This study explores the experiences of parents around video games and their adolescent children. Nine parents participated in individual and focus group interviews which asked them to reflect and consider their interactions, opinions, and beliefs about video games and their adolescent children who are gamers. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis the data revealed themes of power, fear, and judgment. The analysis is best represented by ethnodramatic scripts. These scripts depict parents’ concerns of video games, perceptions of their adolescent children, their beliefs about parenting, and the influence of societal messages. The complexities and sometimes contradictions available in the scripts suggest that more conversations are necessary about how parenting, video games, and gamers intersect so that many of the fears can be overcome and more critical approaches can be adopted. / Graduate

Muslim women are misrepresented through frames and stereotypes that the media uses to further an established narrative. Through a Critical Discourse Analysis, the study analyzes three liberal-nonpartisan Italian newspapers and their approach towards two themes, which are the burkini debate that occurred in late August 2016 and the analysis of three different Muslim women within the Italian society. The study concludes that Muslim women are negatively framed through the usage of a discourse that stereotypes them and constructively misrepresents their reality.

M.A. / This dissertation examines the use of language and its implications on gender relations within the Swazi courts. Starting from the premise that language use is an important guide in understanding gender differences and differences in power between men and women, this dissertation investigates the language used by the different participants in court proceedings of selected court cases, particularly on offences that involve or otherwise touch on assault. The data is based on proceedings in two selected courts, one in Mbabane (an urban court) and the other in Lobamba (a semi urban court). Analysis is strengthened by an array of theories of gender and cultural studies. The major analytical methodology for this study is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The study ultimately locates itself within the line of gender studies on cultural influences, examining how lexical choices in linguistic discourses contribute to sustaining or subverting age-old ideas of manhood versus womanhood in Swaziland. The analysis leads to a conclusion that: (a) Women are viewed as docile and unchanging in terms of their interaction in the society. (b) Within the patriarchal Swazi context, the linguistic expectations of “good women” put them at a disadvantage when communicating with men. (c) Traditionalists have to shift from patriarchal values and integration of the Swazi custom with some of the positive ways in life borrowed from education, Christianity and other modernized institutions. If this is enforced then women would cease to be treated as doormats and marginalised by society. This gender imbalance is revealed in situations of contest. It not only draws on, but also engenders the already existing ideologies of strong and knowledgeable men versus weak and ignorant women, in part by muting the latter. This, in the researcher’s view, is worsened by the fact that such linguistic disempowerment takes place within the structures of the State such as the courts, whose authority can easily be mistaken for that of the men who function within them. Put differently, the connotations of power, authority, coercion and fear within the courts are reinforced when one half of participants are disadvantaged by cultural ideologies such as those of linguistic control.

Magister Artium - MA / This paper examines selected discourses found in the journals kept by 21 working-class women during a training course for domestic workers in South Africa. The principal aim of the paper is to examine how emotion, voice and agency are expressed through literacy practices such as writing. With critical discourse analysis, the existing literacy levels of these women are revealed as well as the way in which women express identity, agency and emotion through the act of writing and reflecting on their experiences. A secondary aim is to uncover those recurrent discourses and attitudes that either empower or disempower these women. This is done to showcase how women's perception of themselves and their opportunities help them become active or inactive agents in their communities and families. Contributions are made to the study of women's language and literacy practices, with particular investigation of how their identities are shaped and moulded by language use. Critical discourse analysis and narrative analysis are the main analytical tools used in the study, highlighting aspects like agency, voice and ideology. These aspects are examined through the lens of women's experiences. / South Africa

Narrative Therapy draws on an understanding of how discourse acts to construct, reproduce and deconstruct power relationships. Therapy is focussed on collaborating with clients in a process of re-authoring their self-stories by critically evaluating the positions made available to them in relation to dominant discourses. Whilst there is a large body of theoretical knowledge on post-structuralism and psychotherapy, very few discourse analyses of psychotherapy sessions have been published. Thus, though post-structuralist therapeutic approaches are theoretically well supported, there is an identified gap in the literature on the therapeutic processes that occur within practice. This research aims to further explore these therapeutic processes, focussing specifically on subject positioning with relation to gender in Narrative Couple Therapy, and the influence of the therapist thereupon. It is based on the analysis of a video of a Michael White Narrative Couple Therapy session, "The Best of Friends." Using discourse analysis as a methodological approach, the analysis seeks first to identify talk that signifies discourses of gender difference, and then to explore how the subjects (therapist and clients) are positioned in relation to these discourses. The analysis focuses on the therapist's activities to investigate the influence of his interactions with the partners on how they are positioned or position themselves within stories of gender difference. The analysis shows that, by working reflexively, transparently and collaboratively with the partners, the therapist assists to render power, restrictive discourses, and alternate positions visible to the clients. The therapist resists being drawn into dominant therapy discourses of expert and patient, and instead continuously recognises the knowledges and expertise that the clients bring to the therapy context. He then works closely with the clients to thicken alternative representations of self.

This study examined the representation of national and religious dimensions of Iranian history and identity in Iranian middle school history textbooks. Furthermore, through a qualitative case study in a school in the capital city of Tehran, teachers’ use of textbooks in classrooms, students’ response, their perceptions of the country’s past, and their definitions of national identity is studied. The study follows a critical discourse analysis framework by focusing on the subjectivity of the text and examining how specific concepts, in this case collective identities, are constructed through historical narratives and how social actors, in this case students, interact with , and make sense of, the process. My definition of national identity is based on the ethnosymbolism paradigm (Smith, 2003) that accommodates both pre-modern cultural roots of a nation and the development and trajectory of modern political institutions. Two qualitative approaches of discourse analysis and case study were employed. The textbooks selected were those published by the Ministry of Education; universally used in all middle schools across the country in 2009. The case study was conducted in a girls’ school in Tehran. The students who participated in the study were ninth grade students who were in their first year of high school and had just finished a complete course of Iranian history in middle school. Observations were done in history classes in all three grades of the middle school. The study findings show that textbooks present a generally negative discourse of Iran’s long history as being dominated by foreign invasions and incompetent kings. At the same time, the role of Islam and Muslim clergy gradually elevates in salvaging the country from its despair throughout history, becomes prominent in modern times, and finally culminates in the Islamic Revolution as the ultimate point of victory for the Iranian people. Throughout this representation, Islam becomes increasingly dominant in the textbooks’ narrative of Iranian identity and by the time of the Islamic Revolution morphs into its single most prominent element. On the other hand, the students have created their own image of Iran’s history and Iranian identity that diverges from that of the textbooks especially in their recollection of modern times. They have internalized the generally negative narrative of textbooks, but have not accepted the positive role of Islam and Muslim clergy. Their notion of Iranian identity is dominated by feelings of defeat and failure, anecdotal elements of pride in the very ancient history, and a sense of passivity and helplessness.

Lead is a serious developmental neurotoxin with the capacity to interrupt brain development and impair functioning. Since at least 1930 numerous case studies in American, Canadian and Australian literature have identified lead based paint in the home as a source of poisoning for young children; and since at least 1990 evidence has shown that it is the lead dust from deteriorating paint in older homes and renovating activities that is the primary source of chronic exposure for young children today. Not much is known about the extent of childhood lead poisoning in Canada. Gaps in our understanding include a lack of national survey data on childhood blood lead levels and an absence of reliable data to determine the era of housing that poses the greatest risk. This thesis posits that despite this paucity of research knowledge there is evidence to suggest that populations of vulnerable children continue to be harmed by exposure to historic sources of lead, such as lead-based paint found in older housing stock. This thesis examines the evidence to support this contention by critically analyzing the Canadian public health response to the issue of childhood lead poisoning. Specific attention is paid to discourse corresponding to lead-based paint, the putative major pathway of exposure for children ages 1 to 5 years. Using Foucault’s genealogical/archaeological approach, as elaborated upon by Rawlinson (1987) this thesis discusses the socio-political and economical processes that shaped health care knowledge regarding childhood lead poisoning in Canada and influenced the way knowledge was produced and used by health care providers and policy makers. The analysis is assisted via a comparison of Canadian public health discourse with American discourse, with an emphasis on discourse appearing in the post leaded gasoline era (1990-2008). The strength of a Foucauldian archaeological/genealogical analysis for nursing research and particularly for this analysis is in its focus on discourse, surfaces of emergence, transformations, mutations, contingencies, events, recognition of power/knowledge strategies, descriptions of discipline technologies and consequences, and suggested possibilities of resistance. This thesis proposes that surveillance data constituted both a product and acatalyst of the dominant view on childhood lead poisoning occurring from residential sources and posits that a lack of Canadian context specific surveillance data was the major “policing” factor limiting Canadian public health discourse. Further, privileged access to blood lead survey data maintained the view that childhood lead poisoning was a problem of the past or an American problem. Third, tensions among Canada’s two federal agencies which hold primary responsibility for lead, health and housing resulted in a weakened response whereby, to date, no legislation exists to protect vulnerable populations of Canadian children from exposure to historic sources of lead in residential dwellings.

The news media serve as the Canadian public’s main source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian media portray the conflict, through a lens of Habermas’ (1962) public sphere theory, Foucault’s (1926 – 1984) ideas on discourse, and Rawls’ (1921 – 2002) conceptions of equality and justice. Building on these theories, Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory (1974), Said’s Orientalism (1978), and d’Arcy’s (1913 – 1983) conception of the right to communicate are examined to arrive at a framework for analyzing Canadian news. Looking at ideological representations, power manifestations, issue framing, and social responsibility within the media, this thesis explores whether the Canadian media portray the conflict in such a way that fosters a downward spiral of opinions within the Canadian public. A Critical Discourse Analysis of coverage in two national English Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post, during three separate timeframes of increased violence in Israel and Palestine between 2000 and 2009 reveals that newspaper representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are often entrenched in predefined ways of portraying the Other, fostering an Israeli-Palestinian spiral of silence in Canadian media.

This thesis investigates the complex relationship between political institutions and health care policy through framing techniques employed in political discourse in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It addresses how rights and market framing interact in the development, passage and further discourses on the PPACA. President Obama’s discourses are analyzed using qualitative critical discourse analysis of five remarks and addresses given between 2009-2013. These speeches are unpacked and catego-rized to illustrate the change in framing techniques over time. Three main findings are presented after the analysis portion: market framing is used more frequently in the developmental stages of the PPACA, mixed rights and market framing are largely conveyed through anecdotes, and the “right to affordable health care” is forwarded as an argument. These findings support the main argument that rights and market frames have a high level of interaction in the development of the PPACA.

This thesis examines the topic of poverty and the treatment of economically marginalized individuals in official high school financial literacy curriculum frameworks in the United States and Canada. Employing critical discourse and ideological analysis, this study investigates the stated and unstated ideological assumptions underpinning financial literacy curriculum documents and what they imply about poverty and people who are poor. Findings suggest that official financial literacy curriculum frameworks overwhelmingly ascribe to individualistic paradigms of poverty that see individuals as personally responsible for their financial outcomes. Few documents examined delve into the social, political, and economic contexts affecting individuals’ ability to maintain financial security and build wealth. Additionally, topics of relevance to people who are poor as well as their perspectives and experiences are avoided in the majority of these documents, which are found to be middle-class centric. Offering a critique of financial literacy as it is manifested in contemporary U.S. and Canadian curriculum frameworks, this thesis contributes to scholarship problematizing financial literacy initiatives and calling for more inclusive, critical, and social justice oriented approaches to financial literacy education.