In 2002, Canada ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Nearly a decade later, it released its first National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, designated a government-led task force, and approved a budget specifically allocated for human trafficking initiatives and programming. The main objective of this thesis is to determine the kind of approach the Government of Canada has implemented to address the issue of international sex trafficking into Canada, to determine whether anything is exempted or neglected from this approach, and to explore what this could mean for victims of sex trafficking. I use a qualitative narrative analysis of the Canadian government’s publications on the issue of human trafficking including policy, programming, and research-related documents. The findings reveal that Canada has implemented an approach which emphasizes the safety and security of the country which is indicative of a narrative that frames international sex trafficking as a threat. These findings further reveal a negative impact of such framing on trafficking victims. In employing an approach which prioritizes the safety and security of the state, Canada neglects the notion that human trafficking violates a person’s human rights, overlooks a consideration of the root causes of trafficking, and under-prioritizes the notion of ‘victim’ despite the phenomenon continuing to produce new victims each year in Canada.

The Chilean women’s movement has a long history of challenging state power. The role women played in the opposition against Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian regime has fascinated researchers. There also seems to be a consensus, whereby the contemporary movement is considered to be divided. Yet, recent developments in Chile have seen a resurgence of women’s activism that has not been studied. The need for re-mobilization points to the idea that women’s concerns and needs have not been adequately addressed in the past, despite their strong presence in civil society. This study explores how women have experienced social action in the Chilean women’s movement, through narrative analysis. Analysing own voices accounts of collective action provided insight into how women organize in Chile; the origins of divisions present in the contemporary women’s movement; important differences and parallels with the women’s movement that opposed the dictatorship; and the presence of vertical structures in Chilean society. In focusing on the experiences of women who were active in the opposition to the dictatorship, as well as the largely untapped voices of women active in the contemporary movement, this project will contribute to future research on similar subjects.

Coping during stress has been a very researched topic within the field of religion and religious psychology. During the Syrian civil war, female journalist Waad al- Khateab decided to film her experience as part of the opposition which turned into the documentary film For Sama. The aim of this study has been to analyze how coping is portrayed in the documentary film. The research questions for this study are the following: How is Waad Al-Khateabs coping process portrayed in her story and documentary film For Sama? How can the portrayal of Waad Al-Khateabs coping process be understood through religious coping theory? The method for this study has been qualitative narrative analysis, while Pargament’s (1997) coping theory has been applied on the material as well. The result of the study showed that Waad’s copingprocess primarily changes due to her new role as a wife and a mother. Her coping process could be understood through religious coping theory in different ways. Not knowing the future was mentally stressful for her, and religion was a part of the coping process while other strategies were also involved.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze stories that don’t often get told or heard. Traditionally, nonreligious people have had to keep their lack of belief to themselves out of fear of persecution. In the literature review of this dissertation, I summarize previous scholarship about leaving religion. In an effort to learn about autobiographies written by nonreligious women, I utilize storytelling as a theoretical framework, located within the rhetorical uses of personal narratives, and ask: What are the types of challenges, experiences, and topics that nonreligious women include in their stories?; How do these autobiographies invite readers to understand personal accounts of religious departure?; and How do these autobiographies invite social change and consciousness raising? To answer these questions, I applied thematic narrative analysis, from a rhetorical perspective, as a way to discover the commonalities amongst the stories, as well as the unique characteristics that each story possesses. While each woman had a unique story, there were five common themes that emerged among the memoirs: family, intellectual, relational, sociocultural, and professional. Inspired by the language of the “women’s sphere,” I labeled each of the themes as a realm in the “sphere of life” with hope that the sphere of life can help explain how religion influences a person’s life. I discovered that, even though some of the women lost some relationships with family and friends, all of the women mentioned that they are happier now that they are being true to themselves. The authors also mentioned that it is important to be at peace with who they are since this is likely their one and only life. With that in mind, it is important to have choice and authenticity in one’s life. Finally, this study demonstrated the power of storytelling and how autobiographies can invite social and attitudinal change.

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