Call number: LD2668 .T4 1948 N6 / Master of Science

This project highlights aspects of Hester Piozzi’s approach to biography in Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson LL. D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life in order to analyze her use of accumulated cultural and social capital. I highlight similarities between Anecdotes and Samuel Johnson’s model for biography given in Rambler #60 and show how Piozzi adheres to his advice as she characterizes Johnson as a pious genius, intolerantly opinionated, and self-indulgent, yet unwilling to accept those qualities in others. I analyze how her editorial choices characterize her as a reliable source of information and a blameless victim of Johnson’s need for attention. This study proves Anecdotes and the corresponding entries in Thraliana are important because her deliberate revisioning of her history speaks to her ability to manipulate social expectations in order to revive her literary career and actively contribute to eighteenth-century British economy, culture, and society.

Various researches across the world have established that graffiti writing is a universal social practice. The actual occurrence or manifestation of graffiti is however far from being universal cross-culturally. It varies based on a wide array of social variables. This research therefore set out to interrogate the occurrence of graffiti writing as a unique social practice in Zimbabwean urban areas. Three Zimbabwean urban areas (Harare, Chitungwiza and Gweru) were specifically sampled for the collection of graffiti inscriptions on various surfaces which included toilet walls, durawalls as well as road signs. Graffiti data collected from the various surfaces was complemented by reader feedback contributions from The Herald and Newsday. Focus group discussions provided a third tier of data aimed at establishing participants’ multiple reactions towards the practice of graffiti. Analysis of data was done based on three significant sections of participants’ attitudes towards graffiti, urban street protest graffiti as well as educational graffiti collected from various toilet surfaces in urban areas. Participants’ attitudes towards graffiti revealed varied reactions towards the practice of graffiti. The reactions were partly influenced by the participants’ ages as well as levels of education and maturity. Age and maturity proved to be predictors of the extent to which participants were willing to be pragmatic in so far as the appreciation of graffiti writing is concerned. Older and more experienced and mature participants were thus willing to look past the ‘deviant’ nature of graffiti writing to consider the various pressures that force writers to take to the wall. Urban street protest graffiti is a term coined in this research to capture the unique type of graffiti that is written on various surfaces along streets in urban areas. This highly textual graffiti is drastically different from the post-graffiti commonly found in Western urban cities and is aptly referred to as street art. Urban street protest mainly manifested itself in Zimbabwean urban areas in two main themes of protest inscriptions directed towards the operations of Zimbabwe’s electrical energy supplier (commonly referred to by its former name of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority - ZESA) as well as through political inscriptions. Political inscriptions expose a high degree of nuances that have not been hitherto discussed in literature on political graffiti inscriptions. The research analysed how graffiti writing can be employed for both pro-hegemonic and anti-hegemonic purposes. Inscriptions in high schools and tertiary institutions highlighted a differential construction of discourse on a gendered basis. Inscriptions in female toilets indicated a tendency of graffiti writers to perpetuate dominant educational, health, traditional and religious discourses which assert male dominance. The inscriptions show a major preoccupation with restricting or policing of female sexuality by fellow students mainly through the discursive usages of social corrective Shona labels such as hure (prostitute) and gaba ([big] tin). These are labels that are virtually absent in graffiti inscriptions in male toilets which is suggestive of a situation whereby female inscriptions are conservative. A consequence of such conservatism in inscriptions in female toilets is that no new sexualities are reconstructed and negotiated through discourses in discursive spaces provided by the inherently private nature of toilets in general. Thus, cultural and religious normative expectations are regarded as still weighing heavily on female high school writers in the construction and negotiation of sexuality and gendered behaviours, attitudes, norms and values through discourses constructed through graffiti. In contrast, male inscriptions highlight a major subversion of dominant discourses on abstinence and responsible sexual behaviours and attitudes. Corrective social labels such as ngochani (gay person) are mainly employed to pressure males into indulging and engaging in heterosexual behaviours. Discourses constructed through graffiti inscriptions in male toilets also demonstrate how sexuality is constructed through debate on the appropriateness of marginalised sexualities such as masturbation and homosexuality. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

L'objectif de ce mémoire est de mieux comprendre le rôle des entraîneurs dans le développement des habiletés de vie des adolescents-athlètes. Une étude qualitative à cas multiples, jumelée à une enquête de narration, a été effectuée. Des entretiens semi-structures ont été réalisés auprès de 12 entraîneurs de basket-ball en contexte scolaire ayant une approche centrée sur les athlètes, avec un intérêt pour le développement personnel et athlétique de ces derniers. Dans l'ensemble, les résultats indiquent que les entraîneurs basent leurs enseignements sur une philosophie axée sur le développement global des athlètes, de bonnes relations avec les athlètes et la création d'un climat motivationnel au sein de l'équipe. De plus, les résultats révèlent que les entraîneurs enseignent plusieurs habiletés de vie différentes, motivés par les besoins des adolescents-athlètes ou par leurs propres valeurs. Enfin, les entraîneurs assurent le développement des habiletés de vie en utilisant volontairement certaines stratégies d'enseignement et de transfert.

Peu d'études ont examiné la portée de l'expérience subjective pendant et après une catastrophe naturelle. Ce mémoire doctoral a exploré les perceptions des personnes touchées par les incendies et l'évacuation de Fort McMurray en 2016. Les objectifs étaient de documenter (1) l'expérience de l'évacuation, et (2) les conséquences biopsychosociales des feux de forêt telles que perçues par les personnes évacuées de Fort McMurray 3 mois et 3 ans après l'évacuation. Cette étude comprenait deux collectes de données, l'une auprès de 393 personnes évacuées 3 mois après l'évacuation à l'aide d'un questionnaire en ligne, et l'autre auprès de 31 participants (parmi ceux qui ont participé à l'évaluation des 3 mois) interrogés par téléphone 3 ans après l'évacuation. Huit thèmes décrivant l'expérience d'évacuation sont ressortis de l'analyse : la préparation à l'évacuation, la nature traumatique perçue de l'évacuation, les problèmes rencontrés lors des déplacements, l'assistance reçue et fournie, les conditions de vulnérabilité, la présence d’inconforts physiques, la relocalisation, l'absence de problème/de réponse. Sept catégories de conséquences négatives sont ressorties : les pertes matérielles et financières, les impacts émotionnels/troubles de santé mentale, les déficiences cognitives, les changements comportementaux, les réflexions spirituelles/existentielles, les altérations sociales et les conditions physiques. Quatre catégories de conséquences positives sont ressorties : la croissance posttraumatique, la résilience/absence de conséquences, l'altruisme et la cohésion communautaire. Cette étude a montré un large éventail de conséquences perçues des feux de forêt et de l’évacuation par les habitants de Fort McMurray. Les résultats suggèrent l'importance d'adapter les interventions aux besoins des évacués et de fournir de l’aide aux victimes sur une longue période.

In a place that has been abandoned I have collected the human-made traces. Preserving the perishability of places and people. Saving the small memory. To hold close and pass on to the next. Placing them in a jewelry context where we may care for them more tenderly. To approach the people through adornment and wearing. I don't want to physically mark anyone, but I still want to come close. A piercing of the clothes: brooches. You who left it. I who collected. Next one to wear. Where all of us become involved and equally important. With the traces taken from the place, I add my own imprint in the craftsmanship of the jewelry. Each brooch fragile and where the next one, the wearer, will become part of our traces and history. Each brooch with a part of us and in transformation. Traces can be left, and memories preserved. They can be passed on through the visible, the tangible, the sound and the anecdotes. They can be experienced or relived when we feel, listen and see. Therefore, I needed to pass on the traces in several ways. Through the brooches and through film. For more people to take part of. Where the next one can see, hear and feel a place; its traces, stories and the imagination created in the experience.