Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:06:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TaniaBF_DISSERT.pdf: 420484 bytes, checksum: f076d683fa4cd7eff8caff99491b742e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-13 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / This study analyzes the processes of meaning construction in the Livro do Desassossego, by semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares - Fernando Pessoa. We use theoretical grounds from an interface between Cognitive Linguistics and Textual Linguistics to observe how certain linguistic mechanisms build a reality that tells us of a time, a being and his conceptions of language and writing. We focus on description and explanation of procedures of categorization and referentiation accomplished, for example, through metaphor and metonymy. For the construction of the intended theoretical interface, we use analytical categories proposed and developed by the Socio-cognitive Approach of Language, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Mental Space Theory. Armed with this theoretical background, we observed the dynamics of language in relation to its social, cultural and historical features, as well as the cognitive aspects that underlie it. We seek, therefore, encourage discussions about the functioning of language considering primarily the creative processes that allow us to organize and shape our experiences. We also try to provide an approximation of Linguistics, Literature and Philosophy, with a view to relations between language structure, cognitive activity and socio-cultural organization. From the results obtained, we found that a literary text attests, with a particular property, the mutual relations between language, cognition and culture, as indicates cognitive approach to language studies / Analisamos neste estudo os processos de constru??o de sentido no Livro do Desassossego do semi-heter?nimo Bernardo Soares Fernando Pessoa. Partimos dos embasamentos te?ricos advindos de uma interface entre a Lingu?stica Cognitiva e a Lingu?stica Textual para observarmos como determinados mecanismos lingu?sticos conferem a constru??o de uma realidade que nos fala de um tempo, de um ser e de sua concep??o de linguagem e escrita. Centramo-nos na descri??o e an?lise dos processos de categoriza??o e referencia??o licenciados, por exemplo, por met?foras e meton?mias. Para a constru??o da interface te?rica pretendida, utilizamos categorias anal?ticas propostas e desenvolvidas no ?mbito da Teoria Sociocognitiva da Linguagem, Teoria da Met?fora Conceptual e Teoria dos Espa?os Mentais. Munidos com tal arcabou?o te?rico, evidenciamos a din?mica da l?ngua no que diz respeito aos seus aspectos sociais, culturais e hist?ricos em acoplamento aos aspectos cognitivos que lhe subjazem. Buscamos, assim, fomentar as discuss?es em torno do funcionamento da linguagem considerando, prioritariamente, os processos criativos que nos permitem organizar e dar forma ?s nossas experi?ncias, bem como propiciar uma aproxima??o entre Lingu?stica, Literatura e Filosofia com vistas ?s rela??es entre a estrutura da l?ngua, a atividade cognitiva e a organiza??o sociocultural. A partir dos resultados obtidos, foi poss?vel evidenciar que um texto liter?rio atesta, com particular propriedade, as m?tuas rela??es entre linguagem, cogni??o e cultura, conforme preceitua a abordagem cognitivista dos estudos da linguagem

This study on the representation of immigrant women in the news investigates three questions: How often do immigrant women appear in the news? In what roles are the immigrant women presented and what issues do they speak about? What are the relationships between those involved in the news features? The research has been conducted through the use of content analysis in combination with the qualitative approaches of semiotics and discourse within a framework of the theoretical perspective of intersectionality. Additional theories in the study are considering the global tendencies and the media, the social construction of news, us & them and stereotypes, as well as feminist media studies. A sample of 15 programmes each of the public service prime-time television news programmes Rapport and Aktuellt, a total of 30 hours, provides the material for this study.The findings of the content analysis indicate that immigrant women are underrepresented in numbers in the Swedish public service television news, and that when immigrant women are speaking in the news, they are more likely to speak about international issues than about Swedish domestic issues. Further, the study finds that most immigrant women are presented in the roles of “immigrant” and mother, while very few immigrant women are speaking in the role of expert/professional. In the qualitative part of the research, it is argued that the report on “Rosengårdsskolan” is consequently building on stereotypically constructed media discourses around the victimized immigrant women, the “ethnification of poverty” and the “racification of the city”. As a contrast, the report on “Adel och hans familj” is displaying a different viewpoint in its aim to depict a well-integrated family in exile in Sweden, but, nevertheless, the immigrant women are informationally backgrounded in contrast to the men in the report.One of the main conclusions of this study is that the immigrant women, and especially the non-European women, appearing in the Swedish television news, are so scarce that their mere appearance becomes loaded with stereotypes, myths, symbolism and prejudices. The findings of the study suggest that the possibilities for immigrant women to get their voices heard and take part in the setting of agendas in the mediated public sphere in Sweden, seem very small.

Available literature reveals that most prevalently delinquency has been viewed from a modernist perspective. However, as cybernetic epistemology increased its stronghold within the field of psychology, explanations became increasingly systemic in nature. In this study a literature review is presented which articulates these approaches. This critique is followed by a comprehensive consideration of delinquency from a social constructionist stance as an alternative to modernist and early cybernetic perspectives. Examples are provided as to possible ways in which the label "delinquency" evolves within an interpersonal context, as well as the ways in which the meaning engendered is linked to broader cultural discourses. It has been acknowledged that this does not constitute the social constructionist perspective on delinquency, but represents some challenging ideas about how delinquency is co-created between people. Implications for therapy and research are also discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This study explores trainee psychotherapists' experiences of double bind situations and inconsistency between explicit and implicit contexts of training. The epistemological foundations of this text are postmodern, social constructionist and ecosystemic. A review of the relevant literature is presented, which includes aspects such as explicit and implicit contexts, double bind and experiences of trainees in training. This is followed by an account of the qualitative research approach adopted, namely, discourse analysis. Themes that are extracted from the text of the transcribed interviews are assumed to reflect discourses in training and the broader societal contexts in which trainees find themselves. These discourses are seen to inform trainees' constructions of their experiences in training. The findings of the analysis are found to concur with the initial hypotheses of this dissertation, as well as with findings in the literature. Recommendations for future research are offered. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This Social Constructionist study originated from the researcher’s exposure to a significant loss and her unanswered questions about other cultures’ experience of grief. Literature is scarce from a social constructionist framework that focuses on the cultural experiences on death and bereavement from a South African perspective. The researcher’s aim was to provide three culturally diverse South African women constructed as ‘bereaved’ the opportunity to tell their stories of the death of a loved one and their bereavement thereof. The three diverse cultures were Tswana, Islamic Muslim and Afrikaans. A qualitative research method was employed. Unstructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with each of the three participants and the method used to analyze the collected data was thematic content analysis. The study allowed rich and valuable information about death and bereavement from three culturally diverse women to emerge. The themes of ‘mourning procedures and practices’, ‘bereavement behaviour’ ‘socio-political context’ and ‘private and public display of grief’ were identified as valuable areas for clinical practice and future research. Lay people, schools and the work environment too, will gain a better understanding of cultural differences on death and bereavement. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Considering the high incidence of suicide in the South African context, the fact that suicide is considered an occupational hazard for psychologists, with more than half experiencing the suicide of a patient in their career and the dearth of post-suicide qualitative research among psychologists, the purpose of this study is to explore and describe the experience of psychologists after the suicide of their patient, and to develop guidelines as a framework of reference to assist psychologists in dealing with the suicide of their patient. In keeping with a social constructionist ontological and ecosystemic epistemological theoretical framework, data was collected by means of meaning-making conversations with six purposively selected psychologists, with a minimum of five years‟ experience and at least one year having passed after the suicide of their patient. The data was analysed independently by the researcher and an independent coder using Tesch‟s open and descriptive method. The present study found that, following the suicide of their patient, the participants were propelled into a myriad of acutely distressing emotions. They often described a suffocating sense of responsibility for the suicide and the lingering presence of their patient. The participants experienced feelings of guilt and self-doubt, often questioning their own professional competence. The post-suicide process was described as being both a personally and professionally isolating event, due to the sense of having to carry the burden of the suicide alone for ethical reasons and fear of social stigmatisation. The participants appeared to grapple with the paradoxical dance between their personal emotional realities and what they perceived to be “clinically” or “professionally” acceptable. Having gone through the traumatic experience of losing a patient to suicide, most of the participants eventually found new wisdom, which helped them become wounded healers. Based on these findings, post-vention guidelines with practical actions were developed to assist psychologists in dealing with the suicide of their patient. Recommendations are made with regard to suicidology research, suicide education and psychologists‟ practice. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Available literature reveals that most prevalently delinquency has been viewed from a modernist perspective. However, as cybernetic epistemology increased its stronghold within the field of psychology, explanations became increasingly systemic in nature. In this study a literature review is presented which articulates these approaches. This critique is followed by a comprehensive consideration of delinquency from a social constructionist stance as an alternative to modernist and early cybernetic perspectives. Examples are provided as to possible ways in which the label "delinquency" evolves within an interpersonal context, as well as the ways in which the meaning engendered is linked to broader cultural discourses. It has been acknowledged that this does not constitute the social constructionist perspective on delinquency, but represents some challenging ideas about how delinquency is co-created between people. Implications for therapy and research are also discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This study explores trainee psychotherapists' experiences of double bind situations and inconsistency between explicit and implicit contexts of training. The epistemological foundations of this text are postmodern, social constructionist and ecosystemic. A review of the relevant literature is presented, which includes aspects such as explicit and implicit contexts, double bind and experiences of trainees in training. This is followed by an account of the qualitative research approach adopted, namely, discourse analysis. Themes that are extracted from the text of the transcribed interviews are assumed to reflect discourses in training and the broader societal contexts in which trainees find themselves. These discourses are seen to inform trainees' constructions of their experiences in training. The findings of the analysis are found to concur with the initial hypotheses of this dissertation, as well as with findings in the literature. Recommendations for future research are offered. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This Social Constructionist study originated from the researcher’s exposure to a significant loss and her unanswered questions about other cultures’ experience of grief. Literature is scarce from a social constructionist framework that focuses on the cultural experiences on death and bereavement from a South African perspective. The researcher’s aim was to provide three culturally diverse South African women constructed as ‘bereaved’ the opportunity to tell their stories of the death of a loved one and their bereavement thereof. The three diverse cultures were Tswana, Islamic Muslim and Afrikaans. A qualitative research method was employed. Unstructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with each of the three participants and the method used to analyze the collected data was thematic content analysis. The study allowed rich and valuable information about death and bereavement from three culturally diverse women to emerge. The themes of ‘mourning procedures and practices’, ‘bereavement behaviour’ ‘socio-political context’ and ‘private and public display of grief’ were identified as valuable areas for clinical practice and future research. Lay people, schools and the work environment too, will gain a better understanding of cultural differences on death and bereavement. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Considering the high incidence of suicide in the South African context, the fact that suicide is considered an occupational hazard for psychologists, with more than half experiencing the suicide of a patient in their career and the dearth of post-suicide qualitative research among psychologists, the purpose of this study is to explore and describe the experience of psychologists after the suicide of their patient, and to develop guidelines as a framework of reference to assist psychologists in dealing with the suicide of their patient. In keeping with a social constructionist ontological and ecosystemic epistemological theoretical framework, data was collected by means of meaning-making conversations with six purposively selected psychologists, with a minimum of five years‟ experience and at least one year having passed after the suicide of their patient. The data was analysed independently by the researcher and an independent coder using Tesch‟s open and descriptive method. The present study found that, following the suicide of their patient, the participants were propelled into a myriad of acutely distressing emotions. They often described a suffocating sense of responsibility for the suicide and the lingering presence of their patient. The participants experienced feelings of guilt and self-doubt, often questioning their own professional competence. The post-suicide process was described as being both a personally and professionally isolating event, due to the sense of having to carry the burden of the suicide alone for ethical reasons and fear of social stigmatisation. The participants appeared to grapple with the paradoxical dance between their personal emotional realities and what they perceived to be “clinically” or “professionally” acceptable. Having gone through the traumatic experience of losing a patient to suicide, most of the participants eventually found new wisdom, which helped them become wounded healers. Based on these findings, post-vention guidelines with practical actions were developed to assist psychologists in dealing with the suicide of their patient. Recommendations are made with regard to suicidology research, suicide education and psychologists‟ practice. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)