There is very little theoretical literature about theatrical improvisation as it connects to ideas and practices of relating and specifically to ideas and practices of social work relating. This thesis involves efforts to theorize moments of relating – of being with others – in improvisation. A group of hospital social workers and a group of PhD social work research students participated in the study. The participants took part in improvisational workshops designed specifically for the study, as well as one-on-one and group interviews. This thesis explores what was created between research participants in improvisational workshops: the response-ability to and for others; an experience of grappling with the desire for control; and an embodied apprehension of interdependence. The study demonstrates an embodied and uncomfortable experience of the dominance of individualism in our relating. The study also demonstrates ways in which the art of theatrical improvisation can allow us to take up the transformative promises of social constructionism in social work relating. The thesis aims to make living space for central social constructionist concepts such as mutual constitution and interdependence – to explore and consider what happens when we fully recognize and carry these out in our practices of relating. Providing a different way into these central social constructionist concepts, this study contributes to arts-informed research, teaching and practice. More specifically, the research shows how the art of improvisation can provide transformative possibilities for social work pedagogy and the social work classroom. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis involves efforts to theorize moments of relating – of being with others – in improvisation. A group of hospital social workers and a group of PhD social work research students participated in the study. The participants took part in improvisational workshops designed specifically for the study, as well as one-on-one and group interviews. This thesis explores what was created between research participants in improvisational workshops: the response-ability to and for others; an experience of grappling with the desire for control; and an embodied apprehension of interdependence. The study demonstrates an embodied and uncomfortable experience of the dominance of individualism in our relating and provides an analysis of engagement in improvisation as an alternative to a framework of independence in social work. The study contributes potential for arts-informed research, teaching, and practice, as well as social work pedagogy as it demonstrates ways in which the art of improvisation can allow us to take up the transformative promises of social constructionism in social work relating.

Proposta de diálogo interdisciplinar entre Literatura e História, com o propósito de discutir de que forma o texto literário pode ser aproveitado nas aulas de História do Ensino Médio. Investigação da ideologia subjacente a livros didáticos do Ensino Médio e sua assimilação acrítica pelos alunos-leitores. Verificação e análise da presença ou não da Literatura em manuais didáticos do Ensino Médio, bem como da abordagem de fatos históricos ocorridos no Rio Grande do Sul, como a Revolução Farroupilha e a imigração italiana. Com ênfase no papel da educação e tendo como objeto de estudo o romance A Cocanha, de José Clemente Pozenato, procura sensibilizar a prática docente da área de História para a percepção de que a ficção literária constitui um instrumento eficaz no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-19T17:40:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Odilse G Engel.pdf: 615453 bytes, checksum: 8da10c1a15c3a917f4d08ed8ae2952e4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-19T17:40:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Odilse G Engel.pdf: 615453 bytes, checksum: 8da10c1a15c3a917f4d08ed8ae2952e4 (MD5) / Interdisciplinary dialogue approach proposal inserted between History and Literature, in order to discuss how a literary text can be used in History classes of High School. A research into the underneath ideology at educational books and their acritical assimilation by readerstudents. Checking and analysing the presence or not of Literature in High School educational text-books, as well as the approach of historical facts that happened in Rio Grande do Sul, like Revolução Farroupilha and Italian Immigration. Giving emphasis to the Educational role and having in mind, as a study object, the novel A Cocanha by José Clemente Pozenato, it looks for touching the teaching practice of History and allows to realize that literary fiction is an effective instrument(way) in teaching-learning process.

Proposta de diálogo interdisciplinar entre Literatura e História, com o propósito de discutir de que forma o texto literário pode ser aproveitado nas aulas de História do Ensino Médio. Investigação da ideologia subjacente a livros didáticos do Ensino Médio e sua assimilação acrítica pelos alunos-leitores. Verificação e análise da presença ou não da Literatura em manuais didáticos do Ensino Médio, bem como da abordagem de fatos históricos ocorridos no Rio Grande do Sul, como a Revolução Farroupilha e a imigração italiana. Com ênfase no papel da educação e tendo como objeto de estudo o romance A Cocanha, de José Clemente Pozenato, procura sensibilizar a prática docente da área de História para a percepção de que a ficção literária constitui um instrumento eficaz no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / Interdisciplinary dialogue approach proposal inserted between History and Literature, in order to discuss how a literary text can be used in History classes of High School. A research into the underneath ideology at educational books and their acritical assimilation by readerstudents. Checking and analysing the presence or not of Literature in High School educational text-books, as well as the approach of historical facts that happened in Rio Grande do Sul, like Revolução Farroupilha and Italian Immigration. Giving emphasis to the Educational role and having in mind, as a study object, the novel A Cocanha by José Clemente Pozenato, it looks for touching the teaching practice of History and allows to realize that literary fiction is an effective instrument(way) in teaching-learning process.