After making an observation that young people wish to maintain traditions, but they themselves do not wish to attend, lead to a curiosity to examine if traditions serve any purpose for the young people of today. The discrepancies between that the young people say that it is important to preserve traditions versus that themselves do not wish to participate leads us to believe that traditions fills some kind of function but the question is – What function is this? The purpose of this research is to find out what purpose traditions have for young people and also look for the answer to why young people refrain from participating in certain traditions. The results are built from answers from interviews with 36 young people (19 girls and 17 boys) in the ages of 17 – 19 years old. Theoretical frames that helps answer the questions in this paper are represented by theories from Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Émile Durkheim and Erving Goffman. The results shows that traditions fills the following function, - maintaining social relationships and connections at different times and in different contexts, - contributing to interaction and connectedness, - legitimately be allowed to be family-oriented, - opportunity to provide a desirable appearance and a desired identity. The results also shows that traditions have a function to exclude when a person is not included in a social context The results show that choosing to refrain from participating has to do with that we live in a post–traditional society that opens up opportunities to make choices. Our desire to keep traditions is based on our upbringing and in our habits

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with the phenomenon of obligatory reflexivity in Chichewa, a language belonging to the Bantu family. Obligatory reflexivity occurs in constructions where a pronominal element – e.g. the reflexive marker (RFM) -dzi- in the verbal complex in Chichewa – is referentially dependent on some other expression in the sentence, its antecedent. Constructions of this type have not received systematic attention in the literature on Chichewa syntax, except in the works of Mchombo (1993, 2004, 2007). The first objective of the study is to fill this empirical gap by providing a detailed description of the different types of construction in which obligatory reflexivity is found in Chichewa. The second objective is to provide an analysis of the relevant facts within the broad framework of Minimalist Syntax (e.g. Chomsky 1995, 2000; Hornstein, Nunes & Grohmann 2005; Radford 2009). More specifically, the study seeks to determine whether the recent minimalist approach to the analysis of obligatory reflexive constructions put forward by Oosthuizen (2013), the so-called Nominal Shell Analysis (NSA), provides an adequate framework for analysing reflexive constructions in Chichewa. The analysis that is set out in this study focuses on three types of reflexive construction, namely verbal object reflexives, infinitival verbal reflexives, and infinitival nominal reflexives. It is argued that an analysis that incorporates the core hypotheses and devices of the NSA can provide a proper description and explanation of the facts of obligatory reflexivity as reflected in these three types of construction. In particular, it is claimed that such an analysis can account for the establishment of a coreferential relationship between the RFM -dzi- and an antecedent, without requiring any special devices or devices that are incompatible with the basic assumptions of the minimalist approach to linguistic inquiry. In brief, according to the analysis, the RFM -dzi- and its antecedent are initially merged into a light noun phrase, nP, with the RFM representing the functional n-head of this phrase. In this configuration, the coreferential relationship between the antecedent and -dzi- is established when the antecedent provides the RFM with φ-values (i.e. values for the grammatical features person, number and noun class). In the course of the discussion, several proposals are also put forward in connection with other, related aspects of Chichewa syntax, including the agreement relationship between the subject/object and their respective markers in the verbal complex. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie handel oor die verskynsel van verpligte refleksiwiteit in Chichewa, ’n lid van die Bantoe-taalfamilie. Verpligte refleksiwiteit kom voor in konstruksies waar ’n pronominale element – bv. die refleksiefmerker (RFM) -dzi- in die verbale kompleks in Chichewa – referensieel afhanklik is van ’n ander uitdrukking in die sin, die antesedent. Konstruksies van hierdie tipe het nog nie sistematies aandag gekry in die literatuur oor Chichewa sintaksis nie, behalwe in die werke van Mchombo (1993, 2004, 2007). Die eerste hoofoogmerk van die studie is om hierdie empiriese gaping te vul deur ’n gedetailleerde beskrywing te gee van die verskillende tipes konstruksie waarin verpligte refleksiwiteit in Chichewa aangetref word. Die tweede hoofoogmerk is om ’n analise te gee van die tersaaklike feite binne die breë raamwerk van Minimalistiese Sintaksis (bv. Chomsky 1995, 2000; Hornstein, Nunes & Grohmann 2005; Radford 2009). In meer spesifieke terme word daar nagegaan of die minimalistiese benadering tot die analise van verpligte refleksiwiteit wat onlangs voorgestel is deur Oosthuizen (2013), die sogenaamde Nominale Skulp-analise (NSA), ’n toereikende raamwerk bied vir die analise van refleksiefkonstruksies in Chichewa. Die analise wat uiteengesit word in hierdie studie fokus op drie tipes refleksiefkonstruksie, naamlik verbale objek-refleksiewe, infinitiewe verbale refleksiewe, en infinitiewe nominale refleksiewe. Daar word geargumenteer dat ’n analise wat gebruik maak van die kernhipoteses en meganismes van die NSA ’n behoorlike beskrywing en verklaring kan bied van die feite van verpligte refleksiwiteit soos dit voorkom in hierdie drie tipes konstruksie. In besonder kan so ’n analise ’n beskrywing en verklaring gee van die manier waarop ’n koreferensiële verhouding tussen die RFM -dzi- en ’n antesedent bewerkstellig word, sonder die nodigheid van spesiale nuwe meganismes of meganismes wat onversoenbaar is met die basiese aannames van die minimalistiese benadering tot taalondersoek. Die analise hou kortliks in dat die RFM -dzi- en sy antesedent aanvanklik saamgevoeg word in ’n ligte naamwoordfrase, nP, met die RFM wat optree as die funksionele n-hoof van hierdie frase. In dié konfigurasie word die koreferensiële verhouding tussen die antesedent en -dzi- bewerkstellig wanneer die antesedent die RFM van φ-waardes voorsien (d.i. waardes vir die grammatikale kenmerke persoon, getal en naamwoordklas). In die loop van die bespreking word daar ook verskeie voorstelle gemaak oor ander, verwante aspekte van Chichewa sintaksis, onder meer oor die kongruensie-verhouding tussen die subjek/objek en hulle onderskeie merkers in die verbale kompleks.

Doble Identidad conveys my experience as someone who struggles with their cultural identity. Through the expository modes of self-reflexivity, participatory, experimental, and poetics, the film displays the factors that molded my cultural identity. My childhood memories and interactions with my loved ones help me tell the story of how my cultural identity has and continues to leave me with feelings of inadequacy of not being Mexican or American enough.

Yes / Background: in contrast to dominant approaches to therapy research that look at outcomes and focus on large samples, another primary strand of research considers microphenomenal processes and focuses on small samples. This paper contributes to the latter genre in regard to the implicit impact of language. Aim: this paper aims to apply relational psychotherapeutic thinking about empathic dialogue, specifically the concepts of reflective-verbal language and reverie, to qualitative interviewing. Methodology: an example from a small-scale study about emotionally-evocative language is reviewed in detail, focusing on the interviewer’s phenomenological experience of her conversation with a participant in a qualitative interview. Findings: the authors argue that the interviewer’s reflexive awareness of her reveries and the reflective-verbal nature of the research dialogue, gave her an alternative perspective on the participant’s (and her own) experience. Implications: the paper highlights the value within research and practice of maintaining awareness of language at a microphenomenal level, using techniques based on the principles of psychological therapy.

Yes / The researcher’s reflexive use of self forms part of a well-established tradition in counselling and psychotherapy research. This paper reviews that tradition briefly, with particular reference to an approach known as ‘practitioner-based research’ that has developed from it. In this approach, researcher-practitioners use their therapeutic skills and judgement and thereby enrich their understanding of research participants, themselves and their relationship. Aim: The paper aims to contribute to the practitioner-based approach by showing how it can impact on data collection, using an example from a qualitative interview. Methodology: A moment of interaction between a participant and a therapy researcher in a qualitative interview is examined, framed within psychotherapeutic intersubjectivity theory. The researcher’s reflexive awareness of micro-aspects of the relationship with the participant is reviewed, captured in their language and the split-second daydreams or reveries that arose as they interacted. Findings: The authors argue that the approach enhanced this small-scale study by intensifying the researcher’s engagement with the participant and enriching her understanding of their relationship and the subject under investigation. Implications: The paper highlights the unique value and contribution that this approach offers to therapy research and practice.

No description available.

Yes / This paper is about care, insider positions and mothering within feminist research. We ask questions about how honest, ethical and caring can we really be in placing the self into the research process as mothers ourselves. Should we leave out aspects of the research that do not fit neatly and how ethical can we claim to be if we do? Moreover, should difficult differences, secrets and silences that emerge from the research process and research stories that might 'out' us as failures be excluded from research outcomes so as to claim legitimate research? We consider the use of a feminist methods as crucial in the reciprocal and relational understanding of personal enquiry. Mothers invest significant emotional capital in their families and we explore the blurring of the interpersonal and intrapersonal when sharing mothering experiences common to both participant and researcher. Indeed participants can identify themselves within the process as 'friends' of the researcher. We both have familiarity within our respective research that has led to mutual understanding of having insider positions. Crucially individuals' realities are a vital component of the qualitative paradigm and that 'insider' research remains a necessary, albeit messy vehicle in social research. As it is we consider a growing body of literature which marks out and endorses a feminist ethics of care. All of which critique established ways of thinking about ethics, morality, security, citizenship and care. It provides alternatives in mapping private and public aspects of social life as it operates at a theoretical level, but importantly for this paper also at the level of practical application.

No / Managers today increasingly find themselves facing unexpected problems, needing to learn how to cope with complex environments and to take action in an often chaotic flow of events. This paper discusses how researchers can engage managers in a form of dialogical action research, capable of nurturing meaningful knowledge and facilitating change. This is achieved by creating space for collaborative dialogue between managers and researchers, and supplementing it with the integration of a reflexive writing practice that can be used to create ‘generative moments’ for learning within experience. The paper first presents methodological reflections related to the challenges of sustaining management practice through action research. Second, we explicate dialogical action research and illustrate the reflexive writing practice through two vignettes, which provide opportunities to reflexively explore “how things work” in managers’ organizational contexts. This forms the basis for sustaining participation and learning at individual and collective levels. Finally, we identify and discuss the specific conditions and limits of such an approach.

Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004), this study explores a female immigrant student's lived experiences in education in China, and in the United States. The theoretical framework of this study is critical autoethnography. In the study, I present my lived experiences in poems, narratives, and stories as the storied scholarship (Boylorn and Orbe, 2014). Through the study, I make sense of how a female non-traditional immigrant student navigated schooling in the complex social, cultural environment in the United States, and schooling experiences of my youth in China. I utilize the study to examine the deeper meaning of my story as an inquiry (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005; Richardson and St. Pierre, 2005). In doing so, to not only make sense of the complex lifelong experiences (Berger, 2004) of an immigrant student, but also to make connections with many other female immigrant students, and to bring new light to the understanding of their struggles, difficulties, and challenges. I use various literary styles and the metaphor of finding the voice in my writing to illustrate the process (Forber-Pratt, 2015; Luke, 2009). / Doctor of Philosophy

Using a qualitative bricolage approach (Kincheloe, n.d., 2008), this study explores the everyday school life of immigrant students enrolled in an Advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom in a high school in southwest Virginia. The overarching objective of this study is to examine how these students"five from Mexico, three from Honduras, and one from China" experience school. I present my research in two manuscripts: "Just Like Me: How Immigrant English Language Learners Experience a Rural High School and "I'm NOT Stupid!" The Trouble with JanCarlos. In Just Like Me, I use figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998) and positioning theory (Davies, 2000; Harre & van Langenhove, 1999) as analytical frameworks to present how the students rely on their positions as English language learners in an ESL program, on the ESL faculty, and on one another to co-construct a variety of practices that create opportunities for agency in the school space. I describe how they co-construct a world, vis-a-vis their everyday practices, in and through which, they navigate the institution, meet academic needs, and establish networks of care. I also examine the "dissonant threads""elements of data that resist perfect codification"to deepen analysis and to portray a complex portrait of ESL II (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). In I'm NOT Stupid, I trouble the school experiences of JanCarlos, a student in the advanced ESL class. Using dialogue and reflexive internal dialogue, I story two events that altered the trajectory of his school life"an emotional argument with the ESL teacher and punishment for drawing graffiti on a bathroom wall. I present how each of these events represented "critical incidents" (Tripp, 1998; Webster & John, 2010) in my research as they interrupted my objective stance and altered my interpretations (Poulos, 2009). As I "connect the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social, and political" (Ellis, 2004, xix), I use autoethnography to critically examine each event. As I watched events unfold, I routinely asked the relational ethical question""What should I do now?" (Ellis, 2007, p. 4). In so doing, I make transparent my position and power in creating knowledge (Kincheloe, McLaren, & Steinberg, 2012). / Ph. D.