Search results for: quest for identity

Authors: Felicia Masenu

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Identity formation remains central to diaspora populations as they are known to have multiple attachments to places, including the 'ancestral homeland.' This paper emphasizes the potency of the ancestral homeland in the imagination of diaspora populations and a 'yearning' for an eventual return. This has led to the repatriation and visits of many Diasporan Africans to Africa. What have also been highlighted are the motivations, experiences, and challenges associated with the return of African Americans to Africa, as well as some of the idealistic expectations that Diasporan Africans have regarding the ancestral homeland. When Diasporan Africans visit Africa, they are faced with different kinds of situations that are challenging. Yet, the number of visits to Africa by Diasporan Africans, particularly, African Americans, keep increasing. This paper draws on the life history of Imahkus Nzinga, an African American who repatriated to Ghana in the 1990s, as a case study of African Americans’ relentless quest to pursue the ancestral homeland, despite the challenges involved. The paper argues that the quest for identity construction remains the overriding motivation for African Americans in their decision to repatriate to Africa, and discusses how in this case, Imahkus Nzinga attempts to reconcile what is called in this paper 'identity struggle.'

Keywords: African Americans, Diaspora, identity formation, identity struggle, repatriation

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Authors: Matthew J. Zagumny

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The QUEST is an assessment of scientific epistemic beliefs and was developed to measure students’ intellectual development in regards to beliefs about knowledge and knowing. The QUEST utilizes Q-sort methodology, which requires participants to rate the degree to which statements describe them personally. As a measure of personal theories of knowledge, the QUEST instrument is described with the Q-sort distribution and scoring explained. A preliminary demonstration of the QUEST assessment is described with two samples of undergraduate students (novice/lower division compared to advanced/upper division students) being assessed and their average QUEST scores compared. The usefulness of an assessment of epistemology is discussed in terms of the principle that assessment tends to drive educational practice and university mission. The critical need for university and academic programs to focus on development of students’ scientific epistemology is briefly discussed.

Keywords: scientific epistemology, critical thinking, Q-sort method, STEM undergraduates

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Authors: Manoj K. Kumar, Deepthi Bathala

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Man has the need to know and feel as a part of the historical continuum and it is this continuum that reinforces his identity. Architecture and the built environment contribute to this identity as established by the various identity theories exploring the relationship between the two. Architecture which is organic has been successful in maintaining a continuum of identity until the advent of globalization when the world saw a drastic shift to architecture of ‘placelessness’. The answer to the perfect synthesis of ‘universalization’ and ‘regionalism’ is an ongoing quest. However, history has established a smooth transition from vernacular to colonial to modern unlike the architecture of today. The traditional Kerala architecture has evolved from the tropical climate, geography, local needs, materials, skills and foreign influences. It is unique in contrast to the architecture of the neighboring states as a result of the geographical barriers however influenced by the architecture of the Orient due to trade relations. Through 1805 to 1950, the European influence on the architecture of Kerala resulted in the emergence of the colonial style which managed to establish a continuum of the traditional architecture. The paper focuses on the identification of the components of architecture that established the continuity of place-identity in the architecture of Kerala and examines the transition from the traditional Kerala architecture to colonial architecture during the colonial period. Visual surveys based on the principles of urban design, cognitive mapping, typology analysis followed by the strong understanding of the morphological and built environment along with the matrix method are the research tools used. The understanding of these components of continuity can be useful in creating buildings which people can relate to in the present day. South-Asia shares the history of colonialism and the understanding of these components can pave the way for further research on how to establish a regional identity in the era of globalization.

Keywords: colonial, identity, place, regional

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Authors: Matthew J. Zagumny

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The current study reports an examination of the QUEST-25 (Q-Assessment of Undergraduate Epistemology and Scientific Thinking) online version for assessing the dispositional attitudes toward scientific thinking and intellectual curiosity among undergraduate students. The QUEST-25 consists of scientific thinking (SIQ-25) and intellectual curiosity (ICIQ-25), which were correlated in hypothesized directions with the Religious Commitment Inventory, Curiosity and Exploration Inventory, Belief in Science scale, and measures of academic self-efficacy. Additionally, concurrent validity was established by the resulting significant differences between those identifying the centrality of religious belief in their lives and those who do not self-identify as being guided daily by religious beliefs. This study demonstrates the utility of the QUEST-25 for research, evaluation, and theory development.

Keywords: guided-inquiry learning, intellectual curiosity, psychometric assessment, scientific thinking

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Authors: Heba Mustafa Abdullah

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The research aimed at examining the effect of a using a quest based learning strategy on developing EFL Pre-Master Students. The study adopted the quasi-experimental design. The sample of the research consists of a group of 30 students enrolled in Pre-Master program, Curriculum and EFL Instruction Department, Faculty of Graduate Studies in Education Tools of the study included a EFL research skills checklist and EFL research skills test. Results revealed that there were statistically significant differences at 0.01 levels with regard to some research skills. Results were discussed in relation to several factors that affected the language learning process. Finally, the research provided beneficial contributions in relation to manipulating e-learning technologies in general and Quest based learning strategy in particular with respect to EFL research skills.

Keywords: English as foreign language, e-Learning, research skills, quest based learning

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Authors: Kyu-Jeoung Lee, Jae-Uk Choo

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This paper focuses on investigating The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from Utterson’s point of view, referring to: Gabriel John Utterson, a central character in the book. Utterson is no different from a forensic investigator, as he tries to collect evidence on the mysterious Mr. Hyde’s relationship to Dr. Jekyll. From Utterson's perspective, Jekyll is the 'victim' of a potential scandal and blackmail, and Hyde is the 'suspect' of a possible 'crime'. Utterson intends to figure out Hyde's identity, connect his motive with his actions, and gather witness accounts. During Utterson’s quest, the outside materials available to him along with the social backgrounds of Hyde and Jekyll will be analyzed. The archives left from Jekyll’s chamber will also play a part providing evidence. Utterson will investigate, based on what he already knows about Jekyll his whole life, and how Jekyll had acted in his eyes until he was gone, and finding out possible explanations for Jekyll's actions. The relationship between Jekyll and Hyde becomes the major question, as the social background offers clues pointing in the direction of illegitimacy and prostitution. There is still a possibility that Jekyll and Hyde were, in fact, completely different people. Utterson received a full statement and confession from Jekyll himself at the end of the story, which gives the reader the possible truth on what happened. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde led readers, as it did Utterson, to find the connection between Hyde and Jekyll using methods of history, culture, and science. Utterson's quest to uncover Hyde shows an example of applying the various fields to in his act to see if Hyde's inheritance was legal. All of this taken together could technically be considered forensic investigation.

Keywords: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, forensic investigation, illegitimacy, prostitution, Robert Louis Stevenson

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Authors: Madhuri Goswami

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The matrix of power establishes the hegemonic dominance and supremacy of one group through exercising repression and relegation upon the other. However, the injustice done to any race, ethnicity, or caste has instigated the protest and resistance through various modes -social campaigns, political movements, literary expression and so on. Consequently, the search for identity, the means of claiming it and strive for recognition have evolved as the persistent phenomena all through the world. In the discourse of protest and minority literature, these two discourses -African American and Indian Dalit- surprisingly, share wrath and anger, hope and aspiration, and quest for identity and struggle for self-assertion. African American and Indian Dalit are two geographically and culturally apart communities that stand together on a single platform. This paper has sought to comprehend the form and investigate the formation of identity in general and in the literary work of Toni Morrison and Indian Dalit writing, particular, i.e., Black identity and Dalit identity. The study has speculated two types of identity, namely, individual or self and social or collective identity in the literary province of these marginalized literature. Morrison’s work outsources that self-identity is not merely a reflection of an inner essence; it is constructed through social circumstances and relations. Likewise, Dalit writings too have a fair record of discovery of self-hood and formation of identity, which connects to the realization of self-assertion and worthiness of their culture among Dalit writers. Bama, Pawar, Limbale, Pawde, and Kamble investigate their true self concealed amid societal alienation. The study has found that the struggle for recognition is, in fact, the striving to become the definer, instead of just being defined; and, this striving eventually, leads to the introspection among them. To conclude, Morrison as well as Indian marginalized authors, despite being set quite distant, communicate the relation between individual and community in the context of self-consciousness, self-identification and (self) introspection. This research opens a scope for further research to find out similar phenomena and trace an analogy in other world literatures.

Keywords: identity, introspection, self-access, struggle for recognition

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Authors: Mai Hussein

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'Littoral' is an original voice in Québécois theatre, spanning the cultural gaps that can exist between the playwrights’ native Lebanon, North America, Quebec, and Europe. Littoral is a 'crossroad' of cultures and themes, a 'bridge' connecting cultures and languages. It represents a new form of theatrical writing that combines the verbal, the vocal and the pantomimic, calling upon the stage to question the real, to engage characters in a quest, in a journey of mourning, of reconstructing identity and a collective memory despite ruins and wars. A theatre of witness, a theatre denouncing irrationality of racism and war, a theatre 'performing' the symptoms of the stress disorders of characters passing from resistance and anger to reconciliation and giving voice to the silenced victims, these are some of the pillars that this play has to offer. In this corrida between life and death, the identity seems like a work-in-progress that is shaped in the presence of the Self and the Other. This trajectory will lead to re-open widely the door to questions, interrogations, and reflections to show how this play is at the nexus of contemporary preoccupations of the 21st century: the importance of memory, the search for meaning, the pursuit of the infinite. It also shows how a play can create bridges between languages, cultures, societies, and movements. To what extent does it mediate between the words and the silence, and how does it burn the bridges or the gaps between the textual and the performative while investigating the power of intermediality to confront racism and segregation. It also underlines the centrality of confrontation between cultures, languages, writing and representation techniques to challenge the characters in their quest to restructure their shattered, but yet intertwined identities. The goal of this theatre would then be to invite everyone involved in the process of a journey of self-discovery away from their comfort zone. Everyone will have to explore the liminal space, to read in between the lines of the written text as well as in between the text and the performance to explore the gaps and the tensions that exist between what is said, and what is played, between the 'parole' and the performative body.

Keywords: identity, memory, performance, testimony, trauma

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Authors: David Martínez Rico, Juan Pablo Farid Cuéllar Martínez

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After more than half a century that the first treaty of European cooperation was created, the final result of a difficult and long historical process, which is the current European Union, is facing economical and social challenges. The barriers of policies differences and national sovereignties seem to be being defeated in the last and present decades. However, the last crisis of 2008 brought back problems as xenophobia and nationalism. In this ambit of identity, European Union has made many efforts to reinforce a European identity and leave behind the radical nationalisms which generated World Wars. Nevertheless, these social problems are increasing and becoming more present in the life of many Europeans. Even, in the last Euro Parliamentarian Elections of the present year, 2014, the extreme right parties, in favor of xenophobic and anti European ideals, got more seats and are increasing their presence in Euro Parliament. This essay approaches to this controversial topic of European identity. Taking as start point the nationalist divisions that are causing internal divergences in Europe, the authors of this research study the role and contributions of the Memorials of the fallen soldiers and heroes of World Wars, present in many cities as Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, to the impossibility to reach an European identity, it means that Europeans feel first part of Europe in place to feel first part of a nation. The objective of this essay is to reaffirm the thesis that establishes that the European Union won´t reach the longed supranational identity with just with the current strategies, because yet there are many cultural elements in its member states societies which exalt the heroes and soldiers of the past wars, increasing nationalism feelings. Besides, in it are promoted some interesting ideas that could change the course in this quest of a European social identity.

Keywords: identity, memorials, European identity, nationalism, proposals

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Authors: Chen Jun

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Antonia Susan Byatt’s Possession: A Romance has been misread as a postmodern pastiche novel since its publication because there are epics, epigraphs, lyrics, fairy tales, epistles, and even critical articles swollen in this work. The word ‘pastiche’ suggests messy, disorganized, and chaotic, which buries its artistic excellence while overlooking its subtitle, A Romance. The center of romance is the quest that the hero sets forth to conquer the adversity, hardship, and danger to accomplish a task to prove his identity or social worth. This paper argues that Byatt’s Possession is not a postmodern pastiche novel but rather a postmodern romance in which the characters in the academic world set forth their quest into the Victorian literary past that is nostalgically identified by Byatt as the Golden Age of English literature. In doing so, these five following issues are addressed: first, the origin of the protagonist Roland, and consequently, the nature of his quest; second, the central image of the dragon created by the fictional Victorian poet Henry Ash; third, Melusine as an image of female serpent created by the fictional Victorian poet Christabel LaMotte; fourth, the images of the two ladies; last, the image of water that links the dragon and the serpent. In Possession, the past is reinvented not as an unfortunate fall but as a Golden Age presented in the imaginative academic adventure. The dragon, a stereotypical symbol of evil, becomes the symbol of life in Byatt’s work, which parallels with the image of the mythical phoenix that can resurrect from its own ash. At the same time, the phoenix symbolizes Byatt’s efforts to revive the Victorian poetic art that is supposed to be dead in the post-capitalism society when the novel is the dominating literary genre and poetry becomes the minority. The fictional Victorian poet Ash is in fact Byatt’s own poetic mask through which she breathes life into the lost poetic artistry in the postmodern era.

Keywords: Byatt, possession, postmodern romance, literary past

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Authors: Petra Barisic, Zrinka Blazevic

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In the world of modern communications, visual identity has predominant influence on the overall success of tourist destinations, but despite of these, the problem of designing thriving tourist destination visual identity and their components are hardly addressed. This study highlights the importance of building and managing the visual identity of tourist destination, and based on the empirical study of well-known Mediterranean destination of Croatia analyses three main components of tourist destination visual identity; name, slogan, and logo. Moreover, the paper shows how respondents perceive each component of Croatia’s visual identity. According to study, logo is the most important, followed by the name and slogan. Research also reveals that Croatian economy lags behind developed countries in understanding the importance of visual identity, and its influence on marketing goal achievements.

Keywords: components of visual identity, Croatia, tourist destination, visual identity

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Authors: Nadia Ayub

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The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of personal identity on self-esteem among adolescents. Two hypotheses were tested in the study, i.e., personal identity effects on self-esteem; and gender difference in the variables of personal identity and self-esteem. The total of 300 (150 female; 150 male) adolescents participated in the study. Personal identity scale (Ayub, N., In Press), and self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1985) were administered. The findings of the study suggest that positive personal identity impact on self-esteem and gender difference was found on the variables of personal identity and self-esteem. In conclusion, the results of the study are beneficial for researchers, policymakers, psychologists. The strong positive personal identity and self-esteem help in healthy mental development not only in adolescence but throughout the life of individuals.

Keywords: personal identity, self-esteem, adolescents, positive psychology

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Authors: Saleem Abu Jaber, Khaled Igbaria

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Tawfiq Zayyad was born in Nazareth in 1929 and died in 1994. He was a prominent Palestinian poet, writer, scholar and politician. He had participated in the Palestinian political life not only as a poet and writer but also as a mayor of Nazareth as well as a member of the Israeli Knesset. All of the above confirms not only that it is worthy to investigate deeply and academically Palestinian commitment and identity throughout poems of the poet, but also that the poet deserves to include him within the top significant Arab Palestinian poets in despite of his being Israeli citizen. This paper studies to what extent the poet was committed to the Palestinian goals and agenda throughout poetry as well as to explore the ways and techniques in which the poet employed poetry in order to explore the Palestinian belonging and identification of the Palestinians in Israel. Methodologically, this paper will literary analyze some considerable poems of the poet looking in-depth critically and objectively. Moreover, this article relies on several poems of the poet because they are much relevant to the aimed discussion. By addressing both commitment and identity, this article hopes to contribute to a fuller understanding of Palestinian poets of 1960s to 2000s.

Keywords: Tawfiq Zayyad, Palestinian poetry, poetic commitment, poetic techniques

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Authors: Nadezda Kobzeva

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Under the current trend of globalization, economic and technological dynamics information and the means by which it is delivered and renewed becomes out-of-date rapidly. Thus, educational systems as well as higher education are being seriously tested. New strategies’ developing that is supported by Information and Communication Technology is urgently required. The essential educators’ mission is to meet the demands of the future by preparing our young learners with proper knowledge, skills and innovation capabilities necessary to advance our competitiveness globally. In response to the modern society and future demands, the oldest Siberian Tomsk Polytechnic University has wisely proposed several initiatives to promote the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, and increase the competitiveness of graduates by emphasizing inquiry-based learning, higher order thinking and problem solving. This paper gives a brief overview of how Web Quest as ICT device is being used for language teaching and describes its use advantages for teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), in particular business writing skills. This study proposes to use Web Quest to promote higher order thinking and ICT integration in the process of engineers training in Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia.

Keywords: web quest, web quest in pedagogy, resume (CVs) and cover letter writing skills, ICT integration

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Authors: Carol Belle-Hallsworth

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Human interaction at work evolves over time and, with it, work identity. The social identity is built upon the development of its underpinning and preceding stages. Work identity can be viewed in the same way and will shift based on changes in the work environment and challenges to the work identity (threats to the four stages). This paper provides an analysis of how the stages of trust, autonomy, industry and initiative are related to the employee identity at work. Describing how they are related to each other and the development of identity. It has become common to notice changes in employee behavior during and after major operational changes in an organization. Previous studies suggest that there are emotional triggers that result in the new behaviors displayed. This study seeks to test a theoretical model by testing the relationship between the first four Erikson stages as constructs. A randomized sample of participants undertook a self-administered survey to capture information on trust, autonomy, initiative, and industry.

Keywords: work identity, change management, organizational management, technology implementation

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Authors: J. Marchand

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While university dropout entrepreneurs are celebrated in the practitioner literature, students’ intentions of becoming entrepreneurs have increasingly been the focus of student entrepreneur studies. However, students who are already running a business have rarely been examined. The experience of these students is a phenomenon that requires further research. Entrepreneurial identity represents a gap in the organisational studies literature. This paper utilises studentpreneurs’ self-narratives of their entrepreneurial journey. More specifically, the aim is to answer the following question: what are the types of identity work that individuals go through to build their entrepreneurial identity during that journey? Through long interviews, this paper studies the lived experience of 14 studentpreneurs who have achieved $54,000 in income and who participated publicly in entrepreneurial competitions. A general inductive analysis is performed on their narrative. With its focus on the journey, this paper makes a contribution to the literature on identity work and the entrepreneurial journey. A key contribution is the study of identity work on the journey to becoming an (established) entrepreneur in contrast to routine identity work.

Keywords: entrepreneurial identity, student entrepreneur, identity work, student entrepreneurship

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Authors: Shanshan Zhou, Massimo Battaglia

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Identity plays a critical role when an organization faces disasters. Individuals reflect on their working identities and identify themselves with the group and the organization, which facilitate collective sensemaking under crisis situations and enable coordinated actions to respond to and recover from disasters. In addition, an organization’s identity links it to its regional community, which fosters the mobilization of resources and contributes to rapid recovery. However, identity is also problematic for disaster prevention because of its persistence. An organization’s ego-defenses system prohibits the rethink of its identity and a rigid identity obstructs disaster prevention. This research aims to tackle the ‘problem’ of identity by study in-depth a case of an Italian multi–utility which experienced the 2012 Northern Italy earthquakes. Collecting data from 11 interviews with top managers and key players in the local community and archived materials, we find that the earthquakes triggered the rethink of the organization’s identity, which got reinforced afterward. This research highlighted the importance of identity in disaster response and recovery. More importantly, it explored the solution of overcoming the barrier of ego-defense that is to transform the organization into a learning organization which constantly rethinks its identity.

Keywords: community identity, disaster, identity, organizational learning

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Authors: Ibrahim Shinbira

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In urban design, much has been discussed on the significance of the physical qualities in creating the place identity; however, the role of walkability as a physical quality that can evokes people's perception of place identity has not been adequately explored. This paper is based on the part findings of a doctoral research examining place identity in the city centre of Misurata, Libya. A number of 176 questionnaire and 23 face-to-face interviews were conducted with residents of the city to investigate physical qualities of place identity that evoked resident's perception. The finding demonstrates that walkability within the city centre is strong and it influences the users’ perception on the place identity. These were regarded as very important in sustaining the socio-cultural values, enjoyment, options, vitality and comfort. The paper concludes by establishing that walkability has a substantial contribution to the place identity, therefore should be considered in the design of urban places specifically the redevelopment one.

Keywords: perception, walkability, physical environment, place identity, residents

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Authors: Meng-Tzu Cheng, Louisa Rosenheck, Chen-Yen Lin, Eric Klopfer

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The purpose of the research is to explore some of the ways in which gameplay data can be analyzed to yield results that feedback into the learning ecosystem. Back-end data for all users as they played an MMOG, The Radix Endeavor, was collected, and this study reports the analyses on a specific genetics quest by using the data mining techniques, including the decision tree method. In the study, different reasons for quest failure between participants who eventually succeeded and who never succeeded were revealed. Regarding the in-game tools use, trait examiner was a key tool in the quest completion process. Subsequently, the results of decision tree showed that a lack of trait examiner usage can be made up with additional Punnett square uses, displaying multiple pathways to success in this quest. The methods of analysis used in this study and the resulting usage patterns indicate some useful ways that gameplay data can provide insights in two main areas. The first is for game designers to know how players are interacting with and learning from their game. The second is for players themselves as well as their teachers to get information on how they are progressing through the game, and to provide help they may need based on strategies and misconceptions identified in the data.

Keywords: MMOG, decision tree, genetics, gaming-learning interaction

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Authors: Anna Ślebioda

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The paper discusses intersections between disability and femininity. Their imbrication may impede negotiation of identity. The analysis of a blog of a women with disability aims to prove this hypothesis. It involves 724 entries written in the span of six years. The conceptual framework for the considerations constitute the concepts of stigma and spoiled identity, and overlapping elements of femininity and disability. The empirical part comprises content analysis. It allows to locate the narrative on femininity and disability within the dimensions of imbricated categories described in the theoretical part. The results demonstrate aspects to consider in further research on identity in women with disabilities.

Keywords: disability, femininity, spoiled identity, stigma

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Authors: Chunhua Ma

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Background: There is a relationship between cultural identity and psychological health. Resilience is an important factor of psychological health, and cultural identity will protect the resilience. The research showed that the cultural identity, resilience, and self-concordance of students from different cultures. It should be a theoretical basis to improve mental health of different nationalities students. And the role of resilience factors for adults’ cultural identity and self-concordance was deserve studied. Aims: The current study aimed to examine the relationship between cultural identity and self-concordance among Chinese academician from 3 minorities, postulating mediating by resilience. Methods: This study used cross-sectional and correlational design. Participants were 328 Chinese aged between 18 and 25 years. Data was collected via self-reports including both closed and opened questions. Results: Linear regression analysis controlling for age, gender, the result showed that: (a) Cultural identity was related to self-concordance, resilience was related to self-concordance and cultural identity was related to resilience, (b) Resilience mediated the link between cultural identity and self-concordance, respectively. Discussion: Our findings suggested that resilience and cultural identity are important factors in self-concordance. If minority college students realized the heterogeneous culture, it would alleviate their psychological conflict, stimulate their strength potential and improve their self-concordance.

Keywords: cultural identity, resilience, self-concordance, mediating effect

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Authors: Stefanie Siebenhütter

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This paper aims to reveal criterions involved in the process of identity-forming among multilingual minority language speakers in Northeastern Thailand and in the capital Bangkok. Using sociolinguistic interviews and questionnaires, it is asked which factors are important for speakers and how they define their identity by their interactions socially as well as linguistically. One key question to answer is how sociolinguistic factors may force or diminish the process of forming social identity of multilingual minority speakers. However, the motivation for specific language use is rarely overt to the speaker’s themselves as well as to others. Therefore, identifying the intentions included in the process of identity construction is to approach by scrutinizing speaker’s behavior and attitudes. Combining methods used in sociolinguistics and social psychology allows uncovering the tools for identity construction that ethnic Kui uses to range themselves within a multilingual setting. By giving an overview of minority speaker’s language use in context of the specific border near multilingual situation and asking how speakers construe identity within this spatial context, the results exhibit some of the subtle and mostly unconscious criterions involved in the ongoing process of identity construction.

Keywords: social identity, identity construction, minority language, multilingualism, social networks, social boundaries

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Authors: Anne Gibbons

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Both inside and outside of academia, people have sought to understand the “sense of place” of various regions, many times over and for many different reasons. The concept of regional identity is highly complex and surrounded by considerable contention. There are multiple bodies of research on regional identity theory in many different disciplines and even across sub-disciplinary classifications. Each discipline takes a slightly different angle or perspective on regional identity, resulting in a fragmented body of work on this topic overall. There is a need to consolidate this body of increasingly fragmented theory through interdisciplinary integration. For the purpose of this study, the province of Saskatchewan will serve as an exemplar for exploring regional identity in a concrete context. Saskatchewan can be thought of as a ‘functional region,’ with clear boundaries and clear residency, from which regional identity can be studied. This thesis shares the outcomes of a qualitative study grounded in a series of group interviews with askatchewan residents, from which it is concluded that the use of interdisciplinary theory is an appropriate approach to the study of regional identity. Regional identity cannot be compartmentalized; it is a web of characteristics, attributes, and feelings that are inextricably linked. The thesis thus concludes by offering lessons learned about how we might better understand regional identity, as illuminated through both interdisciplinary theory and the lived experiences and imaginations of people living in the region of Saskatchewan.

Keywords: interdisciplinary, regional identity, Saskatchewan, tourism studies

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Authors: Alina M. Udall, Judith de Groot, Simon de Jong, Avi Shankar

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There are many ways in which environmentally significant behavior can be explained. Dominant psychological theories, namely, the theory of planned behavior, the norm-activation theory, its extension, the value-belief-norm theory, and the theory of habit do not explain large parts of environmentally significant behaviors. A new and rapidly growing approach is to focus on how consumer’s identities predict environmentally significant behavior. Identity may be relevant because consumers have many identities that are assumed to guide their behavior. Therefore, we assume that many identities will guide environmentally significant behavior. Many identities can be relevant for environmentally significant behavior. In reviewing the literature, over 200 identities have been studied making it difficult to establish the key identities for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Therefore, this paper first aims to establish the key identities previously used for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Second, the aim is to test which key identities explain environmentally significant behavior. To address the aims, an online survey study (n = 578) is conducted. First, the exploratory factor analysis reveals 15 identity factors. The identity factors are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, environmental place identity, connectedness with nature identity, green space visitor identity, active ethical identity, carbon off-setter identity, thoughtful self-identity, close community identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, environmental group member identity, national identity, identification with developed countries, cyclist identity, and thoughtful organisation identity. Furthermore, to help researchers understand and operationalize the identities, the article provides theoretical definitions for each of the identities, in line with identity theory, social identity theory, and place identity theory. Second, the hierarchical regression shows only 10 factors significantly uniquely explain the variance in environmentally significant behavior. In order of predictive power the identities are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, thoughtful self-identity, environmental group member identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, carbon off-setter identity, connectedness with nature identity, national identity, and green space visitor identity. The identities explain over 60% of the variance in environmentally significant behavior, a large effect size. Based on this finding, the article reveals a new, theoretical framework showing the key identities explaining environmentally significant behavior, to help improve and align the field.

Keywords: environmentally significant behavior, factor analysis, place identity, social identity

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Authors: Adam Johnbull

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The paper discusses ICT in Education as a quest for quality learning in the 21st century. Education is the key that unlock the door to development, without adequate education of the citizenry, the development of a nation becomes a sham. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) has revolutionized the way people work today and are now transforming education systems. As a result, if schools train children in yesterday’s skills and technologies they may not be effective and fit in tomorrow’s world. This is a sufficient reason for ICT’s to win global recognition and attention and thus ensure desire quality in our school system. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to discuss amongst others, what is ICT. The roles of ICT’s in education, limitation and key challenges of integrating ICT to education in the enhancement of student learning and experiences in other to encourage policy makers, school administrators and teachers pay the required attention to integrate this technology in the education system. The paper concludes that regardless of all the limitation characterizing it. ICT benefit education system to provide quality education in the 21st century.

Keywords: ICTs, quest, information, global, sham, century

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Authors: Betty Chiyangwa

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The subject of second-generation migrant youth is under-researched in the context of South Africa. Thus, their opinions and views have been marginalised in social science research. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the complexities of second-generation Mozambican migrant youth’s lived experiences in how they construct their identities and develop a sense of belonging in post-apartheid South Africa, specifically in Bushbuckridge. Bushbuckridge was among the earliest districts to accommodate Mozambican refugees to South Africa in the 1970s and remains associated with large numbers of Mozambicans. Drawing on Crenshaw’s (1989) intersectionality approach, the study contributes to knowledge on South-to-South migration by demonstrating how this approach is operationalised to understand the complex lived experiences of a disadvantaged group in life and possibly in death. In conceptualising the notion of identity among second-generation migrant youth, this paper explores the history and present of first and second-generation Mozambican migrants in South Africa to reveal how being born to migrant parents and raised in a hosting country poses life-long complications in one’s identity and sense of belonging. In the quest to form their identities and construct a sense of belonging, migrant youth employ precariously means to navigate the terrane. This is a case study informed by semi-structured interviews and narrative data gathered from 22 second-generation Mozambican migrant youth between 18 and 34 years who were born to at least one Mozambican parent living in Bushbuckridge and raised in South Africa. Views of two key informants from the South African Department of Home Affairs and the local tribal authority provided additional perspectives on second-generation migrant youth’s lived experiences in Bushbuckridge, which were explored thematically and narratively through Braun and Clarke’s (2012) six-step framework for analysing qualitative data. In exploring the interdependency and interconnectedness of social categories and social systems in Bushbuckridge, the findings revealed that participants’ experiences of identity formation and development of a sense of belonging were marginalised in complex, intersectional and precarious ways where they constantly (re)negotiated their daily experiences, which were largely shaped by their paradoxical migrant status in a host country. This study found that, in the quest for belonging, migrant youths were not a perfectly integrated category but evolved from almost daily lived experiences of creating a living that gave them an identity and a sense of belonging in South Africa. The majority of them shared feelings of living in limbo since childhood and fear of possibly dying in limbo with no clear (solid) sense of belonging to either South Africa or Mozambique. This study concludes that there is a strong association between feelings of identity, sense of belonging and levels of social integration. It recommends the development and adoption of a multilayer comprehensive model for understanding second-generation migrant youth identity and belonging in South Africa which encourages a collaborative effort among individual migrant youth, their family members, neighbours, society, and regional and national institutional structures for migrants to enhance and harness their capabilities and improve their wellbeing in South Africa.

Keywords: bushbuckridge, limbo, mozambican migrants, second-generation

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Authors: Lia Tsuladze

Abstract:

The paper discusses the Georgians’ online discourses of national identity in the context of Europeanisation focusing on two periods - initialing of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement in November 2013 and signing it in June 2014. Discussing how the Georgians’ aspiration to integrate with the EU is combined with their perception of Europeanisation as a threat to the national identity, the author explores how the national sentiment is expressed in the above discourses while performed for the local vs. international audiences.

Keywords: Europeanisation, frontstage, backstage discourses, Georgia, national identity

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Authors: Gurleen Kaur

Abstract:

Being tall-short, fat-thin, black-white, etc. is an inevitable part of how people perceive you. This association of people with your external appearance carves out an identity for you. This paper will look at the reasons why people relate a person to a particular categorization on the basis of his/her physical appearance. The paper delves into reasons for this categorization into groups: Subconscious grouping, personal gain, ease of relating to the group, and social acceptance. Development of certain unique physical features also leads to a person relating himself to a collective identity. Thus, this paper will support the fact that physical appearance plays a crucial role in categorization of people into groups and hence forming a group identity for them. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part will discuss what physical appearance is and how is it linked to our daily lives. The second part will talk about why it works i.e. why this factor of external appearance is important in formation of identity. The last part will talk about the factors which lead to categorization of identity because of physical appearance.

Keywords: group identity, physical appearance, subconscious grouping, collective identity

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Authors: A. K. O’Loughlin

Abstract:

Identity doesn’t exist in discrete categories as it is defined. Kevin Kumashiro reveals the phrase 'an impossibility of identity' in Troubling Education (2000), an investigation of the intersections of culture and gender and the impact of erasure for queer POC identity. This underscores the essentiality of an insider or an outsider identity and the appearance of 'contradiction' or impossibility of these identities. The contradictions between us as subject in our own stories and in the stories of others are often silenced. This silencing of complex, 'contradicting' identity has unmissable implications in the classroom; the developing student in question is done a serious disservice, from which they may never recover. There is no more important point of contact than the teacher, for willingness to encounter a developing person as they are, not as we already think they are, or 'know' them to be, or think they should be. To decide how to regard them based on our own unilateral identity and its associated exhortations and injunctions is, as Hannah Arendt writes in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), to sell off our ability to rise, human-like, to the challenge of investigating things as they are. A re-reading of Kumashiro’s impossibility of identity becomes possible through the investigation of pluralism. Identities become possible and un-paradoxical by the notion that contradictions are not problems that an individual is not unilateral, but plural. In this paper, we investigate how philosophies of pluralism can inform our understanding of impossibility of identity in classroom curriculum and pedagogy.

Keywords: identity, gender, culture, pluralism, education, philosophy of education, queer theory, philosophy of mind, adolescent development

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Authors: M. Rilliard

Abstract:

Based on a Multiliteracies-inspired and sociolinguistically-informed advanced French composition class, this study employed autobiographical narratives from speakers traditionally considered non-legitimate models for L2 teaching purposes of inspiring students to develop an authentic L2 voice and to see themselves as legitimate L2 speakers. Students explored their L2 identities in French through a self-inspired fictional character. Two autobiographical narratives of identity quest by non-traditional French speakers provided them guidance through this process: the novel Le Bleu des Abeilles (2013) and the film Qu’Allah Bénisse la France (2014). Written and French oral productions for different genres, as well as metalinguistic reflections in English, were collected and analyzed. Results indicate that ideas and materials that were relatable to students, namely relatable experiences and relatable language, were most useful to them in developing their L2 voices and achieving authentic and legitimate L2 speakership. These results point towards the benefits of using non-traditional speakers as pedagogical models, as they serve to legitimize students’ sense of their own L2-speakership, which ultimately leads them towards a better, more informed, mastery of the language.

Keywords: foreign language classroom, L2 identity, L2 learning and teaching, L2 writing, sociolinguistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 106