Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-381). / Microfiche. / x, 381 leaves, bound 29 cm

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311-318). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / vi, [ii], 319 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1999 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1977 / Pacific Islands Studies

The aim of this study was to describe the knowledge and attitudes of college students of the Manzini Nazarene Teacher Training College with regard to HIV/AIDS. The aim was to identify risky sexual practices of the college students as well, which may require redress in order to enhance their effectiveness in combating the spread of HIV.

<p>This thesis makes an ethnographic contribution to the anthropological debates about the contested nature of &lsquo / culture&rsquo / as a central term in the discipline. It examines discourses as tools that create, recreate, modify and transmit culture. The research was done in the town of Rundu in Kavango region, northeastern Namibia. In attempting to understand the local notions of culture this study focused on two main events: the Independence Day celebration on 21 March 2006 and a funeral that was held earlier in the month of January. During the study two particular media through which cultural ideas are negotiated, language and clothing were observed.</p>

The last four decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a significant growth of leisure hours for a growing number of South Australians, particularly working class males; it was accompanied by an upsurge in both organised and informal recreation activity. The upsurge owed much to major advances in communication during the period – in transport by rail, steamship and late in the century, the bicycle, to the network of telegraph stations which by the mid 1870s, spanned much of the colony, the country and finally linked the colony to much of the wider world, and to the growth of local and daily newspapers and specialist journals. Industry, government and commerce drove these advances, but recreation benefited from all of them and came to be a major element of commercial activity itself, as some activities generated not only participants, but spectators and audiences. These developments in turn stimulated a demand for facilities, both indoor and outdoor, which came to be met by private groups, public authorities and commercial operators, or combinations of the three. However, not all sections of the South Australian community looked favourably on aspects of these developments. Some social, religious and political forces, both separately and later as an alliance, combined to target elements of the recreation activities which emerged within the new leisure, particularly those of the working classes. They feared a return to public disorder arising from unseemly and licentious behaviour which accompanied many of the activities of the occasional pre-industrial seasonal leisure periods. These forces drew on contemporary programs in America and Britain in their campaign to quell ‘social evils’ including intemperance, gambling and what they regarded as inappropriate behaviour on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. They advocated the uses of statutes to constrain, if not eliminate what many in the community regarded as acceptable recreational activity. Others from the reforming forces determined on ‘rationalising’ the recreation of the working classes by introducing programs which they regarded as educational and self-improving, based essentially on their own middle class experience. A further restraint were contemporary conventions which determined matters of dress, conduct and behavioural expectations affecting areas of recreational activities; they were particularly severe on women. Other conventions affected full participation by men in a small number of sporting activities. The thesis examines the origin, nature and conduct of these forces in South Australia each of which sought to discipline aspects of mainly working class recreation of the period. It concludes with an assessment of the outcomes as they appeared at the time of Federation. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2010

Historically adventure has been associated with successful, yet, dangerous endeavours that expand the knowledge, wealth, reputation, or safety of society. Previous research would suggest that the practices and stories of adventure have guided and benchmarked societal morals and ideas considered common �truths�. In New Zealand, society�s understandings of adventure are entwined with a mythologised cultural identity based on the egalitarian minded and physically active, outdoor pioneering male. These ideals were complimented and presented as a global representation of New Zealand by Sir Edmund Hillary�s successful climb of Mount Everest in 1953. The purpose of this thesis is to examine New Zealand�s understandings of adventure since 1953. The thesis centres its enquiry on a group of individuals who have obtained social distinction as adventurers, seeking to scrutinize in their adventure practice and narratives, adventure understandings that are legitimised or invalidated. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu�s theoretical concepts guide the enquiry approach. Bourdieu sought to transcend the false antinomy of sociology that presented dualist perspectives, such as the individual and society, conceptualising all practice in a dynamic matrix of relational social space. The individuals with distinction as adventurers personify the socially recognised and valued features of adventure. Equally, however, an amalgamation of features does not infer a definitive understanding. The substance of understandings, Bourdieu suggests, is in the relational strategies, consistencies, transformations, and knowing misrecognitions that frame the features of a practice in a social space. The research process adopted to examine the adventure understandings was a biographical narrative approach. The contention of this approach being, that in stories of life experience individuals with adventure distinction construct self and social meaning. The published autobiographical adventure narratives, media interviews, and related accounts of 12 New Zealand adventurers provided the initial research material. Additionally, nine of the adventurers took part in research interviews. The interpretation of the research material was framed by three of Bourdieu�s prominent conceptual ideas; the development of �habitus�, the struggle for �capital� in the field of adventre and the legitimacy of �distinction�. This interpretation was facilitated by theories related to adventure and leisure practice, the risks and contexts of adventure, and to individual, subcultural, and social identity. By applying a Bourdieusian lens on the practice and narratives of New Zealand adventurers with distinction, this thesis illuminates new aspects of New Zealand�s cultural understandings of adventure. It revealed a contested and relational struggle to have some practices legitimised as adventure and others devalued as contrived common thrills, or fortuitously survived reckless epics. A practice that typifies the thrill spectrum is �Bungy Jumping�, the contemporary global representation of adventure in New Zealand. In regard of epic practices, topical through the period of adventure interviews was the 2004 motion picture �Touching the Void�. Although this involved English climbers in South America in the 1980s, it has retained global prominence as a modern adventure/survival epic. The interpretation of this contested adventure space details the valued and recognised features that construct New Zealand�s understandings of adventure. The findings also provide an empirical basis for the equally valued misrepresented adventure understandings related to injury, exclusivity, and normalisation of practice. Additionally, the research interpretation indicates the potential for transformation of adventure understandings. Finally, although the study is situated within a specific social and historical context, it contributes to the on-going exchange of meanings about adventure, especially in relation to outdoor practice, in contemporary society.

The last four decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a significant growth of leisure hours for a growing number of South Australians, particularly working class males; it was accompanied by an upsurge in both organised and informal recreation activity. The upsurge owed much to major advances in communication during the period – in transport by rail, steamship and late in the century, the bicycle, to the network of telegraph stations which by the mid 1870s, spanned much of the colony, the country and finally linked the colony to much of the wider world, and to the growth of local and daily newspapers and specialist journals. Industry, government and commerce drove these advances, but recreation benefited from all of them and came to be a major element of commercial activity itself, as some activities generated not only participants, but spectators and audiences. These developments in turn stimulated a demand for facilities, both indoor and outdoor, which came to be met by private groups, public authorities and commercial operators, or combinations of the three. However, not all sections of the South Australian community looked favourably on aspects of these developments. Some social, religious and political forces, both separately and later as an alliance, combined to target elements of the recreation activities which emerged within the new leisure, particularly those of the working classes. They feared a return to public disorder arising from unseemly and licentious behaviour which accompanied many of the activities of the occasional pre-industrial seasonal leisure periods. These forces drew on contemporary programs in America and Britain in their campaign to quell ‘social evils’ including intemperance, gambling and what they regarded as inappropriate behaviour on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. They advocated the uses of statutes to constrain, if not eliminate what many in the community regarded as acceptable recreational activity. Others from the reforming forces determined on ‘rationalising’ the recreation of the working classes by introducing programs which they regarded as educational and self-improving, based essentially on their own middle class experience. A further restraint were contemporary conventions which determined matters of dress, conduct and behavioural expectations affecting areas of recreational activities; they were particularly severe on women. Other conventions affected full participation by men in a small number of sporting activities. The thesis examines the origin, nature and conduct of these forces in South Australia each of which sought to discipline aspects of mainly working class recreation of the period. It concludes with an assessment of the outcomes as they appeared at the time of Federation. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2010

This ethnographic study explored the social and cultural context of Maldivian women???s emotional, social and psychological well-being and the subjective meanings they assign to their distress. The central question for the study was: How is suffering and distress in Maldivian women explained, experienced, expressed and dealt with? In this study participant observation was enhanced by lengthy encounters with women and with both biomedical and traditional healers. The findings showed that the suffering and distress of women is embedded in the social and economic circumstances in which they live, the nature of gender relations and how culture shapes these relations, the cultural notions related to being a good woman; and how culture defines and structures women???s place within the family and society. Explanations for distress included mystical, magical and animistic causes as well as social, psychological and biological causes. Women???s experiences of distress were mainly expressed through body metaphors and somatization. The pathway to dealing with their distress was explained by women???s tendency to normalize their distress and what they perceived to be the causes of their distress. This study provides an empirical understanding of Maldivian women???s mental well-being. Based on the findings of this study, a multi dimensional model entitled the Mandala for Suffering and Distress is proposed. The data contributes a proposed foundation upon which mental health policy and mental health interventions, and curricula for training of health care providers in the Maldives may be built. The data also adds to the existing global body of evidence on social determinants of mental health and enhances current knowledge and developments in the area of cultural competency for health care. The model and the lessons learnt from this study have major implications for informing clinicians on culturally congruent ways of diagnosing and managing mental health problems and developing patient-centred mental health services.