[pt] A presente dissertação toma como campo uma escola estadual localizada em um bairro no estado do Rio de Janeiro que vem sofrendo mudanças relacionadas aos conflitos urbanos nos últimos anos. Sendo essa escola frequentada por alunos e professores locais, a pesquisa buscou investigar e compreender por meio de construções narrativas e de posicionamentos (Bamberg, 1997; 2002) de seus professores/moradores, como estes constroem suas identidades como professores de escola pública em uma periferia, lidam com os desafios da violência e se posicionam em relação a Discursos circulantes sobre educação e violência. O estudo é, portanto, de base qualitativa e interpretativista (Denzin e Lincoln, 2006), e propõe uma análise de viés autoetnográfico, dado que sua autora é também parte do corpo docente da escola. Os dados apresentados nesta pesquisa foram gerados nas interações em entrevistas qualitativas semi-estruturadas e gravadas em áudio (Mishler, 1986; De Fina, 2009). Além disso, todas as entrevistas deste estudo são analisadas tendo como apoio a perspectiva teórica na Análise de Narrativa (Labov e Waletzky, 1967; Labov, 1972; Riessman, 2008; Bastos e Biar, 2015), mais precisamente na concepção de narrativas não-canônicas, micronarrativas (Bamberg e Georgakopoulou, 2008) e histórias de vida (Linde, 1993), focando nas experiências de vida e em posicionamentos de ordem micro que dialogam com macrodiscursos. A pesquisa também apresenta como suporte analítico as reflexões e noções de Bamberg (2015), Bamberg e Georgakopoulou (2008) e Freeman (2010) sobre construção de identidade, de Goffman (1963) sobre estigma social e de Ewick e Silbey (2003) sobre resistência. As análises apontam que: i) na interação, os narradores se apresentam como professores resistentes às dificuldades atuais impostas pela violência no entorno da escola por já terem passado por desafios antes e durante o ingresso acadêmico, sendo estes profissionais marcados por histórias de vida de resistência e superação; ii) os narradores apresentam posicionamentos de identificação que estão relacionados aos seus alunos e aos professores com quem estudaram e que são retomados como inspiração; iii) os professores encaram a sua profissão como um papel social e a violência no bairro como um descaso das políticas públicas; iv) os professores posicionam se de forma reflexiva sobre suas opções profissionais e de vida, sendo agentes muito atuantes na comunidade escolar e no combate, de modo pedagógico, à violência e ao tráfico que tenta corromper os alunos diariamente. / [en] The present dissertation takes as field a state school located in a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, that has undergone changes related to the urban conflicts in recent years. As the school is attended by local students and teachers, the research aimed at investigation and understanding through narrative and positioning constructions (Bamberg, 1997; 2002) of teachers / residents, how they construct their identities as public school teachers in a periphery and how they deal with the challenges of violence and position themselves in relation to circulating discourses on education and violence. The study is therefore qualitative and interpretative (Denzin e Lincoln, 2006), and proposes an analysis of autoethnographic bias, since its author is also part of the school faculty. The data presented in this research were generated in the interactions in semi-structured qualitative interviews and audio recorded (Mishler, 1986; De Fina, 2009). In addition, all interviews in this study are analyzed with theoretical perspective support in Narrative Analysis (Labov e Waletzky, 1967; Labov, 1972; Riessman, 2008; Bastos e Biar, 2015), more specifically in the conception of non-canonical, micronarratives (Bamberg e Georgakopoulou, 2008) and life stories (Linde, 1993), focusing on life experiences and micropositioning interface with macrodiscourses. The research also presents as an analytical support the reflections and notions of Bamberg (2015), Bamberg and Georgakopoulou (2008) and Freeman (2010) on identity construction, Goffman (1963) on social stigma and Ewick and Silbey (2003) on resistance. The analysis show that: i) in the interaction, the narrators present themselves as teachers who are resistant to the current difficulties imposed by the violence in the school environment, because they have already undergone challenges before and during the academic admission, as these professionals are marked by life stories of resistance and overcoming; ii) the narrators present identificational positionings that are related to their students and the teachers, with whom they have studied and who are taken back as inspiration; iii) teachers face their profession as a social role and violence in the neighborhood as a neglect of public policies; iv) teachers are reflective about their professional and life choices, as very active agents in the school community, while they oppose pedagogically violence and drug trafficking, that attempts to corrupt students on a daily basis.

<p dir="ltr">Since the 2000s, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research in the field of Japanese language education, including life story research (e.g., Miyo, 2015). One of the purposes of life story research in Japanese language education is to pay attention to, listen to, and describe the voices of people to whom Japanese language education has so far paid little attention (Miyo, 2014, 2015a). Many studies have listened to the voices of Japanese language learners living in Japan and described their experiences (e.g., Miyo, 2009; Sato, 2015; Maruyama & Ozawa, 2018). However, many studies have not paid particular attention to the region where the learners are staying. One gets the impression that the place could be anywhere as long as the learners are in Japan. Further, cross-cultural adaptation research often focuses on international cross-cultural contact. However, in recent years, it has been pointed out that cross-cultural contact also involves regional differences within a single country (Gui et al., 2012; Berry, 2016). In other words, foreigners staying in a host country experience not only intercultural contact between their own country and the host country but also intercultural contact arising from regional differences within the host country, making the adaptation process complex.</p><p dir="ltr">This narrative case study focused on one American learner of Japanese, Kevin (pseudonym), and his experience on Futaba Island (pseudonym) and analyzed his process of cross-cultural adaptation. Data was collected from his diary and semi-structured interviews with him over six months. The collected data were then graphically represented using the method of Trajectory Equifinality Modeling (TEM) (Sato et al., 2009; Sato et al., 2014). The data obtained in this study showed that Kevin’s back-and-forth between Futaba Island and the mainland impeded and facilitated his cross-cultural adaptation in different ways. Unlike people in large cities on the mainland, people on Futaba Island stare at Kevin and treat him as a special guest, which made him aware of cultural barriers, leading him to construct an identity as an outsider and feel, “I will never fully integrate into Japanese society.” Furthermore, when he traveled to the mainland, he experienced reverse culture shock by encountering many American tourists that he cannot see on Futaba Island. Seeing American tourists behaving incompatibly with Japanese cultural norms made Kevin realize that he was more integrated into Japanese society than he had thought. All of this suggests that when considering the cross-cultural adaptation of foreigners staying in Japan, it is essential to take a place-based perspective on where they are in Japan and where they have been during their stay. Furthermore, just because a person is staying in the host country does not mean that cross-cultural adaptation is influenced by factors that are exclusive to the host country. While staying in the host country, one’s cross-cultural adaptation may be influenced by people from or by events in their home country. It is necessary to take into account home country-related factors as well.</p>

This study aims to deepen knowledge of young people with a migration background in Sweden, particularly those with non-European backgrounds, and their transitions from school to work. The focus is on young people with uncompleted upper secondary education (USE), drawing on their life stories, and exploring their perceptions and experiences around school failure, entering the labour market, and/or not being in education, employment or training (NEET). Theoretically the study analyses individuals’ career decisions from an agency-structure perspective, drawing on careership theory, in particular the notions of pragmatic-rational choices, routines, turning-points and horizons of action (Hodkinson &amp; Sparkes 1997), combined with theories on ‘otherness’ (Hall 1990; 1999, Anthias 2002, Balibar 2004, Trondman 2007), and the notion of socio-geographic space (Bourdieu 1986a; Bourdieu 1999, Bourdieu &amp; Wacquant, 1996). Methodologically, the thesis is based on narrative research, and the empirical material comprise life stories of twenty young people (men and women) about their lives, school experiences and time after leaving school. The careers of the young people were developed in fields where they had subordinate positions, based on their family’s mostly limited social, economic and cultural capital, their own short education and limited experience, and the otherness they encoun­tered. Against this background, their educational and labour market career choices are under­stood as pragmatic-rational, enabled and limited by the resulting horizons of action. However, the collected nar­ra­tives suggest that their horizons of action developed from the time they left school when they made different pragmatic-rational choices that changed their posi­tions. Nevertheless, career choices were often made within a bounded agency and reduced op­por­tunities as a consequence of school failure and their own scarce resources. The learning and interaction taking place within the routine periods are both crucial for understanding processes that result in school failure and the subsequent extend­ed period of establishment in working and adult life, and change of horizons of action and habitus. The narratives of the young people showed that school failures and dropout are com­plex and extended processes that are related to education and family, as well as access to power and capital. They also encountered difference-making through the predominant images and discourses of 'immigration' as a social problem and by being located in a specific socio-geo­graphic space that limited their possibilities for action. The family was highly significant and, in most cases, represented security and continuity. The family’s present situation and future was crucial to the young adults, which affected their choices. Hence, their own horizon of action also included the family’s opportunities and horizon of action. The study indicates that there is sometimes reason to speak of a collective horizon of action rather than just an individual one. Institutional and informal support together with young people’s agency may enable positive career development in spite of a lack of resources provided to the young, particularly if schools and other institu­tions would provide more professional and timely support. The overall conclusion is that it would not have taken much investment of resources and effort to have prevented school failure for a large proportion of the twenty young adults in this study. That is the good news. / Osäkra övergångar. Unga utan fullständig gymnasieutbildning: vägarna och åtgärderna i longitudinellt perspektiv

La présente étude explore la trajectoire de vie d’un détenu condamné à une peine à perpétuité qui bénéficie d’une libération conditionnelle totale afin d’identifier laquelle ou lesquelles des cinq grandes conceptualisations théoriques du désistement criminel permettent le mieux d’expliquer sa trajectoire de désistement. Pour atteindre cet objectif, une méthodologie qualitative de type exploratoire a été privilégiée. Un homme purgeant une peine à perpétuité dans la collectivité a été rencontré en contexte d’entretiens afin de restituer en profondeur son histoire de vie et cerner, à la lumière des théories recensées, les concepts applicables à son désistement criminel. Une série de neuf entretiens d’environ une heure et demie a été réalisée. Le récit de vie de monsieur P est présenté et analysé pour illustrer l’applicabilité des principales conceptualisations théoriques du désistement criminel qui ont été recensées dans le présent mémoire. L’analyse des données recueillies a permis de faire ressortir l’importance de considérer le concept identitaire dans le processus de désistement et le changement psychologique qui l’accompagne. La discussion aborde quelques pistes d’interventions susceptibles de soutenir le travail des membres du personnel qui œuvrent auprès des délinquants qui purgent de longues peines. Celles-ci prennent en compte les défis posés par la clientèle particulière des détenus à perpétuité et cherchent à maximiser leur réintégration sociale lors de leur mise en liberté. / This research explores the life trajectory of an offender serving a life sentence in the community after having been granted a full parole. The goal of this research is to identify which of the five main theoretical concepts, explaining the cessation of criminal behavior, best indicates what led him to cease his criminal behavior. To reach this objective, an exploratory qualitative research was preferred. A man serving a life sentence in the community was interviewed on numerous occasions. These interviews were aimed at getting the utmost account of his life story and then, by integrating the appropriate theories in the research process, selecting the concepts that best explained the cessation of his criminal behavior. A series of nine interviews, each one lasting approximately an hour and a half, were conducted. For the purpose of this memoir, the life story of Mr. P is presented and analyzed so has to illustrate the application of the main theoretical concepts linked to the cessation of criminal behavior. By analyzing the data collected, the importance of considering the identity concept in the cessation of criminal behavior was noted just as the psychological change that comes with it. The discussion also addresses certain intervention strategies that are likely to offer an improved support for people working with offenders serving long sentences. These interventions take into account the challenges that arise when working with this type of clientele and they aim at maximizing the social reinsertion potential of these individuals upon release.

This Dissertation is the benefit to studying of the questions of the oral history of forcibly ejected inhabitants of Neveklov and its neighbourhoods during the 2nd World War. About this region, there exists authentic testimony and this territory is fixed in the collective memory. The oral history is a highly valued literary source. Its value is in the authenticity, which is characterized by selectivity and represents another point of view. The essay brings the unique opportunity to get acquainted with witnesses of the wartime. At present this testimony is unknown or is being forgotten in the offical documents. The essay follows the researches of Jaromír Jech from the middle of the last century. If we compare the results of both researches, we get the view of the importance of forcible displacement of Czech inhabitants in a demarcated region. Result of this work is the analysis of the results obtained with the help of the modern approaches that are based on the method of the oral history, which is a part of the qualitative research, with an emphasis on general objectives and context. The essay brings new testimonies of events that have not been presented and published yet. It also simultaneously maps over the current state, i.e. the reflection of the forcible war persecution on the present times and...

In the years immediately following the Second World War, the main part of Latvian literature was produced by writers living outside Latvia. To this day Latvian literature continues to be written outside Latvia, albeit to a much smaller extent. This study examines those Latvian novels, written outside Latvia after the Second World War, which depict the realities of the early years of exile. The aim of the study is to describe the image of the world of exile as depicted in these novels. Borrowing from Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope, images relating to time and space in these novels are examined in order to discern a mental topography of exile common to all these novels - a chronotope of exile. The novels are read as part of a collective narrative, produced by a particular social group in unordinary historical circumstances. The novels are regarded as this social group’s common perception of its own experience of this historical reality. The early years of exile fall into two distinct periods: first, the period of flight from Latvia and life in and around the Displaced Persons camps of postwar Germany; second, the early years of settling in a new country of residence after emigration from Germany. A model of the perceived world is constructed in order to compare these two periods, as well as their divergence from a standard perception of oneself in the world. This model consists of various time-spaces radiating concentrically out from the individual – ranging from the physically and psychologically near-lying time-spaces of one’s personal and intimate life, through everyday social time-spaces, as well as formal societal time-spaces, to the more distant abstract and conceptual perceptions of one’s place in the universe. Basic human concepts such as home, family, work, intimate relationships, social administration, and most notably the homeland – Latvia – are plotted at various points within these models. Divergences between the models describing the perception of time and space in the two early periods of exile thus become apparent.

Föreliggande avhandling har som syfte att belysa, analysera och diskutera hur unga människor berättar om sina erfarenheter av att tvingas bryta upp från sitt hemland och börja om i ett nytt land under sin skolgång. Åtta unga vuxna, fyra kvinnor och fyra män, deltog i livsberättelseintervjuer kring detta tema. Den teoretiska referensramen innefattar begreppen identitet i det senmoderna samhället, identitet som berättelse samt globaliseringens olika villkor i form av kategorierna turister och vagabonder, där de förstnämnda har tillgång till världen och de sistnämnda stängs ute. Vidare tas upp begreppet livschanser, vilket berör relationen mellan människors mål och ambitioner och deras möjligheter att realisera desamma. Resultatet presenteras dels i en tematiserad del, dels i en del där tre av deltagarnas berättelser presenteras som profiler. Den tematiserade delen presenterar hur deltagarna berättar om att komma till Sverige, om att börja skolan, och om att skapa ett liv här. Huvudresultaten i denna del rör upplevelser av den första tiden i Sverige, språket som en nyckel, skolans roll, familj, vänskap och identitet samt deltagarnas förhållningssätt till dessa aspekter i berättelserna. Ur några av deltagarnas berättelser uttolkas också mer tydliga strategier, och dessa fokuseras tillsammans med identitet ytterligare i den andra resultatdelen genom tre profiler, vilka har benämnts utanförskap som identitet, en kluven identitet och aktivitet som identitet. I avhandlingens diskussion behandlas metodologiska överväganden, därefter vidtar en resultatdiskussion vilken fokuserar på aspekter av uppbrottets konsekvenser i relation till de teoretiska begreppen livschanser, vagabonder, risk/tillit och identitet. Här behandlas också olika verktyg för identitetsskapande i berättelserna samt hur identiteter berättas i materialet.   Den övergripande slutsatsen är att det inte är fruktbart att betrakta invandrare eller flyktingar som en homogen grupp. Deltagarna i föreliggande studie liknar varandra i stor utsträckning, och det finns likheter mellan deras berättelser, men de berättar också om skilda erfarenheter, förhållningssätt och identiteter. Detta ger liv åt, och empiriskt grundat stöd för, det slitna uttrycket ”vi måste se till individen”, också när det gäller barn och ungdomar med erfarenheter av att kommit till Sverige som flyktingar. / The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to illuminate, analyze and discuss life stories told by young Swedes about their experiences of being up-rooted and forced to leave their home countries and make a new start in a new country during their school years. Eight young adults participated in life story-interviews around this theme. The theoretical framework entails the terms identity in late modernity, identity as story, and the conditions of globalization here represented by the categories tourists and vagabonds, where the first have access to the world and the latter are left out. Furthermore the concept of life chances is used, which is concerns the relation between people’s goals and ambitions and their possibilities to realize these goals. The findings of the study are presented in two chapters. The first is a thematic analysis and the main findings here are experiences of the first meetings with Swedish society, language as a key, the role that school plays, family, friendship and identity and how the participants relate to these aspects in their stories. Some of the stories are interpreted as having more clear strategies, and these are focused along with identity in the second findings chapter.  Here, three profiles are presented as being an outsider as identity, a torn identity and activity as identity. The discussion of the thesis addresses certain methodological considerations and then turns to discuss the findings. This discussion focuses on aspects of the consequences of being up-rooted in relation to the theoretical concepts life chances, vagabonds, risk/trust and identity. Different tools for the construction of identities in the stories are also discussed, as well as how identity can be seen as synonym to telling a story.   The overall conclusion is that it is not fruitful to talk about immigrants or refugees as a homogeneous group. The participants in this study are alike in many ways, and while their stories have mutual traits, they also tell the tale of differing experiences, approaches and identities. This gives life, and empirically grounded support, to the worn out phrase “every child is an individual”, also when it concerns children and young people who have experienced arriving in Sweden as refugees.

In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the overthrow of the socialist regime did not only bring about both an economic and political shift, it resulted also in the inclusion of the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany. The fall of the Wall brought with it transformations in everyday life as well as changes in social identities. This study examines how people who grew up in the GDR define the East and the West in unified Germany, as well as identifying which concepts play a role in the self-interpretations given by former GDR citizens. Through applying discourse theory, I investigate how identities are partially fixed and change over time, relating this always to historically situated discourses. In the analysis, East and West are considered as floating signifiers, which, through articulations made with other categories such as class, nation, place and gender, come to be filled with meaning. The study is based on twenty-five life story interviews conducted in Eastern Germany. The group of interviewees consisted of fifteen women and ten men born in the GDR between the years of 1970 and 1979, all of whom had different levels of education. The demise of the socialist state and the transition to a capitalist society is central in the interviewees’ life stories. Their narratives about the past are formed in a discursive order other than the one in which the events themselves took place. Conversely, the past is used as a foil against which the present is compared. With the dislocation, the interviewees have developed a reflexive stance to both themselves and the world. The study reveals both how East and West are still used to make the world intelligible in a number of fields and, at the same time, how these same concepts are transcended. It shows in what ways the interviewees employ different strategies to adapt to the new circumstances and to handle a potentially marked position in unified Germany.

Drawing upon data from a qualitative interview study on the life stories of young women, the aim of this study is to analyze young womens experiences of difficult life events. Special interest is directed to how cultural frameworks are reflected in young women’s stories about themselves and the family and school worlds they have lived in. During a period of almost four years, I conducted deep interviews with ten young women on two to four occasions. They were between the ages of sixteen and twenty at the time of the first interview and of different classes and local origins. The young women were recruited to the study through leaders of a youth detention home and of a girl group activity. Methodologically, the thesis is based in the general field of narrative research and more specifically in the field of feminist life story research. I employed a holistic and thematic content analysis inspired by hermeneutic interpretation and the mainly focus has been on what was told in the stories. The thesis is written in a context of feminist epistemology and from a critical perspective (cf. Harding, 1986, 2004). It includes, among other things, an assumption that there is a social, cultural and historically created imbalance of power between different groups in society (cf. Anderson, 2003). The theoretical concepts that form the basis of this part of the theoretical framework are social worlds (cf. Shibutani, 1955), exclusion (cf. Goffman, 1963; Young, 1990, 2000), belonging (cf. Molin, 2010; Spånberger Weitz, 2011), agency (cf. McNay, 2003, 2004), space of agency (cf. Eduards, 2002) and social positions (cf. Anderson, 2003). The young women´s stories about family gathered around experiences of parents’ separation, family violence, parental substance abuse and the separation from parents. Their stories of school life gathered mainly around experiences of being different and othered, and these experiences of otherness and alienation were closely linked to bullying, school difficulties and to a general unhappiness at school (cf. Andersson, 1995). In contemplation of life as a series of life events, the young womens stories highlight the importance of difficult life events and the impact they have had on their ability to live their lives. The results portray the importance of considering life as a series of moving events, instant and recurring, and of understanding the consequences of social structures on how life and its conditions change and are linked across borders, between different worlds and different times. In a consideration of the life events as variable, instantaneous and sometimes recurring and changing, every life event has to be viewed as new and important to pay attention to, both as an event in itself and also how this event spreads to other moments and contexts than the time and world in which it occurred. In the assumption of life as moving and of life events as essential elements in a changeable life course, available positions and spaces of agency are made visible in the young womens stories. The cultural frameworks of the good family, the real schoolgirl and an authentic I represent structuring principles for how the events are possible to understand and talk about for the young women. They can be considered as ideal images that both increase and limit their opportunities to make difficult life events and their own actions in relation to the events understandable. In this thesis, it becomes visible that, in order to understand young women’s experiences of difficult life events, we need to place experiences in a context where the different circumstances, such as social positions and local structures, are made visible, analyzed and reflected upon.

Over time, the state has undertaken various reforms to govern the development of education. The issue of using new media may be seen as such an example. A change in the use of media in education imposes great challenges on both municipalities and teachers. This thesis aims to visualise and discuss governance in the contradictions that arise in practical activities aimed at integrating new media in school teaching, based on three actors’ perspectives, namely the dilemmas of the teacher, the media pedagogue and the media developer. The study is based on systemic thinking about governance and I employ both activity theory and the concept of governmentality to visualise and discuss the governance. The study is conducted in the form of a case study. The case consists of a municipality where, based on the curriculum’s mission, teachers have tried to find ways to integrate new media into their teaching. My own connection to the case consists of having been a driving and governing force in the work as a teacher, media pedagogue and media developer. The case was chosen because the municipality’s work on the national level and via the media has been held up as a good example. The empirical part consists of both my own life narrative and studies of different documents, texts, images, films and sound recordings that show how govern­mentalities are formed and take shape on the micro, macro and meso levels. I use a methodological prism, a combination of different analytical perspectives, discourse, activity, narratives and governmentality. The results reveal that the driving actors are innovatively handling the systemic contradictions that arise in the work of carrying out the curriculum’s mission. The governance of the activities is based on a trust rationality. The more the use of new media is spread in the municipality’s schools, the more contradictory it becomes for the middle level’s actors. The trust rationality has been superseded by a distrust rationality, creating a growing gap between the administration and the activities.