This study is an exploration of the relationship between subjectivity and pedagogy in the secondary school English classroom in South Africa during a time that can be characterised as one of considerable social change. It examines the subject positions students take up in relation to a teaching intervention that invites them to historicise their identities. In so doing, it seeks to contribute to the growing body of education research on how to meaningfully engage young people in post-conflict societies with their recent past and their shifting present, with the primary aim being to understand how these students are positioning themselves in relation to the changing sociopolitical context. The research was conducted in two Grade 11 English classrooms, one a de(re)segregated former Model C school and the other an elite private school. The research design is a two-case case study, employing ethnographic tools to generate a multi-layered and multifaceted understanding of the students’ engagement in all its forms. Poststructuralist theories on discourse and subjectivity form the theoretical framework for this study, informing both the methodology and the data analysis. At the heart of this lies Foucault’s notion of the discursively constructed subject, extended through the work of Stuart Hall, Chris Weedon, Bronwyn Davies and others in ways that facilitate their application to individual subjectivity, particularly in relation to the classroom as a pedagogically structured discursive space. The data is subjected to poststructuralist discourse analysis, adjusted to suit the mode and type of data which includes, inter alia, the analysis of a multimodal artefact, analysis of performative classroom talk and moment-by-moment analysis of classroom interaction. The analysis shows that students’ subjectivities are not fixed but shift in ways that are contingent on the pedagogic context. Such shifts are particularly noticeable when there is a shift in the interactional situation; when students move between different semiotic modes; or when they are provided with the opportunity for extended conversational interaction around an issue. In addition, students’ participation in the section of work on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) shows that engaging with the past in post-apartheid South African classrooms can have unpredictable results. Students’ resistance to engaging with recent history seems to be related to discomfort with the ways in which the grand narrative of the past works to position them in racialised ways. While there is evidence of students seeking to ‘unfix’ racialised subject positions, it is also clear that past discourses linger. Despite their desire to be rid of the past, students’ subject positions are frequently tied to their historically constructed locations in the sociopolitical and economic landscape of South Africa. These ambiguities and contradictions are viewed in part as a function of the complexity of the relationship between subjectivity and pedagogy, where what students are able to say and who they are able to be is shaped by the discursive structure of the classroom space. Ultimately it would seem that more serious consideration needs to be given to ways of developing a pedagogy that is able to tolerate contingency and heterogeneity and that would have relevance not only in post-conflict contexts but also beyond. Keywords: subjectivity, pedagogy, poststructuralist discourse analysis, positioning, identity, English classroom, TRC, multimodal artefact, classroom talk, South Africa

This thesis examines the ways in which a small group of young Pākehā women use underwear to construct a range of complex gendered subjectivities. I explore how these subjectivities are influenced by both material and discursive spaces. Three underwear shops in Hamilton, New Zealand - Bendon Lingerie Outlet, Bras N Things and Farmers, and various visual representations depicting contemporary notions of normative femininity, are under investigation Feminist poststructuralist theories and methodologies provide the framework for this research. One focus group and three semi-structured interviews were conducted with young women who purchase and wear underwear. Participant observations of shoppers in Bendon Lingerie Outlet, Hamilton and autobiographical journal entries of my experiences as a retailer and consumer of underwear continued throughout the research. Advertising and promotional material in underwear shops and a DVD of a Victoria's Secret lingerie show are also examined. Three points frame the analysis. First, I argue that underwear consumption spaces are discursively constructed as feminine. The socio-political structures governing these spaces construct particular types of bodies. These bodies are positioned as either 'in' place or 'out' of place. Second, underwear shops can be understood as feminised, young and thin embodied spaces. Bodies that fit this description are hence positioned as 'in' place. However, female bodies that are 'fat' and/or old and male bodies are marginalised within the space and thus positioned as 'out' of place. Third, I consider particular forms of normative femininity by examining the ways in which underwear disciplines and contains the body. Women's underwear moulds and shapes flesh to fit contemporary feminine norms. Examining the specific relationship between the body, underwear and space provides a means to re-theorise geography and makes new ground for understanding how clothed bodies are constituted in and through space.

This two year, topic-oriented ethnography documents teacher perceptions of cultural and institutional practices relating to sexual harassment in 12 co-educational, government ACT high schools. Participants include over one hundred and forty teachers, seventy eight of whom have contributed formal interviews. Through analysis and triangulation of ethnographic interviews, participant observation data and school and Departmental documents, the study identifies cultural and institutional practices which, according to teacher perceptions, contribute to: � encouraging sexual harassment; � discouraging reports of sexual harassment; and � discouraging implementation of sexual harassment policy. Emerging cultural and institutional practices include blame attribution, silencing and gender construction which contribute to the marginalisation of some female teachers (in terms of their career); some female students (in terms of their education) and some male students who are perceived to be "gay" (in terms of their friendship groups). The usefulness, limitations and capacity to explain sexual harassment of a range of theoretical approaches are discussed. These approaches include Attribution, Role, Reproduction and Feminist theories. It is argued that, although accounting for the majority of sexual harassment, these theories are limited in their ability to fully account for: a) all kinds of sexual harassment practised in ACT high schools; b) the relationship between sexual harassment and other kinds of harassment in ACT high schools; and c) the extent to which some women teachers appear to support the practice of sexual harassment. Emerging Poststructuralist Feminism is proposed as a potentially useful theoretical framework for explaining and responding to sexual harassment in ACT high schools. It is hoped that this study will contribute to informing the decision making of those responsible for developing and/or implementing sexual harassment policy in ACT high schools, including teachers, school counsellors, principals, and administrators.

This ethnographic case study explored the insights and experiences of a small selection of working graduates from Dubai Women's College. Based on a literature review and a preliminary study, the following themes were identified and employed as stimuli for discussion: the balance between work and family responsibilities, gender issues in the workplace, issues of power relationships for women, coping with restrictions in an Arabic Islamic environment, reasons for work, and sources of influence and satisfaction. The research utilized feminist post-structural theory to collect the data and then analyze and interpret the comments made by the women. Self-reflexivity and transparency of the positionality of the researcher were critical in this research that relied on an unstructured personal interview approach. The research resulted in a rich description of the thoughts and concerns of five diverse women. Through discourse analysis, the dominant socio-cultural discourses in the areas of gender, marriage, kinship, ethnicity, meritocracy, materialism and religion that women interact with in this cultural environment were identified. The extent to which the women take up, disrupt and challenge these discourses was also explored with a view to suggest ways to 'better' women's lives. Implications of this study include an agenda for increased emancipation of women by greater freedom of choice through self awareness and the development of potential strategies to support empowerment.

<p>In the thesis, I endeavour to create a platform on which to construct an understanding of &lsquo / integration&rsquo / in a multilingual and multicultural setting, post-apartheid. I have selected UWC as the research site as it is an institution of higher education and an inherently South African one which houses a large number of diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages. I appeal to the poststructuralist approach as it is one that explores the possible sociopolitical, economic and historical influences on which I argue and which forms the backdrop to understanding integration amongst the various groups. I am especially drawn to the topic of integration as there is to date no well-defined definition of what that means in the &lsquo / new&rsquo / South Africa. Different identities are explored in relation to how students identify themselves within their social networks, across various cultures and through language choices. In particular, I look at the three dominant &lsquo / South African&rsquo / groups, namely: Indians, Blacks and Coloureds and also two international student groups, the Batswanas and Chinese. use a qualitative approach and undertake focus groups and one-to-one interviews as well as participant observations and analyzing documentation. Data analysis is achieved through Discourse Analysis of transcribed interviews. One of the conclusions is that integration will not occur overnight. However, the broadening and exercising of linguistic options could be seen as a step in right direction to integration across the various ethnic groups. The study ends with recommendations and gives an overall view of integration at UWC. One of the recommendations is that UWC needs to give students more opportunities to practice their multilinguality and thereby broaden their linguistic repertoire which could in turn facilitate integration.</p>

<p>In the thesis, I endeavour to create a platform on which to construct an understanding of &lsquo / integration&rsquo / in a multilingual and multicultural setting, post-apartheid. I have selected UWC as the research site as it is an institution of higher education and an inherently South African one which houses a large number of diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages. I appeal to the poststructuralist approach as it is one that explores the possible sociopolitical, economic and historical influences on which I argue and which forms the backdrop to understanding integration amongst the various groups. I am especially drawn to the topic of integration as there is to date no well-defined definition of what that means in the &lsquo / new&rsquo / South Africa. Different identities are explored in relation to how students identify themselves within their social networks, across various cultures and through language choices. In particular, I look at the three dominant &lsquo / South African&rsquo / groups, namely: Indians, Blacks and Coloureds and also two international student groups, the Batswanas and Chinese. use a qualitative approach and undertake focus groups and one-to-one interviews as well as participant observations and analyzing documentation. Data analysis is achieved through Discourse Analysis of transcribed interviews. One of the conclusions is that integration will not occur overnight. However, the broadening and exercising of linguistic options could be seen as a step in right direction to integration across the various ethnic groups. The study ends with recommendations and gives an overall view of integration at UWC. One of the recommendations is that UWC needs to give students more opportunities to practice their multilinguality and thereby broaden their linguistic repertoire which could in turn facilitate integration.</p>

In the context of public debates about the ‘sexualization’ of ‘tween’ (preteen) girls and their use of social network sites (SNSs), this study explores girls’ online practices, experiences and reflections of their engagement with Facebook. This project is part of a growing body of research that prioritizes talk ‘with’ girls, rather than ‘about’ girls, as a way of contextualizing issues related to their girlhood. I argue that preteen girls’ identities on SNSs can be reimagined as cyborg-subjectivities as girls disrupt binaries through ongoing discursive negotiations of gender and sexuality depending on moment to moment online/offline interactions. Utilizing examples from an online ethnographic observation of eighteen 12-13 year old girls in Christchurch, New Zealand, I discuss how these girls constituted online subject positions through co-constructive relationships with friends. I explore how girls utilized SNS technology to explore and engage with discourses of gender and sexuality. I discuss how girls’ ‘played’ with both conventional and alternative femininities and sexualities in their online photographs and discuss how these images resist classification as ‘sexy/innocent’, ‘children/teens’ and online/offline. This research also reconsiders how identity is understood on SNSs and utilizes a poststructuralist theoretical framework to explore how online identities are embodied and ‘citational’ of shared online/offline subject positions. In addition to ethnographic observation, this research explores girls’ talk and reflections about their Facebook practices through a focus group discussion and a qualitative questionnaire.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-06-28T17:29:38Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Flávia - versao final.pdf: 2820580 bytes, checksum: 5770581afb34efaf711da74c21a81d9a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T17:29:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Flávia - versao final.pdf: 2820580 bytes, checksum: 5770581afb34efaf711da74c21a81d9a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-29 / O contemporâneo globalizado e tecnológico instaurou condições de existência interligadas e reconfigurou suas noções de espaço-tempo, favorecendo com que cotidianos sociais fossem tomados por práticas de fãs politizados e mundialmente organizados, que atuam colaborativamente e constroem seu mundo a partir dos conteúdos de textos culturais. Nesse cenário nasceu os potterheads, cujo trabalho tornou a saga Harry Potter um potente texto cultural. Potterheads se entendem parceiros da indústria, produzem a partir de seus textos e geram lucros para si e para ela. Na era de Convergência Midiática uma economia afetiva biopolítica assinalou um processo de expansão da vida, cuja possibilidade certamente reside na configuração de saberes. Essa investigação descreveu que saberes se revelam na prática dos Potterheads. Apoiados nos pensamentos de Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze, nossa analítica crítica arqueológica revelou cinco formações discursivas indicativas de um corpo mantido por relações saber-poder e poder-resistência no interior de um dispositivo de controle, em que relações de governo são dadas a partir do cuidado de si. A vontade de potência desse corpo oscila com a variação de suas ideias, seus agenciamentos desejosos mantém sua vitalidade, e a intensidade de suas vontades conserva desperto esse desejo. Assim, duas razões atravessaram o arquivo: a moralidade do visível e a moral do enunciável; a primeira indicou o conjunto de regras e valores propostos para essa economia política afetiva e a segunda revelou o comportamento que se tem em relação a esse, indicando a vontade de verdade. / O contemporâneo globalizado e tecnológico instaurou condições de existência interligadas e reconfigurou suas noções de espaço-tempo, favorecendo com que cotidianos sociais fossem tomados por práticas de fãs politizados e mundialmente organizados, que atuam colaborativamente e constroem seu mundo a partir dos conteúdos de textos culturais. Nesse cenário nasceu os potterheads, cujo trabalho tornou a saga Harry Potter um potente texto cultural. Potterheads se entendem parceiros da indústria, produzem a partir de seus textos e geram lucros para si e para ela. Na era de Convergência Midiática uma economia afetiva biopolítica assinalou um processo de expansão da vida, cuja possibilidade certamente reside na configuração de saberes. Essa investigação descreveu que saberes se revelam na prática dos Potterheads. Apoiados nos pensamentos de Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze, nossa analítica crítica arqueológica revelou cinco formações discursivas indicativas de um corpo mantido por relações saber-poder e poder-resistência no interior de um dispositivo de controle, em que relações de governo são dadas a partir do cuidado de si. A vontade de potência desse corpo oscila com a variação de suas ideias, seus agenciamentos desejosos mantém sua vitalidade, e a intensidade de suas vontades conserva desperto esse desejo. Assim, duas razões atravessaram o arquivo: a moralidade do visível e a moral do enunciável; a primeira indicou o conjunto de regras e valores propostos para essa economia política afetiva e a segunda revelou o comportamento que se tem em relação a esse, indicando a vontade de verdade.

BDSM (bondage, discipline/dominance, submission/sadism and masochism) has recently gained greater visibility in dominant discourses around sexuality. However, these depictions are often constructed in rigid ways to typically exclude experiences of sexual intimacy. Despite this apparent exclusion, constructions of subspace (an altered mental state induced through BDSM encounters) on online blogs intrigued me to consider it as an alternative to widely accepted notions of sexual intimacy. Using a poststructuralist theoretical framework, I conducted an online ethnographic study in which I explored the varied ways in which self-identified South African BDSM individuals construct meaning around sexual intimacy. Through a Foucauldian discourse analysis, I consider how constructions of intimacy in the BDSM community might have been silenced through exclusionary definitions in dominant discourses. I identified four discourses in the text: A discourse of romantic vulnerability, a discourse of knowledge, a discourse of difference/sameness and a discourse of role differentiation. The findings suggest that BDSM practitioners, in constructing meaning around intimacy, at times comply with dominant discourses and at other times subvert normative ideas around sexuality, gender and sexual intimacy. I conclude with implications for gender and sexuality studies as well as the discipline of psychology in its engagement with BDSM identities and practices. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Psychology / Unrestricted

Magister Artium - MA / In the thesis, I endeavour to create a platform on which to construct an understanding of 'integration' in a multilingual and multicultural setting, post-apartheid. I have selected UWC as the research site as it is an institution of higher education and an inherently South African one which houses a large number of diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages. I appeal to the poststructuralist approach as it is one that explores the possible sociopolitical, economic and historical influences on which I argue and which forms the backdrop to understanding integration amongst the various groups. I am especially drawn to the topic of integration as there is to date no well-defined definition of what that means in the 'new' South Africa. Different identities are explored in relation to how students identify themselves within their social networks, across various cultures and through language choices. In particular, I look at the three dominant 'South African' groups, namely: Indians, Blacks and Coloureds and also two international student groups, the Batswanas and Chinese. use a qualitative approach and undertake focus groups and one-to-one interviews as well as participant observations and analyzing documentation. Data analysis is achieved through Discourse Analysis of transcribed interviews. One of the conclusions is that integration will not occur overnight. However, the broadening and exercising of linguistic options could be seen as a step in right direction to integration across the various ethnic groups. The study ends with recommendations and gives an overall view of integration at UWC. One of the recommendations is that UWC needs to give students more opportunities to practice their multilinguality and thereby broaden their linguistic repertoire which could in turn facilitate integration. / South Africa