their friends, homosexuality, God, church leaders, their membership of the church and their identity was researched and deconstructed with them in a process. The research story is a story where the handling of teenagers, their world view and their search for identity and acceptance in a world that doesn’t always understand them and their involvement in the church in this process was looked at with fresh eyes. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This diploma thesis addresses the topic of contemporary art in contemporary school. It deals with the relationship between contemporary art and contemporary school. The theoretical part of the thesis presents ideas and stimuli to think about contemporary art, which are based on people associated in the field of art, art theory and art pedagogy. Furthermore, the thesis pays attention to the relationship of contemporary art to the recipient and Czech education system. In the research part, the thesis focuses on five case studies of art teachers and their approaches to contemporary art in teaching. The next part of the diploma thesis presents a view of the artistic work of two Czech and two foreign contemporary artists. Their works are used in the didactic part for the didactic transformation of the content. Based on it, teaching units for teaching art education at secondary schools are created. Furthermore, this part presents reflections on lessons taught in the form of conceptual analysis. KEYWORDS contemporary art, postmodern society, art education, visual communication, the Framework Educational Programme

In my master thesis I deal the with specific creation of communities on the Internet. The aim of this essay is to contribute to the debate about the problematics of the Internet and its role in the postmodern society. The basic idea is that the physical and virtual world leads to formation of communities. I believe that association with communities can be considered as a natural human phenomenon. Internet is perceived as a space, which provides the opportunity for its users to organize themselves into virtual communities. The question is if the creation of virtual communities is the goal of postmodern society. On the one hand Internet can be seen as a space of strengthening personal individuality, because of freedom and authonomy it provides. But on the other hand communities could place demands on their members, thereby they represent certain limitation of thein member's individuality. In this thesis I verify the hypothesis that the Internet is a space that leads to formation of virtual communities at the expense of developing one's own individuality.

This thesis focuses on the definition of the term postmodern marketing in the area of marketing literature. The postmodern marketing aims adaptation of innovative marketing strategies to specific changes in society and consumer behavior. In this context, there are introduced concepts as tribality, hyperreality, fragmentation or increased activity during the perception of consumers etc., in order to demonstrate described changes. Because the postmodern marketing is closely linked to the symbolism and meanings of consumption, this thesis includes the application of specific semiotics approaches and brand development with an emphasis on the fact that the brand itself is made up of sum of aspects, such as the logo or products, but its value is also constructed by meanings with which consumers associate the brand. The next part is devoted to community marketing and communication via social networking sites such as progressive approach that is able to connect the issues of the previous chapters (reaction to changes in society and consumers' requirements and space for the construction of the symbolic value of the brand). The summary of these individual components is described in the conclusion, in the case study analysis from ILP in order to examine whether it is possible to build a successful marketing...

ABSTRACTObjectification of especially women have often been mentioned in connection to discussions concerning negative body image wherein individuals have been claimed to evaluate their body and look based on standardized societal ideals (Nash:2015, Hodgkinson, Wittkowski & Smith:2014). Studies have also shown that newspapers, magazines, and movies routinely present post-pregnancy bodies as something temporarily that women should strive to improve (Breda et al.:2015, Roth et al.:2012, Williams et al.:2017). Although, it has been stated that social media can work as a supportive and inspirational tool for this specific group of women (Baker & Yang:2017, Jarvis:2017) as well as platform of expression where users can shape and spread their own beauty standards (Cwynar-Horton:2016a, Guha:2014, Earl & Rohlinger:2018). Women’s thoughts of their post-pregnancy bodies in connection to the motivations behind their bodily exposure on social media platforms have not yet been examined, even though it has been claimed that this group is particularly vulnerable to body image concerns due to social media representations (Coyne et al.:2017). As a contribution to the field of post-pregnant body advocates affordances of Instagram, this paper has focused on Swedish post-pregnant women that have posted images of their bodies under the hashtags #mammamage (mum tummy) and/or #mammakropp (mum body). By applying affordance theory’s suggestion that environments afford different affordances for individuals, this paper has asked 94 post-pregnant women how they feel about their bodies and what they think of societal body ideals, as well as examined their motivations behind their use of Instagram with the aim to identify prominent emotional affordances. Here, objectification theory, comparison theory, postmodern feminism, and feminist reflexivity were used as supporting theories in the analysis of the data which was conducted through a mixed methods survey.The main findings have been that Instagram is seen as a platform that enables its users to experience emotional affordances of 1) criticism and comparisons, 2) inspiration and support and 3) acceptance, where post-pregnant body advocates are using the affordances primarily to visualize average post-pregnancy bodies, challenge standardized body ideals and get inspired or inspire other women into re-thinking the notion(s) of their post-pregnancy bodies. What this paper further has contributed with is a greater understanding of post-pregnant body advocates experiences of their own bodies, a broader perspective on post-pregnant body advocates thoughts of societal ideals, a more profound comprehension behind post-pregnant body advocates motivation(s) behind their use of Instagram, and new knowledge to the field of emotional affordances among Instagram users.Keywords: post-pregnant women, body advocates, Instagram, affordances, affordance theory, emotional affordances, objectification theory, feminist reflexivity, comparison theory, postmodern feminism, survey, mixed method

Every day, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) embeds itself further into domestic and industrial technologies. Interaction de- signers have historically struggled to engage directly with the subject, facing a shortage of appropriate methods and abstractions. There is a need to find ways though which interaction design practitioners might integrate ML into their work, in order to democratize and diversify the field. This thesis proposes a mode of inquiry that considers the inter- active qualities of what machine learning does, as opposed the tech- nical specifications of what machine learning is. A shift in focus from the technicality of ML to the artifacts it creates allows the interaction designer to situate its existing skill set, affording it to engage with ma- chine learning as a design material. A Research-through-Design pro- cess explores different methodological adaptions, evaluated through user feedback and an-in depth case analysis. An elaborated design experiment, Multiverse, examines the novel, non-anthropomorphic aesthetic qualities of generative literature. It prototypes interactions with bidirectional literature and studies how these transform the reader into a cybertextual “user-reader”. The thesis ends with a discussion on the implications of machine written literature and proposes a number of future investigations into the research space unfolded through the prototype.

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