The question of the composition and unity of Esther continue to be a matter of debate as Esther studies of the last two decades show. This debate has, however, been conducted primarily perspective. from a historical and critical The latter half of this century, and the last three decades in particular, has seen the emergence of newer approaches to the text of Scripture. These approaches, influenced by the developments in literary theory, have resulted in an emphasis on the text as a literary unity and have encouraged a synchronic reading of biblical texts. I believe the questiop of the composition and unity of Esther can be fruitfully approached using these newer literary approaches. A literary reading of Esther, which demonstrates that it is a narrative unity, is done. The literary reading is synchronic in nature, and demonstrates that chiasticreversal underlies the whole of the Esther narrative. Moreover, careful attention is given to the literary devices of chiasmus and characterisation, which make a significant contribution to the narrative unity of Esther because of the inseparable link, which exists, between these literary elements. This inseparable link derives from the fact that the chiasmus found in Esther is characterised by the reversal of the positions, fortunes, and destinies of the main characters. Furthermore, the role and portrayal of the king is germane to the narrative unity of Esther beca~se intrinsic to the chiastic-reversal pattern in Esther is the role of the king in reversing the positions, fortunes and destinies of the main characters. Consequently his role will receive special attention. In addition, as a character, he can be seen as the glue of the narrative unity of Esther because of the pivotal role he plays in the story's chiastic-reversal pattern. It therefore follows that the way the narrative characterises him must receive attention. In this regard 'traditional' stereotypical descriptions of the king are discussed critically and a fresh perspective· of his character is offered. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 1999. / gm2014 / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Drawing upon the biographical narratives of eight student physiotherapists and situated within an interpretive paradigm this thesis has explored the construction of professional identities within physiotherapy education. It has been predicated upon notions of identity as constructed through social interactions, therefore a relational concept requiring interaction, enactment and reciprocity. It took place within a contemporary professional context epitomised by increasing interprofessionalism challenging notions of what being a physiotherapist means. The main findings of this study suggest that student physiotherapists enter physiotherapy education (or very soon after, develop) with a well formed idea of what being a physiotherapist means, constructing an idealised professional self. This idealised professional self becomes the lens through which they subsequently experience and evaluate their professional education experiences. The process of constructing professional identities involves student physiotherapists in a continuous cycle of performance, mediation and impression management, through which they seek opportunities to confirm their idealised professional self. The findings of this thesis suggest that student physiotherapists exercise individual agency to construct socially and spatially situated professional identities in everyday professional interaction and supports contemporary notions of professional socialisation as interactive. This thesis contributes to the contemporary understanding of the process of identity construction. Theoretically, it emphasises the concept of role models and highlights the importance of anti-role models or disidentification. Practically, it offers physiotherapy educators the opportunity to reconsider the complexities of professional identity and its place within the learning context. Finally, for the students who took part in this study telling their stories has rendered their experiences with meaning and their stories have the capacity to become important cultural tools for future students.

Existing whistle-blower research has found that retaliation affects the whistle-blowing process. However, there is little literature focusing on the personal and emotional effects that retaliation can have on the whistle-blower’s life. Furthermore, while whistle-blowing has been studied in various organizational contexts, both public and private, virtually no research exists on whistle-blowing in the context of the public school system. This study examines the effects of the whistle-blowing process, specifically the effects of retaliation, on the life of the whistle-blower through a narrative identity construct in the context of the Texas Public School System. This study utilizes narrative analysis to understand the relationship between retaliation and the whistle-blowers’ narrative identity. the analysis reveals that whistle-blowers’ decisions to disclose instances of wrong-doing are motivated by their desired narrative identities. Furthermore, this study shows that retaliation has the greatest effect when it directly attacks the whistle-blowers’ identities.

This qualitative study draws on intersectionality, antiracism, and anticolonialism to unpack the long history of colonial violence in the mental health and social service fields, such as counselling, victim services, social work, and child and youth care. In addition, this thesis explores and interrogates the use of narrative therapy by white and Indigenous sexualized violence practitioners who work specifically with Indigenous girls and women. Narrative therapy is a non-individualistic and non-pathologizing approach that has shown potential with Indigenous girls and women. However, while it holds promise, how sexualized violence practitioners interact with narrative therapy and critical frameworks is less known. In this study, experienced practitioners were asked how they draw on narrative therapy and critical frameworks, how they grapple with narrative therapy’s complicity in colonial violence, and how they resist, contest, and reproduce colonial violence in their own practice. Three themes emerged from the interviews: (1) narrative therapy as useful but not enough; (2) deconstructing and unsettling narrative therapy; and (3) smuggling practices and double practice. Discussion of these themes demonstrates and explores the complex and multifaceted issues practitioners are engaging with in their practice and suggests great promise for a future narrative therapy that involves critical frameworks and attends to body, ethics, accountability, and ongoing colonial violence. / Graduate

The preface to this collection, "Against Expectation: The Lyric Narrative," highlights the ways James Wright, Stephen Dunn, and C.K. Williams use narrative to strengthen their poems. Where My Own Grave Is is a collection of poems that uses narrative to engage our historical fascination with death.

Appalachia, itself a difficult to resolutely define region, has undergone the economic forces of colonialism and industrializing capitalism which allow for an excellent case study to apply Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony. No American region’s national conception is likely to have been as varied and often misrepresented as that of Appalachia. From the Revolutionary American State’s invention of early White settlers as the virtuous yeoman of the Republic to the modern perception of Appalachia as backwards, conservative, and drug-addled, shifting national economic conditions resulted in a constant invention of Appalachia in congruence. Whenever the people residing in Appalachia, whether Black, White, or indigenous, either failed to represent or directly challenged the interests of empire or profit, ideas and perceptions of the region subsequently shifted accordingly. Utilizing secondary sources which have attempted to paint an overarching narrative of the region and primary sources recounting contemporary individuals’ views on said region’s people, the broad arc of cultural hegemony’s construction in Appalachia was traced in this thesis. From Thomas Jefferson’s invention of the virtuous and integral small land holding settlers in the region to Theodore Roosevelt’s shifting of national consciousness away from Appalachian settlers and into the proverbial international settler frontier, tracing the ideas of state leaders within the American Republic and profit-focused interests allowed for a general timeline of social invention to be traced. The constructed timeline insinuated that one thing remained certain throughout Appalachian history: constantly changing perceptions of the region almost directly followed changing economic and political agendas. Further, after an exploration of how Black and White Appalachians indeed presented a counter-hegemonic movement necessarily connected with the rest of the nation in the form of the Mine Wars, Appalachia as a proverbial helpless region apart is argued to be ultimately a false conception. In response to this conclusion, a responsibility arose for those with the power of narrative and cultural production. Meaning, as academics or scholars, those Antonio Gramsci deemed the intellectual base of any given economic class, conscious counter-narrative production steeped in consciousness of exploitation and class antagonisms became objectively necessary. In fact, the thesis concludes, without an intellectual counter to dominant minority economic interests, social invention of often exploited regions will and do continue unabashed and unopposed.

Building on existing research on self-referencing persuasion and narrative health communication, this study examined the persuasive effects of a linguistic message strategy-narrative point of view-and assessed the effects of first-person point of view as compared to third-person point of view. Web-based experimental results (N = 222) showed that the first-person point of view brought about higher levels of character identification and perceived susceptibility than third-person point of view, while the two points of view were equally effective in evoking transportation, self- referencing, and perceived severity. The results also indicated that self-referencing fully mediated the positive relationship between transportation/identification and perceived susceptibility. Yet self-referencing showed no significant impact on perceived severity, whereas more transportation/identification directly led to more perceived severity. Theoretical and practical recommendations are provided for health practitioners, and social media health campaigns

This study explored how socio-cultural and contextual factors influence construction of identity of self-as-principal. Bakhtin's theories of intertextuality, self and other, and utterance and the theories of Mead, Dewey, Bruner, and Cherryholmes regarding the social construction of the self provided a context for examining self-as-principal as described through retrospective narratives. Discourse analysis was used to examine transcripts of 83 oral history interviews with retired Virginia principals whose careers spanned the 1920;s to the 1990's.(see footnote) Focus was on construction of the identity of self-as-principal through examination of structural metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), descriptions of others, storying of self as protagonist, storying of conflict situations and how stated opinions and philosophy are reinforced/contradicted by examples provided within the texts (Potter & Wetherill, 1987). Certain socio-cultural factors such as race, gender, and religion, and certain contextual factors, such as level of school (i.e., elementary, middle school, high school), era, school size, open space schools, career track, special education, school district emerged as determiners of cohorts sharing discourse features about self-as-principal. The most profound discourse contrasts about self-as-principal resulted when the cohorts analyzed took into account both race and gender. Very different structural metaphors for each cohort by level and race/gender regarding self-as-principal emerged during the analysis. Age, years of tenure as principal, educational background, rural vs. urban locations, and areas of the state did not seem to generate defined discourse cohorts. The findings of this narrative/discourse analysis provide insight into how self-as-principal is constructed, understood and primarily influenced and confirm that this is a rich approach to better understanding how socio-cultural and contextual factors influence role definition for educators. Footnote: These interviews were collected as part of the Oral History of the Principalship project, directed by Dr. Patrick Carlton, here at Virginia Tech. / Ph. D.

This collection consists of a critical preface and nine essays. The preface analyzes, first, how the imagination influences the personal journey of a writer, and second, the techniques authors use, mainly form, time, and space, to enact the imagination and propel the reader into an imagined narrative. The essays explore themes of loss, mental illness, the rift between the “real” and the “imagined” life, and the intangibility of memory itself. Collection includes the essays “Into the Snow,” “No Longer a Part,” “Borderland,” “Still Wounds,” “What Stays in Las Vegas,” “Remnants,” “The Root,” “Your Father,” and “The Land Lord.”

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Phisophy in the Faculty of Arts, in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / Like many other nations, around the globe, Zulus are well known for their story telling techniques that is evident in their folktales, praises, riddles, songs and many other art forms of yesteryears. Emanating from such artistry of narrating, the Zulus have also joined forces with the other artists of the modem world in producing narratives of high quality and standard in the light of contemporary prose narratives. Ngcongwane, (1987:36) alludes to this art form as follows: Narrating is an old human activity. All of us do it - just as much as all ofus who are not crippled can walk. Such a statement by Ngcongwane confirms that even Africans are able to narrate stories, be it from a traditional or modem perspective. Sibiya, (2002:1) seems to be concurring with what is said by Ngcongwane when he states that: ... Zulus are renowned for their storytelling abilities that date back to time immemorial. 'Time immemorial' here seems to be confirming exactly what Ngcongwane refers to as 'an old human activity'. This art ofnarration is not only a thing ofthe past, but has been in existence since the ancient era to the present day. The significance of its existence is evidenced in the development and the involvement of the short stories and drama In this chapter we will illustrate the extent of development that has taken place with African writers, specifically the Zulu, being represented by Msimang in his three novels, 'Akuyiwe Emhlahlweni' (1973), 'Buzani KuMkabayi' (1982), and 'Walivuma Icala' (1996).