Storying meaning in hospice patient biographies : a thesis submitted to Massey University of Palmerston North in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts and Psychology

The importance of meaning in life has been emphasised in the writings of many existentialists. Furthermore, serious repercussions have been associated with loss of meaning. Postulated life-enhancing qualities of discovering meaning in life make this an especially critical issue for the dying. A sense of meaning in late-stage disease is an important focus for therapeutic exchange. A notable method which has been shown to facilitate this is the production of a life story (Lewis. 1989). Narrative is a natural instrument which facilitates expression of personal meaning. Engaging in storying life clarifies meaning of experience by affording closure (Lashley, 1993). The present study employed narrative inquiry, a subset of qualitative research designs, to examine hospice patient biographies (N=7) to determine how the process of constructing a biographical account facing death contributes to meaning formation. It has been argued that approaching death disrupts one's personal narrative resulting in loss of meaning. This activity is said to compel reconstruction of one's story in order to restore meaning in life. Lichter. Mooney and Boyd (1993) argued that recounting experiences enables individuals to resolve unfinished business, an important element for promoting closure, which engenders meaning. Two methods of analysis were adopted: analysis of narrative and storying meaning. Analysis of narrative was based on Polkinghorne's (1995) methods of narrative configuration. Storying meaning was carried out as a means of making sense and showing the significance of thoughts and actions in the context of an unfolding plot. With analysis of narrative a variety of inquiries were undertaken. This included examining the biographies for narrative typologies. Given the importance of goals in meaning formation, we focused on the plot structure before and after illness to establish the influence this experience had upon goal direction. Narrative devices which contribute to meaning formation were also explored. This included: roles, epiphany, closure, and metaphor. These features were examined for patterns, themes, and regularities across biographies. Considering the detrimental impact death anxiety has upon meaning construction, inquiry also focuscd on this concept and its association with selected narrative devices. With storying meaning, knowledge about a particular situation is produced. In this study we concentrated on how meaning is constructed through storying a life facing death. This encompassed searching for processes of meaning-making within the biographies. Analysis of narrative revealed goal-focused progressive narratives. Storying lives in this coherent fashion enabled meaning to be constructed. Narrative devices assisted in production of a coherent stoty which promoted closure to storied life Adoption of these devices also positively reframcd the narrator's viewpoint toward this experience, which enabled individuals to make sense of events and happenings in the story. Surprisingly, death anxiety assumed a peripheral concern; it did not feature as a critical issue in meaning construction within these accounts. Storying meaning revealed processes of meaning-making in these stoned accounts. Unfolding of these stories revealed meaningful lives interrupted by adversity, which were then overcome. Prior to the disruption these accounts were replete with sources of personal meaning. Disruption ensued with evidence of loss of meaning. Restoring meaning involved reconstructing one's personal narrative. Analysis revealed evidence of processes of meaning- making within these stories. Methods of meaning formation included: making sense of illness, changing the life scheme, changing one's perception of the event, and methods of self- transcendence. Similar processes have been established in other studies examining meaning construction. These processes were found to promote closure in storied accounts, an important element which facilitates meaning. This finding supports Lichter and associates' (1993) argument regarding the value of narrative, particularly for those facing death where meaning in life has been lost. Results indicated individuals construct meaning by reconstructing personal narratives in order to make sense of these experiences and integrate these into their storied lives. As Williams (1984) argued it is in this activity of reconstructing one's personal life narrative that illness and its consequences arc ascribcd meaning in the context of one's life. The value of narrative for those approaching death and those experiencing serious loss is emphasised

Longitudinal photo-documentation: Recording living walls

This working paper advocates a methodological approach to the study of street art and graffiti that is based on the documentation of single sites over time. Longitudinal photo-documentation is a form of data collection that allows street art and graffiti to be examined as visual dialogue. By capturing everyday forms of public mark making alongside both more recognizably ‘artistic’ images, and more visually ‘offensive’ tags, we aim to attend to graffiti and street art’s existence within a field of social interaction. We describe a relevant analytic tool drawn from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis – the next turn proof procedure – which may be adapted in order to study street art and graffiti as a form of asynchronous, yet sequential, communication. This form of analysis departs from existent forms of analysis in that it is not concerned with the semiotics or iconography of decontextualized individual photographs of street art or graffiti. We present a worked analytic example to demonstrate the utility of longitudinal photo-documentation in making visible the dialogue amongst artists, writers and community members, and we employ the principles of the next turn proof procedure to illustrate the ways in which each party shows their understanding of the prior work on the wall via their own contribution to the ‘conversation.

"Darling Look! It’s a Banksy!” Viewers’ Material Engagement with Street Art and Graffiti

This chapter examines viewers’ affective encounters with street art and graffiti, with attention to the critical framework provided by Rancière (2004), whose work suggests a method for investigating our aesthetic practices of participation (or exclusion) and looking (or not looking). Viewers’ material engagements with street art and graffiti represent a disruption of the expectable order that demonstrates that what we see, according to our usual division of the sensible, could be otherwise – thus revealing the contingency of our perceptual and conceptual order. Our examination of the visual dialogue on just one city wall highlights the temporal, site-specific and participatory elements of graffiti and street art as a form of communication, or visual dialogue. We demonstrate that viewers are not passive recipients of the artist’s intentions, but are instead competent social actors capable of understanding, appreciating, and actively and materially engaging with street art and graffiti

Book Review: A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion

Review of A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palme

Foreword

The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti marks a pivot point in the complex and unpredictable historical journey of graffiti and street art. While they are now certainly recognised as art forms, this is not primarily an art historical narrative. Indeed, exponentially increasing levels of interest in graffiti and street art have generated a radically interdisciplinary and rapidly expanding field of scholarship and practice, reflecting street art and graffiti’s status as socio-legal-artistic phenomena that exceed the purview of any one discipline. There are now peer reviewed journals and academic conferences devoted to graffiti and street art, which bring together art historians, architects, cultural geographers, archaeologists, psychologists, criminologists, sociologists, and heritage and legal scholars to debate and define this emerging field

Oral History Interview on West Hartford (with video)

Susan Hansen (born 1957) responds to a racially restrictive covenant in her suburban neighborhood, inserted by the real estate developer in the 1940s, which prohibited non-whites from residing in many of the homes in her present-day neighborhood. She reflects on her decision to move into West Hartford in the 1990s for its public school system, and the advice she received from friends and coworkers to buy a home only on the north side of the town. She also discusses the historical value of finding these restrictive covenants and emphasizes the need to teach this often-forgotten aspect of the North\u27s history of racial segregation in history classrooms

Report on the Workshop on Refugee and Asylum Policy in Practice in Europe and North America

Western nations have struggled to accomplish the dual goals of refugee and asylum policies: (1) identifying and protecting Convention refugees as well as those fleeing civil conflict; and (2) controlling for abuse. The Workshop on Refugee and Asylum Policy in Practice in Europe and North America was organized to facilitate a transatlantic dialogue to explore just how well these asylum systems are balancing the dual goals. The workshop exa!llined key elements of the U.S. and European asylum systems: decision making on claims, deterrence of abuse, independent review, return of rejected asylum seekers, scope of the refugee concept, social rights and employment, international cooperation, and data and evaluation. The Workshop was convened by the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) of Georgetown University and the Center for the Study of Immigration, Integration and Citizenship Policies (CEPIC) of the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique, with the support of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. It was held on July 1-3, 1999, at Oxford University. Workshop participants included government officials, scholars, and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) actively involved in analyzing and implementing refugee and asylum policies. This report outlines the major points of discussion and the areas of consensus at the Workshop, and emphasizes the issues in need of further analysis and agreement. Through this report, the Workshop seeks to encourage further discussion on refugee and asylum policies in practice in order to clarify, develop, and improve the existing mechanisms for protection

Made corrections: a prison-based street art intervention for young offenders

This paper describes a prison-based street art intervention that took place at a Lithuanian institution for young offenders. During the first stage of the project, existing historical graffiti and murals on the prison walls were uncovered and documented. The second stage of the project involved working with the young offenders to co-produce a series of collaborative large-scale works within the prison walls, some of which incorporated elements of these earlier murals as a form of living heritage. The final stage of the project reproduced a selection of this work outside on the walls of the local city. Future work will involve a more formal evaluation of the impact of the intervention on the young offenders, the prison staff, and the local community