title: Narratives from the Mind's Eye: The Significance of Mental Health Pathography in New Zealand, 1980-2008.

authors: Campion, Michelle Edith

subjects: pathography

abstract: Medical narratives have dominated historical accounts of suffering, patients have also played a role in their own illness experiences. Efforts to elucidate their perspective have necessarily focused on deconstructionist readings of material produced by the medical profession. However, in recent years historians have been aided in their task by sufferers, who have begun to publish their own narratives of affliction. These accounts, called 'pathographies', are particularly significant for histories of mental health, where comprehension outside experience remains tenuous.

This thesis investigates sufferers' experiences of mental illness through an examination of fourteen New Zealand mental health pathographies, published between 1980 and 2008. It considers, not just what pathographies say, but how the way in which they say it, including the myths, language and media used, conveys the desired meaning and reflects the purpose of the narrative. Sufferers' narratives inform readers about what it is like to be ill, including what was thought, felt and done. In describing their experiences sufferers invariably discuss the illness relationships which comprise their support network. Most especially they highlight the importance of the role which family and friends play in recovery. Despite pathography's restoration of the patient's voice through the provision of a legitimate, therapeutic narrative, silences remain. Whether the result of selectivity, concealment, or forgetfulness, pathographers' silences are far from meaningless, powerfully conveying the pain, anger, embarrassment, and hurt which eludes articulation. In spite of the presence of silence this thesis argues that pathographies are a rich source of information about the position of mental illness sufferers. Yet to be fully utilised, I argue that pathographies testify to the way in which the chaotic can be ordered in a therapeutic plot which communicates the individual truth wrought by memory.

text: Narratives from the Mind's Eye: The Significance of Mental Health Pathography in New Zealand, 1980-2008. Medical narratives have dominated historical accounts of suffering, patients have also played a role in their own illness experiences. Efforts to elucidate their perspective have necessarily focused on deconstructionist readings of material produced by the medical profession. However, in recent years historians have been aided in their task by sufferers, who have begun to publish their own narratives of affliction. These accounts, called 'pathographies', are particularly significant for histories of mental health, where comprehension outside experience remains tenuous.

This thesis investigates sufferers' experiences of mental illness through an examination of fourteen New Zealand mental health pathographies, published between 1980 and 2008. It considers, not just what pathographies say, but how the way in which they say it, including the myths, language and media used, conveys the desired meaning and reflects the purpose of the narrative. Sufferers' narratives inform readers about what it is like to be ill, including what was thought, felt and done. In describing their experiences sufferers invariably discuss the illness relationships which comprise their support network. Most especially they highlight the importance of the role which family and friends play in recovery. Despite pathography's restoration of the patient's voice through the provision of a legitimate, therapeutic narrative, silences remain. Whether the result of selectivity, concealment, or forgetfulness, pathographers' silences are far from meaningless, powerfully conveying the pain, anger, embarrassment, and hurt which eludes articulation. In spite of the presence of silence this thesis argues that pathographies are a rich source of information about the position of mental illness sufferers. Yet to be fully utilised, I argue that pathographies testify to the way in which the chaotic can be ordered in a therapeutic plot which communicates the individual truth wrought by memory.

year: 2009

title: Using Activity Theory to understand contradictions in an online university course facilitated by Moodle

authors: Gedera, Dilani S.P.

subjects: Moodle

abstract: Activity Theory can offer insights into learning processes that are facilitated by Learning Management Systems. Contradictions, as a basic principle of Activity Theory, assist in identifying the tensions and conflicts that emerge in systems of online learning environments. Using Activity Theory as its research framework, this study focuses on the contradictions that emerged in the form of tensions, frustrations, misunderstandings and miscommunication in a fully online university course in New Zealand. The data collection methods of this case study included individual interviews, online activity observation and documents analysis. Outlining some of the findings of the study, this paper will discuss how students’ participation in learning activities facilitated by Moodle was affected by these contradictions.

text: Using Activity Theory to understand contradictions in an online university course facilitated by Moodle Activity Theory can offer insights into learning processes that are facilitated by Learning Management Systems. Contradictions, as a basic principle of Activity Theory, assist in identifying the tensions and conflicts that emerge in systems of online learning environments. Using Activity Theory as its research framework, this study focuses on the contradictions that emerged in the form of tensions, frustrations, misunderstandings and miscommunication in a fully online university course in New Zealand. The data collection methods of this case study included individual interviews, online activity observation and documents analysis. Outlining some of the findings of the study, this paper will discuss how students’ participation in learning activities facilitated by Moodle was affected by these contradictions.

year: 2013

title: Lake weed and the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes then and now

authors: Burton, Tracy

abstract: This afternoon we will be looking beneath the surface of the Rotorua
Te Arawa lakes at the submerged aquatic plants that grow within them – the good the bad and the ugly. We will have a look at the special native aquatic plants that occur naturally in the lakes, familiarise ourselves with the weed species that have invaded them and look at how these weeds have (and are) changed the natural condition of the lakes. We will also look at how submerged plants are being used to report on the condition of our lakes and what these plant communities can tell us about the state of the lakes yesterday and today.

text: Lake weed and the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes then and now This afternoon we will be looking beneath the surface of the Rotorua
Te Arawa lakes at the submerged aquatic plants that grow within them – the good the bad and the ugly. We will have a look at the special native aquatic plants that occur naturally in the lakes, familiarise ourselves with the weed species that have invaded them and look at how these weeds have (and are) changed the natural condition of the lakes. We will also look at how submerged plants are being used to report on the condition of our lakes and what these plant communities can tell us about the state of the lakes yesterday and today.

year: 2017