This thesis centers on Kurt Schwitters’s Merz Barn (1947-1948), exploring the relationship between nature and the Merz principles of formung (forming) and entformung (un-forming) within the context of this late work. The Merz Barn, the last of Schwitters’s Merzbauten, has yet to receive the extensive level of research accorded to its famous Hannover predecessor, resulting in an underdeveloped grasp of the project as a whole within Merzbau scholarship. The present study considers Schwitters’s increasing orientation towards nature as a model for artistic creation to elicit an understanding of the ways in which his paradoxical Merz formula, “Formen heißt entformeln,” evolved during his period of exile. I contend that Schwitters employed the organic processes of natural growth and decay to realize the principles of formung and entformung in his Merz Barn. Furthermore, the sculptural interior underscores the dialectical exchange between forming and un-forming, highlighting the liminal space between the opposing processes.

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The majority of empirical literature on refugee identity and homeland attachment focuses on single exile trajectories: one migratory movement out of the homeland and possibly repatriation. It largely neglects more complex experiences of exile and their implications. Double-exile, a second fleeing of one’s homeland after repatriation, adds complexity to our conventional understanding of refugee perceptions of home and identity. This study explores double-exile experiences of the Rwandan Hutu refugee population of Dzaleka refugee camp to examine its impacts on notions of home and identity construction. This ethnographic study found that the Rwandan Hutu refugees have a unique relationship to home and identity. Double-exile ended their sense of belonging to Rwandan society. Thus causing a break in the conventional longing for home and deterritorializing their identity. These impacts are apparent through the juxtaposition of study participants’ notions of home and their experiences of return and double-exile, a lack of connection or desire to return to Rwanda, and an absence of pride in their Rwandan identity and cultural practices. These findings suggest that more importance must be placed on the role of pre-flight experience of refugees as an integral element to their construction of notions of home. It also indicates that, contrary to more conventional exile trajectories where refugee identity is derived from a historical consciousness, double-exile refugees construct identity through a present-focus.

The aims and objectives of this investigation were to find whether non-Jews or non-exiles related with the early post-exilic Jewish community in their religious life and communal living according to Ezra and Nehemiah; to discern the nature of such relationship; to discover the basis on which this relationship was sustained; and to examine the text of Ezra-Nehemiah and see whether Ezra and Nehemiah exhibits exclusivity in their dealing with non-Jews or non-exiles as supposed by others (cf Williamson 1987:83). The inquiry reveals that the author(s) or editor(s) of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah re-interpreted certain passages from the Pentateuch in a peculiar way to support the exclusive religious and social reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. Consequently, two viewpoints emerged from the text of Ezra and Nehemiah concerning non-exiles. The one is exclusive and the other is inclusive. The researcher contended that the inclusive perspective is the appropriate approach toward non-Jews as evidenced in the spirit of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants as well as in the Deuteronomic-Deuteronomistic history. In other words, the Abrahamic covenant and certain passages from the Pentateuch and from the Deuteronomic-Deuteronomistic history provide a framework for a religious and communal relationship between the Israelites and or Jews and foreigners. / Dissertation (MTh (Old Testament Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

The present research investigates relationships between group marginalization and hostility. In particular, I focus on the experiences of small, contained groups that are intentionally rejected by multiple out-group others. An integrative framework is proposed that attempts to explain how group processes influence (a) coping with threatened psychological needs following marginalization, (b) affective states, (c) cognitions regarding the marginalization and its source, and ultimately (d) hostile behavior. Study 1 describes a unique paradigm that effectively manipulates interpersonal rejection. Study 2 then implements this paradigm to empirically test relationships between the components of the integrative framework and examine differences among included and rejected individuals and groups. Results reveal partial support for the framework, particularly in regard to the impact of group marginalization on psychological needs and hostile affect, cognitions, and behaviors. Implications for natural groups such as terrorist cells, school cliques, and gangs are considered.

<p> This dissertation is an attempt to apply the motif of exile to the church in Canada today and employ biblical resources to guide the church in its engagement with Canadian culture. At one time the church held a place at the centre of Canadian life and contributed to the formation of national culture. As the nation has evolved, the role of the church has shifted significantly. The advent of secularization and a post-Christian, postmodern culture has moved the church from the centre to the margins of Canadian society. The proposal offered here is that this move can be understood as a form of exile. Exile is a rich motif in the history of the Christian faith. Our ancestors in the faith, the nation of Israel, were exiled by foreign nations. The Old Testament is, in many respects, a witness to that experience. Second Temple Jews continued to live under the authority of foreign powers and they also produced literature that testifies to their own sense of remaining in and responding to exile. The early church also understood itself as living in theological exile. The literature of the New Testament demonstrates how the first Christians sought to live faithfully while yet separated from their true, eschatological home. An understanding of exile in these texts and the theological approach that they offer can inform the church in Canada today as it also seeks to live faithfully in its particular contemporary context. This study seeks to engage the biblical materials with a view to applying their exilic wisdom to the life of the Canadian Church today. While the sociological demise of the church in Canada is now part of its historic narrative, exile can offer the contemporary church a paradigm for theological re-orientation, even as it did for Israel and the early church. Thus, adopting an exilic outlook and various aspects of a practical theology of exile can equip the Church in Canada with hope as it faces the challenges of its current circumstances.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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No description available.

In 1997, on average every 40 to 45 hours criminals either shot or killed a victim in the City of Richmond, Virginia. This resulted in 122 firearm homicides in that year alone. This gun-related violent crime epidemic so terrorized law-abiding citizens that many of them became hostages in their own homes. In response to this horrific social problem, Project Exile was developed in late 1997. Project Exile is a multi-level (federal, state, and local) law enforcement effort aimed at the amelioration of Richmond's high per-capita rate of gun violence and gun homicide. Through the Richmond U.S. Attorney's Office, Project Exile takes advantage of stiffer bond rules and sentencing guidelines in federal court, where all cases involving felons with guns, guns and drugs, and guns and domestic violence are prosecuted. Although Project Exile has received extensive television and print media coverage, it has not caught the attention of the academic world. This dissertation begins to fill this research gap by combining Kingdon's (1995) Multiple Streams model with Sabatier's (1999) Advocacy Coalition Framework to develop a "Specific Collins Classification and Elaboration Model" and a "Generic Collins Classification and Elaboration Model" that will be used to analyze the formation and implementation of Project Exile. The three purposes of this research will be: 1. To elaborate and analyze Kingdon's and Sabatier's frameworks as a means for understanding Project Exile 2. To draw on these two frameworks to create both Specific and Generic new "Collins Models: to assist in furthering a deeper understanding of this case study as well as similar policy subsystems. 3. To explain the genesis and development of Project Exile. The most salient result of this research is that it shows the disparate ways in which variables, taken from the work of Kingdon, Sabatier, and the Project Exile case, fit in Schroeder's (2001) operationalization of the Political Economic framework. In addition, this research shows how both Kingdon and Sabatier compensate for the respective limitations of the other when the two of them are combined into one model. / Ph. D.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and filled out the appropriate web form. / Epistles with Bullets--poetry manuscript / 2999-01-01T00:00:00Z