Mass media play an important role in shaping public perceptions about differentthematics, including crime and justice. The consumption of mediatic contents indifferent forms, such as newspapers, television news and crime dramas, can affectthe way people perceive and interpret concepts as deviance and punishments, theattitude towards the criminal system and the level of concern for becoming a victim.In the last years, Streaming Videos On Demand platforms have made easier theaccess and the consumptions of contents as crime dramas; the changes in themodality of fruition have been followed by changes in the representation ofcharacters, with the introduction and the increasing diffusion of morally ambiguousfigures. This opens new possibilities of research, particularly regarding the modesof representation of criminals as antiheroes. The purpose of the article is then toinvestigate how the figure of the offender is constructed as antihero in four OriginalNetflix Productions (You, Narcos, Ozark, La Casa de Papel). A Critical DiscourseAnalysis of two narrative themes is conducted combining Marxist andPostmodernist interpretative approaches.

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the stories of women who have been trapped in abusive relationships (victims of intimate partner violence (IPV)) and the process of how they moved on from these relationships to non-abusive relationships, thereby becoming survivors. The primary research question guiding the study is; How do the women describe their experiences of the processes that they underwent in leaving an abusive relationship and entering into a new, non-abusive, relationship? The study generates a rich description of their experiences, exploring what it is that makes these women unique in changing their identities from victim of abuse to survivor. This is done by taking an in-depth look at each participant’s story and uncovering the personal meanings that they ascribed to these experiences. Literature from past studies is also explored as various authors describe IPV, factors related to IPV and how their illustrations coincide or differ from the findings of this study. A narrative research approach is used in this study. Narrative research falls under the umbrella of postmodernism and is conducted with a social constructionist outlook. The narrative approach views knowledge as generated by exploring subjective experience and how the individual makes meaning with emphasis on context. This study, therefore, focuses on how the participant’s identities are constructed over time as a result of making meaning from their experiences, through self-exploration, social processes and through interactions with others. Data was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews. The tool used for analysis of the stories was the Three-Dimensional Space Approach, the specific tools being; analysis of situation, interaction and continuity. This approach allows for the data to be analysed, not as a given truth but rather, as meaning is generated from the unique perspective of each individual participant in the context, as well as how it was interpreted by myself, the researcher. The results explore this process through the themes of a message from each participant: commitment as it preceded the abuse, identity, control and manipulation at the hands of the perpetrator, and everyone needs someone to help. These themes were then integrated with the literature. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study of Grevegården Church, Tynnered, Gothenburg, Sweden, shows how Swedish architect Rolf Bergh's characteristic motifs are applied even in what is his last completed building. Through comparisons with works constructed at different times in Bergh's long, unbroken career of designing church buildings (from the late 1940s up until 1992), the study finds that the architect's theoretical base very much shapes the built space.  This study also shows how a relatively common process for a new church building in Sweden happened at the end of the 20th century - from the competition proposal, via the project design to the finished building. In this process we find a dynamic between architect and client, but also between architect and, for example, procurement rules. Rolf Bergh belongs to a modernist tradition in which the architect plays a major role in the process - as in Grevegården Church, where he has designed everything from the exterior to the light fittings.  Rolf Bergh has often been seen primarily as a religious architect, with the implication that function took precedence over aesthetic values. This study argues instead that Bergh was essentially a modernist architect, while maintaining high aesthetic quality, albeit probably more versed than many of his contemporaries in liturgical matters. In this specific building Bergh, in line with the times, incorporates and blends postmodernist motifs with modernist ones. The cultural-historical values of Grevegården church are counteracted by the relative ordinariness of the building and the fact that the building does not yet meet the age criterion for general conservation value. In the current discourse, there is a tendency to positively re-evaluate the architecture of the late 1980s and early 1990s. With an understanding based on this tendency, Grevegården church can very well assert itself on its aesthetic quality. The study concludes by discussing the ongoing debate about how potentially redundant church spaces should be managed and valued in the future.

This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans. Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality. If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts. If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction. In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fictioninternal ‘guides’. These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and worldcreation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games. The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second. The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limitpostmodernist texts. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans. Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality. If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts. If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction. In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fictioninternal ‘guides’. These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and worldcreation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games. The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second. The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limitpostmodernist texts. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

[ES] El propósito de esta investigación es dar a conocer e intentar comprender la función de la intertextualidad en la obra literaria del autor mexicano Juan José Arreola (1918- 2001). Su estilo ecléctico, marcado por la prosa poética, la brevedad y la ironía, comparte un claro denominador común: la continua referencia a otros textos. A través de múltiples referencias a otras obras, Arreola nos invita en sus cuentos a un nuevo modo de lectura basado en un escritura que define una voz única y original, construida, paradójicamente, a través de otras voces. Esta tesis presenta un acercamiento teórico al concepto de la intertextualidad literaria, su conexión con la narrativa breve posmoderna y por qué es un recurso fundamental en la literatura hispanoamericana del siglo XX y, especialmente, en la mexicana. Asimismo, se plantea un análisis detallado de la última edición de su obra Bestiario que incluye una propuesta metodológica de lectura, en busca de referencias a otros textos, cómo se relacionan, cómo se utilizan y con qué intenciones. La obra de Arreola debe ser leída desde la intertextualidad, ya que se construye a través de ella, en una suerte diálogo permanente con la propia literatura. Esta técnica de escritura, tan característica en la narrativa breve de un autor de tan difícil catalogación como Juan José Arreola, hace imprescindible tanto una lectura intertextual como, sobre todo, la participación de la comunidad lectora, que será la que conecte el entramado de referencias y complete su significado, en un adelanto de las estéticas del pensamiento posmoderno literario del siglo XX. / [CA] El propòsit d'aquesta investigació és donar a conèixer i intentar comprendre la funció de la intertextualitat en l'obra literària de l'autor mexicà Juan José Arreola (1918- 2001). El seu estil eclèctic, marcat per la prosa poètica, la brevetat i la ironia, comparteix un clar denominador comú: la contínua referència a altres textos. A través de múltiples referències a altres obres, Arreola ens convida en els seus contes a una nova manera de lectura basat en un escriptura que defineix una veu única i original, construïda, paradoxalment, a través d'altres veus. Aquesta tesi presenta un acostament teòric al concepte de la intertextualitat literària, a la seua connexió amb la narrativa breu postmoderna i als motius pels quals és recurs fonamental en la literatura hispanoamericana del segle XX i, especialment, en la mexicana. Així mateix, es plantegen una anàlisi detallada de l'última edició de la seua obra Bestiari i una proposta metodològica de lectura, a la recerca de referències a altres textos, com es relacionen, com s'utilitzen i amb quines intencions. L'obra de Arreola ha de ser llegida des de la intertextualitat, a través de la qual es construeix, en una mena de diàleg permanent amb la mateixa literatura. Aquesta tècnica d'escriptura, tan característica en la narrativa breu d'un autor de tan difícil catalogació com Juan José Arreola, fa imprescindible tant la lectura intertextual com, sobretot, la participació de la comunitat lectora, que serà la que connecte l'entramat textual i complete el seu significat, en un avançament de les estètiques de la pensament postmodern literari del segle XX. / [EN] This research aims to present and understand the function of intertextuality in the literary work of the Mexican author Juan José Arreola (1918-2001). His eclectic style, marked by poetic prose, brevity, and irony, shares a clear common denominator: the continuous reference to other texts. Through multiple references to other works, Arreola invites the recipient of his stories to a new way of reading on account to author's unique style and original voice, constructed, paradoxically, through other voices. This dissertation presents a theoretical approach to the concept of literary intertextuality, its connection with the Postmodern short narrative, and explores why it is a fundamental resource of 20th Century Hispanic American literature and, especially, in Mexican literature. Likewise, this work presents a detailed analysis of the latest edition of his work Bestiary and a methodological reading proposal, searching for references to other texts, how they are related, how they are used, and with what intentions. Arreola's work must be read from intertextuality since it is built through it, in a permanent dialogue with literature itself. This writing technique, so characteristic in the short narrative of an author of such difficult cataloging as Juan José Arreola, makes essential intertextual reading and, above all, the readers' participation, which will be the ones that connect the framework of references and complete its meaning, in a preview of the aesthetics of 20th Century literary Postmodern thinking. / López Medel, P. (2021). La intertextualidad como recurso literario en la narrativa breve posmoderna de Juan José Arreola [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/170355 / TESIS

In 1988, Linda Nicholson and Nancy Fraser published an article entitled "Social Criticism Without Philosophy: An Encounter Between Feminism and Postmodernism," arguing that this essay would provide a jumping point for discussion between feminisms and postmodernisms within academia. Within this essay, Nicholson and Fraser largely disavow a number of second wave feminist theories due to their essentialist and foundationalist underpinnings in favor of a set of postmodernist frameworks that might help feminist theorists overcome these epistemological impediments. A "postmodern feminism," Nicholson and Fraser claim, would become "the theoretical counterpart of a broader, richer, more complex, and multilayered solidarity, the sort of solidarity which is essential for overcoming the oppression of women" (35). Interpreting "Social Criticism" through a feminist cultural studies model in which texts are understood to be simultaneously constituted by and reflective of their own sociopolitical spaces, I argue that the construction of Nicholson and Fraser's "postmodern feminism" is, first and foremost, neither a postmodernist critique nor a means of overcoming the pitfalls of essentialism and foundationalism. Instead, the construction of this theoretical paradigm can be shown to be complicit with postfeminist discourses, wherein an implicitly patriarchal discourse of postmodernism is called upon to repair the deficiencies of feminisms, deficiencies that postmodernisms, in some ways, helped to bring into view. To provide a conceptual backing for these claims, I move toward an examination of mass culture, surveying the similarities between "Social Criticism" and the film What Women Want. Such a comparison, I suggest, facilitates a better understanding of how "Social Criticism" can be shown to be imbedded in a postfeminist narrative structure in which feminisms are relegated to a discursively subordinate gendered position in relation to postmodernisms. Finally, in what I find to be the most important aspect of this thesis' inquiry, I ask what it means to build a "broader, richer, more complex, and multilayered solidarity" by disavowing second wave feminisms in favor of postmodernisms. I conclude that, in using postmodernisms as a panacea for feminist theories, Nicholson and Fraser curtail what might have been a rigorous interrogation of and direct engagement with second wave feminist theories that would also attend to the phallogocentric underpinnings of postmodern theories. To underline the potential consequences, I turn to a set of televisual and filmic texts including Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, and The Devil Wears Prada to gauge what their "postmodern feminism" might represent in practice rather than what it entails as philosophy. This juxtaposition of these two differently defined and yet overwhelmingly similar postmodern feminisms, I propose, underscores the potential that Nicholson and Fraser may have instituted a postmodern feminist methodology in which it is possible that feminisms might emerge not as discourses essential for "overcoming the oppression of women" but rather as discourses that can be critiqued into oblivion.

The challenge facing principals currently is to revisit their role to improve external examination results in the Republic of South Africa. Almost all schools in the Free State, in particular those in rural areas such as the Thabo Mofutsanyana Education District; the Xhariep Education District; part of the Motheo Education District (e.g. Botshabelo and Thaba-Nchu) and most urban areas, such as the Lejweleputswa Education District and the Fezile Dabi Education District, have schools which have had poor examination results for the past 20 years. To answer the challenges currently facing principals in the Free State, this research used a qualitative research framework and methodology to articulate research questions and arrive at constructive and instructive models to reveal and close the gaps between performing and underperforming secondary schools in the province. A particular group of principals was chosen, influenced by the performance and underperformance of their schools in the various education districts in the province. Research findings from unstructured interviews with doctoral candidates, and research on China, Finland and Singapore’s education systems with special reference to instructional leadership were conducted. The doctoral candidates’ ideas were confirmed by practical unstructured interviews with Sekgutlong and Beacon high school principals who visited Singapore with the MEC of the Free State Department of Education. In plenary and parallel encounters with principals of secondary schools in the Free State, it emerged that rote learning is prevalent in the Free State secondary schools. Therefore, was resolved by the majority of the principals that critical postmodern instructional leadership should be recommended as an instructional methodology to usher in critical thinking, innovation, creativity and self-reliance in Free State education. In addition, this will close the gap between performing and underperforming secondary schools. Finally, grounded postmodern instructional leadership as a leadership strategy will assist a contemporary secondary school learner’s generation to cope with the academic requirements of tertiary education. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

This study explores trainee psychotherapists' experiences of double bind situations and inconsistency between explicit and implicit contexts of training. The epistemological foundations of this text are postmodern, social constructionist and ecosystemic. A review of the relevant literature is presented, which includes aspects such as explicit and implicit contexts, double bind and experiences of trainees in training. This is followed by an account of the qualitative research approach adopted, namely, discourse analysis. Themes that are extracted from the text of the transcribed interviews are assumed to reflect discourses in training and the broader societal contexts in which trainees find themselves. These discourses are seen to inform trainees' constructions of their experiences in training. The findings of the analysis are found to concur with the initial hypotheses of this dissertation, as well as with findings in the literature. Recommendations for future research are offered. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Alors qu’un nombre grandissant de théologiens évangéliques anglo-saxons se définissent comme postmodernes, ce mémoire vise, dans un premier temps, à définir ce que cela veut dire, à travers l’étude d’un ouvrage phare de ce mouvement théologique. Nous avançons que cela signifie que ces théologiens développent une théologie qui est en opposition à une théologie fondationnaliste, qu’ils confrontent les absolus du monde moderne au relativisme du monde postmoderne, et qu’ils plaident en faveur d’un relativisme modéré. Cela a des implications dans une pratique ecclésiologique qui se définit comme émergente. Cependant, ces nouveaux courants de pensées et de pratiques suscitent de nombreuses critiques d’autres théologiens évangéliques qui tiennent beaucoup à préserver les absolus que leur a apportés le cartésianisme, ainsi qu’une tradition ecclésiastique bien implantée. Ce mémoire examinera et résumera, dans un deuxième temps, les critiques qui viennent de ces théologiens. Puisque nous sommes en contexte québécois, nous avons également, dans un troisième temps, répertorié les écrits de théologiens évangéliques québécois sur le postmodernisme. De cette littérature nous avons choisi de résumer un article écrit en perspective d’une conférence donnée par l’auteur à un colloque qui a eu lieu à Montréal en 2007 au sujet des Églises émergentes. Nous avons aussi fait des entrevues semi- dirigées afin de comprendre la pratique ecclésiologique émergente dans le contexte québécois. La première entrevue a été réalisée avec un théologien évangélique québécois postmoderne et la deuxième avec un groupe composé de quelques personnes membres d’une Église émergente. Finalement, en conclusion, nous faisons une analyse des différents points de vue discutés dans ce mémoire et nous ouvrons des pistes prospectives concernant l’avenir d’une théologie et d’une ecclésiologie évangélique québécoise postmoderne. / While a growing number of Anglo-Saxons evangelicals theologians define themselves as postmodernists, this Master thesis`s first aim is to understand what this means concretely. We will achieve this through the study one of the main reference books on the matter. We put forward that these postmodern theologians are developing a theology in opposition to the fondationalist theology. They also tend to oppose modernity’s absolute assumptions with postmodernism’s relativism. Yet, they argue in favor of a moderate relativism. This theological turn has concrete implication in regards to ecclesial practice, especially within emergent churches. However, these new trends of thoughts and practices are highly criticized by other evangelical theologians, bent on preserving the absolutes inherited from Cartesians, as well as consolidated ecclesial tradition. This Master’s thesis second aim is thus to study and to resume criticism emanating from these other theologians. Since this research is developed within Quebec’s context, we have also delved into Quebec’s evangelical theologians take on postmodernism. This constitutes the third element of this Master’s thesis. From this literature we chose to resume one article that stemmed from a conference presented at a 2007 Montreal convention on emergent churches. We also conducted interviews to understand the ecclesial practices related to emergent churches in the Quebec context. The first interview has been conducted with a Quebec evangelical theologian who has adopted postmodernism. The second interview has been conducted with a small group of members of an emergent church. To conclude, we make a final analysis of the literature brought to bear in this Master’s thesis, and we make our own contribution in favor of a postmodern evangelical theology and postmodern ecclesial practices in Quebec’s context.