Body Traversed

This paper deals with the notion of non-knowledge through performative experience. It touches upon the thought process mechanism, the possibility of being outside language, the norm, and the meaning of such experience. The performance entitled Non-Human is used as illustration, which means that the study constitutes research in practice. It refers to the notion of zoe as the pure, unbounded life force and separates the importance of identity from the being and becoming. It examines the possibility of entering the prereflexive and expressing it, testing its capacity of communication. Is cogito the only way to identify ourselves as human?

Being and becoming internationally minded: Snapshots of novice Canadian teachers in international schools

This paper examines the experiences of three Canadian teachers beginning their formal careers in international schools. International mindedness is taken up as a sensitivity that international schoolteachers both bring to their international teaching assignments and further develop in the transnational spaces of international schools. As such, the internationally minded teacher is able to respond and learn from the intercultural complexities of teaching and living overseas. Findings suggest some elements of international mindedness are more readily appreciated and practiced by these novice teachers while others require greater awareness and effort to attain. The findings also suggest that ‘cosmopolitan learning’ (Rizvi, 2009), foregrounding the importance of critically reflecting upon one’s ‘locatedness’ in the world, represents a generative orientation for teachers wanting to deepen their international mindedness.

Being and Becoming: A Metaphysics of Aesthetic Experience

<p>In the tragedies of Greek antiquity occurred a rare phenomenological event that shaped its people, producing what the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued as the highest culture and art of Occidental civilization. Distilling the tragic dramas to a metaphysic of time, the origins of a bed rock of aesthetic experience is exposed in the dual presence of what has commonly been referred to since antiquity as ‘being’ and ‘becoming’. These two temporal phenomena are approached as qualitative experiences, which present two extreme polls of a basic spectrum of aesthetic experience. In understanding their underlying temporal origins, a direct and clear line of translation is found between these elements and their aesthetic import through the mechanisms of physical, tangible architectural properties. In addressing how architecture mediates each, two precedents are attended to which present pronounced ends of the œuvre of architectural conditions; Greek or ‘classic’ architecture, and that of the Brazilian slums or ‘Favelas’. Through an in-depth study of the temporality of Greek architecture we are offered a raw reflection into both the nature of ‘being’ and the fundamental ways it finds a presence through architecture - it is a look into the built languages of our own aesthetic and architectural sensibility. The study of ‘becoming’ in the Favelas is of particular significance, in that it affords access to a more rare, and yet markedly important, spectrum of the built environment; in understanding its deeper aesthetic import, we inevitably approach persuasive grounds of a value that questions conventional practices of architecture. A design based project in the final section of the thesis attempts an amalgamation of architectures of both being and becoming, as a means to understand deeper relations and tensions between them through the more subtle language of visual representation. Approaching architecture through the theoretical and phenomenological lens of being and becoming, we gain a valuable insight into the less concrete aspects of the art; into what we feel within it, and consequently a deeper and more conscious understanding of why we make things as they are; and potentially, through such understanding, how they can be made better.</p>

Being and Becoming: A Metaphysics of Aesthetic Experience

<p>In the tragedies of Greek antiquity occurred a rare phenomenological event that shaped its people, producing what the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued as the highest culture and art of Occidental civilization. Distilling the tragic dramas to a metaphysic of time, the origins of a bed rock of aesthetic experience is exposed in the dual presence of what has commonly been referred to since antiquity as ‘being’ and ‘becoming’. These two temporal phenomena are approached as qualitative experiences, which present two extreme polls of a basic spectrum of aesthetic experience. In understanding their underlying temporal origins, a direct and clear line of translation is found between these elements and their aesthetic import through the mechanisms of physical, tangible architectural properties. In addressing how architecture mediates each, two precedents are attended to which present pronounced ends of the œuvre of architectural conditions; Greek or ‘classic’ architecture, and that of the Brazilian slums or ‘Favelas’. Through an in-depth study of the temporality of Greek architecture we are offered a raw reflection into both the nature of ‘being’ and the fundamental ways it finds a presence through architecture - it is a look into the built languages of our own aesthetic and architectural sensibility. The study of ‘becoming’ in the Favelas is of particular significance, in that it affords access to a more rare, and yet markedly important, spectrum of the built environment; in understanding its deeper aesthetic import, we inevitably approach persuasive grounds of a value that questions conventional practices of architecture. A design based project in the final section of the thesis attempts an amalgamation of architectures of both being and becoming, as a means to understand deeper relations and tensions between them through the more subtle language of visual representation. Approaching architecture through the theoretical and phenomenological lens of being and becoming, we gain a valuable insight into the less concrete aspects of the art; into what we feel within it, and consequently a deeper and more conscious understanding of why we make things as they are; and potentially, through such understanding, how they can be made better.</p>

Being and Becoming an Exemplary Nurse - an Authentic Journey

<p>The aims of this study were to illuminate the joint constructions of exemplary nurses and their lived experiences of being and becoming one. Inherent in being ‘exemplary’ was the notion of ‘becoming’, which involved the integration of knowledge and experiences through reflecting on the day-to-day of ‘being a nurse’. Being exemplary was not about perfection but learning from every experience and integrating these into becoming. To elucidate these phenomena, I developed a creative qualitative and participatory method informed by Guba and Lincoln’s Constructivist, and van Manen’s Human Science Approaches, underpinned by Glaser’s Emergent Philosophy. Ten exemplary nurses were recruited and interviewed three times. They also provided supplementary data such as photos, poetry and writings. This interview data was transcribed and imported into the computer programme QSR NVivo. This programme allowed for management of the raw data and facilitated coding and categorising, while remaining grounded in the whole text and its meanings. Analysis occurred through first and second level categorising and the use of writing as method. Writing became a way of knowing – assisting discovery and allowing reflection on the data in order to connect the categories and themes together in a coherent and workable whole. The above method led to the following emergent findings. The pivotal construct was Authentic Being, through living a reflective life, surrounded by the major constructs of Love of Nursing, Making a Difference, Critical Friends, Walking the Talk and Backpack patients. These constructs directed a specific and comprehensive review of both the philosophical and nursing literature. This review was not used to expand or enlarge the findings but to enlighten, illuminate and clarify. Significant philosophical ideas were extended, developed and synthesised with the findings. Noteworthy was the expansion of Heidegger’s notion of B/being: where capitalisation denotes essence and lower case symbolises the verb – to be. The use of B/being represents the merging of a person’s essence and being into one. The notion of B/being and B/becoming through time – specifically human-lived-time was also important. B/being and B/becoming exemplary was an authentic embodiment of being self with being with others – a true holistic B/being-in-the-world. The purposeful review of significant nursing theorists and the general nursing literature demonstrated that this study’s participants had attributes and skills comparable to those described and ‘called’ for. In addition, this study’s participants often went further than these descriptions, and demonstrated and exemplified a true holistic B/being – where they were more than the sum of their parts and integrated all aspects of themselves through critical reflection in order to B/be and B/become. Through synthesis of this knowledge a definition of B/being and B/being an Exemplary Nurse was developed - Exemplary nurses authentically embody being themselves – with being with others – they are B/being-in-the-world. Situated in human-lived-time they use experiences carried in their backpacks to actively ‘Be’ who they want to ‘Become’. At the spiralling intersection between past and future they use their love of nursing and critical friends to make a difference for those they care for and to walk the talk with their colleagues. The new knowledge that emerged from this research has profound implications for everyday nursing practice, undergraduate and post graduate nursing education, and for Charge Nurses and Senior Nurses, who are of vital importance as role models, mentors and critical friends. The results are significant and are important for nurses and the nursing profession and contribute to, and, advance nursing knowledge.</p>

Being and Becoming an Exemplary Nurse - an Authentic Journey

<p>The aims of this study were to illuminate the joint constructions of exemplary nurses and their lived experiences of being and becoming one. Inherent in being ‘exemplary’ was the notion of ‘becoming’, which involved the integration of knowledge and experiences through reflecting on the day-to-day of ‘being a nurse’. Being exemplary was not about perfection but learning from every experience and integrating these into becoming. To elucidate these phenomena, I developed a creative qualitative and participatory method informed by Guba and Lincoln’s Constructivist, and van Manen’s Human Science Approaches, underpinned by Glaser’s Emergent Philosophy. Ten exemplary nurses were recruited and interviewed three times. They also provided supplementary data such as photos, poetry and writings. This interview data was transcribed and imported into the computer programme QSR NVivo. This programme allowed for management of the raw data and facilitated coding and categorising, while remaining grounded in the whole text and its meanings. Analysis occurred through first and second level categorising and the use of writing as method. Writing became a way of knowing – assisting discovery and allowing reflection on the data in order to connect the categories and themes together in a coherent and workable whole. The above method led to the following emergent findings. The pivotal construct was Authentic Being, through living a reflective life, surrounded by the major constructs of Love of Nursing, Making a Difference, Critical Friends, Walking the Talk and Backpack patients. These constructs directed a specific and comprehensive review of both the philosophical and nursing literature. This review was not used to expand or enlarge the findings but to enlighten, illuminate and clarify. Significant philosophical ideas were extended, developed and synthesised with the findings. Noteworthy was the expansion of Heidegger’s notion of B/being: where capitalisation denotes essence and lower case symbolises the verb – to be. The use of B/being represents the merging of a person’s essence and being into one. The notion of B/being and B/becoming through time – specifically human-lived-time was also important. B/being and B/becoming exemplary was an authentic embodiment of being self with being with others – a true holistic B/being-in-the-world. The purposeful review of significant nursing theorists and the general nursing literature demonstrated that this study’s participants had attributes and skills comparable to those described and ‘called’ for. In addition, this study’s participants often went further than these descriptions, and demonstrated and exemplified a true holistic B/being – where they were more than the sum of their parts and integrated all aspects of themselves through critical reflection in order to B/be and B/become. Through synthesis of this knowledge a definition of B/being and B/being an Exemplary Nurse was developed - Exemplary nurses authentically embody being themselves – with being with others – they are B/being-in-the-world. Situated in human-lived-time they use experiences carried in their backpacks to actively ‘Be’ who they want to ‘Become’. At the spiralling intersection between past and future they use their love of nursing and critical friends to make a difference for those they care for and to walk the talk with their colleagues. The new knowledge that emerged from this research has profound implications for everyday nursing practice, undergraduate and post graduate nursing education, and for Charge Nurses and Senior Nurses, who are of vital importance as role models, mentors and critical friends. The results are significant and are important for nurses and the nursing profession and contribute to, and, advance nursing knowledge.</p>