The purpose of this work is to explore the roles of education and language in the creation of Japanese cultural identity. Education means first "schooling," but it also expands to include all cultural learning. In the attempt to unravel the inter-relationships of abstract concepts such as education, culture, identity, language and Japan, our understandings are necessarily influenced by our own education. Attempts by the educated elite of one culture to understand other cultures constitutes an intellectual conflict of interest that questions academic conventions, such as objectivity. In this work, I interweave expository and narrative chapters in an attempt to create a new "methodology" or "approach" to the study of culture, which I call cultural hermeneutics. The autobiographical chapters present an ongoing self-reflection upon my developing understanding of Japan. I have studied and taught in Japan for many years, and my increasing familiarity with things Japanese has gradually moved me beyond the boundaries of previous identities, and into spaces that once separated me from Japanese culture, involving me in the formation of new hybrid cultural identities. After an introductory chapter, the dissertation is split into three parts. The first part deals with the challenges of cultural hermeneutics as a methodology. The second part examines how the languages of Japan and foreign language education in Japan influence the formation of Japanese cultural identities. The third part explores how ideological debates, such as those about education, nationalism and internationalization, play a role in forming cultural identities. I conclude that identities are constantly contested by voices from both within and without the "imagined communities" of cultures. This contest is in progress even before we come to study "Culture." Because change is inherent to living cultures, and because lived experience is so abundant and complex, the knowledge we inherit about cultures is always incomplete, and full of prejudice and misunderstandings. We can never arrive at final understandings of cultures, not even our own. Nevertheless, it is important to continue conversations about cultures because they can lead us to form deepened understandings, and because these conversations ultimately contribute to greater self-understanding.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 101-103).

The purpose of this work is to explore the roles of education and language in the creation of Japanese cultural identity. Education means first "schooling," but it also expands to include all cultural learning. In the attempt to unravel the inter-relationships of abstract concepts such as education, culture, identity, language and Japan, our understandings are necessarily influenced by our own education. Attempts by the educated elite of one culture to understand other cultures constitutes an intellectual conflict of interest that questions academic conventions, such as objectivity. In this work, I interweave expository and narrative chapters in an attempt to create a new "methodology" or "approach" to the study of culture, which I call cultural hermeneutics. The autobiographical chapters present an ongoing self-reflection upon my developing understanding of Japan. I have studied and taught in Japan for many years, and my increasing familiarity with things Japanese has gradually moved me beyond the boundaries of previous identities, and into spaces that once separated me from Japanese culture, involving me in the formation of new hybrid cultural identities. After an introductory chapter, the dissertation is split into three parts. The first part deals with the challenges of cultural hermeneutics as a methodology. The second part examines how the languages of Japan and foreign language education in Japan influence the formation of Japanese cultural identities. The third part explores how ideological debates, such as those about education, nationalism and internationalization, play a role in forming cultural identities. I conclude that identities are constantly contested by voices from both within and without the "imagined communities" of cultures. This contest is in progress even before we come to study "Culture." Because change is inherent to living cultures, and because lived experience is so abundant and complex, the knowledge we inherit about cultures is always incomplete, and full of prejudice and misunderstandings. We can never arrive at final understandings of cultures, not even our own. Nevertheless, it is important to continue conversations about cultures because they can lead us to form deepened understandings, and because these conversations ultimately contribute to greater self-understanding. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1966 M435 / Master of Science

Text in Afrikaans / Die studie handel oor die persoonlikheidsamestelling van die beskeie leerling in die senior sekondere skoolfase. Twee sienings van beskeidenheid blyk uit die literatuur, naamlik beskeidenheid as 'n deug en beskeidenheid as manifestasie van innerlike onsekerheid. Daar is in diepte gekyk na beskeidenheid as persoonlikheidseienskap en die invloed van beskeidenheid op die relasievorming en selfaktualisering van die kind. Beskeidenheid gaan gepaard met persoonlikheidseienskappe soos terughoudendheid, beskroomdheid, geinhibeerdheid, ontoereikende assertiwiteit en vry van aanmatiging en dit behels 'n onvermoe tot selfbevordering. Verder manifesteer sake soos sosiale angstigheid, openbare selfbewustheid, vrees vir sukses en swak selfevaluering ook in beskeidenheid. Die leerling se relasievorming en selfaktualisering word deur beskeidenheid gekortwiek. Die Hoerskool Persoonlikheidsvraelys is in 'n empiriese ondersoek op 'n aantal standerd 9-leerlinge afgeneem. Geen tipiese perrsoonlikheidsprofiel kon vir beskeidenheid saamgestel word nie. 'n Aantal persoonlikheidseienskappe wat met beskeidenheid verband kan hou, het egter in die ondersoek na vore gekom. / This study concerns the personality composition of the modest pupil in the senior secondary school. Two views of modesty are discussed in the literature, namely that it is a virtue and that it is a sign of inner uncertainty. An in-depth study is made of modesty as a personality characteristic and its influence on the pupil's relationship formation and self-actualisation. Modesty is associated with such personality characteristics as reserve, timidity, inhibition, unassertiveness and lack of arrogance. It implies an inability to promote oneself. Modesty is also a manifestation of social anxiety, self-conciousness, a fear of success and low self-evaluation. It handicaps the relationship formation and self-actualisation of pupils. The High School Personality Questionnaire was administered to a group of Standard 9 pupils in an empirical study. No typical personality profile could be compiled for modest pupils. Several personality 'characteristics emerged from the study which may be associated with modesty. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (met spesialisering in Voorligting)

The focus of this research is the re-conceptualisation of learning in higher education. By theorising the university as a group of interconnected discourses I have been able to develop an understanding of student learning identity which goes beyond the formal academic settings of the university and which explores the influence of both the social and academic spheres of the university in terms of student transition and engagement in learning. Data were gathered in three phases: through in-depth interviews with sixty nine students entering their first year at three British universities, the collection of three day diaries from forty four of these students and follow up interviews with thirty students from the original sample. By negotiating positions on continua of continuity and discontinuity of experience with interlocutors in identified discourse settings, students were found to experience learning as an integral and transformative aspect of their identities.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

M. Tech. / My research examines how artworks referring to cattle convey symbolic meaning about cultural identity in South Africa, thus contributing to the research niche area of the University of Johannesburg (Visually Embodying Identity in a Post Colonial Environment). I track shifts in traditional ethnic and cultural boundaries which shaped South Africa, by comparing selected examples of historic and contemporary art and artefacts which embody cultural values. This provides a reading of the dynamic process of changing identities in South Africa with emphasis on the process of creolisation being particularly identifiable in the work of chosen artists Peter Mthombeni and Joachim Schönfeldt. In my practical research I attempt to reflect different South African identities, from colonialist, essentialised identities to the newer identities of a post-apartheid, democratic, 21st century multicultural society. My practical research which focuses on dynamic shifts in identity results in an installation of a ‘herd’ of ceramic cattle heads in an outdoor public area, namely the entrance to the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg.

Transformative Learning seeks to encourage learners to critically reflect on their assumptions and preconceptions, thereby transforming their existing frameworks and perspectives. This qualitative study investigates what Transformative Learning looks like in a diverse group of adult learners at a graduate school of education who attended sculpture classes intentionally designed to enable such change. When Transformative Learning is part of the teacher’s intention, how, if at all, does learning through artmaking in mixed media sculpture classes transform these adults with regard to their understanding of their identities as artists and learners (“Who am I?”), their approaches to artmaking (“How do I make art?”), and their understanding of art (“What is art?”)? Furthermore, the study seeks to understand what aspects of their class experiences contributed to these transformations. The study examines the studio creations and artmaking processes of five adults from diverse backgrounds and experiences and analyzes what they reported about their artmaking experiences. Data gathered from semi-structured interviews, retrospective surveys, and class artifacts are organized and analyzed based on three stages of the Transformative Learning cycle—Stability, Reflection, and Transformation. The five participants’ three stages are then discussed according to the participants’ perceptions of their identities as artists, their understanding of art, and their approaches to artmaking, based on the research questions. The findings of the study suggest that the participants experienced heightened levels of Transformative Learning in individualized ways. Data indicate that specific class activities—a gallery trip, in-class artmaking sessions with material and time constraints, and an artist statement exercise—contributed to participants’ transformations over the course of the semester. Once the semester ended, some participants took further actions based on their changed perspectives of artist identities, understanding of art, and approaches to artmaking, which indicates that dramatic shifts and multiple perspectives can be achieved in an art class designed to teach for Transformative Learning.