Produced subjectivities and productive subjects : locating the potential of the self-reflective blog

Blogging software has popularly been used as a mode of writing about everyday life to interact with others. This thesis examines the political potentials that are opened up by self-reflective blogging. The self-reflective blog is a synergy of self-reflective practices and computer-mediated communication. A genealogy of the history of computer-mediated communication and various public self-reflective practices is conducted to uncover affect as the utility of various economies of subject production. Efforts made to blog-like the efforts made to interact online in other CMCs-are positioned as a kind of affective labor. Adapting Hardt and Negri's (2005) theorization of the multitude, whereby affective labor-the production of social relationshipsis a kind ofbiopolitical production, affect will be determined as a kind ofbiopolitical power that exists in everyday life.

Medicalization and women : O, the Oprah Magazine diagnosed through critical discourse analysis

This thesis uses critical discourse analysis (COAl to explore and examine direct-toconsumer (OTC) pharmaceutical drug advertisements appearing in four issues of 0, The Oprah Magazine in 2006. The theoretical underpinnings of this thesis emerge from social scientists and feminists analyses regarding the medicalization of everyday life. The findings of this study highlight three types of discourses used by pharmaceutical companies. First, I explore the use of historical and contemporary gender norms to seJi pharmacological products; second, J examine discourses which normalize the use of chemical solutions as the first line of defense to address a wide range of everyday problems; and finally, I assess how phannaceutical advertisements provide an illusion of autonomy by responsibilizing individuals as patients, at the same time as they suggest that real independence can only be achieved with medication. My discussion of these themes also includes an analysis of why 0 Magazine, which explicitly promotes women's empowerment through holistic approaches to health and personal growthmight support such advertising. Thus I explore: how does OTC advertising benefit both pharmaceutical companies and 0 Magazine itself? I conclude through a brief discussion of the larger implications of OTC advertising for women's health.

Books on the border land : a Mennonite woman's memoir of reading and remembering the sacred

This arts-based thesis, written from my perspective as a Manitoba Mennonite woman and English Language Arts educator, is a memoir of books and reading. As a voracious reader, I am dismayed by the general perception of literacy in public schools as being a set of measureable tasks, and I have found that reading, in particular, has become divorced from its traditional link to life-giving and sacred things. In this thesis, I used life writing to share some of my reading history to illustrate, in part, the degree to which books may enrich our lives by helping us understand the past, present, and future - but only if we allow them to do so.

Smart girls : a deconstructive discourse analysis of smartness

This project is a deconstructive discourse analysis of smart girlhood. From a feminist post structural framework, with a focus on discourse and performative identity, I scrutinize three dominant discourses of smartness that are prevalent and academic and popular press. These constructions frame smart girls as being either Losers, Have-It-All Girls, or Imposters. By conducting semi-structured group interviews with six self-identified smart girls, I explore the question of how smart girls perform their smart girl identities in their current sociocultural context. After analyzing the data from the group interviews, I outline five themes that seem to be prevalent in the stories told by the smart girls in this thesis. Finally, I discuss how the performative identities of the smart girls in my thesis appear to be much more complex, multiple and rhizomatic than the discourses under review allow.

The formation of conscience : pedagogy of the sacred

This qualitative study explores Thomas Green's (1999) treatise, Voices: The Educational Formation of Conscience; for the purpose of reconstruing the transformative usefulness of conscience in moral education. Conscience is "reflexive judgment about things that matter" (Green, 1999, p. 21). Paul Lehmann (1963) suggested that we must "do the conscience over or do the conscience in" (p. 327). Thomas Green "does the conscience over", arguing that a philosophy of moral education, and not a moral philosophy, provides the only framework from which governance of moral behaviour can be understood. Narratives from four one-to-one interviews and a focus group are analysed and interpreted in search of: (a) awareness and understanding of conscience, (b) voices of conscience, (c) normation, (d) reflexive emotions, and (e) the idea of the sacred. Participants in this study (ages 16-21) demonstrated an active awareness of their conscience and a willingness to engage in a reflective process of their moral behaviour. They understood their conscience to be a process of self-judgment about what is right and wrong, and that its authority comes from within themselves. Narrative accounts from childhood indicated that conscience is there "from the beginning" with evidence of selfcorrecting behaviour. A maturing conscience is accompanied by an increased cognitive capacity, more complicated life experiences, and individualization. Moral motivation was grounded in " a desire to connect with things that are most important." A model for conscience formation is proposed, which visualizes a critical path of reflexive emotions. It is argued that schools, striving to shape good citizens, can promote conscience formation through a "curriculum of moral skills"; a curriculum that embraces complexity, diversity, social criticism, and selfhood.

South Asian Women's Identities: A Media and Personal Narrative Analysis

This study examines issues of racism and sexism through the lens of Critical Race Theory and the interaction of personal and composite narratives. Specifically, the study explores how mainstream media���s hegemonic portrayal of South Asian culture and the 2007 socalled honour killing of Aqsa Parvez contribute to post-9/11 Islamophobia. The researcher presents a personal narrative that draws upon her experiences growing up in Dubai, U.A.E., and in Ontario, Canada and critically analyzes majoritarian stories related to Parvez as well as “counter-perspectives” that challenge such views. Study findings highlight the impact of 9/11 and Parvez’s murder on the researcher’s identity formation, and how media portray Muslim women as oppressed beings who live under the yoke of patriarchy. Results also indicate that although certain articles offer a counter-perspective that challenge dominant narratives, most recent media representations of the Parvez story equate Islam with honour killings and thus foster continued Islamophobia.

Ambivalent longings: Heim and its prefix : anxiety and the discourse of home

Please consult the paper edition of this thesis to read. It is available on the 5th Floor of the Library at Call Number: Z 9999 P55 N37 2005

Integrating Media Education Into the Curriculum: What Chinese Educators Can Learn from Ontario Education

This study sought to determine if and how the Ontario approach to integrating media education into the curriculum can be applied to Chinese education. The study used thematic analyses to identify the Ontario curriculum‘s attributes and approach to teaching media literacy, and to investigate relevant policies and national curriculum standards in Chinese compulsory education to reveal the status quo of Chinese media education. Finally, the study explored the feasibility of applying the Ontario media education model in China. Findings indicate that the Ontario model can be employed in the Chinese context, but only partly so, because current Chinese media education is limited by protectionism and restrictive policies corresponding to the use of media merely as research tools.

Nationalism and Sporting Culture: A Media Analysis of Croatia’s Participation in the 1998 World Cup

The past two centuries have witnessed the rise of nationalist movements and widespread nationalism. As these movements gained strength in Europe, sport played a role in their development. Media representations of sport recount events in a way that reinforces cultural values and this research investigates media representations of Croatian nationalism in the weeks surrounding the country’s third place victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Sociological theories alongside more contemporary theories of sport and nation construction are considered. Croatian newspapers were analyzed for elements of national identity construction. The study concludes that the 1998 World Cup played an important role in Croatia’s on-going construction of nationhood and invention of nationalist traditions. This research further demonstrates sport’s ability to evoke strong emotions that are difficult to witness in other areas of social life and the direct role of sport in garnering nationalism.

Animals without Borders: Farmed Animal Resistance in New York

While billions of farmed animals are immobilized within agribusiness, every year some of these animals manage to break free. This thesis examines the stories of those who flee slaughterhouses and the public response to these individuals. My objective is to understand how animals resist and the role that their stories play in disrupting the ways that humans, particularly as consumers, are distanced from the violence of animal enterprises. Included are six vignettes that allow for an in-depth case study of those who have escaped within New York State. Located in the interdisciplinary field of critical animal studies, my inquiry draws upon new animal geographies, transnational feminisms, and critical discourse analysis. This contribution provides discussion of farmed animal resistance in particular and compares experiences and representations of their resistance from both the “view from below,” which is learned through the animals’ caretakers, and a “view from above,” which is gleaned from their representations in corporate-driven mainstream media.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Critical Media Literacy and Disney Female Characters

The purpose of this research project was to use a qualitative approach to explore Critical Media Literacy (CML) with young girls by collaboratively analyzing Disney animated films. My goal was to provide a safe and encouraging space for children to share their perspectives and opinions of Disney animated female characters featured in The Little Mermaid (Ashman, Musker, & Clements, 1989), Cinderella (Disney, Geronimi, Jackson, & Luske, 1950), and The Princess and the Frog (Del Vecho, Clements, & Musker, 2009). I used CML as my theoretical framework as it provided an inquisitive approach to watching films, which, in turn, encouraged the participants to use critical thinking pertaining to the images of female characters in Disney. I also incorporated feminist theory as the majority of discussion revolved around the physical appearance of female characters as well as the participants’ understandings of femininity. I conducted two focus groups with 4 young girls, aged 7 to 11, to gain insight into their understanding of Disney female characters. An inquisitive and collaborative approach to watching films revealed three themes: (a) powerful women in Disney are mean and ugly; (b) heterosexual relationships are paramount; and (c) Disney Princesses are always pretty and nice. I concluded by recommending the importance of CML and collaborative film-watching with young children as the simplicity of asking questions encourages young people to become aware of, challenge, and think critically about the media they are consuming.

Alliánce Media Release - June 6, 1995

A media release from Inniskillin Wines announcing the launch of "Alliánce", a joint winemaking venture between Inniskillin and Jaffelin Wines of France.

In danger of jammed minds: A deconstructive discourse analysis of the criteria for early onset schizophrenia and imagination in children's literature

The purpose of this research is to expose and complicate those discourses of childhood imagination as demonstrated in the diagnostic criteria for early onset schizophrenia by using an antipsychiatry perspective. This will be done by evaluating those discourses alongside those found in popular children’s literature, specifically, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, Bridge to Terabithia, and A Wrinkle in Time. Once uncovered, the underlying power discourses were then exposed. This research will then employ a minor reading as provided by Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) approach to minor literature to demonstrate the ways in which the child can subvert those dominant discourses. The potential of literature is evaluated for its ability to provide alternative modes of experience and lines of flight for the child subjected to the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia.

Educational Leadership: Exploring the Influence of Managed and Living Systems in Educational Leadership Discourse

A conceptual analysis of educational leadership explored the influence of managed and living systems on 21st century leadership discourse. Drawing on a detailed understanding of managed and living systems theory compiled from the work of Capra (2002), Morgan (1997), Mitchell and Sackney (2009), and Wheatley (2007), this study draws attention to the managed systems systemic concepts of efficiency, control, and standardization, and the living systems concepts of collaboration, shared meaning, change, and interconnection as markers of systems theory that find resonance within leadership literature. Using these systemic concepts as a framework, this study provides important insights into the espousal of managed and living systems concepts within the leadership discourse.