To date, there have been no studies utilizing a narrative bereavement model for students impacted by suicide, in a group counseling setting. The present project intends to fill a gap in the literature. We sought to answer the research question, “Do narrative lines of inquiry, specifically re-membering conversations, help to ameliorate the pain of a loved one’s death by suicide?” We hypothesized that re-membering conversations would help to reduce pain, based on the premise that re-membering conversations reconnect the bereaved to the life of their deceased loved one, using a narrative which allows the life, values, thoughts, and wishes of the deceased to be brought forward and reincorporated into the life and future of the bereaved. The present research project consisted of a five-week bereavement group for college students impacted by the suicide of a friend or loved one. The group was structured like a case study in that we conducted a counseling group while collecting research data. Therefore, it was both research-oriented and therapeutic in nature. A sample of convenience was used to recruit and screen previously bereaved college students from a large state university in southern California. The group members self-selected and identified as having been affected by the suicide of a loved one. Each session lasted approximately 120 minutes. Research data consisted of open-ended questions, which were previously prepared by the researchers. This data was collected through audio recorders, transcribed and organized according to related themes. Benefits of the project include: decreased emotional pain due to the suicide, group camaraderie, reconnection with a deceased loved one, and hopefulness for future. The overall findings seem to suggest the following: The deceased always play a role in how we come to understand our own identity. Bringing other people’s voices into the room, whether living or dead, lightens the burden of grief. Having never met the person does not prohibit the living from having a relationship with the dead. Removing places for the deceased loved one to live on only increases pain. The present project seems to support the hypothesis that re-membering conversations help to ameliorate the pain associated with the death of a loved one by suicide. Future research may include quantitative data collection, random samples, larger sample size and varying demographics. Other studies could involve using control groups and then comparing those results with the counseled group. The anecdotal evidence found in the present research project seems to support the further study of the use of re-membering conversations with those bereaved by suicide.

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This thesis is about a pastoral theology of participation, guided by the process of participatory action research. It explores through the lived experience of the participants practical ways of doing friendship. On this research journey, I explore the discourse of individualism and how it blinds us to our connectedness as creations in the image of God. Without denying the benefits scientific development have to offer, I argue for a more richly textured individualism, inviting concern for the consequences of our actions on the well-being of others as part of our ethical ways of being. The Fourth Century description of a Christian as `friend of God' was the inspiration for the metaphor of friendship as a powerful counterweight against the isolating forces of a culture where the distorting ideology of consumerism and individualism are prevailing. I argue for the re-membering of this metaphor for God as friend, and the church as community-of-friends. Through the telling of tales of living friendship, interwoven with and giving life to the philosophy of friendship, I build further on the metaphor for the church as community-of-friends. I propose a Friendship Position Map and the metaphor of a circle of concern, arguing that although it comes more natural to us to love those close to us, and reach out to them in friendship, in an ethical spirituality of participation and mutual care, we are to follow Jesus' example and show hospitality towards all others, including strangers and enemies. Where many authors write about the importance of community, this thesis is about how to create the nourishing community we long for. It explores practical ways in which communities can overcome obstacles in their way to connect to each other through ethical ways of loving and doing friendship. It offers some ideas about learning to be friends in the inner circles of the circle of concern with those close to us, in order to do friendship in the outer circles. I explore the role of the church and faith communities as habitat for the nurturing and/or cultivating of living friendships, in inviting faith communities to live as community-of-friends; friends of God and of one another. / Practical Theology / D.Th. - (Practical Theology--Pastoral Therapy)

This thesis is about a pastoral theology of participation, guided by the process of participatory action research. It explores through the lived experience of the participants practical ways of doing friendship. On this research journey, I explore the discourse of individualism and how it blinds us to our connectedness as creations in the image of God. Without denying the benefits scientific development have to offer, I argue for a more richly textured individualism, inviting concern for the consequences of our actions on the well-being of others as part of our ethical ways of being. The Fourth Century description of a Christian as `friend of God' was the inspiration for the metaphor of friendship as a powerful counterweight against the isolating forces of a culture where the distorting ideology of consumerism and individualism are prevailing. I argue for the re-membering of this metaphor for God as friend, and the church as community-of-friends. Through the telling of tales of living friendship, interwoven with and giving life to the philosophy of friendship, I build further on the metaphor for the church as community-of-friends. I propose a Friendship Position Map and the metaphor of a circle of concern, arguing that although it comes more natural to us to love those close to us, and reach out to them in friendship, in an ethical spirituality of participation and mutual care, we are to follow Jesus' example and show hospitality towards all others, including strangers and enemies. Where many authors write about the importance of community, this thesis is about how to create the nourishing community we long for. It explores practical ways in which communities can overcome obstacles in their way to connect to each other through ethical ways of loving and doing friendship. It offers some ideas about learning to be friends in the inner circles of the circle of concern with those close to us, in order to do friendship in the outer circles. I explore the role of the church and faith communities as habitat for the nurturing and/or cultivating of living friendships, in inviting faith communities to live as community-of-friends; friends of God and of one another. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. - (Practical Theology--Pastoral Therapy)

Text in English / Abstracts in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu / The present study deploys Ngugi wa Thiongo’s (2009) decolonial concepts of dismembering and re-membering to critically explore J. M Coetzee’s selected fiction. In my reading of the novels Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe and Disgrace, I relate concepts of dismembering and re-membering to decoloniality. In the rendition of Ngugi, dismembering refers to the displacement and dispossession of the colonised, and their mental colonisation through cultural imperialism. Re-membering becomes the decolonial effort to undo physical and psychological dismembering. In the same way in which, since the Berlin Conference of 1884/5, Africa was divided, mapped and colonised, the cultures and histories of Africans were dismembered and dominated. Concerns for the land are expressed in the mapping and the confiscation of land which is depicted in the native’s desert dwellings in Waiting for the Barbarians, Cruso’s clearing of the land in Foe and Petrus’s taking over of Lucy’s farm in Disgrace. Furthermore, Coetzee’s use of language is one important narrative strategy that is explored to ascertain how Coetzee negates or speaks for, of and about the colonised through the narrator focaliser. This study reveals the reflexive nature of the selected novels and seeks answers to the question of why Coetzee tends to make his “black” characters voiceless and rootless (and sometimes nameless)? Is Coetzee suggesting that they have been silenced by history, by colonialism, or is he suggesting that he, the author, has no right to speak on their behalf? In the mode of writing and story-telling, is Coetzee suggesting the impossibility of the coloniser to speak for the colonised or, in speaking of them, does he give the servant characters a voice and can this voice be theirs, or can it be considered reliable? Is Coetzee presenting the power of passivity as a means of resistance and re-membering? This study, from a decolonial perspective, engages with the complex way Coetzee handles voice and the question of the agency of the colonised. / Hierdie studie benut Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2009) se dekoloniale begrippe van verdeling en herindeling in ʼn kritiese beskouing van J. M. Coetzee se geselekteerde fiksie. In my vertolking van die romans Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe en Disgrace, bring ek die begrippe van verdeling en herindeling in verband met dekolonialisme. In Ngũgĩ se vertolking verwys verdeling na die verplasing en onteiening van die gekoloniseerdes, en hul geestelike kolonisering deur kulturele imperialisme. Herindeling word die dekoloniale poging om fisiese en sielkundige herindeling ongedaan te maak. Op dieselfde manier wat Afrika verdeel, gekarteer en gekoloniseer is sedert die Berlynse Konferensie van 1884/5, is Afrikane se kulture en geskiedenisse verdeel en gedomineer. Kommer oor die grond word te kenne gegee in die kartering en konfiskering van grond – soos uitgebeeld in die boorling se woestynverblyf in Waiting for the Barbarians, Cruso se opruiming van die grond in Foe en Petrus se oorname van Lucy se plaas in Disgrace. Verder is Coetzee se taalgebruik ʼn belangrike verhalende strategie wat bestudeer word om vas te stel hoe Coetzee die gekoloniseerde ontken of vir, van en oor die gekoloniseerde praat deur middel van die verteller/fokaliseerder. Hierdie studie openbaar die refleksiewe aard van die geselekteerde romans en soek vir antwoorde op die vraag van waarom Coetzee geneig is om sy “swart” karakters stemloos en wortelloos (en soms, naamloos) te maak. Suggereer Coetzee dat hulle deur die geskiedenis, deur kolonialisme, stilgemaak is – of suggereer hy dat hy, die outeur, nie die reg het om namens hulle te praat nie? Wil Coetzee deur sy manier van skryf en vertelling, aan die hand doen dat dit onmoontlik is dat die koloniseerder vir die gekoloniseerde kan praat; of, wanneer hy van hulle praat, gee hy aan die dienaarkarakters ʼn stem en kan dit hulle stem wees, of kan dit as betroubaar beskou word? Hou Coetzee die kraag van passiwiteit voor as ʼn vorm van weerstand en herindeling? Hierdie studie ondersoek, vanuit ʼn dekoloniale perspektief, die komplekse wyse waarop Coetzee stem en die vraag van die tussenkoms van die gekoloniseerde hanteer. / Ucwaningo lwamanje luchitha imiqondo ka-Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2009) yokuqothula nokujoyina kabusha ukungabuswa ngelinye izwe ekuhloliseni ngokucophelela ukuqamba okukhethiwe kukaJ.M. Coetzee. Ekufundeni kwami amanoveli i-Waiting for the Barbarians, Foe and Disgrace, ngichaza imiqondo yokuqothula futhi ukujoyina kabusha ekungabusweni ngelinye izwe. Ekuhumusheni kuka-Ngũgĩ, ukuqothula kubhekisela ekufudukeni nasekuthunjweni kwalabo ababuswa ngelinye izwe, kanye nengqondo yabo ekubusweni ngelinye izwe ngokusebenzisa imiphakathi yamasiko. Ukujoyina kabusha kuba wumzamo wokungabuswa ngelinye izwe ukulungisa ukuqothula kokukhubazeka ngokomzimba nangokwengqondo. Ngendlela efanayo lapho i-Afrika ihlukaniswe ngakhona, ihlelwe ibalazwe futhi ibuzwa ngelinye izwe kusukela kwiNgqungquthela yaseBerlin ka 1884/5, amasiko kanye nemilando yabantu base-Afrika yaqothulwa futhi yabuswa. Ukukhathazeka kwezwe kuboniswa ebalazweni nasekuthunjweni komhlaba - njengoba kuboniswe ezindaweni zokuhlala zasogwadule ku- Waiting for the Barbarians, ku-Cruso ukuhlanzwa komhlaba-enovelini i-Foe nakuPetrus ukuthatha ipulazi likaLucy enovelini i-Disgrace. Ngaphezu kwalokho, ukusetshenziswa kolimi lukaCoetzee kuyisisindo esisodwa esibalulekile sokulandisa esihlolisiswayo ukuze kuqinisekiswe ukuthi uCozezee uphikisa kanjani noma ukhuluma kanjani, futhi mayelana nababuswa ngelinye izwe ngokusebenzisa umlandisi. Lolu cwaningo lwembula uhlobo oluthile lokucabanga lwamanoveli akhethiwe futhi lufuna izimpendulo embuzweni wokuthi kungani uCoetzee ejwayele ukwenza "abalingisi" bakhe abamnyama bengabonakali futhi bangenasisekelo (futhi ngezinye izikhathi abangenalo igama). Ingabe uCoetzee uphakamisa ukuthi baye bathuliswa ngumlando, ngukubuswa ngelinye izwe, noma ingabe uphakamisa ukuthi yena, umbhali, akanalo ilungelo lokukhuluma egameni labo? Ngendlela yokubhala nokuxoxa ngezindaba, ingabe uCoetzee uphakamisa ukuthi akunakwenzeka ukuba obusa elinye izwe akhulumele ababuswayo kulelo zwe noma, uma ekhuluma ngabo, uyabanika abalingiswa abayinceku izwi futhi leli zwi lingaba ngelabo, noma lingathathwa njengelethembekile? Ingabe uCoetzee uveza amandla okungahambisani njengendlela yokumelana nokujoyina kabusha? Lolu cwaningo, kusukela embonweni wokungabuswa ngelinye izwe, luhambisana nendlela eyinkimbinkimbi uCoetzee alawula izwi kanye nombuzo wokumela ababuswayo. / English Studies / M.A. (Theory of Literature: (English Studies))

From a feminist theology of praxis the appreciative inquiry used in this research reflected on the constituting role the living of values by facilitators play in transforming the lives of children who suffer the effects of poverty, neglect and abuse. The concretisation or the living of values within the school community linked with the theme of solidarity with the marginalised. The facilitators' solidarity with children as "concrete others" became ways of doing participatory ethics. As part of a postmodern paradigm, a social constructionist discourse made it possible for therapist-researcher and participants to view the facilitators' work and the research itself as part of a relational process. Appreciative inquiry invited a reflective stance towards action, relating and personal knowledge. The research also reflected on poststructuralist theory and practice, and the power of imagination and language to re-describe of the work of facilitators. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology, with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

From a feminist theology of praxis the appreciative inquiry used in this research reflected on the constituting role the living of values by facilitators play in transforming the lives of children who suffer the effects of poverty, neglect and abuse. The concretisation or the living of values within the school community linked with the theme of solidarity with the marginalised. The facilitators' solidarity with children as "concrete others" became ways of doing participatory ethics. As part of a postmodern paradigm, a social constructionist discourse made it possible for therapist-researcher and participants to view the facilitators' work and the research itself as part of a relational process. Appreciative inquiry invited a reflective stance towards action, relating and personal knowledge. The research also reflected on poststructuralist theory and practice, and the power of imagination and language to re-describe of the work of facilitators. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology, with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)