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The objectives of this research were to determine if the personality traits of instructors at the National Outdoor Leadership School were related to instructor effectiveness as perceived by their students, and to determine if instructor effectiveness was related to changes in the self-concept of students who complete a NOLS course. The research used a pre-treatment/post-treatment· administration of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) to 355 students in the treatment group, where the treatment was a NOLS course. A control group of 50 students consisted of students scheduled to take a NOLS course. Significant gains in self-concept were found, using ANCOVA analysis procedures, on 7 of the 10 TSCS scales. The only scales not showing significant change were satisfaction, personal self and self-criticism. Instructor personality traits were determined using the Cattell 16PF self-report instrument and by a post-course evaluation instrument which asked for student attributions of instructor personality on a semantic differential scale. Students also rated the overall effectiveness of each instructor on their course. The student effectiveness ratings for the instructors had significant but low predictive ability when regressed against changes in self-concept. The objective 16PE personality instrument produced no significant trait differences between instructors who had effectiveness ratings above the median and those with scores below the median. The 16PF factors, as independent variables, showed significant but low predictive ability on the dependent effectiveness scores. The student-rated personality traits, however, produced very different profiles between high effectiveness instructors and lower effectiveness instructors. The student attributions of instructor personality traits produced an R² of .513 when regressed against effectiveness ratings. The major conclusions from the research were that changes in self-concept do occur as a result of a wilderness skills oriented NOLS course and secondly, that students were able to discriminate instructor effectiveness on the basis of the personality-based teaching behaviors of NOLS instructors. Recommendations for extension of this research .are presented as well as suggestions for research on broader issues of wilderness education and wilderness values. / Ph. D.

Urbanisering och förtätning av städer utmanar arbetet med att hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald. En förlust av biologisk mångfald hotar långsiktigt fungerande ekosystem som levererar ekosystemtjänster. Balansen mellan natur och människa är därför viktig att åstadkomma. Städer ses trots sina utmaningar som en alternativ miljö för biologisk mångfald. För att göra en förändring i förlusten av biologisk mångfald blir urban vildmark en viktig komponent i befintliga grönområden. Denna studie syftar till att kartlägga utmaningar och möjligheter för kommunalt strategiarbete med urban vildmark i grönområden. Utmaningarna och möjligheterna ses som ett underlag till kommunernas förgröningsstrategier. En innehållsanalys har utförts av valda stadsförgröningsplaner med olika dokument från kommunen och underlag från Naturvårdsverket. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har även utförts med tjänstemän som arbetar inom miljöyrken i tre kommuner och en representant från Naturvårdsverket. Kompletterande metoder har varit photo-elicitation method och observation av utvalda platser. Denna studie fann en del utmaningar och möjligheter med ett kommunalt strategiarbete med urban vildmark i grönområden för biologisk mångfald. Den mest synliga möjligheten är att arbetet med urban vildmark som en grund i en förgröningsstrategi utgår från ett multifunktionellt perspektiv. Ett arbete utifrån ett sådant perspektiv gör det möjligt att arbeta med urban vildmark i grönområden för biologisk mångfald. Förhoppningen är att denna studie kan ge ett nytt perspektiv på hur urban vildmark kan inkluderas för biologisk mångfald i kommunala förgröningsstrategier. / Urbanization and the densification of cities challenges efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity. A loss of biodiversity threatens long-term functioning ecosystem that provides ecosystem services. Therefore, achieving a balance between nature and humans is crucial. Despite their challenges, cities are seen as an alternative environment for biodiversity. To make a change in the loss of biodiversity, urban wilderness becomes an important component in existing green spaces. This study aims to map the challenges and opportunities for municipal strategic work with urban wilderness in green areas. The challenges and opportunities are viewed as a basis for municipalities' greening strategies. A content analysis has been conducted of selected urban greening plans with various documents from the municipalities and materials from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Semi-structured interviews have also been carried out with officials working in environmental professions in three municipalities and a representative from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Complementary methods have included the photo-elicitation method and observation of selected sites. This study found several challenges and opportunities in municipal strategic work with urban wilderness in green spaces for biodiversity. The most prominent opportunity is that the work with urban wilderness as a foundation in a greening strategy is based on a multifunctional perspective. Working from such a perspective makes it possible to address urban wilderness in green spaces for biodiversity. The hope is that this study can provide a new perspective on how urban wilderness can be included for biodiversity in municipal greening strategies.

KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park has historically been prioritized for biodiversity conservation but it also has the oldest protected wilderness area in the country. For 50 years, conservation management, tourism and education within the Imfolozi Wilderness Area have generally been carried out using non-mechanized wilderness principles. The validity of the Imfolozi Wilderness is constantly questioned in terms of efficiency, equity and aesthetics and is consequently subject to a variety of pressures that those different ideologies can exert. The historical development and applicability of the wilderness concept is examined here against evolving South African social and environmental circumstances. Whilst this investigation confirms the findings that colonialism and apartheid resulted in the exclusion of local peoples from protected areas, it also takes note that Imfolozi’s history is characterized by organizations and individuals who ignored the racist laws of the time. Nevertheless, management structures pertaining to both politics and conservation tended to be top-down, such that the Imfolozi Wilderness retained an air of elitism, regardless of attempts to be racially inclusive. Modern trends in protected area management expose the necessity of refining the justification of wilderness areas, to simultaneously recognize localized priorities and the importance of such areas to the planet’s ecological wellbeing. Without attempting to resolve philosophical debates but, at the same time, recognizing their validity, protected area management requirements for the Imfolozi Wilderness are examined in terms of the legal mandate handed to the management agency. This leads to the selection of the Limits of Acceptable Change planning and management system which is implemented as an action research project in conjunction with the Imfolozi Management Team, over a three year period. This involved: defining legal mandates and area issues; defining the zonation categories for the wilderness area; selecting the indicators to measure human impact; compiling an inventory of conditions in the wilderness area; specifying standards; examining alternative zonation category allocations from stakeholders and selecting a preferred alternative. The desired outcome was the establishment of a system in which managers could receive ongoing collaboration from stakeholders and consultatively develop a defendable wilderness management strategy that would meet the legal requirements of the area’s proclamation. Through a descriptive narrative, this dissertation provides an account of the implementation process and discusses to what extent this has been achieved. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Intitulé « Silences et dissidences dans les journaux de l’expédition Lewis et Clark », notre travail, centré sur le voyage de découverte de Meriwether Lewis et William Clark, s’appuie sur un corpus de textes récemment publiés. Revenant sur la voix officielle du discours jeffersonien incarnée par les capitaines, mandataires d’une mission à visée autant géopolitique et économique que scientifique, notre recherche proposera une relecture des écrits du « Corps de la Découverte », ainsi qu’une tentative de réhabilitation des voix annexes, celles de sergents et de soldats de la troupe, généralement considérées comme secondaires et pourtant révélatrices de points de vue parallèles, essentiels à une mise en perspective historiographique nouvelle. Ce regard neuf sur un épisode crucial de l’histoire du continent et du peuple nord-américains tentera de démontrer qu’au-delà du témoignage des chefs, seule une prise en compte d’une symphonie narrative, où se mêlent voix « officielles » mais aussi « dissidentes », autorise une restitution pertinente du tissu narratif global. Plus de deux siècles après le périple transcontinental du groupe mené par Lewis et Clark, cette étude se propose donc de mettre en relation de façon systématique l’ensemble des manuscrits de l’expédition, pour une exploitation rénovée de ces sources primaires. La présente analyse des récits des explorateurs s’inscrit dans le contexte de la politique jeffersonienne, dont il sera utile de présenter certains concepts fondamentaux afin d’apprécier au mieux, au travers du prisme des différents témoignages, le caractère exceptionnel d’une épopée profondément « américaine ». / This study, entitled “Silence and Dissidence in the Lewis & Clark Expedition Journals,” focuses on the voyage of discovery under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and draws upon a body of recently published texts. Reassessing the official voice of the Jeffersonian discourse, embodied by the captains in charge of a mission with geopolitical, economic and scientific purposes, our research aims at shedding new light on the writings of the Corps of Discovery, in an attempt to rehabilitate the somewhat neglected voices of the sergeants and soldiers of the group, often deemed secondary but actually indicative of alternate vantage points, allowing for new historiographical perspectives. This new reading of a critical episode in the history of the North American continent, as well as its people, will endeavour to show that, beyond the leaders’ reports, it is only through the symphony of intertwining “official” and “dissenting” voices that true relevance and accuracy may be achieved in the final synthetic narrative. More than two centuries after the transcontinental journey of the party led by Lewis and Clark, this study will aim at systematically interconnecting the whole set of manuscripts devoted to the narration of the voyage, for a better and renovated approach of these precious primary sources. This analysis is linked to the broader framework of the Jeffersonian policy, the main aspects of which shall first be presented, in order to fully grasp the exceptional nature of a profoundly “American” epic, through the prism of the various testimonies.

Cette thèse entend poser les fondements philosophiques d’une « conversion écologique » en éclairant la dimension ontologique de la crise écologique. Tout en s’inscrivant dans le sillage de l’Encyclique Laudato Si’, où le Pape François lance un vibrant appel à la conversion écologique, l’auteur s’efforce de penser les enjeux proprement philosophiques liés à cette notion. En s’appuyant sur des auteurs tels que Heidegger et Hans Jonas, la première partie de la recherche montre la nécessité d’une véritable « conversion » face au péril métaphysique que représente la technique envisagée ici comme dévoiement de notre « être-au-monde ». Dans un contexte marqué par la résurgence du catastrophisme, l’auteur entend ici souligner la dimension humaniste qui constituait l’horizon de la pensée de ses fondateurs (Günther Anders, Jacques Ellül) tout en confrontant leur vision à celle du « Principe Espérance » porté par Ernst Bloch.La seconde partie de la thèse consiste à poser les fondements éthiques et religieux du concept de conversion. De la metanoia platonicienne aux thérapies de l’âme stoïciennes et épicuriennes, l’auteur explore la place de la connaissance de la nature (physis) dans le « retour à Soi » (epistrophè) de ces sagesses grecques. Peut-on voir en elles la source d’une véritable « conversion écologique » par laquelle il s’agirait autant de convertir notre regard sur la nature que d’être converti par elle ? Si oui, quelles en seraient les modalités ? Dans cette perspective, quels sont les apports de la metanoia chrétienne par rapport à la metanoia platonicienne ? En quoi la « conversion des sens » portée à la fois par la mystique franciscaine et la « prière du cœur » des Pères neptiques dans le monde orthodoxe, constitue-t-elle une étape capitale pour penser la conversion écologique comme conversion du corps et du cœur ? Pour mener à bien cette analyse, l’auteur emprunte la méthode phénoménologique afin de mettre en lumière les liens entre conversion et réduction.La dernière partie, plus spécifiquement consacrée à l’écologie contemporaine, s’appuie sur les modalités de la conversion écologique esquissées avec les penseurs grecs et chrétiens pour penser une transformation profonde de notre « affect du monde ». En s’appuyant sur les notions merleau-pontiennes de « chair du monde » et de « monde brut », l’auteur cherche à penser une « empathie universelle » comme socle d’une nouvelle éthique environnementale. A travers une relecture merleau-pontienne de deux grands courants de l’écologie que sont l’écologie profonde (deep ecology) et la wilderness, l’auteur jette les bases d’une ontologie relationnelle dans deux directions. La première envisage la conversion écologique comme un approfondissement du Soi. Dans le sentiment de la wilderness, c’est autant la nature vierge à l’extérieur de nous que le « monde brut » au plus intime de nous-même, qu’il s’agit de préserver pour ouvrir la voie à une expérience transformante du monde telle que la décrit Henri-David Thoreau dans Walden ou la vie dans les bois. La seconde vise un élargissement du Soi par lequel la réalisation de Soi devient indissociable, par un mouvement d’identification, de celle de notre environnement, jusqu’à faire l’expérience charnelle de ce « Soi écologique » dont nous parle Arne Naess en écho à la « chair du monde » merleau-pontienne et aux théories de la Gestalt dont s’inspirent les deux auteurs. Conscient des limites de la pensée occidentale pour cheminer vers cette non - dualité, clé d’une empathie universelle, l’auteur montre, dans la dernière partie de son analyse, l’influence de la pensée bouddhique sur la deep ecology et explore une spiritualité de la résonance avec le bouddhisme zen japonais incarné dans la figure de Maître Dogen, jusqu’à penser une « échologie de la Joie ». / This thesis is an attempt to provide the philosophical foundations for an ecological conversion while revealing the ontological aspects of the ecological crisis. Following the path described in the Laudato Si’ encyclical letter, where Pope François launches a vibrant call for ecological conversion, the author seeks to adress the philosophical issues in relation to this notion. Refering to philosophers such as Heidegger and Hans Jonas, the first part of this research accounts for the necessity of a true ecological conversion to face the metaphysical « peril » represented by the technical way of mind which leads to an unauthentic « being-in-the-world ». As catastrophism rages, the author underlines the humanistic aspect of its founders’ thought (Gûnther Anders, Jacques Ellûl) while confronting their vision to Ernst Bloch’s « Principle of Hope ».The second chapter of the thesis aims at laying down the ethical and religious foundations of the concept of conversion. From Plato’s metanoia to stoïcian and epicurian soul therapies, the author explores the importance of the knowledge of nature (physis) in the process of epistrophè (return to one’s « Inner Self »). Can these therapies be considered as the roots of a true ecological conversion throughout which we could not only modify the way we look at nature but also be transformed by it? If the answer is yes, what would the terms be? From this perspective, what is the specificity of Christian metanoia compared to Plato’s? To what extent can the doctrine of the “spiritual senses” experienced by both the Franciscan mystic and the neptical Fathers’ « Prayer of the heart » - be considered a crucial step to a living experience of ecological conversion that appeals to our body and heart? To carry out this research, the author relies on the phenomenological methodology, evidencing the links between conversion and reduction.The last part, more specifically dedicated to modern ecology, relies on the definitions of ecological conversion outlined with greek and Christian authors to think through a deep change in our « affect for the world ». Refering to Merleau Ponty’s notions of « flesh of the word » and « wild being », the author endeavours to develop the concept of “universal empathy” as the corner stone of environmental ethics. Through a merleau-pontian interpretation of two major ecological schools of thought, wilderness and deep ecology, the thesis provides tools for elaborating a relational ontology based on two concepts. The first one, called deepening of the Self, refers to the wilderness. The author shows that what has to be preserved is not only territories such as natural reserves but the “wild being” in the innermost part of ourselves so as to enable us to be transformed by nature itself through this experience of wilderness described by famous authors such as Henri-David Thoreau in Walden life in the woods… The second one, called “enlargment of the Self” refers to the experience described by Arne Naess as identification to other living beings as a source of self-realization, echoing the merleau-pontian “flesh of the word”.Aware of the limits of western thought to reach this universal empathy based on non-duality, the author points out, in a conclusive paragraph, the influence of the buddhist way of mind on Arne Naess’s deep ecology, explores a spirituality of the resonance with the world through zen buddhism embodied by Master Dogen, and goes as far as thinking an “echology of Joy”.

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the longest known cave in the world. This dissertation examines the history of how scientists and non-scientists alike contributed to a growing body of knowledge about Mammoth Cave and how that knowledge in turn affected land use decisions in the surrounding neighborhood. During the nineteenth century visitors traveled through Mammoth Cave along with their guides, gaining knowledge of the cave by using their senses and spreading that knowledge through travel narratives. After the Civil War, cave guides, now free men who chose to stay in the neighborhood, used the cave as a way to build and support their community. New technologies and new visitors reconstructed the Mammoth Cave experience. Competing knowledge of locals and science-minded individuals, new technologies to spread the cave experience, and a growing tourism industry in America spurred the Kentucky Cave Wars during the late-nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, cutthroat competition between caves crystallized support for a national park at Mammoth Cave. Park promoters met resistance. Cave owners’ knowledge of what they owned underground helped them resist condemnation. Those affected by the coming of the national park made their protests known on the landscape, in newspapers, and in courtrooms. The introduction of New Deal workers, primarily the Civilian Conservation Corps, at Mammoth Cave and a skeleton staff of National Park Service officials faced antagonism from the local community. Important discoveries inside Mammoth Cave hastened the park’s creation, but not without lingering bitterness that would affect later preservation efforts. The inability of the park promoters to acquire two caves around Mammoth Cave was a failure for the national park campaign but a boon for exploration. The postwar period saw returning veterans and their families swarming national parks. While the parking lots at Mammoth Cave grew crowded and the Park Service attempted to balance preservation and development for the enjoyment of the visiting public, underground explorers were pushing the cave’s known extent to new lengths. This new knowledge inspired a new generation of environmentalists and preservationists to use the Wilderness Act to advocate for a cave wilderness designation at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Text in Afrikaans / Die proefskrif ondersoek die funksie van fonteine en putte in die religie van ou Israel. Die religie van die Hebreeuse Bybel word tradisioneel beskryf as 'n historiese religie waarin Jahwe, die god van Israel, fundamenteel gemoeid is met die verlossing van sy volk in die gang van die geskiedenis, terwyl die wêreld van die natuur van marginale belang is. Dit is egter duidelik dat die natuur in die vorm van haar grondwaterbronne 'n belangrike rol in ou Israel se leefwerêld gespeel het, nie alleen as lewegewende bronne in die droē fisiese Palestynse landskap nie, maar ook in hulle narratiewe en simboliese wêrelde. Fonteine en putte was kultiese plekke en heilige ruimtes waar teofanieē plaasgevind het, konings gekroon is, regsgedinge gevoer is, voorvadergeeste opgeroep is en die nageslag van ou Israel verseker is toe die voorvaders hulle toekomstige bruide by putte ontmoet het. Deur middel van die ou Nabye Oosterse ikonografie as hulpwetenskap in die interpretasieproses, is gevind dat die rede vir die sakrale waarde wat aan die waterbronne geheg is, opgesluit is in ou Israel se kosmologie wat hulle met hulle mitologies-gesinde en natuurvererende bure gedeel het. Daarvolgens ontspring fonteine uit die kosmiese onderaardse oeroseaan om lewe en vrugbaarheid te bring aan alles wat lewe. Die beeld het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat fonteine en putte metafories vir vroulike seksualiteit en vrugbaarheid gedien het. Die waterbronne tree ook as draers van hoop op. In verhale oor die wonderbaarlike ontstaan van fonteine in die wildernis deur lewensonderhoud aan die Israetiete tydens hulle woestynomswerwinge te voorsien. Ons kan met sekerheid aanneem dat ou Israel hulle watergate as lokaliteite van integrasie, sin en orde teen die aanslae van die chaosmagte ervaar het. Deur die eeue het die mensdom nagedink oor eksistensiele kwessles soos lewe en dood, vrugbaarheid en steriliteit, die redes vir rampe en oor wat die toekoms inhou. Dit is ten diepste religieuse vrae wat die vervloe bybelskrywers vir hulle tyd en omstandighede aangespreek het deur 'n refigurasie van Palestina se waterbronne. Grondliggend aan hierdie studie as 'n herevaluering van die natuur in die Hebreeuse Bybel om menslike wesens as deel van die natuur op te stel en nie as staande bo die natuur nie. / The dissertation investigates the function of springs and wells in the religion of ancient Israel. The religion of the Hebrew Bible has traditionally been descibed as a historical religion in which Yahweh, the god of Israel, was fundamentally concerned with the salvation of Yahweh's people In history in which the world of nature is of marginal interest. However, it is evident that nature in the form of its groundwater sources played an important role, not only as life giving sources in the arid physical environment of Palestine, but also in their narrative and symbolic worlds. Springs and wells served as cultic centres and sacred places where theophanies took place, kings were crowned, lawsuits conducted, ancestral spirits conjured up and the future progeny of Israel was ensured when patriarchs betrothed their future brides at wells. By means of ancient Near Eastern iconography as an interpretation aid, this study finds the reason for the sacred value attributed to groundwater sources in the cosmology of ancient Israel which she shared with her mythically-minded and nature-worshipping neighbours. Springs were believed to arise from the cosmic subterranean ooean to bring life and fertility to all living things. This image caused springs and wells to serve as metaphor of female sexuality and fertility. They also act as agents of hope in stories of miraculous springs in the desert which provide sustenance during the Israelites' desert wanderings. We can safely conclude that ancient Israel experienced their springs and wells as localities of integration, meaning and order amidst the threatening forces of chaos. Through the ages humankind reflected on existential questions regarding life and death, fertility and sterility, the reasons for disasters and what the future holds. These are profoundly religious questions addressed by the biblical authors for their time and circumstances by implementing a refiguration of the groundwater sources of Palestine. Ultimately this study serves to re-evaluate nature in the Hebrew Bible and to construe human beings not as standing above nature, but as part of nature. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The effect of poverty, opportunity-deprived and unstructured home environments, HIV/Aids, violence and crime put more and more children and youth at risk of becoming increasingly involved in high-risk behaviour. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) recognises the fact that the school is an ideal setting to reclaim youth, by redirecting them away from self-defeating and destructive ventures, through enhancing resilience and developing self-esteem. However, strong community links and intersectoral collaboration will be essential to support schools in their efforts to become reclaiming environments. Supportive strategies and various alternative modes of intervention should be explored in order to assist schools. Adventure-based education programmes, and in the case of this study, wilderness rites of passage programmes, are examples of alternative types of intervention that could be considered to support school communities. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of youth about their wilderness rites of passage experience and the value they perceive the experience had for their lives. The researcher operated in an interpretive/constructivist paradigm. A qualitative research methodology was employed, which included purposive sampling to select participants, the use of individual interviews, documents, records, observations and reflections to collect data, and content analysis to analyse data. Research findings arrived at indicated that participation in a wilderness rites of passage programme contributed to the personal growth and development of the participants and thereby, through strengthening their protective factors, enhanced resilience. Wilderness rites of passage programmes can therefore be a major contributing factor towards school support for young people. Findings also highlighted that young people in the South African context are in need of caring school communities and adult mentorship. Young people are in need of support, discipline, guidance, as well as experiences of trust, love and care. School environments should change from being places of disappointment and become places of safety and growth. Such a culture of care possibly could curb the anger, resentment and distrust of youth and support learners who are experiencing or manifesting emotional or behavioural difficulties in schools. Keywords: perception, adventure-based learning, wilderness rites of passage, experiential learning, Circle of Courage, adolescence, emotional and behavioural difficulties

Robert Penn Warren, historian, short story writer, teacher, critic, poet, and novelist, has received favorable attention from literary critics as well as the general reading public. This attention is merited, in part, by Warren's narrative skill and by his use of imagery. A study of his novels reveals that his narrative technique and his imagery are closely related to his interest in myth.