The resistance and survival of old women : striving for empowerment in the face of oppression and violence

Old women face a unique set of obstacles in their quest for empowerment. In this study the concept of empowerment is explored by politicizing issues of personal safety. The most significant factors that impede an old woman's sense of safety and control include oppression, primarily ageism and sexism, along with violence and fear. For this study, thirty-nine women over sixty were self-selected for semi-structured interviews as a result of their participation in a personal safety workshop. Interviewees ranged in age from sixty to eight-three, were of diverse cultural backgrounds, and most resided in a metropolitan area. An emancipatory methodology was used as a means to empower participants throughout the research process. The study is both exploratory and interpretive, with the subjective voice of the researcher present throughout the project. Acts of resistance and survival were reflected in the daily lived experiences of the interviewees, validating the premise that old women face obstacles in their quest for empowerment

The lived experiences of wives of first time myocardial infarction survivors during the convalescent period

There is evidence that wives of first time myocardial infarction survivors play a crucial role during the convalescent period. A knowledge deficit exists however, regarding the significance of their experiences during this time. The aim of this study therefore, was to investigate and illuminate the lived experiences of wives of first time myocardial infarction survivors during the first six to eight weeks of their husbands' convalescent period. The inquiry paradigm chosen for this study was the qualitative approach and the research strategy used was hermeneutic phenomenology. Max van Manen's six procedural research activities guided the methodological processes of this study. A pilot interview was conducted using the Free Attitude Interview Technique, following which four study interviews were done with participants who met the inclusion criteria. Qualitative analysis revealed eight central themes that described the lived experiences of the participants. They were: 1) being a protective shield; 2) life changes; 3) facets of the relationship change; 4) meeting additional role responsibilities; 5) living with fear; 6) drawing from the support fund; 7) causal explanations for the myocardial infarction and 8) the need for knowledge. The study findings are discussed in relation to the available literature and recommendations are made for nursing research, practice and education. The knowledge gained from this study will enable nurses to plan and implement nursing interventions that will better prepare, support and equip wives during the convalescent period. This in turn will assist the wives to enhance family resources and promote their husbands' readjustment during the convalescent period

A production of Jean-Baptiste Molier`e's The doctor in spite of himself

The purpose of this thesis is to study the background surrounding the playwright and the play itself in preparation for a production of the play and then present a critical analysis of the production. The first chapter contains the biographical information on the playwright, the historical considerations necessary to have an understanding of the play, and the director's justification of choice of script and of his interpretation of that script. The second chapter is the director's prompt book of The Doctor in Spite of Himself, performed at The Parkway Playhouse, the University of North Carolina's summer theatre at Burnsville, North Carolina, at eight-thirty the evenings of July 12 through 15, 1972. Included are notations relevant to movement, picturization, and stage business. Floor plans and pictures provide additional material to aid in the understanding of the director's approach to the production. The final chapter consists of a critical analysis of the production. This chapter will contain three sections: (a) the director's interpretation, the style of the production, and the mood he attempted to establish} (2) the director's relationships with the actors during rehearsal and production; and (3) the audience response

Understanding Collaborative Writing of Technical Proposals with a Process/product Model

Group work creates concerns with respect to performance, collaboration, and conflict management. Writing technical proposals creates appropriate settings for gaining insight into work group efficiencies and project conflict. The research involved different work groups preparing responses to Federal Government solicitations. A proposed Process/Product model was applied to create a new framework and perception of the technical proposal development effort. There exists a rich dialectic between the forces of Process, (how the effort is accomplished), and, Product, (what the effort will produce.) The investigation attempted to learn if the P/P model provides explanations for project conflict during technical collaborative writing. The investigation examined the nature of the dependence and independence associated with Process choices and Product choices in industry. The research studied Semi-Autonomous Work Groups developing technical responses to three different Federal Government Solicitations. Technical proposal development efforts in a Federal Government environment span a relatively short development cycle. Work group activity involves the direct collaborative writing participation of work group members, conducting the engineering management functions of planning and producing proposal documents. The research findings suggest that the results of this special case investigation could provide a research basis for other work group collaborative writing and technical activities. The research method used was participative observation conducted in a semiovert manner (during the proposal development project) combined with an overt investigation (after the project) to generate orienting theory that will advance the state of knowledge regarding the management of project conflict during collaborative work group technical proposal development. The research included conducting a semistructured interview after each project completion to learn if participants perceived that they witnessed conflict and to describe its nature. The researcher interpreted the comments associated with conflict in terms of the Process/Product model to learn whether the model provides explanations of conflict or dissatisfaction in this collaborative technical writing setting. An analysis of researchers\u27 dual role as a participant in the work group and an observer is also included in this study. Significant findings include that the process/product model, like other engineering management paradigms, provided a pragmatic perspective for practicing managers concerned with collaborative technical writing conflict. The findings also suggest these are robust opportunities for additional research in collaborative technical writing from perspectives which extends beyond predominant process orientations

Kenyon Collegian - February 18, 1993

https://digital.kenyon.edu/collegian/1631/thumbnail.jp

Intergroup Contact: Arizona School District and Charter School Leaders

abstract: Arizona’s district and charter communities have a history of conflict, including working against each other when advocating policy positions at the state legislature. The purpose of this research was to improve the relationship between the district and charter communities through an intervention based on intergroup contact theory. Through her personal network, the researcher formed and facilitated the Arizona Initiative for Public Education Dialogue (AZ iPED), comprised of eight district superintendents and charter leaders. This mixed-methods, action research study explored what happened when Arizona school district superintendents and charter school leaders were brought through intergroup contact to discuss potential policies they could jointly support. This study addressed the following three research questions: To what extent does intergroup contact increase allophilia (positive attitudes) between Arizona school district and charter school leaders? In what ways do participants voice allophilia during in-group dialogue? How do school district superintendents and charter school leaders socially construct and negotiate narratives that support the conflict between their two communities? The members of AZ iPED met four times from October through December, 2016. Allophilia (positive feelings toward the outgroup) data included an Allophilia Scale administered at the beginning and end of the study and transcripts of first and second in-group district and charter focus groups. Results are reported through descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed ranks of matched samples, and content analysis. Findings indicated a non-statistically significant increase in allophilia. Content analysis also indicated increases in the quantity and quality of allophilia talk. Narrative analysis of conflict talk generated the four following themes: competition sets the stage for conflict, actions construct conflict, perceptions sustain conflict, and conflict causes feelings. Those themes provided structure for compiling a collective District Narrative and collective Charter Narrative, which were further analyzed through the lens of conflict-sustaining collective narratives. Narrative analysis of select portions of the transcript suggested processes through which conflict-sustaining narratives were constructed and negotiated during intergroup contact.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 201

The Wooster Voice (Wooster, OH), 1990-02-23

The College is celebrating Africa Week currently, which features events highlighting the countries of the African continent. The College has decided to make the position of strings teacher in the Music Department a part-time position instead of full-time. A student writes about how homophobic sentiments at Wooster have not changed within the past 10 years, highlighting a Voice article on the topic from 1980. A small article looks at how the use of chewing tobacco is on the rise. A large feature in this edition looks at the topics of different students Independent Studies, as well as their opinions on the project.https://openworks.wooster.edu/voice1981-1990/1481/thumbnail.jp

The sharpness of what lies behind

The essays in this collection are not wholly concerned with family relationships, but they all treat, on some level, ideas of loss and difficulty, whether in the destruction and recreation of native prairie, the struggle to understand the spiritual in the absence of faith, or the small, persistent sense of disorientation that comes with hearing loss. They are about what it means to live in a place, fully, whether that place is geographical, spiritual, or remembered, and to ground ourselves in the smallest mysteries. An anthology of essays by Jennifer Lynn Johnson

BLESS OUR HEARTS: TOWARDS A MODEL FOR QUEER ORAL HISTORY

This dissertation offers an outlined proposal and a model for practicing queer oral history—a nuancing of oral history praxis. Queer oral history is rooted in performance studies’ call to consider everyday texts alongside Dwight Conquergood’s (1985) articulations of ethical and dialogic performance of the other. I propose that queer oral history exists as an alternative praxis to traditional oral history; in order for this distinction to emerge, a practitioner must accept two charges. The first is a commitment to destabilizing oral history through the inclusion of other diverse methodological practices. Further, the researcher must welcome the ethical imperative to reflexively question subjectivity through their own role in constructing an oral history. Queer oral history demands of its practitioners a different set of goals that grow from traditional oral history, but also carefully complicate the practice of oral history as a methodology in order to address the in-between role of the subject-researcher. This placement within the gaps—the in-between—renders queer oral history theoretically queer, opening up possibilities beyond simply an oral history about queer themes. Because of its focus on commitments as a way to lead practice, queer oral history could prove useful for other person-based qualitative research methods. In order to propose queer oral history, this document traces one specific performance—Bless Our Hearts: An Oral History of the Queer South—from intellectual inception through scripting, staging, performance, and reperformance. Offering theoretical precepts, a completed script, and deep discussions of choices in scripting and embodiment, this dissertation offers a model that shows one queer oral history—about the intersections of queer and Southern identities—as it moves from interview process to complete performance project