The purpose of this paper is to understand how national identity is discursively constructed by Hizbullah at a time of national crisis, and to shed light on its potential effects on the social world. The critical discourse analysis focuses on how difference and otherness are constructed on Hizbullah’s television channel Al-Manar. It illuminates Hizbullah’s discursive construal of a national in-group and an ‘enemy’ out-group, and identifies the main discourses that Hizbullah draws upon. The backdrop is the violent events in the Lebanese town of Arsal, erupting in early August 2014 and soon amounting to a national crisis. How Hizbullah, one of the main political actors in Lebanon and the region, constructs the world discursively does arguably have impact on the social world. The analysis identifies an order of discourse that on the one hand is permeated by pluralism and inclusion and on the other hand influenced by an exclusionary discourse connecting the out-group to terrorism. The author suggests that the Western discourse of ‘war on terrorism’ has been recontextualised by Hizbullah, and argues that there are reasons to pay close attention to the potentially harmful socially constructive effects of this discourse. Nevertheless, a cross-confessional national unity is simultaneously highlighted in Hizbullah’s discourse.

This research explores the identity reconstruction of graduate students in additional language (AL) contexts. It addresses not only the issue of language proficiency in self-representation, but also more complicated factors that influence self-positioning and perceived social positioning in an additional culture, as well as ways of establishing the self in academic writing. The research is grounded in language learning theories in second language education and identity theories in linguistics, sociology, and cultural studies. Eleven graduate students participated in the study, among whom five were international students at a Chinese university and six were Chinese students at a Canadian university. Data were drawn from a questionnaire, writing samples, interviews, and email correspondence. Commonalities and divergences were found between groups and within groups. I developed a framework of writer identity for AL graduate students prior to the study and modified it in the discussion. Based on the data, I elaborated on the connections of personal identity and writer identity, and conceptualized for AL speakers a mediated space incorporating home culture and host culture but going beyond the overlap of the two, as well as a mediated self that is achieved through negotiation with the available options in their respective social context. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-24 23:24:36.208

Depuis 1981, les jeunes du primaire et secondaire sont sensibilisés à la danse par des enseignants qui l’offrent au sein du curriculum de la formation générale des jeunes. Les enseignants de la danse en milieu scolaire (EDMS) du Québec, bénéficient d’une formation universitaire à la fois disciplinaire, pédagogique et pratique qui développe leurs compétences tant artistiques que professionnelles. Au sein de cette formation initiale, commence le développement de l’identité professionnelle de l’enseignant (Lessard et Tardif, 2003) qui continue à se développer durant toute la carrière. Toutefois, la construction identitaire de l’EDMS n’a pas fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie car l’enseignement de la danse en milieu scolaire est une profession relativement nouvelle, non-traditionnelle et méconnue. Ainsi, dans le cadre d’une approche sociologique constructiviste, nous nous penchons sur les tensions et stratégies identitaires inhérentes aux trajectoires biographiques et aux représentations professionnelles de praticiens dans le but de mieux connaître qui ils sont. Nous cherchons à comprendre le sens qu’ils donnent, dans leur construction identitaire, à leur parcours de formation, à leur travail, à leurs relations dans le travail, aux savoirs, et aux institutions en élaborant les rapports qu’ils entretiennent avec autrui ainsi que la perception de leurs rôles, statuts et fonctions artistiques et éducatifs. Un cadre conceptuel nous a permis de faire un portrait sociologique des sphères de négociations identitaires inhérentes à la construction de l’identité professionnelle grâce à l’analyse de la double transaction biographique et relationnelle, un concept de Dubar (1991). Les données de cette étude, recueillies auprès de dix-huit EDMS, proviennent d’un questionnaire sociodémographique ainsi que d’un questionnaire et d’entretiens sur leurs représentations professionnelles, leurs héritages et sur les incidents critiques de leurs trajectoires biographiques. L’analyse inductive des données par l’approche de théorisation ancrée, vérifiée par quinze participantes, a permis de dégager six sphères internes et externes de négociations identitaires communes à la construction de l’identité professionnelle d’EDMS : Devenir, Se réaliser, Se projeter, Faire sa place, Rencontrer l’autre et Agir. Ces sphères se présentent comme des espaces d’identification dans lesquelles l’EDMS construit son identité professionnelle en se positionnant par rapport aux identités héritées, acquises, prescrites, réelles et projetées. Cependant, les écarts entre les logiques opposées, les postures complémentaires et les rôles à jouer pour soi et pour autrui dans la pratique peuvent engendrer des tensions identitaires intrasubjectives et intersubjectives que nous avons identifiées. Pour réduire les écarts entre les représentations polaires et pour apaiser les zones d’incertitudes identitaires, l’EDMS mobilise des stratégies temporelles et spatiales. Neuf ont été relevées: conversion, conciliation, différenciation, implication multiple, maintien identitaire, défense, promotion, alternance des rôles et formation continue. Cette étude expose des façons d’EDMS de se définir pour soi et pour autrui qui permettent d’accéder aux référents identitaires des sphères par des exemples concrets issus des verbalisations de participantes sur le terrain. L’interprétation de nos résultats nous conduit à décrire six profils identitaires provisoires. Nos résultats offrent des retombées possibles en formation initiale et continue. / Since 1981, primary and secondary school students have been sensitized to dance education by dance teachers who offer the discipline within the curriculum. The dance teachers in the school environment (DTSE) of Quebec benefit from a university formation which is at once disciplinary, pedagogical and practical and which develops their artistic as well as professional competencies. It is within this initial formation that the development of the professional identity of the teacher begins (Lessard et Tardif, 2003) and continues to develop throughout their entire career. Nevertheless, the identity construction of the DTSE has not been made the subject of a thorough study, since the teaching of dance in the school environment is a relatively new, non-traditional and unfamiliar profession. Thus, within the framework of a sociological constructivist approach, we study the tensions and identity strategies inherent in the biographical trajectories as well as in the professional representations of the DTSE with the aim of knowing better who they are. We seek to understand the meaning which they give, in their identity construction, to their formative path, to their work, to their relations in work, to knowledge, and to institutions by elaborating the relations maintained with others, and their perceptions of their artistic and educational roles, status and functions. A conceptual framework enabled us to make a sociological portrait of the spheres of identity negotiations inherent in the construction of their professional identity thanks to the analysis of the double biographical and relational transaction, a concept of Dubar (1991). The data collected from eighteen DTSE was generated from a socio-demographic questionnaire as well as from a questionnaire and interviews on their professional representations, their backgrounds and on the turning points of their biographical trajectories. The inductive analysis of the data, using the grounded theory approach, was verified by fifteen participants, and reveals six internal and external spheres of identity negotiation common to the identity construction of the DTSE: To become, To achieve, To project oneself, To make one’s place, To encounter the other and To act. These spheres represent identification fields within which the identity construction process of the DTSE develops in relation to the various identities inherited, acquired, prescribed, real, and projected. However the intervals between the opposing logics, the complementary postures and the roles to be played in practice for oneself and for others could provoke intrasubjective and intersubjective identity tensions which we have identified. In order to reduce the intervals between the polar representations and to alleviate the zones of identity uncertainties, the DTSE employs certain temporal and spatial strategies. We have identified nine such strategies: Conversion, conciliation, differentiation, multiple implication, identity preservation, defence, promotion, alternation of roles, and continuing education. This study exposes DTSE manners of defining oneself for oneself and for others which give access to the identity referents of the various spheres by concrete examples resulting from the verbalisations of participants in the field. Our interpretation of the results conducts us to describe six provisional identity profiles. Our results offer possible consequences in initial and continuing formation.

L’objet de cette recherche est la communication institutionnelle que le conseil général des Pyrénées-Orientales - rebaptisé depuis 2015 « conseil départemental » - a mis en circulation à partir de 1998, et qui reste aujourd’hui encore en vigueur dans le département. Depuis les lois dites de décentralisation (1982), les acteurs politiques locaux qui gouvernent les collectivités territoriales ont bien saisi l’importance des enjeux - tout autant économiques/touristiques que symboliques et politiques - d’une patrimonialisation favorisant la construction d’une identité territoriale. Pour les collectivités dont le territoire recouvre une entité sociolinguistique (socio-historique et linguistique), cette construction identitaire va pouvoir s’ancrer à la langue minorée, qui devient "le vecteur [privilégié] du patrimoine culturel immatériel" (UNESCO, 2003) « local ».La communication-marketing du conseil général des P.O. opte donc pour le concept-clé de « la Catalanité ». La campagne promotionnelle crée des supports médiatiques spécifiques, qui mettent en scène et affichent une « Catalanité » offrant à la collectivité territoriale et à son président la garantie d’un label.Mais ce marketing politique s’inscrit dans la situation de conflit diglossique franco-catalan. S’il a à cœur d’afficher une spécificité identitaire catalane pour promouvoir l’attractivité du territoire, il construit/reconstruit l’interdiscours dominant en s’appuyant immanquablement sur des représentations sociolinguistiques qui l’inscrivent dans la dynamique conflictuelle diglossique. En partant d’observations très « micro », qui examinent les moyens verbaux et les stratégies discursives mises en œuvre par cette parole institutionnelle, on rejoint la perspective « macro » sociolinguistique en montrant qu’ils participent de fonctionnements diglossiques et contribuent à l’idéologisation du conflit diglossique franco-catalan.L’analyse s’inscrit au carrefour de la sociolinguistique « périphérique » et de l’analyse argumentative du discours ; elle emprunte certains de ses outils à la linguistique praxématique. Cependant la spécificité pluridisciplinaire de l’objet d’étude l’a conduite à un « bricolage » scientifique intégrant également les approches de la science politique, de l’économie-marketing, des sciences de l’information et de la communication ou encore de la psychologie sociale. / The purpose of this research is the institutional communication that the "conseil général" of Eastern Pyrenees – renamed since 2015 « departmental council » - initiated from 1998 and still valid today in the department. Since the Decentralization Acts (1982), the local political actors who rule the territorial collectivities fully grasped the importance of the challenges - which are both economic/touristic and symbolic/political - related to patrimonialization supporting the construction of a territorial identity. For the communities which territory includes a sociolinguistic entity (socio-historical and linguistic), this identity construction will base itself on the undervalued language. It then becomes the local “[privileged] immaterial cultural heritage vector” (UNESCO, 2003). The marketing policy of "Conseil général" of the Eastern Pyrenees thus chooses the key-concept of “la Catalanité”.The promotion campaign creates specific media tools, which display a “Catalanité” concept providing the territorial collectivity and its president the warranty of a label. But this political marketing fits into the "franco-catalan" diglossic conflict situation. If it’s eager to display a specific Catalan identity to promote an attractive territory, it builds/rebuilds the dominant interdiscourse inevitably resting over sociolinguistic representations. They register it within diglossic conflict dynamics. From very “micro” observations, examining the verbal means and the discursive strategies activated by this institutional discourse, one gets to the “macro” sociolinguistic prospect by showing their part in diglossic operations and also in the diglossic ideologization of the "franco-catalan" conflict. The analysis is located at the crossroads of the “peripheral” sociolinguistics and of the argumentative discourse analysis; it borrows some of its tools from praxematic linguistics. However the multi field specificity of the object of study led it to a scientific “making up”. It also integrates the approaches of political science, marketing-economics, social psychology or communication and information sciences.

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 mbgomes.pdf: 1916342 bytes, checksum: d3e274b572fe37fd42cf2d47606bb34f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / This work aims to explore the context and emotions related to the experience of scuba diving as hedonic consumption, as well as to understand in which conditions the benefit arising from the regular practice of this activity impact the identity construction of the practitioner. Through in-depth interviews, data were collected from scuba divers living in the city of Rio de Janeiro, during the months of January and February of 2008. In order to obtain the expected objectives, the chosen methodology of research was qualitative, with priority of the subject and the subjectivity, using an interpretative approach for the data analysis. The research results confirm some benefits of high-risk sports practice such as flow, self-evolution and communitas. Two additional benefits are presented: the condition of alterity of the ¿underwater world¿, which attributes extraordinany meaning to scuba diving and impacts identity construction, and the scuba ¿buddy¿ practice, that helps to build-up an overall sense of trust to the other. The work is concluded with some managerial recommendations aiming the development of scuba diving industry and related tourism. These above mentioned suggestions include a new industry positioning, integrated marketing communications with specific references to alterity and flow, market segmentation, the creation of gathering spaces and a gradation scale among practitioners. / Este trabalho tem como objetivo explorar o contexto e as emoções relacionadas à experiência do mergulho scuba como atividade hedônica e as condições em que os benefícios oriundos de seu consumo habitual impactam a construção de identidade do praticante. Por meio de entrevistas em profundidade, foram coletados dados junto a mergulhadores scuba residentes na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, durante os meses de janeiro e fevereiro de 2008. Para atingir os objetivos propostos, o método de pesquisa adotado foi qualitativo, com priorização do sujeito e da subjetividade, utilizando-se uma forma interpretativa para análise de dados. Os resultados confirmaram alguns benefícios da prática de esportes de alto risco já pesquisados academicamente como o fluxo, communitas e evolução pessoal. Apresentam-se dois benefícios adicionais: a condição de alteridade do mundo submarino, que atribui significância extraordinária a essa atividade esportiva e impacta a construção identitária dos envolvidos, e a prática de dupla de mergulho, que desenvolve uma confiança generalizada no próximo e serve como referência na definição do indivíduo. Conclui-se o trabalho, fazendo-se recomendações gerenciais com o intuito de beneficiar e desenvolver a indústria e o turismo relacionado a esse esporte. Essas sugestões incluem um novo posicionamento da indústria, comunicação integrada de marketing com menções específicas à alteridade e à experiência de fluxo, segmentação de mercado, criação de espaços de convivência para praticantes e por último, a criação de uma gradação relativa aos diversos níveis de mergulhadores.

Cette thèse interroge les dynamiques de construction du rapport à la politique (intérêt, critique, indifférence, engagement etc.) des descendants d’immigrés nés en France – ou y ayant grandi – et résidant dans un quartier d'habitat social dans lequel est mise en oeuvre la politique de la ville. L'originalité de ce travail vient du fait que différents rapports à la politique sont étudiés et que les familles rencontrées sont originaires de différents pays (Sénégal, Algérie, Maroc, Vietnam, Laos, Comores etc.). L'analyse développée à partir d’entretiens biographiques souligne l’influence des différents parcours migratoires des parents et des expériences communes des enfants sur la construction de leurs attitudes politiques ; elle questionne leur éventuelle spécificité. Elle accorde une attention particulière à la mémoire familiale et aux dynamiques des transmissions intergénérationnelles, aux trajectoires socioprofessionnelles des descendants d’immigrés et de leurs parents ainsi qu’au contexte local de vie. / This PhD questions the dynamics of political attitudes (interest, criticism, indifference, involvement etc.) of French youths from non-European immigrant background born or raised in France in deprived areas where a specific policy is implemented. The originality of this study is that it includes different attitudes towards politics and different countries of origin. The interlocutors interviewed are from Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Vietnam, Laos, Comoros etc. The analysis developed from biographical interviews underlines the influence of the different migration paths of the parents, and the common experiences of their children on the construction of their political attitudes; it questions their possible specificity. This analysis pays particular attention to the family memory and the dynamics of intergenerational transmission, to the socio-professional trajectories of immigrants’ descendants and those of their parents as well as their local context of residence.

Abstract During the last decade many female writers of British decent have focused on identity construction and coming of age. These writers have been especially interested in exploring how people living in the diaspora are trying to cope with their ambivalent feelings towards their mixed cultural heritage. Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl is one of these novels. The novel depicts a young girl's struggle with the dualism within her, being both British and Nigerian, that threatens to dissolve her self-identity. This essay will explore how The Icarus Girl deals with the theme “double consciousness” (imposed binaries) and how the narrative's structure and stylistic devices enable the story to be read (interpreted) from two different perspectives, thus the narrative's structure offers an ambiguous double reading that corresponds to Jessamy's unresolved doubleness. The first reading suggests that the traumatic experience of “double consciousness“ is left in a status quo, or even being fatal, which in the essay is called the Western reading. The second reading suggests a recovery, i.e. that the young protagonist comes to terms with her mixed cultural heritage, the so-called West-African reading. In pursuing this aim I discuss how “double consciousness” in this novel is a traumatic state of mind transferred from mother to daughter, but also how stylistic devices, belonging to the genre of the fantastic, are used to emphasize the theme and make possible the two different readings.

Comment les traditions orales kanak pourraient-elles agir au-delà de leurs frontières habituelles et influencer les processus de construction identitaire dans la société néo-calédonienne contemporaine ? Notre travail explore les interactions entre la tradition orale kanak et la tradition écrite néocalédonienne, en examinant les textes de réécriture, ces lieux de rencontre entre traditions qui constituent un espace de patrimoine commun. Cette thèse retrace les chemins d’une histoire, Le Chef et le lézard (dont on trouve de multiples versions dans les différentes traditions orales kanak), dans la tradition écrite. Sont élucidés les contextes historiques, politiques et littéraires des processus de production de versions de l’histoire, afin de mettre en évidence les forces en oeuvre, et d’éclairer la manière dont les représentations qui y figurent pourraient participer aux processus de construction identitaire. Les outils conceptuels employés sont la « réécriture », la « vā » (l’espace relationnel océanien d’échange et de rencontre),ainsi que la littérature comme « outil de renforcement communautaire ». La contribution originale qu'apporte notre travail consiste en démontrant le degré et l’étendue de l’intégration d'une histoire kanak dans le polysystème littéraire néo-calédonien ; en soulignant le rôle actif joué par des acteurs kanak dans les processus de réécriture ; en créant une métaphore étendue géographique du paysage littéraire néo-calédonien ; en témoignant de la richesse des traditions orales et écrites de Kanaky/Nouvelle-Calédonie ; et en constituant une passerelle entre les chercheurs/lecteurs non-francophones et la littérature néo-calédonienne. / How might Kanak oral traditions move beyond their usual boundaries and influence identity construction processes in contemporary New Caledonian society? This thesis explores the interactions between Kanak oral tradition and New Caledonian written tradition, by examining the (re)writings that are places of encounter between these traditions, and thus constitute a space of shared heritage. This study traces the pathways taken by a story, Le Chef et le lézard, (a number of versions of which are found in different Kanak oral traditions), as it moves into and within written tradition. The historical, political, and literary contexts of the (re)writing processes that produce versions of Le Chef et le lézard are elucidated, to demonstrate the forces at work and shed light on how the representations that figure in the (re)writings might participate in identity construction processes. The conceptual tools used in the study include: rewriting; vā (the relational space of exchange and encounter found throughout Oceania); and literature as a means of building community. The original contribution of this thesis has been to demonstrate the degree and the extent of the integration of a Kanak story into the New Caledonian literary polysystem; to highlight the active role played by Kanak actors in the rewriting process; to develop anextended geographic metaphor for the New Caledonian literary landscape; to bear witness to the richness of oral and written traditions in Kanaky/Nouvelle-Calédonie; and to create a bridge between non-Francophone researchers/readers and New Caledonian literature (oral and written).

Abstract The aim of this study is to meet the need to have a better understanding of identity construction in the context of organizational change. With my narrative research, I add my voice to those researchers who appreciate language playing a key role in the formation of social reality, individual’s cognitive structure and sense of self. The question of how the participants in the study narrate themselves within the context of organizational change has guided conducting the study. The data for the study consists of 12 individuals’ narration in the contexts of various organizational changes. In this study organizational change means the social constructions the participants have constructed in their narration. Decided by the top management, in actual reality these organizational changes have been associated with personnel effects and negotiations complying with the co-operation act. I studied the narrated identity construction utilizing positioning, categorizing and expectation as analytical concepts in reading. The reading of the narrated data had six stages. In the last reading stage I sought answers as to how the main characters of the stories, Juha, Marjut and Arja, narrate the relation to themselves and the relation to others within the context of organizational change. I have used a narrative form for two reasons. Firstly, in order to deepen my own understanding as to how and why the narrated identity is constructed as it is. Secondly, with a narrative study, I have been able to expose the dynamic nature in the construction of context and identity more clearly than with a traditional research text. The readings of narrative data preceding my narrative writing have, however, affected the construction of my chosen three stories, the method of writing them, the chosen citations and interpretation. This study will lead to a better understanding of how an individual’s self is constructed in relation to others in the organization where the individual works. My study suggests that, due to its open nature, an organizational change increases the individual’s need to narrate the individual’s self, who I am, how I have become me and what my possible future selves will be like. The study discloses needs lying in the background of the narration in the context of organizational change; the need to raise self-esteem, to maintain the feeling of command and control, to hold on to the moral order, to decrease uncertainty and to maintain continuity. In addition to this, the study uncovers the struggle for one’s own identity. / Tiivistelmä Tämän tutkimuksen tehtävänä on vastata tarpeeseen ymmärtää nykyistä paremmin identiteettien rakentumista organisaatiomuutoksen kontekstissa. Liityn kerronnallisella tutkimuksellani niiden tutkijoiden joukkoon, jotka ajattelevat kielellä olevan keskeisen merkityksen sosiaalisen todellisuuden, yksilön tiedollisten rakenteiden ja itseymmärryksen muotoutumisessa. Kysymys siitä, miten tutkimukseen osallistuvat kertovat itsensä organisaatiomuutoksen kontekstissa, on ohjannut tutkimuksen tekemistä. Tutkimusaineisto on koostunut 12 henkilön kerronnasta eri organisaatiomuutosten konteksteissa. Organisaatiomuutoksella on tässä tutkimuksessa tarkoitettu niitä sosiaalisia konstruktioita, joita tutkimukseen osallistuvat ovat rakentaneet kerronnassaan. Reaalisessa todellisuudessa nämä organisaatiomuutokset ovat olleet ylimmän johdon päättämiä, niihin on liittynyt henkilöstövaikutuksia ja yhteistoimintalain mukaisia neuvotteluja. Olen tutkinut kerrotun identiteetin rakentumista käyttäen luennassa positiointia, kategorisointia ja odotusta analyyttisina käsitteinä. Kerrotun aineiston luenta on ollut kuusivaiheinen. Viimeisessä luentavaiheessa olen hakenut vastauksia siihen, miten tarinoiden päähenkilöt Juha, Marjut ja Arja kertovat suhteen omaan itseensä ja suhteen toisiin organisaatiomuutoksen kontekstissa. Olen käyttänyt tarinallista muotoa kahdesta syystä. Ensinnäkin syventääkseni omaa ymmärrystäni siitä, miten ja miksi kerrottu identiteetti rakentuu kerrotunlaiseksi. Toiseksi olen saanut tarinamuotoisella esittämisellä perinteistä tutkimustekstiä selkeämmin esille kontekstin ja identiteetin rakentumisen dynaamisen luonteen. Valitsemieni kolmen tarinan rakentamiseen, niiden kirjoittamisen tapaan, valittuihin sitaatteihin ja tulkintaan ovat kuitenkin vaikuttaneet tarinoiden kirjoittamista edeltäneet kerronnallisen aineiston luennat. Tämä tutkimus lisää ymmärrystä siitä, miten yksilön minuus rakentuu suhteessa toisiin organisaatiossa, jossa hän työskentelee. Tutkimuksessani ehdotan, että organisaatiomuutos lisää avoimen luonteensa vuoksi yksilön tarvetta kertoa minuuttaan, sitä kuka minä olen, miten olen tullut minuksi ja millaisia ovat mahdolliset tulevat minuuteni. Tutkimus tuo esiin ne tarpeet, jotka organisaatiomuutoksen kontekstissa ovat kerronnan taustalla; tarve kohottaa itsetuntoa, säilyttää hallinnan ja kontrollin tunnetta, pitää kiinni moraalijärjestyksestä, pienentää epävarmuutta ja ylläpitää jatkuvuutta. Lisäksi näkyviin tulee taistelu oman identiteetin puolesta.

During the past ten years the changing sociopolitical context in South Africa challenged mental health services to re-position themselves in order to stay relevant to specific contextual demands. The field of psychology has also been introduced to the application of postmodern principles in counselling and training practices internationally and nationally, which promised exciting alternative avenues for many practitioners and clients. In reading the literature on the possible opportunities of applying postmodern principles to psychological and educational practices, it became clear that the relationship between counsellors/clients and trainers/students can be a collaborative co-construction of knowledge production. Existing literature on current training practices however reflects a fragmented picture, in which the orientation, content and pedagogy are not consistently aligned with an epistemology and practice. Postmodern literature on the notion of “identity/self” as the narration of a multilevelled construct is used to conceptualise training contexts as contexts that provide students with certain narratives with which they can construct their counsellor identities. The aim of the research is to story the construction of counsellor identity through the application of narrative therapy within a learning model. Text production was imbedded in a referential research context which is defined as a context of the following relational positionings: narrative counsellor, trainer, researcher, students and participants. The contribution of this context towards the construction of counsellor identity is explored through engaging in and narrative analysis of written conversations, journals and visual projects of students who engaged in a training context. Through the narrative analysis process, temporal dimension story grids were developed for the written conversations and training journals and the visual projects were analysed according to denotational and higher signification inventories. Narratives that were co-created in the training context include that of uncertainty, self-awareness, growth, change, hope and respect for individual life narratives, which also contributed to the process of the construction of counsellor identity. These are all familiar narratives that exist in the South African context as we live in a country that is in a continuous process of change and where certainty is an elusive concept. On the basis of the narrative themes that emerged, guidelines were developed for creating training contexts that could facilitate the construction of a counsellor identity that is of relevance within the changing South African context. These guidelines include a repositioning in the trainer/student relationship; using externalising language practices to facilitate the co-construction of knowledge through a critical engagement with the learning material and a conceptualisation of evaluation as a process based activity rather than an outcome based activity. / Thesis (PhD (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted