Barbara Weber

This thesis argues that resignation, as an affective experience, operates as a structural and political condition in late modern societies, produced by capitalism’s systematic erosion of the common world that sustains plurality and action, rather than as a merely psychological state. Resignation manifests in contemporary phenomena such as declining birth rates, educational disillusionment, political withdrawal, and social isolation, understood here as interconnected expressions of a broader closure of the future and a retreat from the spaces of community building rather than as discrete or isolated symptoms. Far from constituting a passive or neutral response, resignation is shown to be both an effect of neoliberal capitalism and a condition that reinforces it, rendering subjects vulnerable to authoritarian tendencies and the hollowing out of democratic life. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition, the thesis reframes resignation as a crisis of worldlessness rather than as individual pathology, challenging psychologized, individualistic accounts of contemporary despair. Although resignation appears pervasive and structurally entrenched, the concept of natality designates a fragile and uncertain possibility of interruption: an opening through which action may reappear and a common world may be provisionally reconstituted under conditions of profound political exhaustion and hopelessness.

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Belonging has become a hot topic in recent years. Popularly described as a fundamental human need, belonging has been associated with a multitude of positive effects on health, well-being, achievement, and adjustment. Policies, practices, and metrics intended to promote belonging are now widely implemented in schools, workplaces, and political institutions. While dominant narratives about belonging predominantly frame it as ubiquitously positive and teleological, many contradictions and silences remain within. Issues of power are conspicuously absent in conversations about belonging, and the choice not to belong is rarely acknowledged.In this paper, I use critical theory and layered account autoethnography to interrogate the implications and power dynamics that surround dominant narratives of belonging. How do structures of power mediate our access to and experience of so-called belonging? What narratives are dominant in shaping our understanding of belonging, and what alternative narratives might be silenced as a result? What are the implications of those dominant narratives, and what do we risk when we fail to question them? Using Michel Foucault’s analysis of power, Erich Fromm’s framework of having and being, and Slavoj Žižek’s metaphor of the post-modern permissive parent, I show that dominant narratives of belonging enact emotional violence by prescribing belonging under the threat of dehumanization. Building upon an unfolding of belonging as agentic, desire-driven, and grounded in the present, I propose belonging-as-relationship, which makes room for the choice not to belong as both an expression of agency and a vehicle for resistance. Finally, I argue that the responsibility and expectation to belong should not fall upon individuals. Instead, those who are in structural positions of power must create inclusive and responsive conditions that are favorable to organic experiences of belonging.This study invites readers to reflect on the ways dominant narratives have shaped their own lived experiences, and advocates for a critical understanding of belonging that resists appropriation as tool for compliance and upholds its agentic and empowering potential.

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The Canadian child welfare system, more accurately termed the family policing system (FPS), heavily dominates child protection discourse by asserting that it acts in the best interest of vulnerable children. One way this narrative is sustained is through record-making. While records assist FPS agents in service delivery, they harm reported individuals in numerous ways. Records silence the voices of children and youth, control the narrative of child protection, secure our continued belief in the necessity of FPS services– which rely on the sustained displacement of children from their families and communities– and discourage us from envisioning alternative means of protecting vulnerable children. As a queer, Albanian immigrant, youth-from-care, and adoptee, I join a growing conversation that challenges the existence and authority of the FPS and questions what it does and could mean to act in the best interest of children in the context of child protection. Through a desire-focused, queer Child and Youth Care (CYC), autoethnographic social fiction imagination, I queer my FPS records to create a new record. I show how records can (un)know, (un)do, and (un)become their authority, fixedness, and harm, and know, do, and become stories that imagine alternative, more dynamic, collective, and liberating ways of supporting the well- being of our communities. In queering my FPS records, I imagine, create, and present five vignettes that (re)story moments of desire from my FPS records into new stories detailing the lives of two sisters involved with a futuristic Canadian FPS. Each vignette explores and reveals the complexity involved in stories of desire and child protection, offering new insights to readers. Through its (un)becoming, this thesis demonstrates the possibilities of records and a desire-focused queer CYC autoethnographic social fiction imagination to radically transform our understanding of acting in the best interest of children. It invites readers to consider the research, practice, and policy potential of this approach and to join the movement to imagine beyond the FPS.

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Consent and the communication of consent, particularly in intimate person-to-person contexts, has come to the forefront of mainstream cultural discussions since the emergence of the #MeToo movement in 2017. Contact improvisation (CI) communities have also seen a rise in discussions around consent. Across Canada, these discussions have resulted in guidelines, practices, and further discussions, with the intention of clarifying the inherently messy boundaries around embodied negotiations of consent. Despite the conversations, no studies have directly inquired into the practices of nonverbal consent within a CI dance.To better understand individuals' lived experiences of communicating and embodying consent nonverbally in CI, I employ a phenomenological lens. The works of phenomenologists James Mensch (2009), Max van Manen (1989; 1999; 2006; 2014), and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1968; 2013) guide my theoretical lens and methodology. A video-recorded dance jam, one-on-one interviews, and personal reflections inform a descriptive exploration of the nuances in signification and negotiation of nonverbal consent on the dance floor. By comparing participants' experiences of a jam and exploring moments of consent negotiation through video clips and interviews, participants’ experiences and perceptions illuminate how consent is understood and communicated nonverbally in the moment-to-moment negotiations of each co-created dance. Instances of negotiation brought to the forefront were those involving initiating, exiting, risk, play, stillness, and intimacy. Sensuous and descriptive moments of the dance bring to life the complexities, challenges, and joys of the participants’ lived experiences of consent. Findings from this study could be used to inform further research on the nonverbal communication of consent, both in CI and other relevant fields.

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Learning disabilities (LD) constitute the most diagnosed disability in Canada with estimated rates greater than 3% of all students. LDs vary in severity and impact individuals differently across areas depending on the person’s experiences, personality and given supports inside and outside of the classroom. Self-concept is a multidimensional construct defined as a combination of one’s social and academic selves. Self-concept develops and changes across the lifespan and is influenced by positive and negative experiences in one’s life. In individuals with LD, self-concept development is at risk due to the increased difficulties associated with having LD. The middle years are a critical developmental period between the ages of 11-14 years. This time coinciding with adolescence brings about a series of affective, cognitive and behavioural changes. Individuals in the middle years experience extreme physical and hormonal changes, as well as changes in their social support systems. This instability is linked to increased vulnerabilities in LD populations including the development of mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Self-concept development during the middle years in individuals with LD is highly variable and is associated with a multitude of increased risks compared to non-LD populations. Due to the individuality of self-concept development, and the highly personal and varying experiences of individuals with LD during the middle years, this study aims to increase the available knowledge of self-concept development in this population. The use of an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis framework allowed this study to explore themes relating to self-concept development in middle years students with LDs. Findings suggest that middle year students perceive self-concept and identity development to be directly influenced by their mental health and well-being; community and support services; and experiences surrounding their LD diagnosis. Research findings and their relevance are discussed from both a social and educational perspective.

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This thesis will address the difficulties children of newcomer families face as they transition to life in a multicultural country like Canada. As immigrant families represented about 39 percent of total immigrant landings in British Columbia in 2013, there is an increasing need to accumulate knowledge about the development and adjustment of the children from this population. The lives of First Generation immigrant children are marked by dramatic adjustments due to difficulties with language, family dislocation and culture shock. The following will examine the current approach of the BC Ministry of Education in its aim to make newcomer students feel at home- and thus, adjusted. The underlying question of this research investigates whether adjustment should, in fact, be the end goal of newcomers? And what critical aspects of the lifeworld of newcomers are neglected when the aim is to cultivate acculturated individuals? In answering this question, this thesis will first analyze how adjustment is defined in the domains of dominating theories, current research, as well as pedagogical practices geared towards newcomers. It will be illustrated that the majority of studies dedicated to immigrant children has overlooked the emotional experiences in navigating the education system, and has instead opted to measure proficiency in the English language as a marker of adjustment. Yet the struggles of newcomer children run much deeper. In a phenomenological exploration of adjustment and critiquing its necessity as an aim for both policymakers and newcomers, the ideas of three authors, Søren Kierkegaard, Mikhail Bakhtin and Homi Bhabha will shed light on the lifeworld of immigrant children in order to propose a new approach to the recognition of this group. This thesis can enhance the understanding of educational leaders when it comes to addressing diversity in education, for they are in a favorable position to acknowledge the struggles children must face in bridging their past and present experiences, and to incorporate them into strategies to counteract the many negative experiences they may be receiving in education.

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