Dissertations / Theses: 'Constructing identity'

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Dowling, Susan J. "Constructing Identity Identity Construction." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2011. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/art_design_theses/88.

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In this art-based study I will examine the construction of identity creating three life size figures utilizing metaphor and symbolism. I recorded and analyzed the process through reflections. The artist/teacher/researcher will provide conclusions based on art production and self-reflection.

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Sorokin, Anissa Jane. "Constructing dialogue, constructing identites mixed heritage identity construction in half and half /." Connect to Electronic Thesis (CONTENTdm), 2009. http://worldcat.org/oclc/456417685/viewonline.

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Vollono, Giulia. "Constructing identity in Lombard Italy." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17663/.

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This thesis addresses the process of identity construction in Lombard Italy through an examination of the expression of gender, an aspect often neglected in Lombard archaeology, which has tended to focus on issues surrounding migration and ethnicity. The main evidence considered are the grave good assemblages (1639 objects recorded from 347 furnished graves) found in sixteen Lombard-period cemeteries distributed across northern Italy and Tuscany. Methodologies for studying gender in Early Medieval cemeteries elsewhere in Europe have been adopted and adapted, including multivariate statistics, and the analysis has been also supported by information obtained from the written and iconographic sources. Through an integrated perspective that allows us to observe both the general trends and (as importantly) their variations, I show that beyond the well-known association between masculinity/weapons and femininity/jewellery gender discourse was a complex phenomenon, deeply intertwined with other facets of identity, and with local concerns and traditions.

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Birrento, Ana Clara. "Self – Negotiating Borders, Constructing Identity." Bachelor's thesis, OP. CIT, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10174/28636.

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Inscribed in a critical agenda which discusses questions of identity, of uniqueness and of difference and questions of knowing who is speaking, from where and to whom, this article tries to find a possible answer to a question put by Michel Foucault in ‘Technologies of the Self’ (1988). When asked: ‘what is the self?’ Foucault answered: “Self is a reflexive pronoun and has two meanings – the same and identity” (p.25). It is precisely this latter meaning that, according to the philosopher, shifts the question of ‘what is the self’ to ‘what is the plateau on which I shall find my identity?’In the fictional autobiography Self, written in 1996 by the Spanish born Canadian author Yann Martel, the reader can find several plateaux on which the protagonist tries to find his identity. In its narrative texture, we find an autobiography of a 30 year old writer who tells about his life, who creates a fictional landscape for a possible life. In this fictionalisation of the self and in the creation of possible contexts of experience we can find two layers of existence: on the one hand the experience of the writer, the anguishes and doubts in finding the best form of writing, and, on the other hand, and to me the most interesting one, the experience of the self, put in several contexts, in several filigrees of ontological and epistemological existence. If we take into consideration that the representation of experience is a form of understanding the self and the world, an experience which helps to the creation of retrospective and prospective meanings (Pickering 1997), we shall have to centre our analysis around the processes of production of a subjectivity, an identity and an agency. The protagonist of Self constructs his identity by negotiating borders of uniqueness and difference with his other self, and that the centrality of the experiences produces an articulation of the text, writer and reader, in a dynamic process of discursive alliances, which as configurations of certain practices define where and how people live specific practical relations within specific social contexts.

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Lee, Peace Bakwon. "Contested Stories: Constructing Chaoxianzu Identity." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1316229935.

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Mir, Shabana. "Constructing third spaces American Muslim undergraduate women's hybrid identity construction /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3215217.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2006.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-04, Section: A, page: 1245. Adviser: Bradley A. U. Levinson. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 19, 2007)."

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Lu, Tsung Che. "Constructing Taiwan: Taiwanese Literature and National Identity." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1248416/.

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In this work, I trace and reconstruct Taiwan's nation-formation as it is reflected in literary texts produced primarily during the country's two periods of colonial rule, Japanese (1895-1945) and Kuomintang or Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) (1945-1987). One of my central arguments is that the idea of a Taiwanese nation has historically emerged from the interstices of several official and formal nationalisms: Japanese, Chinese, and later Taiwanese. In the following chapters, I argue that the concepts of Taiwan and Taiwanese have been formed and enriched over time in response to the pressures exerted by the state's, colonial or otherwise, pedagogical nation-building discourses. It is through an engagement with these various discourses that the idea of a Taiwanese nation has come to be gradually defined, negotiated, and reinvented by Taiwanese intellectuals of various ethnic backgrounds. I, therefore, focus on authors whose works actively respond to and engage with the state's official nationalism. Following Homi Bhabha's explication in his famous essay "DissemiNation," the basic premise of this dissertation is that the nation, as a narrated space, is not simply shaped by the homogenizing and historicist discourse of nationalism but is realized through people's diverse lived experience. Thus, in reading Taiwanese literature, it is my intention to locate the scraps, patches, and rags of daily life represented in a select number of texts that signal the repeating and reproductive energy of a national life and culture.

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Moeng, Siphokazi Florence. "A comprehensive university: constructing an organisational identity." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1029.

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The restructuring of higher education through incorporations and mergers has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years in South Africa. These incorporations and mergers have displaced institutions of higher education and positioned them in new organisational homes, thus subjecting faculties, schools and departments to a process of relocation, new knowledge acquisition, identity change and meaning-making processes. The merger has resulted in three types of universities; i.e. traditional universities, comprehensive universities and universities of technology. The introduction of the comprehensive university as a new institutional type has brought with it questions about the idea of the university and the purpose of higher education in general. Mergers in particular have initiated conversations about sense-making and meaning during change. Amidst all this, people within the merging institution have been confronted with a new organisation with which they have to identify. At universities in particular, questions about academic identity and organisational identity have become unavoidable. The boundaries that gave definition to a university have been (re)moved. The structure of the university, as it was known, has changed. Hence, in the newly merged NMMU, academics are in the process of internalising and giving meaning to the new organisational values and norms of a comprehensive university. Needless to say, the challenges facing the newly merged NMMU are cultural, structural and geographic. Bringing together different institutional and personal cultures involves a human dimension that needs to be nurtured by trying to form a coherent and cohesive organisation that is created from culturally diverse and uncomplementary institutions. Another challenge is bringing together different organisational structures, systems and programmes that are informed by different institutional cultures. Furthermore, the challenge of having multiple campuses that are geographically separated exacerbates the situation. Along with all these challenges, the NMMU has the task of constructing an integrated institutional identity through organisational forms and programme models that will embody the multiple functions that are typical of a comprehensive university. The aim of the current study was to explore how the meanings that academics assign to the notion of a comprehensive university are instrumental in constructing an organisational identity; describing in detail how at the NMMU academics make meaning of the comprehensive university and how that meaning-making process influences the construction of an organisational identity; and formulating recommendations based on the qualitative findings and quantitative results of the research. In an effort to achieve the aim alluded to above, this study employed the mixed methods approach that used a sequential, exploratory, transformative design. The complexity of the study was such that it required to be investigated through qualitative and quantitative analytical methods in order to confirm, triangulate and obtain a holistic picture of the situation under investigation. The sample for the qualitative interviews consisted of thirteen purposefully selected academics from all levels at the NMMU. The interviews were transcribed and coded into themes, categories and sub-categories. These themes were then developed and translated into statements for the questionnaire that was administered randomly to all NMMU academics. A total of 108 academics responded to the questionnaire. The responses to the questionnaire were analysed using the SPSS programme. The findings and results of the study revealed that there was a fairly common understanding of the term comprehensive university among academics. However, the details about its procedures appeared to be the privileged ownership of management. This situation mitigated the necessity for a sense-making process that would allow for negotiation, modification and alteration of already held assumptions. A pertinent concern amongst academics was the neglect of the ‘human factor’ during the change process. The management style also came under scrutiny, especially in terms of the facilitation and mediation of change. There was a consensus on the call for cohesion and unity that was believed to be one of the main features that would make the construction of the NMMU organisational identity possible. The vision, mission and values of the NMMU were believed to be central to the creation of cohesion and unity, which would subsequently result in the birth of an organisational culture that could inform the organisational identity of the NMMU. Strategies to actualise and realise the organisational identity were proposed by participants. Notwithstanding, the impact of the merger was identified as having a major influence in shaping the organisational identity of the NMMU.

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Marston, Christopher C. "Constructing national identity a qualitative analysis of separatism /." Full text available online (restricted access), 2002. http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/ts/theses/Marston.pdf.

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Fleming, Michael. "National minorities in post-Communist Poland : constructing identity." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.391058.

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Chen, Basil Kuo Chih. "Constructing Positive Organization Identity with Virtuous Positive Practices." Thesis, Benedictine University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3584795.

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This study explores the impact of virtuous positive practices on organization identity, specifically it addresses the question of how organizations use virtuous positive practices to construct a positive organization identity. I use an inductive approach to conduct a case study of two organizations that have a reputation of outstanding culture, employee engagement, customer orientation, and have contributed to their respective communities. The study presents a model with a set of five propositions describing how the two organizations use virtuous positive practices to construct a positive organization identity. Key findings suggest that when virtuous thoughts, inspiring words, and empowering deeds are aligned in the construction process, the resultant identity characteristics are imbued with positivity.

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Reynolds, Tracey Ann. "African-Carribean mothering : re-constructing a 'new' identity." Thesis, London South Bank University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264946.

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Roodt, Kyra. "(Re)constructing body shaming: Popular media representations of female identities as discursive identity construction." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/98137.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study takes an analytical approach to discourse in its focus on the discursive realisation and (re)production of ideology in terms of the (re)construction of a singular female identity as portrayed by the media – specifically content generated by the online news and entertainment website, BuzzFeed. Data was collected electronically over a period of fifteen months (January 2014 to May 2015) and subjected to a keyword search, which then determined the most relevant articles. These articles were entered into two separate corpora for analysis in order to identify the most significant ideologies related to body shaming, and broken down linguistically through the use of Wordsmith Tools. The analysis of the data mainly drew upon the theories of Bakhtin’s conceptualisation of dialogic (2004), Gee’s building tasks of language (2014), van Dijk’s analytical toolkit (1984), (1990) and Kress’ notion of the formation of ideology (1989). The aim of this thesis was to investigate the (re)production of ideology surrounding traditional beauty ideals as being a singular concept in order to reveal the more complex identities of women as unique individuals. The study’s findings indicate that there is a significant correlation between female empowerment in terms of associating with feminist ideals and female misogyny as one of the main sources of body shaming, with female misogyny outranking feminism with only 4,94%. Furthermore, the study revealed that overall appearance was the most commonly discussed topic throughout the corpus, being mentioned in a total of 93,83% of articles, with the face and hair of women being most frequently discussed in 23,46% of articles. Overall appearance was also the topic most commonly shamed in the corpus, closely followed by fashion, body shape and fitness.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie maak gebruik van ‘n analitiese benadering tot diskoers gerig op aspekte van taalwetenskap wat ‘n rol speel in die realisasie van idees in terme van die rekonstruksie van ‘n singulêre vroulike identiteit soos voorgeskryf deur die media – veral in die geval van inhoud gegenereer deur die aanlyn nuus en vermaakwebblad, BuzzFeed. Data was elektronies ingesamel oor ‘n periode van vyftien maande (vanaf Januarie 2014 tot Mei 2015) en onderwerp aan ‘n sleutelwoord soektog, wat dan die mees relevante artikels kon identifiseer. Hierdie artikels was toe in twee aparte corpora ingeskryf vir analise, ten einde van die identifikasie van ideologieë mees relevant tot die konsep van liggaambeskaming. Die data was ook taalkundig afgebreek deur die gebruik van Wordsmith Tools. Die analise van die data is hoofsaaklik gegrond op die teorieë van Bakhtin se konseptualisasie van dialogie (2004), Gee se boutake van taal (2014), van Dijk se metodologiese analise (1984), (1990) en Kress se teorie oor hoe ideologiese raamwerke gevorm word (1989). Die doel van hierdie tesis was die ondersoek in terme van die reproduksie van sekere ideologieë rondom tradisionele ideale van skoonheid as ‘n enkelvoudige konsep om meer te openbaar oor die komplekse identiteite van vroue as unieke individue. Die navorsing dui op ‘n beduidende korrelasie tussen die bemagtiging van vroue in terme van die assosiasie met feministiese ideale en vroue haat deur ander vroue as een van die hoofbronne van liggaambeskaaming, met vroue haat deur ander vroue geidentifiseer as die ideologie wat die meeste voorkom in die korpus, net 4,94% meer as feminisme. Verder onthul die studie dat algehele voorkoms die mees algemeen bespreekte onderwerp was, genoem in ‘n totaal van 93,83% van artikels, met die gesig en hare van vroue mees algemeen bespreek in 23,46% van artikels. Algehele voorkoms was ook die onderwerp wat mees algemeen verneder was, gevolg deur mode, liggaamsvorm en fiksheid.

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Picasso, Ailey Rose. "Unearthing edges : constructing gaps." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2019. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6835.

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In questioning the complexity of human identity, the multiplicity of the self is uniquely grounded within embodied experience. Unearthing edges : constructing gaps is the result of creative research centered on investigation of the following questions: What can practices of collaborative movement making bring to the process of illuminating, excavating, and perhaps reconciling these alternate versions of the self? In practices supporting the development of individual movement vocabularies and physical agency what can be learned of the complications of the self and identity? What can be revealed of self and community in collective movement practice and in sharing solo practice? How can improvisational work, practiced in the realm of rehearsal and performance, engage with these ideas? Through studio practice utilizing a range of methodologies, this project seeks to contend with ideas of the self, identity, alternate reality, spontaneity, empathy, agency, and community.

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Walker, Natasha N. "An Erratic Performance: Constructing Racial Identity and James Baldwin." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2007. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/english_theses/22.

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This thesis analyzes James Baldwin's essays as a method for understanding racial identity and authenticity. By using Vetta Sanders-Thompson's racial identification parameters, I suggest that Baldwin's struggle with his identity as a black American is crucial to deposing the idea of a monolithic black experience, which opens up new ways of analyzing African American literature.

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Walsh, Andrew. "Constructing Antankaraña, history, ritual and identity in northern Madagascar." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ35360.pdf.

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Walker, Natasha Nicole. "An erratic performance constructing racial identity and James Baldwin /." unrestricted, 2007. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04202007-170016/.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007.
Title from title page. Margaret Harper, committee chair; Christopher Kocela, Daniel Black, committee members. Electronic text (63 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 11, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63).

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Leigh, J. T. "Constructing professional identity in child protection : a comparative ethnography." Thesis, University of Salford, 2013. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/29567/.

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This doctoral study explores what being a professional in child protection social work actually means to those working within this context. In an attempt to unravel the meaning of professional identity for social workers, I carried out an ethnography ‘at home’. But in order to create that passage of space and time between me and the discourse I currently employed, I also decided to observe the Flemish child protection system. This study has, therefore, a comparative element. My analytic focus has been drawn towards certain cultural factors which impact upon and influence the ways practitioners construct their identities. By considering where professionals are located, in the North West of England and Flanders, I wanted to explore the systems for which they work; systems embedded in unique yet diverse cultures which collectively impact on the practitioner in some shape or form. Data analysis has involved material from interviews, naturally occurring talk, electronic information (case notes, reports and emails), photographs, organisational policy and procedures. The findings demonstrate that social workers in England are firmly situated within an incongruent agency which is entrenched in a context of blame. Subsequently, a blame posture has been established which further encourages various forms of destructive discourse to emerge. Practitioners also find they are stigmatised and labelled as professional failures by both society and the agency they work for. In Flanders, however, by drawing from a discourse which evokes compassion for abusers, child protection professionals perceive themselves differently. As well as feeling confident and passionate about their practice they feel valued and revered by their agency and society. If our identity is constructed out of the discourses which are made culturally available to us then this comparative ethnography shows just how and why the practitioners from these two settings perceive their own professional identities so considerably differently.

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Lin, Mau-tong Kitty, and 練茂棠. "Constructing the identity of the American South: the Grandissimes." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31952744.

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Zhang, Mengmeng. "Constructing Hong Kong identity : political contestations and press mediations." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2010. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7656.

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This research investigates the discursive construction of Hong Kong identity in mediated political communication, in order to understand the relationship between media discourse and the political economy of the media in Hong Kong, as well as the political and economic context in Hong Kong, and thereby reveal the dynamic of the involvement of the media in the politics of Hong Kong identity. It is argued that the Hong Kong identity has changed substantially over the past few decades, and that these changes have been shaped by broader political changes, economic developments and cultural shifts, all of which have been filtered through the Hong Kong media system. To demonstrate this, the thesis employs a novel combination of textual and contextual analysis, drawing on analytical techniques and concepts from corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, the political economy of the media, and sociological theories of identity. To be able to assess the relative role of the media system factors and the broader contextual elements in shaping the mediated representations of Hong Kong, the research encompasses two case studies, one focusing on the media coverage of the 2004 interpretation of the Basic Law regarding universal suffrage, the other on the coverage of the Chief Executive Election in 2005. The analysis reveals that the mediated construction of Hong Kong identity is closely related to the political economy of individual newspapers the newspaper type, its readership, ownership, political affiliation and commercial orientation. The comparison between the two case studies also shows that the media representations of identity are also inflected by the characteristics of the broader society of Hong Kong, its politics and economy at the chosen points of time. The results of the study contribute to a better understanding of Hong Kong, its identity, political culture, and its media system. These results also suggest that the analytical approach used, based on a parallel examination of the political economy of the media and the discursive constructions of identity in the media, has a lot to offer and could be fruitfully applied to other cases around the world.

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Andersson, Kjerstin. "Talking Violence, Constructing Identity : Young Men in Institutional Care." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, Tema Barn, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-12581.

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The aim of the study is to investigate how young men constructing identities in talk about their own use of violence. The study is based on a fieldwork at a youth detention home in Sweden. The data consists of individual interviews and video recordings of the treatment programme Aggression Replacement Training (ART). Detailed analyses have been made of conversations between the young men, between the young men and the trainers, and of the narratives generated in the individual interviews. The study has a social constructionist approach to identity, which is seen as constructed in a joint achievement in social interaction. An important analytical perspective in the study is how social categories and subcategories are constructed. The study has a particular focus on gender, primarily masculinity, but age and ethnicity are also being emphasised. The analysis draws on four empirical studies. It is shown how the young men construct a preferred self-presentation when talking about violent events. The narratives on violence are either based on experiences or talked about as a hypothetical use of violence. Violence based on personal experience is problematized and legitimized in terms of self-defence, defending friends, restraint and justified violence. Narratives of violence are shown to be interactional resources available to the young men. When talking about violence, the young men can be seen to regulate social relations, and to position themselves in relation to particular discourses of masculinity. The specific understanding of what it entails to be a man enables the use of violence with respect to social categorizations such as age, ethnicity or criminal identity. It is also argued that the treatment programme ART may, at times, facilitate maintaining a criminal identity.
Avhandlingens övergripande syfte är att undersöka hur unga män konstruerar identiteter kring berättelser om eget våldsutövande. Den bygger på en studie gjord vid ett särskilt ungdomshem i Sverige. Såväl enskilda intervjuer som videoinspelningar av behandlingsprogrammet Aggression Replacement Training (ART) har utgjort analysmaterialet. Ingående analyser har gjorts av samtalen mellan de unga männen, mellan de unga männen och behandlingspersonalen, och berättelserna i de enskilda intervjuerna. Avhandlingen bygger på en socialkonstruktionistisk ansats där identitet analyseras i social interaktion med andra. Ett viktigt analytiskt perspektiv i studien är hur sociala kategorier och underkategorier skapas. Ett särskilt fokus ligger på genus och då främst maskulinitet, men även ålder och etnicitet lyfts fram som viktiga perspektiv. Avhandlingen omfattar fyra delstudier. Studien visar hur de unga männen konstruerar en positiv självpresentation när de talar om våldshändelser. Våldsberättelserna är antingen erfarenhetsbaserade eller utgår ifrån tal om hypotetiskt våld. Det erfarenhetsbaserade våldet problematiseras och legitimeras genom att talas om som självförsvar, försvar av kompisar, återhållsamt eller rättmätigt. Studien visar att våldsberättelser är interaktionella resurser för de unga männen. Genom att tala om våld reglerar de sociala relationer och positionerar sig i relation till vissa maskulinitetsdiskurser. Den specifika förståelsen av vad det innebär att vara en man, möjliggör användandet av våld avhängigt andra sociala kategorier, så som ålder, etnicitet och kriminell identitet. Studien indikerar också att behandlingsprogrammet ART ger möjlighet att underlätta upprätthållandet av en kriminell identitet.

Due to copyright matters, have the articles, published in chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7, been removed.

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Rees, Bronwen. "Constructing managers : an exploration of competence, gender and identity." Thesis, Cranfield University, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.360041.

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Barksby, Kelly. "Constructing criminals : the creation of identity within criminal mafias." Thesis, Keele University, 2013. http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/3806/.

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Constructing criminals: the creation of identity within criminal mafias This thesis seeks to demonstrate that there has been a change in the social and cultural aspects of established organised criminal sub-cultures by observing the changes that have taken place in how identity is constructed. The literature is comparatively lacking in emphasis when compared to information about specific criminal activities and the threat of the organisations. This study finds that the social and cultural dimensions of established organised criminal sub-cultures can be equally important and indicative of changes in those organisations. This thesis analyses the change in how established organised criminal sub-cultures, or mafias, have perceived and used identity over the last twenty years and asks whether this can be indicative of a change in the social and cultural model of these organisations. The study is comparative and will focus on how identity in four distinct mafias from across the world - the Russian mafiya, Sicilian mafia, the Japanese yakuza and the Chinese triads - is constructed and how this has changed. The Russian mafiya was the first of the established organised criminal sub-cultures to demonstrate this change whereby identity was used in a different way from its criminal underworld roots. The study also analyses the literature available from gang studies to ask whether the recognised focus upon identity can be interpreted with reference to the established organised criminal sub-cultures. This thesis considers that a criminal identity is constructed through a variety of customs and behaviours including mythology and legend, language and oral traditions and the visual image that a group portrays. A contextual approach is proposed, whereby organisations create and negotiate criminal identities at different scales, by which a street level identity might be more distinctive.

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McMillan, Nicola. "Constructing democracy with others : deliberative theory and social identity." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2017. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/87183/.

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This thesis provides a contribution to knowledge by demonstrating that deliberative theories of democracy have failed to take sufficient account of social difference and by arguing for a more complex and relational understanding of social identity to be considered in democratic theory. I argue that deliberative theories of democracy should not consider deliberators only as socially embedded actors but should consider social groups and social identity as a ground for political participation. I show how some of the main deliberative theories to date have failed to commit to a sufficient understanding of social identity, before demonstrating how identity should be conceived for the purposes of deliberative models. I further argue that, in view of the importance of social identity in political participation, we should understand our civic and political spheres as porous, rather than as distinct. Identity is not something we can ignore in political life, and attempts to minimise its workings are more likely to result in problems, than promote greater political harmony. I will demonstrate throughout the course of this thesis that attempts to efface, minimise or overcome identity in deliberative theory leads to that theory being unable to recognise some of the important workings of social identity in democracy.

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Marks, K. D. ""Wimps need not apply!" : constructing video game developer identity." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.629308.

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Having emerged from the self-taught hacker culture of 1980s home-computing, contemporary video game development is now a mainstream global business. Since the industry has managed to gain respectability without sacrificing credibility, it is widely perceived as both financially and intrinsically rewarding, and so has therefore become an aspirational graduate career choice. Despite such desirability, however, there is a considerable lack of diversity amongst the workforce, which consists almost entirely of young white men. Women are particularly poorly represented, not only in relation to overall employee numbers, but also in terms of their distribution across both job roles and the corporate hierarchy. Although conforming to stereotypical expectations, it is apparent that this cannot simply be attributed to inherent sex differences in ability or preference. In addition, a number of online exposés have revealed that, despite having a positive public image, extreme working hours are endemic within the industry. Rather counterintuitively, it appears that employees choose to adopt such working practices, rather than being made to. This thesis considers how such problematic issues are interrelated through the existence of a particular workplace culture, and suggests that it is both a cause and a consequence of them. In particular, it is proposed that the extreme working practices within video game development provide traditionally marginalised male groups with a resource for the social performance of a locally hegemonic form of masculine gender identity. Consequently, this suggests that there is a significant incentive for those benefiting from such masculine resources to protect them, which is likely to result in an industry culture that is hostile to feminine women. By examining the discourse within a number of social interactions that naturally occur at the interface between the industry and the public, this thesis considers how the maintenance of such a masculine version of 'reality' is carried out in practice. Particular attention is paid to the way in which the utilisation of dichotomous categorical stereotypes to manage local interactional issues acts to further propagate such constructs as global resources for use in future interactions. Most significantly, the application of a novel method of visual analysis to metaphorical representations of video game developers suggests that recruitment advertisements act to conflate masculinity and competence. Employees who fail to perform masculinity through the adoption of extreme working practices are therefore likely to be regarded as technically incompetent. As a consequence, women who wish to maintain their femininity will either not enter the industry at all, or remain in low status positions. Since the few women that do progress must behave like stereotypical men in order to attain positions of power, they are then unlikely to regard the culture as problematic or seek to reform it. The self-reinforcing nature of such a workplace culture offers an explanation as to why stand-alone interventions have so far had little impact on either work/life balance or female underrepresentation, and suggests that such issues cannot be addressed by simply seeking to impose a critical mass of women into the industry. Instead, it is proposed that interventions should treat these issues as mutually reinforcing, and therefore directly tackle the way in which they are linked by an industry culture that is maintained through the ongoing reproduction of various problematic discourses relating to dichotomous categorical stereotypes.

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Pennesi, Karen E. "Constructing identity through language, water at Walpole Island First Nation." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ42187.pdf.

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Cauchi, Yvonne Valerie. "The good, the bad and the ugly : constructing refugee identity /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 2002. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09arc371.pdf.

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Kontochristou, Maria. "The role of Greek television in constructing a European identity." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2002. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1701/.

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The aim of this thesis is to examine whether or not television can play a role in the construction of a European identity and, if it does, what kind of European identity it articulates and which are the methods that it uses for constructing such an identity. In order to test the above, the thesis focuses on Greece a country where no previous research has been undertaken. The study examines mainly the current role of television in the construction of a European identity, although it attempts to assess this role over time, and particularly since the launch of private television. The study concentrates on news and television programmes. With reference to the news, discussion is centred on the frequency, tone, the most prominent themes and sub-categories of EU coverage while attention is also paid to the symbolic content of news about Europe. In addition, the thesis offers an analysis of the coverage of a specific event that has been perceived to be a defining moment for the country-Greece's entry to the Euro-zone. These findings compared with results derived from the press' coverage of the Greek entry to the Euro-zone. In order to get a broad overview of the coverage of Europe by the Greek television the study also focuses on television programmes and schedules. It examines the programming practices and strategies adopted by the television channels regarding Europe, while it provides an analysis of audience ratings and shares. Finally, the thesis assesses the findings through interviews with key figures in broadcast media. The analysis of the broadcast media aims to shed light on the role of Greek mass media in the promotion of European consciousness and their contribution to the development of a European identity. More specifically, the results of this analysis are important since they give insights into the role of television as a mechanism of identity construction. Finally, the thesis studies new grounds and is expected to enhance previous research and knowledge regarding the study of European identity. The benefits of this thesis and its contribution are at both the theoretical and empirical level and thus will contribute to the formation and implementation of media policy in the country studied.

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Hausséguy, Nicolas. "Re-Constructing Identity. Mexico's International Human Rights Policy, 1988-2005." Thesis, Université Laval, 2006. http://www.theses.ulaval.ca/2006/23748/23748.pdf.

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White, Jonathan Paul. "The symphonies of Charles Villiers Stanford : constructing a national identity?" Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6d16fac7-bb70-4ba9-bf0e-17c0a9f26ce5.

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Writing in 2001, musicologist Axel Klein concluded that Stanford’s reception history has been significantly impacted by the complicated national identities surrounding both the composer and his music. A lifelong devotee of the nineteenth-century Austro-Germanic tradition, Stanford’s status as an Irish-born leading figure of the ‘English’ Musical Renaissance has compromised the place that the composer and his musical output occupy within the history of Western music. Stanford is well-known for being an outspoken critic on matters musical and Irish. Although his views seldom appear ambiguous, there is still a sense that the real Stanford remains partially obscured by his opinions. Through an examination of his symphonic works, this thesis seeks to readdress our understanding of Stanford and his relationship with Ireland and the musical community of his time. Although A. Peter Brown has stated that the symphony was not a central genre for the composer, it is my argument that, on the contrary, the symphony was a pivotal form for him. Considering these works within the broader history of the symphony in Europe in the nineteenth century, and through a critical examination of Stanford’s relationship with Ireland, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that these seven works can be read as an allegory for the composer’s relationship both with his homeland and with the musical community of his time. His struggle to combine the universality of symphonic expression with a need to articulate his Irish identity parallels Stanford’s own attempts to integrate himself within both British and European musical communities, and further demonstrates, in his eventual rejection of it, that it was only when he attempted to forge a more individualistic path through his music that he found a way of expressing his individual Irish identity.

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Hausséguy, Nicolas Paul. "Re-constructing identity : Mexico's International Human Rights Policy, 1988-2005." Master's thesis, Université Laval, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/18260.

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Slemang, Zainab. "Sense of Style: constructing identity and managing impressions on Lookbook.nu." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22902.

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This dissertation aims to explore how user-generated fashion content within the specific online community of Lookbook.nu is influenced by a set of underlying ideologies, such as beauty, power and gender to create specific and homogenous fashion identities in line with mainstream fashion trends, and which inform users' formation of identity within the structure of a community space. The aim of identifying the ideologies at play on the web site is to raise an awareness of how an individual's identity is influenced by others within his or her community space, even if that community happens to reside online. Furthermore, the means that inform the structures found on the community web site as well as the way in which the ideologies operate to maintain a certain criteria and level of fashion generated by users will be discussed in relation to identity formation. To determine how Lookbook users' perceive and portray identities on the site, semiology and multimodal discourse analysis were employed. It is important to keep in mind that while the media content in this thesis is as current as possible and while a great deal of content still exists on Lookbook, the platform is continuously evolving with new additions to its terms of use, mediums of access and overall design.

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Yuan, Yung-Chen. "Constructing identity : the students of Taiwanese businessmen's schools in China." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.702897.

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Johnston, Jennifer. "The road to general practice : constructing identity in GP training." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.695378.

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In this thesis I explore the development of professional identity in general practice (GP) training from a number of complimentary angles. The first of three studies is a scoping review of the literature on professional identity in postgraduate medical training. The second is an analysis of cross-sectional interviews with GP trainees shortly after beginning GP training. The third is a longitudinal case study of a single GP trainee over a two year period. The second and third studies use experience centred narrative analysis with a sociocultural framework, with a strong orientation towards lived experience. GP trainees navigate a rocky road through a shifting cultural landscape. They are positioned as outsiders within hospital, and construct an alternative community of practice outside the boundaries of their daily work. GP training offers a special case within medical training. Educators should support GP trainees during time spent training in hospital, ensuring they follow a curriculum orientated towards the community.

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Chen, Siu-ling Eve. "Constructing gender in Hong Kong kindergartens." View the Table of Contents & Abstract, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B36224066.

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Neary, Siobhan. "Constructing professional identity : the role of postgraduate professional development in asserting the identity of the career practitioner." Thesis, University of Derby, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10545/326291.

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The professional identity of career practitioners in the UK has become increasingly challenged in recent decades due to the influence of government policy and the dominance of work-based qualifications. Privatisation, multi-professional working and workforce realignment have all contributed to a reshaping of the career guidance professional. This research examines the views of a group of practitioners all undertaking continuing professional development (CPD) in the form of a postgraduate award. The participants were all UK based practitioners working in a career related role; all were either currently on programme, had completed or stepped off with an interim award within a masters programme. The research explored practitioners’ views at a time of significant upheaval, of themselves as professionals, their professional identity and the extent to which postgraduate CPD contributed to this. The research utilised a case study approach employing document analysis, questionnaire, in-depth interviews and narrative biographies. These tools were specifically selected to enable sequential analysis of data allowing findings from each stage to be rigorously tested out by the next research tool. Applications from potential students were initially analysed helping to establish motivation for undertaking a programme of this type, an on-line survey explored practitioners views of themselves as professionals, motivation for postgraduate study and potential outcomes for themselves, their organisation and their profession. In-depth interviews and narrative biographies provided a voice allowing participants to explore their personal journey with their studies and how this engagement contributed to the establishment, maintenance or enhancement of their practitioner professional identity. Continuing professional development was classified as consisting of three types, operational, experiential and formal. Findings suggested participants predominantly valued formal CPD with operational being perceived as only meeting employer contractual compliance. Postgraduate level CPD contributed to professional identity through engagement with reflection, theory, policy and academic study. Ethics and client focus were central to the professional identity of the career practitioner. Postgraduate study was perceived to empower practitioners and to contribute to the professionalisation of the sector and give parity with other public sector professions. The research contributes to both the limited body of knowledge addressing professional identity within the career guidance context and discourse addressing professionalisation of new professions. It offers a shared professional perspective that can inform the evolving policy debate aiming to professionalise the career and allied workforces. The research offers a unique insight into a profession in transition and the voice of practitioners who have experienced successive waves of government policy, which has been often internalised as de-professionalisation.

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Suominen, Anniina. "Writing with photographs, re-constructing self: an arts-based autoethnographic inquiry." The Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1061236352.

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Sam-Abbenyi, Juliana. "Gender in African women's writing : (re)constructing identity, sexuality, and difference." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=41764.

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This thesis offers a feminist analysis of women and gender in the novels of Buchi Emecheta, Ama Ata Aidoo, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Delphine Zanga Tsogo, Calixthe Beyala, Werewere Liking, Mariama Ba, Miriam Tlali and Bessie Head. My analyses appropriate and rethink western feminist theories of gender and post-colonial literary theory. I maintain that the texts analyzed are also theoretical, since feminist theory is embedded in the polysemy of the texts themselves. The study demonstrates that identity and sexuality are not static sites of oppression for women. They are contesting terrains where the subversion of difference, and the construction of identity, subjectivity and sexuality, are interlocking issues. Women's positional perspectives and varying subject positions are shown to be their strengths.

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Najork, Daniel C. "Constructing national identity imperialism and nationalism in Victorian Britain's northern scholarship /." Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1442837.

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Thesis (M.A. in English)--S.M.U., 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed Mar. 18, 2008). Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, page: 2203. Adviser: Beth Newman. Includes bibliographical references.

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Dowling, Shannon. "(Re)Constructing the self : lesbian identity and the Coming Out Stories /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1995. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09ard747.pdf.

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Drowley, Melinda J. "Post-merger narratives in a higher education context : (re)constructing identity." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.581433.

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When a small, specialist higher education institution merged with a large university, both parties declared an interest in protecting the identity of the smaller institution. This thesis is concerned with the discursive (re)construction of the post-merger identity of that institution. It is informed by an appraisal of the policy context and a critical review of the literatures of mergers and acquisitions; organisational culture; organisational identity; and organisational discourse and stories. There is a tendency within mergers and acquisitions literature to concentrate on acquiring companies; to adopt a managerialist perspective; and to measure success in financial terms, This research focused instead on the acquired institution. Eschewing a managerialist perspective, stories were elicited from all those most closely affected by the merger, including staff, students, senior managers and governors. This thesis seeks to offer insights into human experiences of merger; to identify grounded criteria for evaluating success; and to locate the merger within wider socio-economic and political contexts. Findings from the analysis of twenty-nine semi-structured-interviews are presented as scripts for documentaries. Anonymised quotations from participants are interwoven with commentary from the researcher, to form new, plurivocal narratives. The audience anticipated is one familiar with the context and ready to engage with a scholarly approach. Conclusions are presented in an open letter to the Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Govemment. Discourses identified within the interviews are mapped on to a model which presents types of organisational culture found in universities (McNay, 1995). This opens up the possibility of accounting for the production and reproduction of the cultures, with their associated subject positions and forms of organisational identity. Lessons to be learned from analysis of the merger are elucidated, with a view to enriching the quality of debate about the future of higher education in Wales and beyond.

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Caldwell, Kia Lilly. "Ethnographies of identity : (re)constructing race and gender in contemporary Brazil /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.

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Jeansonne, Christie M. "“All This Was My Life”: Constructing Textual Self-Identity in Diaries." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2012. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1445.

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The ordering and control of experience through fictive selves, constructed in consideration of an audience of the self and others, is part of the diary’s identity-building and meaning-making function. This thesis analyzes the process by which the diaries of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, and Janet Schaw construct multiple textual identities and conceptualize their public and private selves. The projection of these multiple selves in the diary text serve to justify the private individual experience as extraordinary and worth telling, as well as to connect with a public community experience, relating the self to a greater socio-cultural context.

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Van, Eijck Jo-Ann. "Constructing contemporary Cuban female identity : female traces in the visual arts." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2004. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29334/.

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This study will assess five contemporary female artists to explore ways in which their art production can be meaningfully read in relation to their sense of being Cuban and what this might mean for them at this juncture in Cuba's history. The first three chapters introduce the artists - Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Marta Maria Perez, Belkis Ayon, Tania Bruguera and Sandra Ramos - and the unique Cuban visual arts spectrum post-1980, vis-a-vis movements, people, ideology, education and the impact of socialist influences. Key factors regarding Cuban identity will also be examined; gender, race, socio-cultural and religious practices, as these elements have been fundamental to the self-conscious identity constructions of these women through their art. As products of the revolutionary process, artists have delivered sophisticated avant-garde high art creations that embody the worldviews of the Cuban people. And, as professional artists, they are afforded specific ideological, ethical and social responsibilities and privileges within Cuban society. Their creative endeavours have become much-needed critical spaces to comment when other Cubans cannot and to consider issues of specific relevance to their country. Drawing on the resources of iconography and various semiotic devices, the following three chapters focus on these women's lives and artistic trajectories via the topics they address, such as myth, religion, displacement and the Cuban Diaspora. As a recurrent element in their work and one historically connected to the Cuban visual arts tradition and notions of identity, their portrayals of the female body will be read as sites for socio-cultural, personal and ideological discourse within the parameters of the contemporary socialist Cuban framework. Also, the nature of the plastic arts medium and the possibilities inherent in being a Cuban artist will be examined, and the other 'bodies' present in their work; the body of the audience and the body of the artwork.

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Shin, Priscilla Zhi-Xian. "The Semiotics and Social Practices of Constructing a "Proper" Singaporean Identity." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10982557.

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This dissertation investigates the semiotic resources that Singaporeans combine, balance, and negotiate in order to enact a “proper” Singaporean identity. The analysis considers a variety of semiotic resources, ranging from fine-grained phonetic variables to language varieties to education or career paths. The meaningful organization and use of these semiotic resources are situated within Singapore’s broader sociopolitical discourses of nationhood, that is, how Singaporeans perceive themselves as a nation and citizens of that nation according to participation—or non-participation—in institutional discourses. I show how the notion of being “proper” as well as evaluations of “properness” are associated with social and linguistic practices that index (Silverstein 2003) meanings of being global and local, often simultaneously or in balance. Furthermore, this work extends Eckert’s (2008) concept of indexical fields , acknowledging that variables index multiple social meanings, any one of which have the potential to be activated in use. In the enactment of a “proper” identity, I investigate how these meanings are continuously co-constructed in interaction (Bucholtz and Hall 2005).

The (re-)production of “proper” ways of speaking and being are part of the processes of enregisterment (Agha 2007), via a semiotic repertoire, which is then available for public circulation and performable cultural models of behavior. This work examines the range and flexibility of resources that constitute a semiotic repertoire through a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses—connecting macro-level discourses, such as the circulation of sociocultural stereotypes, to variation in speakers’ day to day language use, including micro-level investigations, such as the perception of voice onset time in Singapore English. This work highlights the many ways in which social identities and meanings are contextualized in and emerge out of interactions that regiment and discipline the behaviors of the self and others.

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Carlson, Jeffrey, and Jeffrey Carlson. "Goya's Religious Paintings and Their Role in Constructing an Artistic Identity." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12438.

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My thesis examines four major religious commissions from distinct points within Goya's artistic development. Each piece serves as a touchstone for a discussion of its particular moment, provoking analyses of iconography, history, aesthetics, or patronage. These paintings offer profound evidence of the artist's ability to tactfully navigate the demands of involved patrons, religious decorum, complex aesthetic allegiances, and his own desire for invention. My thesis opposes teleological readings of Goya's work that have historically privileged both his secular and later work. Instead, I take an episodic approach and argue the merit of each work on its own for revealing a unique and invaluable element of Goya's artistic identity. By demonstrating the similarity in conception that exists between Goya's religious and non-religious works, and by asserting the equivalent value of these two traditional groupings, I aim to deconstruct the religious genre itself as it pertains to Goya.

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Bolzenius, Ruth Staveley. "Writing into the Sunset: Women Constructing Identity in Overland Trail Diaries /." The Ohio State University, 1996. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487933245539932.

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Sandoval, Laura. "Constructing Identity: Image-Making and Female Patronage in Early Modern Europe." Master's thesis, Temple University Libraries, 2011. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/149134.

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Art History
M.A.
This thesis will use a case study approach with the purpose of analyzing three female patrons from the early modern period, each serving as individual models for locating forms of identity and self-fashioning through the art they respectively commissioned. As women in unique positions of power, Isabella d' Este, the Marchioness of Mantua, Bess of Hardwick, the second wealthiest woman in Elizabethan England--second only to the queen--and Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, each constructed and maintained a visual program of self-identity through art and architecture. Through an examination of the patronage of these women from different geographical and chronological moments it becomes evident the way in which powerful women were especially capable of exploiting marital and familial circumstances. Twentieth-century Renaissance scholarship has been greatly influenced by the study of individuality and by an effort to understand a uniquely Renaissance experience and manufacturing of identity. I have selected these three particular patrons, from three distinct countries and generations of the early modern period to draw out similarities in their collective experience as women in positions of power. The notion of constructing identity through patronage will be explored in an effort to locate the common factors that further illustrate the fact that in the Renaissance both the internal, subjective experience of self and the more objective experience of collective social, political and religious forces be considered to create a cohesive explanation of the Renaissance formation of identity.
Temple University--Theses

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Kitchen, Christopher. "Constructing identity in British foreign policy towards Iran after 9/11." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/4062/.

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Macleod, Catriona. "‘Adolescence’, pregnancy and abortion: constructing a threat of degeneration." Routledge, Tailor & Francis Group, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014341.

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Why, despite evidence to the contrary, does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book outlines a critical view of "teenage pregnancy" and abortion, arguing that the negativity surrounding early reproduction is underpinned by a particular understanding of adolescence. The book traces the invention of "adolescence" and the imaginary wall that the notion of "adolescence" constructs between young people and adults. It examines the entrenched status of "adolescence" within a colonialist discourse that equates development of the individual with the development of civilisation, and the consequent threat of degeneration that is implied in the very notion of "adolescence". Many important issues are explored, such as the ideologies and contradictions contained within the notion of "adolescence"; the invention of teenage pregnancy as a social problem; the construction of abortion as the new social problem; issues of race, culture and tradition in relation to teenage pregnancy; and health service provider practices, specifically in relation to managing risk. In the final chapter, an argument is made for a shift from the signifier "teenage pregnancy" to "unwanted pregnancy". Using data gathered from studies from four continents, this book highlights central issues in the global debate concerning teenage pregnancy. It is suitable for academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of health psychology, women’s studies, nursing and sociology, as well as practitioners in the fields of youth and social work, medicine and counselling.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Constructing identity'

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