No description available.

No description available.

EXPLORING IDENTITY THROUGH SELF-PORTRAITURE by ROSE M BARRON Under the Direction of Dr Melody Milbrandt ABSTRACT 1) Statement of the problem: How can art education help students deconstruct stereotypical imagery and develop meaningful artwork? How can art lessons help students construct positive identity imagery and develop meaningful artwork? 2) Procedures: I field-tested a unit of three lessons based on identity through self-portraiture to help students investigate the topic of identity in relation to personal and cultural sense of self. Student’s artworks, reflections and responses were analyzed. 3) Conclusions: Art lessons can help students construct positive identity and develop positive imagery. Art lessons can help students deconstruct negative stereotypical imagery and develop meaningful imagery. INDEX WORDS: Identity, Portrait, Self-Portrait, Race, Gender, Class, Ethnicity, Contemporary Art Education

This thesis is an analysis of the representations of Deaf identity in a major English Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star. A qualitative case-based discourse analysis was used to examine a documented interaction between the Toronto Star and eleven Deaf community leaders and allies. This research found that the most frequent use of ‘deaf’ is metaphorical and of the non-metaphorical uses, ‘Deaf’ identity is predominantly constructed from a pathological paradigm. The findings of this research provide a valuable perspective from a non-dominate cultural group, the Canadian Deaf community, on the representation of Deaf identity in mainstream print news media. It also makes linkages between the representations of Deaf identity and the experiences of these representations by Deaf people, and links the perspectives of this cultural group to the broader body of research related to minority identity negotiation in mainstream media.

No description available.

This study is about surfing subculture in the South West of England, within small communities of surfers that live within the South East Cornwall area. Specifically the focus is on the Local Surfer, a surfing type emerging from a typology of surfers observed in the South West of England during my previous study (Beaumont, 2007) and developed through the use of ideal types, a concept taken from Weber (1949). The Interpretive paradigm was adopted for this study in order to conduct research into the social world of surfing subculture that produced richly descriptive data. Within this approach qualitative ethnographic methods were used including participant observation, field notes and semi-structured interviews to generate data on the two key themes surrounding the Local Surfer in the study; identity and community. In terms of identity, data reveals a list of the ideal typical characteristics for the Wannabe, the Professional Surfer, the Soul Surfer and the Local Surfer types the last of which highlights significant gender differences within the type itself. Donnelly and Young’s (1999) symbolic interactionist model of identity construction and confirmation was applied to analyse the Local Surfer and did help illuminate some stages in Local Surfer identity construction. However, this analysis also revealed limitations of this theories applicability to pursuits rather than sports (which is how surfing is classified to the Local Surfer). Goffman’s (1969) concept of career was also used to provide an opportunity to present the career of the Local Surfer and in particular provides information on the years after identity construction and the process of ageing within a subculture and a community. The Local Surfer career is seen as various distinctive stages which the Local Surfer typically progressed through in a linear manner: the “nurturing” stage; the traveller stage; the responsible stage; and the legends stage. Finally in terms of community, many of the issues associated with community are addressed by focusing on the elements which make up a definition of community established in the early stages of the study. Current issues for the Local Surfer are also discussed including their fratriachial qualities, the exclusion of women and the phenomenon of localism.

This empirical study of the organisational identity of a newly titled university provides an insight into how identity is constructed, maintained, deconstructed and reconstructed in the higher education sector in England. The purposes of the university sector, and the higher education sector of which it is a part, are being increasingly challenged following significant legislative and environmental changes over the past century. Through these changes what it means to be a university is shifting. Increased complexity and diversity has given rise to a university sector that now encompasses much of what was previously defined as non-university higher education, resulting in what many argue is a crisis of sector identity. Whilst recognising that organisational identity does more than provide a definition of membership, this crisis of sector identity impacts upon the identity development and understandings of those who are now part of it. Research on identity in the higher education sector has been focused on professional and academic identities, the concept of what it is to be a university in a policy-driven, mass participation higher education system or the interaction between the two subject areas. This thesis has a different focus, concentrating on the relatively under-researched area of change and continuity in organisational identity particularly focussing upon a period of change in legal definition and organisational positioning. During the period 1998 to 2013, the University of St Mark & St John (Marjon) moved from being a college of higher education, to a university college and finally, through a change in legislative criteria, to a university. This thesis explores change and continuities in its identity through its journey and various incarnations. It investigates how definitional constructs and sectoral positioning interface with who the organisation is; its identity. The thesis is based on an interpretive mixed methods case study, focussing on the strategic development of the University during this period. Existing theoretical models of organisational identity have informed the analysis of the data which include documentary sources, a small number of key informant interviews and participant observations. The latter exploited insights gleaned from working as a senior manager in the University for part of the period in which the research was undertaken. The research findings reinforce the existing theories highlighting the importance of organisational identity to organisational health, but challenge existing theory in respect of identity development and change. The research highlights the significance of the relationship between ‘what’ an organisation is, which is a definitional and spatial construct, and ‘who’ an organisation is, which is a reflection of its identity. This relationship has previously been considered as inconsequential to organisational identity development. The findings also challenge the assumption that identity change is a change management process brought into effect through a strong leadership narrative and strategic planning tools. The study makes evident the interplay of organisational history, and the strength of internal and external influences on the capacity and willingness of an organisation to undergo identity change. This has resulted in the development of a conceptual framework to support leaders in the exploration of an organisation’s identity, highlighting the interrelationship of specific factors on identity development.

This dissertation explores Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories (1959), the Ghost Writer (1979), the Counterlife (1986), the Facts (1988), Operation Shylock (1993), Sabbath's Theater (1995),and the Human Stain (2000), arguing that Roth relishes the telling of the story and the search for self within that telling. with attention to narrative technique and its relation to issues surrounding reality and identity, Roth's narratives stress unreliability, causing Roth to create characters searching for a more complex interpretation of self. Chapter I examines Roth’s negotiation of dual identities as Neil Klugman in Goodbye, Columbus feels alienated and displaced from Christianized America. the search for identity and the merging of American Christianity and Judaism remain a focus in Chapter II, which explores the implications of how, in the Ghost Writer, a young Nathan Zuckerman visits his mentor E.I. Lonoff to find him living in what he believes to be a non-Jewish environment—the American wilderness. Chapter II also examines the difficulties of cultural assimilation in "Eli, the Fanatic," in which Eli must shed outward appearances of Judaism to fit into the mostly Protestant community of Woodenton. Relative to the negotiation of multiple identities, Chapter III considers Sabbath’s attempt, in Sabbath’s Theater, to reconcile his spiritual and physical self when seeking to avoid his inevitable death. Exploring a further dimension of the search for self, Chapter IV traces the legacy of stereotyped notions of identity, considering ways in which Roth subverts stereotypes in the Human Stain. the search for identity and its particular truths remains a focus of Chapter V, which explores Roth's creation of an unstable reality through the Counterlife, the Facts, Operation Shylock, and the Human Stain, suggesting that the literary imagination matters more than truth in fiction. in its attention to Roth's focus on identity, race, and narrative technique, this dissertation contributes to the evolution of criticism addressing the social significance of the major works of Philip Roth.

The thesis “By Some Trick of the Light my Skin was Darker” explores the driving forces of my work. The title refers to a kind of primal scene in my youth when I first entertained the tensions of being half-native and half-Caucasian. I realized that through a trick of the light caused by the refraction of water I could be native in spite of my white appearance. Using the discourses of colonialism, cultural appropriation, identity politics and an expanded notion of painting that verges on the practices of presentation and display I interrogate the problem of hybridity. I argue my practice of painting is an externalization or literalization of an internal tension that is constitutive of the self. Through stories and experiences of my life on and off the reservation, inside and outside the studio, through written prose and poetic repetition I hope to help viewers better understand the esoteric elements in my work. / October 2016

Human behaviors and social norms are transferred to the Internet in complex and divergent ways. The term online disinhibition has been coined to describe situations when Internet users seem to behave more openly and unrestrained online, often acting in ways they would not dare to act in the face-to-face world. According to Suler, there is a need for future research to "focus on which people, under what circumstances, are more predisposed to the various elements of online disinhibition." With this in mind, this descriptive study sought to determine whether or not people are more true to their authentic psychological identities (i.e., genders) during online interaction or create completely new identities because of the more permissive social norms created by cyberspace. Through video recorded face-to-face discussions, reflective online discussions, open-ended online surveys, and semi-structured interviews, qualitative data was collected for analysis. The results and findings demonstrated that some personality traits are magnified during online interaction, but individuals ultimately stay true to their established gender roles.