Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of , which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process. Snowball sampling was employed in this case, a non-probability sample, in which participants were recruited via key informants. The sample distribution included 13 participants, 10 of which were heroin users (5 female, 5 male) and the remaining 3 were key informants which contributed to triangulation of the data. In terms of the findings, participants spoke of mostly being involved in intimate relationships, which according to participants had dual benefits. For female participants intimate relationships offered a form of protection on the often dangerous streets of Wynberg and for certain males, intimate relationships offered an opportunity to fund their habit, by trading their female partners to perform sexual favors for money to acquire heroin. While the study found females were mainly involved in trading sexual favors for money, heterosexual males were also implicated in having sexual relations with homosexual men for money. Furthermore, the study found that heroin users in Wynberg represented a surrogate family, where, because of their lifestyle, they were disconnected from their own family. This family surrogate was found to be supportive, caring to a large extent, shared a living space, protective of each other and shared a common language and understanding.

I create opportunities for nourishment that are physical, emotional and spiritual with my functional porcelain vessels. They reference the human body's sensual curves, dimples, and bulges, establishing the experience of eating as a metaphor for the sensual experience of human interaction. The tactility is heightened by the variety of glazes dancing around the vessels, from satiny smooth and skin-like, to wet and dripping. Handmade vessels connect the users not only more deeply to the food that provides them nourishment, but also connects them more deeply to one another, and to the maker of the work. The slow, deliberate work of making one-of-a-kind objects is similar to the act of carefully preparing a homemade meal, and in turn, dedicating time to the ritual of sitting down together to enjoy that meal. Whether I'm working in my studio creating vessels, or in my kitchen creating a meal, I derive the same experience of spiritual wellbeing. In these moments I am completely present and mindful. / by Alexandria Schwartz. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Le noctambulisme est un phénomène émergeant dans les villes métropolitaines dynamiques, telles que Paris et Madrid. Sortir en ville la nuit est une pratique démocratisée parmi les jeunes urbains, s’extériorisant des lieux marchands et assimilant en quantité alcool, tabac et drogues. Les représentations sociales négatives font référence tant à une problématique de santé publique (nommée la « défonce » des jeunes vulnérables), qu’à une problématique morale du bien « vivre ensemble ». La symbolique nocturne accentue ces traits.La nuit est devenue un enjeu électoral. Analyser la construction de la politique publique de la vie nocturne rend compte du décalage des acteurs en négociation avec le noctambulisme. La légitimation des dispositifs sociotechniques de répression s’effectue au moyen d’une participation publique biaisée, dont les sortants sont absents. Les résidents-plaignants s’attaquent au bruit des terrasses, les exploitants d’établissements défendent le développement économique de leur activité, les institutionnels encouragent l’attractivité touristique nocturne.Or, ce phénomène social met en lumière la désynchronisation des rythmes sociaux entre eux et des temporalités urbaines, relative à la troisième modernité. Comprendre comment les sortants publicisent en situation cette désynchronisation permet de mettre à jour les valeurs et normes produites. Il s’agit d’étudier leurs tactiques face à la programmation urbaine, la gestion du stigmate qu’ils portent, les formes de légitimation dans l’investissement ordinaire des nuits urbaines. En leur redonnant la parole, apparaissent des conflits symboliques de cohabitation nocturne, une problématique de reconnaissance de la jeunesse / Night-strolling is a phenomenon emerging in the dynamic metropolitan cities like Paris and Madrid. Having party in town during the night-time is a practice democratized among urban young people. They go out of the merchant locations and take a large quantity of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. The negative social representations refer to a public health problem (“stoned” vulnerable young people) and a legal problem of the way to “live together”. Night symbolic highlights these dimensions. Night-time has become an electoral issue. Analyzing the construction of a public policy about nightlife reflects the gap between the actors in negotiation and the night-strolling. A biased public participation – without the night-strollers - allows the legitimation of socio-technical systems of repression. Residents-plaintiffs attack the noise terraces, ownerships of night-enterprises defend the economic development and institutional actors encourage night tourism attraction. However, this social phenomenon highlights the desynchronization of social rhythms and urban temporalities, specific to the third modernity. Understanding how young people publicize this desynchronization in situation give elements about norms and values produced. This study deals with their tactics face the urban planning, the management of the stigma they carry, the forms of legitimization in the ordinary placement of urban nights. The symbolic conflicts of nocturnal cohabitation emerge by the voice of night-strollers: a youth recognition problem

In recent years research has recognised that notions of body image, body image ideals and body dissatisfaction develop much earlier than was once thought. However, the growing body of evidence in this area of research is predominantly quantitative. This study was designed to engage children in the five to six year age group using qualitative methods and present their notions of body image through the looking glass of the children's own eyes. Children's voices have not often found their way into research. Concerns about their powers of communication, cognitive abilities and the ethical difficulties inherent when working with children have restricted their participation. Objective, empirical evidence suggests that if one engages children in research appropriately they are able to make a significant contribution. Forty-seven children (25=m; 22=f) aged between five and six years were interviewed on three occasions over 12 months regarding their perceptions of body image. Seven schools from the Independent school system were involved. Interviews were conducted on school sites in public, easily observable locations. The study focused on three aspects. That is, how these children perceived their own body, the bodies of other people and their notions of health in respect to body image. These interviews revealed that the girls in this age group had developed an understanding of body image that valued thinness. However, their preference for a thinner body did not negatively impact on their sense of identity or self-worth. Boys preferred larger bodies and correlated increased body size with competence and physical aptitude. The concept of 'large' was linked to height for some or to a mesomorphic body for other boys. By the final interview all the children revealed strong negative perceptions of fatness. These perceptions were more apparent at each successive interview. An obese or extremely thin body was not always correlated with being unhealthy. Depending on the perspective of the child, even the largest of images was nominated the 'healthiest body' by some children. Health was overwhelmingly linked to food intake with few children associating health with exercise. The playground and the home, where most notably mothers, were important in the development of body image conceptions. Children were acutely aware of the dietary practices of their parents and associated diets with losing weight. / PhD Doctorate

<p>Using a symbolic interactionistic analytical approach, this essay aims to study the socialisation of young women’s sexuality in treatment institutions for young women. Through qualitative interviews with staff members at said institutions, concerning their views on young female sexuality, and how they discuss sexuality with the young women in the institutions, my aim was to identify the socialisation of young women’s sexuality. I have also investigated how the staff experiences their own sex as an important factor in conversations about sexuality with young women, as well as the possible effect sexually mixed or sexually segregated institutions exert upon conversations about sexuality. I have therefore interviewed both male and female staff, as well as staff of both sexually mixed and sexually segregated treatment institutions.</p><p>The results indicate that the staff does talk about sexuality with the young women, but in varying degree and form. Treatment ideology seems to have an impact on the conversations of sexuality. The staff perceives their sex to be of importance for the conversations about sexuality but they also emphasise the importance of trusting relationships. They believe that sexuality as a subject arises more often in sexually mixed treatment institutions than in sexually segregated institutions. The staffs’ view on young female sexuality is not characterized by a discourse of desire, but rather by concern for the young women’s vulnerability, triggered by their own behaviour, as well as doubts about the young women’s own sexual desire.</p>

The overall aim of this thesis was to examine what experiencing childbirth-related fear may imply for women and for men. The thesis compromises four studies with the following specific aims: I) to investigate the extent and level of childbirth-related fear in women and men, and to identify and compare experiential factors associated with childbirth-related fear in relation to level of fear. II) To describe the contents of childbirth-related fear in women and men, and to investigate whether the contents differed in relation to level of fear. III) To illuminate experiences of intense childbirth-related fear from the perspective of the women, and IV) of the men themselves. The studies were carried out using a combination of postal questionnaires and open interviews. The questionnaire was answered by 410 (74%) women and 329 (60%) men who prior to the study had had a baby at Norrlands university hospital, Sweden. Twenty women and 20 men who in the questionnaire had assessed their fear related to childbirth as intense were interviewed about what this experience had meant to them. The questionnaires were analyzed by factor analyses and quantitative content analysis. When analyzing the open interviews an approach based on the similarity-difference method in Grounded Theory were used. The results showed that the large majority of women (80%) and men (72%) had some experiences of fear related to childbirth. For 94 (23%) women and 43 (13%) men the fear was defined as intense. Among the factors identified as being involved in the experience of childbirth-related fear, 'exposedness and inferiority' had the greatest explanatory power in women, while 'communicative difficulties' had the greatest power in men. The contents of fear were fairly similar in both women and men, but the relative importance fo the fear categories differed. Among women fears related to 'the labour and delivery process' were ranked highest, while the uppermost category among the men were fears related to 'the health and life of the baby'. The comparison of the contents in relation to level of fear revealed that fears related to 'own capabilities and reactions' were significantly more common in women with experiences of intense fear than in women with mild to moderate fear. Among the men fears related to 'the health and life of the baby' and 'the health and life of the woman' were significantly more common in men with intense fear than in men with mild to moderate fear. In addition the open interviews indicated that socially constructed norms and beliefs about being happy and expectant influenced the women's perceptions of themselves and of what is considered as appropriate to feel and talk about during pregnancy. Many women judged themselves as different and inferior to others because of their fear, and described difficulties in expressing their fears due to expectations or experiences of not being taken seriously, being neglected or given misguided consolation. For the interviewed men, wishes to contribute and not causing trouble for the woman, as well as strives to adhere to prevailing norms about "masculinity" impled difficulties to disclose and talk about the fear, and look for support.

Recent research in classrooms has often had its focus on the pupil, the individual, and not on the different groups of students that exist. In a classroom there are normally several different groupings, each one having its own personal attitude towards the current lesson. If there had been more research we would find it easier to understand why pupils sometimes behave the way they do. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how pupils` social relations create groupings. Furthermore I intend to investigate how and why pupils show their belonging to a certain group. The two questions of the essay are: 1. How pupils’ social relations appear in a classroom? 2. What strategies do the pupils use to indicate their belonging to a grouping? My final conclusion is that the pupils’ social relations appear in groupings, in which a certain standard dominates how the pupil should behave during a lesson. The members of a group use the same strategies to show their group belonging. For example, it can be different attitudes to the teacher’s lesson that mark a grouping.

Using a symbolic interactionistic analytical approach, this essay aims to study the socialisation of young women’s sexuality in treatment institutions for young women. Through qualitative interviews with staff members at said institutions, concerning their views on young female sexuality, and how they discuss sexuality with the young women in the institutions, my aim was to identify the socialisation of young women’s sexuality. I have also investigated how the staff experiences their own sex as an important factor in conversations about sexuality with young women, as well as the possible effect sexually mixed or sexually segregated institutions exert upon conversations about sexuality. I have therefore interviewed both male and female staff, as well as staff of both sexually mixed and sexually segregated treatment institutions. The results indicate that the staff does talk about sexuality with the young women, but in varying degree and form. Treatment ideology seems to have an impact on the conversations of sexuality. The staff perceives their sex to be of importance for the conversations about sexuality but they also emphasise the importance of trusting relationships. They believe that sexuality as a subject arises more often in sexually mixed treatment institutions than in sexually segregated institutions. The staffs’ view on young female sexuality is not characterized by a discourse of desire, but rather by concern for the young women’s vulnerability, triggered by their own behaviour, as well as doubts about the young women’s own sexual desire.

Meänkieli är ett av Sveriges fem nationella minoritetsspråk i vilket forskning kring kulturella aspekter är av begränsat områdesfokus. De politiska ändamål som uttrycks i lagen om nationella minoriteter och minoritetsspråk, ämnar skapa en språklig- och kulturell revitalisering. En ny rapport påvisar att kunskapsbristerna är stora dels gällande anspråk minoriteter efterfrågar, dels hur myndigheter arbetar med minoritetsrättigheter. Ett ledord i lagen är främjandet och bevarandet av minoritetsgruppers kulturarv.  Till skillnad från andra minoritetsgrupper urskiljer meänkieli inte en lika säregen kultur som exempelvis jiddisch eller romani-chib. Så vad utmärker meänkielis kulturarv utöver språket? Genom en kvalitativ generationsstudie undersöktes hur kvinnor, med anknytning till meänkieli, skapar mening i en kulturell kontext. I detta belyses hur generationsskillnader kan ta sig uttryck. Studien visar på att det förekommer liknande kulturella markörer bland deltagarna, och att en kulturell- eller språklig revitalisering inte är särskilt påtaglig bland grupperna / Abstract: Meänkieli is one of Sweden's five national minority languages in which research on culture is of limited area focus. The political purpose, expressed in the law on national minorities and minority languages, intends to create a linguistic and cultural revitalization. A new report shows that knowledge gaps are large, both within claims minorities ask for, and also how agencies are working with minority rights. A key word in the law, is the promotion and preservation of minority cultural heritage. Unlike other minoritygroups, meänkieli does not distinguishes a well known particular culture, such as yiddish or romani-chib. What distinguishes Meänkieli cultural heritage in addition to the language? Through a qualitative generational study, we examine how women related to meänkieli, create meaning in a cultural context, and highlights the generational differences that is manifested. The study shows that there are similar cultural markers among participants, and that a cultural- or language revitalization is not particularly striking among the groups.

The goal of this study is to develop a robust theory that explains how participation in a Consumer-Run Organization (CRO) can lead to positive individual outcomes. To accomplish this goal, existing theoretical explanations are reviewed. Using the previously unapplied theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism and more specifically, Stryker’s Identity Theory, these varying theoretical explanations are then integrated to create a model explaining how CROs can contribute to positive outcomes. This theoretical model is then empirically explored through two separate studies. The first uses open-ended short answer questions to understand how CRO members benefit from participation. The second uses participant observation and minimally structured interviews to generate life stories that explore how CRO participation has altered an individual’s life course. The original explanatory model proved helpful but partially inadequate in accounting for the results. This leads to model revisions and the development of a more robust theoretical explanation of how CRO lead to positive outcomes. Discussion focuses on explaining this revised explanatory model, exploring how it does and does not account for the results. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology / "December 2005."