This study can be described as a journey into the discourse of ‘sangomahood’. It focuses on the narrative of a female sangoma in South Africa and how she experiences her ‘sangomahood’ and gives meaning to it in her specific cultural context. By qualitatively exploring her narrative an attempt was made to understand and illuminate the experiences informing her ‘sangomahood’. This journey starts with an introduction to the two discourses of health namely the dominant, scientific discourse of Western medicine and the alternative discourse of traditional healing. In this part of the journey the historical, anthropological and sociological perspectives on medicine are discussed, as well as the different views of Western medicine and traditional healing pertaining to healers, practices, illness and patients. The methodology and context of the research are then explained. Narrative analysis is used to explore the themes in the sangoma’s narration. The sangoma’s narrative is then introduced by means of five letters that I, as the researcher, write to her. In these letters I also reflect on the difference between her experience and mine, as well as the impact of her narrative on me as a psychologist trained in the Western perspective. This journey was undertaken to create a greater understanding of the culture and experience of ‘sangomahood’. This research also intends to make psychologists aware that the telling of a narrative is never a neutral process and that their clients’ stories always have a certain impact on them, as listeners. Each individual experience is shaped through time, by a specific cultural context which becomes the lens through which people experience and shape the world. / Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

This dissertation studies the role of preaching in the Christian Brethren Church from a practical theological perspective. I commence by setting up a practical theological theory that draws from both revelatory and anthropological models to develop a preaching model that considers preaching as a Revelatory Covenantal Conversation involving divine revelation, community dialogue and intended response, and has ecclesiological focus and impact. In this dissertation I propose a theological theory on the role of preaching in the church which asserts that: Preaching stands, in the line of the self revelation of God, as his continuing action to both reveal himself, and be present with his covenant people of promise. Therefore preaching within the church must conform to this revelation in: event – the covenantal conversation itself; message – the content of the preaching; interpretation/response – the preacher’s intended response by the hearers; the intention - the intended shaping of the community of faith through the preaching event. Preaching is a continuing Revelatory Covenantal Conversation between God and his people to create, transform, and continue his community of faith – the preaching community. Following a discussion of the above preaching theory a Revelatory Covenantal Conversational preaching model is presented. An examination of the preaching praxis within the Christian Brethren denomination is then undertaken. The praxis study gives specific consideration to the place and role of preaching in the historical development of the Brethren, as well as within the current Christian Brethren praxis. In addition a qualitative analysis of the praxis within the local Christian Brethren church that I attend is considered. According to Zerfass “practical theology has the task to lead in... [the] process of change in a way that is responsible from the perspective of both theology and the social sciences” (Heitink 1993: 113). To this end the final chapter suggests possible aspects of change, theological and practical, that can move the praxis forward toward an alternative praxis – to create a preaching community which incorporates the above theological theory and critical reflection on the praxis, and thereby participating fully in the Revelatory Covenantal Conversation. / Dissertation (MA (Theology) : Practical Theology)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This is a comparative study of Korean students' request forms and aspects of their culture that has not been recognized in the field of speech. This offers an explanation for miscommunication between Korean speakers of English and native speakers of English. Lastly, this study provides empirical information about how Korean students use request forms and how Koreans' politeness strategies differ from Americans'.

The purpose of this thesis is to reveal some of the behavioral characteristics of a specific type of laughter that I term "feigned laughter," and how it is used in the context of face-threatening-utterances (FTUs), or utterances that threaten the face needs of an individual.

The National Geographic Channel’s miniseries “Snake Salvation” resurrected a vested interest with the heavily documented practices of signs-following believers in central Appalachia. The current body of scholarship surrounding these congregations focuses mostly on oral history narratives and explanations of religious fundamentalism; a critical analysis of the discourse shared by these congregation members is noticeably absent. This thesis explores selected interviews with George Hensley, Andrew Hamblin, Jamie Coots, and Alfred Ball through the interdisciplinary application of discourse analysis paired with social disclosure theory to unveil the underlying struggles with power and personal beliefs expressed by each pastor. The research performed throughout this study spans interviews collected and published from the 1940s to 2014. Through a discourse analysis performed on these interviews coupled with support from sociological and communicative theoretical frameworks, this study looks to highlight struggles with power and authenticity present for signs-following pastors.

La thèse porte sur les auteurs italiens qui, acteurs ou témoins de l’Histoire pendant la période 1936-1945, ont fait l’expérience de la différence vis-à-vis de la norme anthropologique imposée par le régime fasciste. Dans une première partie, nous précisons les enjeux historiques et interprétatifs du sujet, en examinant le contexte des années trente – à partir de romans de propagande pour la jeunesse – et les difficultés interprétatives possibles. La deuxième partie est consacrée aux écritures de la différence et aux figures de la marginalité. Le corpus met en lumière plusieurs problématiques : l’individu en inadéquation avec la norme des années trente, puis le tournant de l’année 1938 et l’irruption de la question raciale qui redéfinit le statut des Juifs dans la nation et, enfin, les années de la guerre et de la Résistance avec l’expression d’un antifascisme existentiel et l’expérience traumatique de la Shoah. Une troisième partie appréhende la mise en récit de la différence sous un angle diachronique : nous analysons les variations de la perception de la différence entre le temps de l’Histoire, celui de l’écriture et celui de la publication – réception des œuvres. Les textes témoignent en effet d’expériences mais aussi d’une évolution du regard sur cette expérience. Nous étudions ces changements de perception selon trois axes qui traversent la seconde moitié du XXe siècle : le témoignage de la Shoah, l’écriture féminine de la Résistance, et le récit des persécutions de l’homosexualité. / The thesis concerns Italian authors who, as actors or witnesses of History during the period 1936-1945, experienced difference in regard to the anthropological norms imposed by the fascist regime. In the first part, we specify the historical and interpretative stakes of the subject by examining the context of the thirties – through propaganda novels for the youth – and the possible difficulties of interpretation. The second part is dedicated to the writing of difference and to the figures of marginality. The corpus highlights several problems : the individual in inadequacy with the norms of the thirties, then the turning point of the year 1938 and the rapid emergence of the racial question which redefined the status of Jews in the nation and, finally, the war years and the Resistance with the expression of an existential anti-fascism and the traumatic experience of the Shoah. The third part apprehends the writing of the difference through a diachronic angle: we analyze the variations in the perception of difference between the taking place, the writing and the publication of the History or the reception of the works. Texts do indeed testify to experiences but also to the evolution in the perception of these experiences. We study these changes of perception according to three axes which traverse the second half of the XXth century: the testimony of Shoah, feminine writing of the Resistance, and narratives of the persecution of homosexuality.

Anthropology is an underrepresented subject in precollegiate education. Despite concerted institutional efforts through organizations such as the American Anthropological Association (AAA), there has not been significant growth in the field. Although the field of anthropology has not shown significant growth at the precollegiate level, there does exist a presence of precollegiate anthropology, especially through the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) and standalone courses at schools at the elementary through high school level. Many of these standalone courses were created by an individual teacher. This applied thesis used anthropological methods to identify if a social network exists among precollegiate anthropology teachers while also examining how the AAA can create and/or facilitate a stronger community of precollegiate anthropology teachers. Linking to institutions such as the Advanced Placement program in addition to IB may create the critical mass to encourage a positive feedback loop which produces more anthropology students at the college level and more individuals who create standalone courses. With a growth in precollegiate programs, the existing social networks within and outside the AAA will grow.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the representations of transgender in Takako Shimura’s manga Wandering Son (Hōrō Musuko). Wandering Son (2002 to present) is a manga that focuses on their group of middle school friends with two transgender characters, a boy that wants to be a girl and a girl that wans to be a boy, at its center. The story follows the friends’ lives and their struggles with their transgender status in their everyday lives. I explore this work in two ways. First, I look at the transgendered characters’ navigation of gender and their gender roles within the realm of school. The characters’ subversion of school uniforms and their transgendered activities during school festivals serve to show difference in acceptance of transgender by who performs it and where it is performed in the manga. Second, I look at the way that characters, both transgendered and gender-normative, negotiate their gender identities through the use of language. I look at linguistic features such as final particle and personal pronoun to explore how these features are used to define and display the characters’ actual and desired gender identities. Shimura uses gendered languages to explore characters’ creation of their gender identity, resulting in clear gender identities for those who use gendered language and unclear gender identities for those who do not.

No description available.

In 2019, a major academic medical center released a public health research report on life expectancies in Texas organized by zip code. The study revealed that the 76104-zip code, part of the central area of the city of Fort Worth, has the lowest life expectancy in the entire state. Concerned about the life expectancy study statistics, New Mount Rose Baptist Church, affiliated churches, and other community members sought to understand better why the life expectancy in their area was so low. This exploratory study uses a mixed-methods approach that incorporates interviews, a survey, and participant observation to help understand (i) how community members in the area feel, think about, and relate to their community, (ii) what the major social determinants of health are for them, and (iii) what health-related infrastructures in the area are lacking or need improvement. This study unearths perceptions of health and community from the various communities in the area and social and structural determinants of health in 76104.