The Dutch Reformed Church provided the theological justification for Apartheid since 1948 and contributed to discourses of racism and cultural hegemony. In this research narrative conversations were used to confront racism prevalent among many Dutch Reformed congregants. Social discourses, created through language, marginalised and oppressed people of Colour in South Africa. In this project, narrative conversations were used to deconstruct these oppressive racial discourses. Antjie Krog's book on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work, Country of my skull, confronted the congregants with the painful and dehumanising effects of Apartheid. Externalising conversations assisted congregants to face their guilt and the unjust discourses trapping them. In addition, this deconstruction empowered the congregants to challenge racism and cultural hegemony by living more ethical lives. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology (Pastoral Therapy))

This thesis explores how the general public understands and responds to dementia. In the context of this study the word ‘understanding' is used to convey the complex co-construction of knowledge and establishing of beliefs that constitutes public understandings of dementia. The study also examines the responses of members of the public to dementia, in the context of their understanding. Data were collected over a 12 month period and included a module in the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, five focus groups and nine interviews with participants from the focus groups. The survey module included thirty measures examining levels of knowledge and attitudes towards dementia. 1200 participants were targeted and the survey was administered by the Northern Ireland Research & Statistics Agency with a response rate of 58%. The focus groups and interviews provided the mechanism to gather a more nuanced picture, exploring the beliefs behind the attitudes and the self-reported responses of participants to people with dementia. Findings indicate that the general public has a reasonable knowledge of the symptoms and pathway of dementia in line with a bio medical model. However the findings also indicate that the general public holds a mix of theoretical and empirical knowledge and that this is often contradictory. A complex mix of scientific or medical information, experience, anecdote and assumptions contribute to the discourse. This information is stored and conveyed in the form of stories and a consequence of this interplay is that individual experiences told in the form of stories are generalised to become building blocks in the construction of what the general public understands dementia to be. The current construction of dementia among the general public is found to be both nihilistic and ageist with clear evidence that dementia is stigmatised. I will argue that that the relationship between dementia and ageing in the minds of the general public is a symbiotic one. Dementia has become a cultural metaphor for unsuccessful ageing marking entry to the fourth age. The stigmatising response of the general public is the result of a complex interplay of multiple factors. I have expanded on previous ideas of multiple jeopardy and intersectionality, suggesting that the stigma associated with dementia is unique and driven as much by emotional responses as by the social location of the person with dementia. I have borrowed Brooker’s (2003) term “Dementia-ism’ to describe this stigma. This thesis argues for a more complex and sophisticated approach to changing public attitudes and reducing stigma. Dementia-ism must be addressed with the same strength of purpose currently applied to sexism, racism and ageism.

L’objet de ce mémoire est de s’interroger sur la co-construction et la négociation de l’identité organisationnelle par la parole dans les interactions quotidiennes. Cette étude a été menée sur une organisation du monde de l’humanitaire, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) et plus précisément sur une mission réalisée dans la région du Nord- Kivu en République Démocratique du Congo. Les données ont été collectées en employant la méthode du vidéo shadowing, encore appelée vidéo filature, une approche consistant à suivre et filmer des acteurs dans leurs interactions du quotidien, et particulièrement, dans notre cas, le chef de mission. La méthodologie utilisée pour analyser les enregistrements vidéo a, par la suite, été inspirée de l’analyse de conversation et de l’ethnométhodologie. Les concepts phares sur lesquels se base cette recherche sont la « ventriloquie » et la « présentification », deux concepts en communication organisationnelle développés par François Cooren de l’École de Montréal. Plus précisément, nous nous sommes attachés à montrer comment les acteurs de MSF cultivent l’identité et l’image de leur organisation à travers des « conversations identitaires». Nous avons ainsi pu observer et analyser comment les acteurs de l’organisation agissent par le biais de la parole pour construire et établir l’identité de leur organisation, et à travers cela, leur propre identité. / The purpose of this thesis is to examine the co-construction and the negotiation of organizational identity through speech in everyday interactions. This study focused on a humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and more specifically on a mission carried out in the North-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Data were collected by using shadowing, that is, by filming MSF actors in their daily interactions, particularly in our case, a head of mission. These data were analyzed, in turn, by using conversation analysis. The methodology used to analyze the video recordings was inspired by conversation analysis and ethnomethodology. The key concepts of this research are « ventriloquism » and « presentification », both developed by François Cooren of the Montreal School of Organizational Communication. Specifically, our analyses show how MSF actors cultivate the identity and image of their organization through « identity conversations ». In other words, it is through these conversations that MSF actors construct and establish the identity of their organization, as well as their own identity.

Depuis la fin des années 1990, les jeux de hasard et d’argent (JHA) sèment régulièrement la controverse dans l’espace public québécois. En effet, au cours des dernières années, la question du management et de la régulation des JHA a pris une place de plus en plus importante dans les débats publics. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, qui prend la forme d’une thèse par articles, nous nous intéresserons au processus de construction du problème public que représente maintenant le jeu excessif au Québec. Pour ce faire, nous tracerons, dans un premier temps, la genèse de ce problème public en remontant à ses origines. Ce détour historique nous permettra de mettre en relief les diverses constructions par lesquelles l’action de s’adonner aux JHA et ce, de manière excessive ou non, est passée au cours du dernier siècle, soit de vice, à crime, à loisir en passant par maladie et problème de santé publique. Cette genèse nous permettra d’apporter un nouvel éclairage sur la présente controverse relative aux JHA au Québec. Nous tenterons, dans un premier temps, de mettre en relief comment la santé publique a réussi à construire ce « nouveau risque » que représente maintenant l’action de s’adonner aux JHA. Par la suite, nous tenterons de tirer des leçons pour la compréhension, l’analyse et le management des politiques publiques et ce, via une analyse de la controverse portant sur les JHA (article 1), un travail de reconceptualisation théorique (article 2) ainsi qu’une réflexion épistémologique sur des fondements de l’analyse et du management des politiques publiques (article 3). / Since the late 1990s, gambling is an object of controversy in Quebec public space. In recent years, the issue of management and regulation of gambling has become increasingly important in public debates and, excessive or pathological gambling is now a central concern. In this thesis, which will take the form of a thesis by articles, we will look at the process of “construction” of the public problem of excessive gambling in Quebec. To do so, we will trace the genesis of this public issue by going back to its origins. This historical detour will allow us to highlight the various constructions by which gambling passed during the last century (vice, crime, leisure, disease and public health concern). This genesis will also allow us to shed new light on this controversy related to gambling in Quebec. We will attempt, among other things, to highlight how public health has managed to build this "new risk" that now represents gambling. And, beyond this analysis of the current and past situation, we will try to draw lessons for the understanding, analysis and management of public policies by an analysis of the controversy related to gambling (article 1), a theoretical work on morality policies (article 2) and, a reflection on epistemological foundations of public policy analysis and management (article 3).

The diploma thesis called The Media Image of Murder of Otýlie Vranská in the Czech Contemporary Press is dealing with the analysis of the serious press represented by daily newspaper Národní listy and with the analysis of the tabloid press represented by daily newspaper Expres in the selected period from September 1933 to February 1934. The analysis focuses on the news articles about the murder of Otýlie Vranská. She was murdered on 1st of September 1933, her corpse was quartered and sent to Slovakia in two suitcases − one suitcase was found in Bratislava and second in Košice. Both types of periodicals published 96 articles all together. The diploma thesis is divided into two main parts. Theoretical part, which is focused on definition of the First Czechoslovak Republic's period as well as introducing topics such as criminality and press in the First Czechoslovak Republic. In the end of this chapter there is a presentation of the life and death of Otýlie Vranská from an expert point of view. The second, practical part includes mentioned analysis of the news items, which comes after the definition of the key term: the social construction of reality and the definition of the chosen method: the comparative narrative analysis.

Diploma thesis "The Identity Construction of Teenage Girls in Internet Media and Magazines" deals with media texts which are being addressed to teenage girls; with a special attention to three significant media types of this area of concern. These are represented by the magazine Bravo Girl!, the blog dominikamyslivcova.cz and the website jenproholky.cz. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyze these texts in detail; e.g. in the areas which are characteristic for them and could represent an element of high importance in the process of constructing the living reality of their recipients. The thesis also assumes how media could participate on their identity construction; their recognized values, opinions, thinking and lifestyle. Not only the thesis is concerned with the production of these specific texts and their features, it also focuses on the character of the interaction these media initiate towards the audience. It also tends to describe the receptive process the members of audience perform and how they react back, towards the media. To fulfill this goal, the pragmalinguistic analysis of the language features and communication strategies was used. Also the semiotic analysis was chosen, to the description of the structures of meaning, myths and ideologies within the texts. As a conclusion,...

The diploma thesis "Construction of Czech national identity in Czech print media: a qualitative analysis of Mladá fronta DNES and Právo daily newspapers in the years 1999 and 2004" is concerned with the media constructing of Czech national identity in the content of two significant Czech print dailies. The concrete period chosen for the analysis of the construction is from 1st until 31st March in 1999 and it involves the accession of the Czech Republic to NATO (12th March), in the year 2004 the period is from 19th April until 19th May and it contains the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU (1st May). The qualitative method is used for the study of the construction. It is dealt with as an interpretative analysis of the text. With the aid of the relevant literature the study analyzes and interprets the found constructions of Czech national identity. It examines what identity and character and which traditions and attributes are given to the Czech nation by selected newspapers. It notices potential differences and uniformities between both newspapers and between 1999 and 2004. The analytical part of the thesis is complemented by the theoretical part and the methodology. The methodology describes the chosen technique of the analytical work. The theoretical part includes description of the period...

本篇論文探討的是，台灣「五○年代白色恐怖」政治案件的「集體記憶」（collective memory）保存、復甦和建構的社會過程。 自1949至1987年，我國在戒嚴體制的控制下，「五○年代白色恐怖」的集體記憶曾經長期受到抹黑及消音，當時受難者及其團體在此一記憶的保存上，扮演了關鍵的角色，透過他們私下的集結與聯絡，在團體的脈絡中鞏固了此一記憶。 解嚴前後，過去被壓抑的許多記憶浮上檯面，透過紀念儀式、平反活動、修改法令、保存歷史地標等活動，各方主體重新召喚、組織、競爭詮釋集體記憶，端賴資源不同，決定了競爭結果。但是由於五○年代白色恐怖蘊含的意識型態和國族認同，不完全符合當時社會的需要，因此並未馬上進入國家論述。 隨著舊政權逐漸退出執政集團，新的國民黨政權有「建構新國家」認同的需要，同時遭受地方反對黨政府的強烈挑戰；配合社會控制鬆綁，文化媒介的傳播，民間記憶更加浮現。最後在「朝野大和解」等現實環境的配合之下，受難者團體採取迴避意識型態的論述策略，發揮了臨門一腳的功效，終於讓此一集體記憶進入正式論述，新的「人權論述」的建構和認同也在這個過程中悄悄的重構、凝塑。 但是目前呈現的集體記憶仍是經過篩選、組合後的結果，紀念碑的概念如「人權」、「民主」等，已獲得這一波國族建構的認可；但是相對的，由於兩岸的僵局未解，左翼思潮和運動仍然被排除在外；少數族群、弱勢性別的詮釋權也相對被忽略。目前各種不同主體，仍在互動中持續移動建構，或許下一次大規模的記憶召喚，隨時可能在適當的時機，再度出現在公共論域。

本研究嘗試結合政策網絡與新制度論的分析，描述與解釋民主國家中弱勢團體在政策網絡的地位與影響。 透過對政策網絡的文獻檢閱，本研究提出結合政策網絡與新制度論的分析架構，將弱勢團體在政策網絡中的地位與影響分為正式網絡關係與非正式網絡關係，以及網絡形成與網絡互動兩部分以進行分析。 除基礎理論辯證外，本文以原住民參與能丹國家公園設置的規劃過程為個案，分析原住民團體在先天上不對等的資源與地位下，如何透過制度設計以及相關的社會建構，影響網絡中的互動過程以及政策產出。 在個案研究中，將分析與「設置能丹國家公園」相關的正式規則，包括憲法、原住民委員會、國家公園法，以及相關社會建構的非正式規則，如何對政策網絡的形成以及規劃過程造成影響。 第一章 緒論 第一節 研究動機 第二節 研究問題 第三節 研究目的 第四節 研究範圍 第二章 文獻檢閱 第一節 決策過程中弱勢團體地位的理論回顧 第二節 政策網絡理論(Policy Network Theory)的概念 第三節 政策網絡研究的發展 第四節 政策網絡與政策結果 第三章 建立政策網絡之決策模型 第一節 連結政策網絡與政策產出的分析架構 第二節 結合新制度論與政策網絡之理論辯證 第三節 政策網絡形成---正式與非正式網絡關係 第四節 政策網絡中政策過程 第四章 個案分析-以能丹國家公園設置問題為個案 第一節 研究設計 第二節 國家公園與原住民關係之文獻檢閱 第三節 能丹國家公園設置之政策網絡形成 第四節 能丹國家公園設置之政策網絡互動過程 第五章 結論 第一節 研究發現 第二節 研究建議 / The research attempt to describe and explain the position and influence of minority in policy network of democratic state by combined the Policy network theory and New institutionalism. The research bring the framework of linking the Policy network theory and New institutionalism to divide the position and influence of minority into formal network relations and informal relations, network shaping and network interaction. Except discussing the foundational theory, the research cites the aboriginal participated the formulation of Nen-Dan National Park for case study. To analysis how can aboriginal effected the policy output though they are the minority.

In this thesis I explore the social construction of sexuality and sexual dysfunction. Interviews were undertaken with 20 sex therapists practising in Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to elicit accounts of contemporary sex therapy practice in the local context. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, I explicate and critically examine the dominant discourses informing the construction of sex therapy, and heterosexual sexual relations, and what these discourses enable and constrain. I draw attention to some of the assumptions embedded in the construction of the sexual dysfunctions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000), and in accounts of sex therapy practice, examining the ways in which these are based on taken-for-granted norms of (hetero)sexuality and highlighting the differently enabled gendered sexual subjectivities they (re)produce. Although there are nine sexual dysfunctions identified in the DSM-IV-TR, all of which I briefly outline in Chapter Four, I restrict my focus in the analytical chapters to the conceptualisation and treatment of vaginismus, orgasm difficulties in women, discrepancies in desire and, relatedly, the gendering of desire through powerful sociocultural discourses and representations. I pay particular attention to the implications of these for heterosexual women’s sexuality. I also explore some of the generic concepts that dominate the construction of therapy at a broader level than that of sex therapy alone, arguing that while these offer some useful ways of framing therapy they also constrain therapy practice in important ways. Through a critical review of the sex therapy literature and accounts of practice from those interviewed, I contend that contemporary sex therapy tends to reify dominant cultural and sexological norms rather than challenge them. My analyses show that the dominant discourses informing constructions of sex therapy and heterosexual sexual relations produce particular types of sex as normal whilst marginalizing sexual acts or practices that fall outside of such restrictive parameters. In particular, I argue that the genital-coital-orgasm construct that is hegemonic within sex therapy restricts possibilities for alternative erotic pleasures and possibilities amongst heterosexuals whilst contributing to the invisibilization of sexual identities other than heterosexual. Accounts of sex therapy practice that were able to contest such framings are also highlighted. Because these came from sex therapists drawing on radical feminist or feminist poststructuralist discourses, I suggest that these discourses offer important possibilities for a deconstructive (sex) therapy practice that is able to challenge an often inequitable sexual status quo. Attention is also drawn to the significant constraints which act to restrict clients’ choices and possibilities for sex therapists to practise in more critically questioning ways. I conclude this thesis with an ‘invitation to reflection’ where I briefly discuss some deconstructive approaches that I have found useful for developing ongoing reflexive analysis of my own taken-for-granted assumptions in the area of sexuality, and for aiding my thinking about therapeutic practices that support my political and theoretical commitments and that attend to some of the issues outlined in this thesis. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.