'Is it just me...?': Q methodology and representing the marginal

In this paper Q as a constructionist methodology is considered through its engagement with marginality. Drawing primarily on debates within and examples from the discipline of psychology, we aim to illustrate ways in which issues of marginality become relevant to constructionist concerns around knowledge production. A key focus of constructionism(s) is on multiple versions of social phenomena in situated and local contexts. This position represents a move away from, and a challenge to, totalising forms of knowledge associated with more objectivist epistemologies. Broadly speaking, Q’s ability to tap into a range of perspectives or, what we will refer to here as, narratives – marginal or otherwise – provides a way to explicate constructionist concerns with multiplicity and unsettle mainstream notions of coherent and total knowledges of the social world. To contextualise the ways in which Q works with notions of marginality, this paper begins by delineating how Q itself is (re)produced as an othered methodology in debates around its location within the quantitative ‐qualitative dichotomy. We move on to consider the ways in which Q may offer a distinctive contribution within constructionist‐informed research through its ability to make expressions of marginality manifest

Best Before: Recipes and Food in Contemporary Aboriginal Art

This thesis consists of a curatorial essay and contemporary art exhibition entitled Best Before featuring artwork by KC Adams, Keesic Douglas, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Peter Morin and Suzanne Morrissette. Through the investigation of a variety of topics including Aboriginal curating, culinary exhibitions, food studies, food history, and the associations between food, place, representation and identity, my research engaged texts pertinent to the complex issues raised when analyzing artworks addressing cultural agency and the encoding of food from Aboriginal perspectives. The curatorial essay continues these examinations by relating the acculturation of so-called Aboriginal cuisine with artworks that unmask the lived experiences of a continuing colonial legacy where food sources play a key role. In the exhibition, artists respond to recipes of their choice by referencing food in their artworks. Together these artworks complicate notions of cultural identity while signalling the links between colonization and the global food system

"So oft to the movies they've been": British fan writing and female audiences in the silent cinema

This article aims to address the ways in which working-class and lower-middle- class British women used silent-era fan magazines as a space for articulating their role within the development of a female film culture. The article focuses on letter pages that formed a key site for female contribution to British fan magazines across the silent era. In contributing to these pages, women found a space to debate and discuss the appeal and significance of particular female representations within film culture. Using detailed archival research tracing the content of a specific magazine, Picturegoer, across a 15-year period (1913–28), the article will show the dominance of particular types of female representation in both fan and "official" magazine discourses, analyzing the ways in which British women used these images to work through national tensions regarding modern femininity and traditional ideas of female propriety and restraint

TRANSFERRING U.S. LATINO POETS INTO THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD

Translation is slippery art that compounds the problems of the inherent instability of language with the unruly process of duplicating it in another system. The sliding that occurs in the translation of multicultural poetry is even more pronounced since the distance from “the norm” becomes greater and greater. This is true firstly because poetry is a genre that strives for verbal concision and innovation in a playful defiance of norms that pique the reader’s imagination; and secondly because the multilingual poet often involves a second language —either in its original form or as a translation into the language of composition—to enhance sound and cultural imagery. Latino poetry generally glides along on the linguistic and cultural tension inherent in both its poeticity and its English/Spanish and Latino/Anglo dualities that challenge normative discourse. Therefore, the translation of this verse must also produce for the reader a similarly slippery tension, a task that Fabián Iriarte and I constantly grappled with in the editing of a recent bilingual anthology, Usos de la imaginación: poesía de l@s latin@s en EE.UU

Group Process, Communication, and Relating as a Core Phenomenon in an Older Adult Support and Learning Group on Aging and Health

Supporting older adult clients to improve self-management of health is a focus of care for community-based nurses working with this population. The available literature on small group work indicates participation in a variety of group types has been shown to be beneficial for older adults. However, there is little research specifically on group work with adults over the age of 75 when individuals are at greater risk for actively facing illness and multiple personal losses and may need enhanced social supports to assist achievement of the psychosocial tasks of old age. This research examined a support and learning group on aging and health involving seven community-dwelling older adults over the age of 75 using grounded theory research method. One male and six female subjects aged 76-84 years old participated in the study. To identify themes occurring in group and communication process, transcripts of the meetings, pre and post interviews with individual participants, and other data sources were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding. On the Group Process level, themes of group action/interaction were categorized by time phases of Before, Beginning, Middle, End, and Beyond the time the group met. On the Communication Process level, themes were abstracted under categories of Initiating, Responding, Relating, and Integrating. Group and Communication processes were then nested and conceptualized as a fractal occurring both over the course of the eight weeks and in every group meeting. “Relating” was identified as a core phenomenon of the group and communication process, contributing to positive self-assessment regardless of whether the participant affirmed a similar or contrasting position in comparison with other participants. Findings support the achievement of group type objectives for support and learning groups and delineate more clearly group participants’ experience leading to the outcomes of reinforcement of a positive self-assessment and the development of knowledge and skills related to aging and health. Findings may assist the design and implementation of similar groups and may direct further research on specific aspects of individual and group process in small group work with community-dwelling older adults

Ecology, Information Literacy and Bernard Lonergan: A Librarian Immersed.

In spring 2013 a group of faculty and administrators completed a series of workshops exploring Bernard Lonergan\u27s General Empirical Method (GEM) and ways to apply it to our teaching. GEM invites students to learn how to think for themselves and discover themselves as learners. There are three initial steps - experiencing, understanding, and judging - which can readily be applied to searching, discovering and evaluating information resources. I report on my collaboration with a Biology professor teaching Ecology and Stewardship, where we jointly incorporated elements of GEM, information literacy and the research process and developed rubrics for assessing student work

The high cost of science journals: a case study and discussion

Like many libraries, Seton Hall University Libraries has suffered budget cuts that forced a reduction in serial subscriptions. As science librarian, I report on my efforts to streamline subscriptions and to address the question “Why are science journals so expensive?” Our science journals are significantly more expensive than journals in other areas. Our commercially published science journals are 25% more expensive than those from non-profit publishers, although the difference is not statistically significant. I discuss the reasons for the high cost of science journals, which involve a complex interaction between supply and demand and academic culture

Female victims of domestic violence and their negotiation for safety

With the majority of studies focusing on the reasons why victims discontinue legal action against their abusers, I believe these women are once again being blamed for the continued abuse. It is my thesis that victims of domestic violence enter formal action against their abusers with specific goals in mind particular to each woman\u27s life situation. These goals may be very different than the legal outcomes prominent amongst our nation\u27s courtrooms. I will attempt to illustrate those goals victims routinely seek as well as the obstacles they encounter when attempting to free themselves from violence. This research will become a valuable tool for those attempting to make the criminal justice system and social service outlets more accessible and user-friendly for victims of domestic violence