John Donne’s poetry has long been famous for its metaphysical conceits, which powerfully register the impact of the “New Philosophy,” yet the question of how his work is implicated in the new forms of knowledge-making that exploded in the early seventeenth century has remained unanswered. “Donne and the Sidereus nuncius” examines the relation between method and metaphor on the cusp of the Scientific Revolution by reading the poetry and prose of Donne in the context of developments in early modern astronomy, anatomy and natural philosophy. I focus primarily on two texts, Ignatius, his Conclave (1610) and the Anniversaries (1611-2), which are linked not only by chronology, but also by their mutual concern with the effects of distorted perception on the process of understanding the universe. Written directly after the publication of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius (1610), these works offer a historicized perspective on Donne’s changing use of scientific metaphor in relation to the transformative crux of the discovery of the telescope, which provided a startling new optical metaphor for the process of knowing. In this context, “Donne and the Sidereus nuncius” considers the conceptual work performed by scientific metaphor as part of an ongoing transformation from emblematic to analogic figuration. Donne’s search for material that is, in his phrase, “appliable” to other subjects, depends on an analogic conception of metaphor, a comparison that enables new thinking by identifying underlying commonalities between disparate objects. Building on this understanding of metaphor as comparative, I examine Donne’s self-conscious use of metaphors of methodical knowledge making—invention, innovation, anatomy and progress—in the context of instrumental metaphors, such as the telescope, spectacles, perspective, and travel narratives. In doing so, I suggest that Donne’s metaphorical conceits explore the conflict between scientific attempts to discern order in nature and the distorting effects of methodological frameworks imposed on the object of analysis.

The anxiety produced by the Celtic Tiger collapse created a cultural demand for cognitive frames that made the dramatically altered social circumstances and processes leading to the new economic conditions relatable. To understand the 2008 financial collapse's impact on Ireland, the nation's leading newspaper, the Irish Times, predictably employed tropes in service since the Great Depression, including human body and geological metaphors for the economic system, while rarely using metaphors such as the casino economy or the networked economy that more aptly described the level of speculation in an economic system structured by the realities of the information age. Ireland’s post-Celtic Tiger poets exemplify the reciprocity between journalistic discourse incorporating economic tropes and Irish and Northern Irish poets’ use of this discourse as a method of social critique invested in the political policy direction of their nation. Irish poetry, absorbed in a more intensive version of linguistic expression and experimentation than journalistic discourse and economic rhetoric, provides insight into the effect of economic metaphors on the socio-cultural circumstances of the nation.

DNA is an intrinsic part of the working system of the body. These basic units of creation adhere to rules of operation, replication, organization, and are implicated in the maintenance of a delicate system. When cells mutate, when foreign agents such as viruses infiltrate or are introduced into the body, the assault is on the cellular level. It is from this point that we can trace the escalation of symptoms and effects.This project examined how the scientific language of genetics and epidemiology can be used to read a literary narrative as a body. Narrative is a system that replicates, moves and maintains itself much as cells and bodies do. Assaults upon and interventions into teleology, subjectivity and conventions of realism by the postmodern are seen in terms of mutations and viral invasions. Literature as a product of late twentieth century culture represents a physical emission of the reading subject's fear of infection, invasion, and the instability of the body. The project involved reading the inner narrative structure of a text as DNA and examining the exterior consumption of a cultural text in terms of its similarities to the transmission of a virus. This project enunciated a theoretical paradigm that used scientific language to examine the matrix of interaction between text, reader, and culture as it exists in a climate of threat, as bodies under siege. / Department of English

In this paper, I have proposed a way of interpreting the philosophical subject of the Discours de la méthode that has remained relatively unexplored by contemporary commentators. By investigating the subjectivity that is expressed through Descartes’ use of architectural metaphors, I laid bare some of the difficulties inherent in its discursive structure, as well as suggesting that the cogito in fact repeats and inscribes itself into this structure. In this context, the metaphor of the road (or travel) takes a supplementary role in relation to the architectural metaphor, marking the very conditions of existence of the architectonic subject. The subject, in order that it may establish itself as ”pure” and ”independent” thought, is dependent on a certain ”forgetfullness”; that is, only by forgetting its constitutive dependence on the diversity and historicity that is signified by the metaphor of travel, can it establish itself as its own source. A history of philosophy which takes considerations of metaphors and other literary aspects as the center of its inquiry still needs to be written. This paper can be seen as an example of such an investigation.

In this art-based study I will examine the construction of identity creating three life size figures utilizing metaphor and symbolism. I recorded and analyzed the process through reflections. The artist/teacher/researcher will provide conclusions based on art production and self-reflection.

Idioms such as break a leg and piece of cake make up a significant portion of spoken and written discourse. Like other linguistic expressions stemming from conceptual metaphor (e.g., metaphors, similes), idioms serve to provide understanding of one concept in relation to a different concept (e.g., love is a journey). The ability to comprehend figurative expressions has an extended developmental period that begins as young as 5 years and continues into adulthood. The Language Experience Hypothesis attributes figurative language competence to meaningful exposure to figurative expressions. The Global Elaboration Hypothesis, however, proposes that figurative language comprehension depends upon skills needed for general text comprehension (e.g., ability to make inferences, semantic knowledge). Studies with children and adolescents have shown that reading comprehension relates to both idiom familiarity and comprehension. Similar studies have not been conducted with adult struggling readers. This study examined idiom familiarity and comprehension of adult struggling readers (N = 60; M age = 41 years) in relation to their reading skills. The Idiom Familiarity and Idiom Comprehension tasks developed by Nippold and colleagues (1993, 2001) were used, which allowed for comparisons between the performance of adult struggling readers in this study and past research. Participants’ idiom comprehension scores were lower than those of adults studied in previous research, and comparable to those of children reading at similar levels. Their familiarity rankings of individual idioms aligned with the levels established by Nippold and Rudzinski (1993); however, they were less familiar with idioms than the twelfth grade group. Results from a familiarity (high, moderate, low) x context (isolation, story) ANOVA showed story context helped adult struggling readers comprehend more high-familiarity idioms, but hindered comprehension of low-familiarity idioms. Hierarchical regressions revealed that reading comprehension accounted for unique variance over and beyond idiom familiarity and word reading skills for idioms presented in both isolation and story contexts. Findings from this study contribute to the study of figurative language comprehension by examining adults with limited literacy skills. Similarly, these findings contribute to the field of adult literacy by providing initial evidence of adult struggling readers’ familiarity and comprehension of idioms.

This thesis aims to understand the experiences of community development practitioners who are located in the organisational context of bureaucracies. Over the last decade there has been a revitalised interest in community development as a means of addressing social issues within Australia. Local, state and federal governments, as well as large non-government organisations, have developed policies and programs aimed at building, strengthening, renewing and revitalising communities. At the same time, a set of ideologies have emerged that have given rise to a global neoliberal welfare regime, and that have shaped ways of thinking and behaving within bureaucracies. Whilst much has been written about these two broad trends and their impact upon Australia, what appears to be missing from these analyses is an understanding of the impact upon the actual practitioners operating at the intersection of these forces. This research addresses the gap in the literature between the academic discussion and the personal experience of undertaking community development in bureaucracies. This investigation adopts a qualitative approach. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with community development practitioners from federal, state and local government and from large non-government organisations in Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The interview transcripts were then analysed utilising a framework known as Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) which enabled the responses to be examined through multiple lenses: social, discursive and metaphoric. What this study reveals is that community development practitioners have a largely negative experience of bureaucracies: the work is difficult to do, it is not well understood, and it is not well supported. Whilst this is not particularly surprising, what IS of interest is the level of shock and frustration felt by practitioners, and their lack of preparedness for these experiences. Whilst community development workers have a very good understanding of the content of their practice, what appears to be missing is a critical analysis of their context and themselves as practitioners, and this invites a more negative experience of the work. Practitioners respond to these experiences by distinguishing between themselves as bureaucrats and what they name as their true and authentic selves. They articulate a difference between “working developmentally” from within bureaucracies and undertaking what they call “real” community development, which occurs “in community”. The acts of distinguishing an authentic self and authentic community development are both forms of resistance. However, I suggest that such constructions are largely unhelpful as they construct false binaries which render practitioners ineffective. The work of community development practitioners is compromised because the context in which they are operating is compromised. I also argue that community development students require greater preparation for the organisational context of bureaucracy, which includes understanding not only methodology, but also the objectives, arenas and structures for practice. Practitioners need a deeper understanding of relations of power within these contexts. This requires workers to be clear about their motivations, their commitment and their analysis. Finally I contend that what is required is the creation and sharing of metaphors that articulate a relational rather than individualistic and heroic form of agency. In this way community development theory and practice can shift away from a modernist narrative of development to a discussion of mutual transformation.

This thesis aims to understand the experiences of community development practitioners who are located in the organisational context of bureaucracies. Over the last decade there has been a revitalised interest in community development as a means of addressing social issues within Australia. Local, state and federal governments, as well as large non-government organisations, have developed policies and programs aimed at building, strengthening, renewing and revitalising communities. At the same time, a set of ideologies have emerged that have given rise to a global neoliberal welfare regime, and that have shaped ways of thinking and behaving within bureaucracies. Whilst much has been written about these two broad trends and their impact upon Australia, what appears to be missing from these analyses is an understanding of the impact upon the actual practitioners operating at the intersection of these forces. This research addresses the gap in the literature between the academic discussion and the personal experience of undertaking community development in bureaucracies. This investigation adopts a qualitative approach. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with community development practitioners from federal, state and local government and from large non-government organisations in Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The interview transcripts were then analysed utilising a framework known as Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) which enabled the responses to be examined through multiple lenses: social, discursive and metaphoric. What this study reveals is that community development practitioners have a largely negative experience of bureaucracies: the work is difficult to do, it is not well understood, and it is not well supported. Whilst this is not particularly surprising, what IS of interest is the level of shock and frustration felt by practitioners, and their lack of preparedness for these experiences. Whilst community development workers have a very good understanding of the content of their practice, what appears to be missing is a critical analysis of their context and themselves as practitioners, and this invites a more negative experience of the work. Practitioners respond to these experiences by distinguishing between themselves as bureaucrats and what they name as their true and authentic selves. They articulate a difference between “working developmentally” from within bureaucracies and undertaking what they call “real” community development, which occurs “in community”. The acts of distinguishing an authentic self and authentic community development are both forms of resistance. However, I suggest that such constructions are largely unhelpful as they construct false binaries which render practitioners ineffective. The work of community development practitioners is compromised because the context in which they are operating is compromised. I also argue that community development students require greater preparation for the organisational context of bureaucracy, which includes understanding not only methodology, but also the objectives, arenas and structures for practice. Practitioners need a deeper understanding of relations of power within these contexts. This requires workers to be clear about their motivations, their commitment and their analysis. Finally I contend that what is required is the creation and sharing of metaphors that articulate a relational rather than individualistic and heroic form of agency. In this way community development theory and practice can shift away from a modernist narrative of development to a discussion of mutual transformation.

This thesis is a practical project which involves moving images and paintings together as a medium that explores phenomena of contemporary China relating to personal identity, independence and its relationship with the traditional importance on collective groups, group centredness and interdependence. The project’s approach draws on sociological research on Western thought, values and beliefs naturally occurring in China since the “Open Door” policy as raw data to focus on the transition and transformation of contemporary Chinese individuality, and translates these data to form the concepts underpinning the metaphoric method of my artwork. Bubbles are the main visual symbols that metaphorically imply the incessantly transformable Chinese individuality and social cultural identity. My aim has been to portray this phenomenon through artistic practices on screens. By reflecting and engaging with moving images and paintings, underpinned by theoretical research and methods including data collecting, self-reflecting on data, practical manifestation and self-inquiry, I have attempted to unfold the phenomenon of contemporary Chinese individuality through my art practice. The thesis is composed as a creative work of moving images accompanied by an exegesis component. The moving image represents a nominal 80%, and the exegesis 20% of the final submission.

Abstract One of the ways for a speaker to make sense of an object or event in the real world is to make use of iconicity between two things. Through iconic metaphorical extensions, the speaker connects the object or event to something else. In this study, I consider how speakers form concepts through iconic metaphorical extensions, examining how they metaphorically extend one concept to another. I suggest that all speakers use the same ways of forming metaphorical extensions and control metaphorical extensions according to their intentions and contexts. Using basic and simple shapes (e.g. 0) and their related metaphorical expressions (e.g. `a circular argument'), I discuss the role of iconicity in metaphorical understanding, the relationship between concept and language, and metaphorical extensions as tools of concept formation. I conduct descriptive investigations using dictionaries and compare related senses for particular basic shapes between English and Japanese, looking at their polysemous networks and historical changes. Using questionnaires, interviews and tasks with native speakers of English and Japanese, I conduct experimental investigations to examine the speakers' associations in relation to basic shapes and the degree of iconicity in metaphorical extensions. This study suggests that concepts, although probably stored in the mental space, are recreated every time they occur. Concept formation through iconic metaphorical extensions must be dynamic because it is based on 'extensions' of existing concepts, and must be universal to all speakers because metaphorical extensions are among the most basic mental activities of human beings. I propose dynamic and universal models which represent the way in which a speaker forms concepts, connecting a linguistic form and a mental picture and controlling iconic metaphorical extensions. These models contribute to understanding both similarities and differences in use of metaphorical extensions between English and Japanese.