Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
701589318
Link(s) to full text
LAC copy
LAC copy
Author
Wright, Brenda Lee,1959-
Title
Seasons of loss, learning, and self : grief, transformative learning, and individuation.
Degree
M. Ad. Ed. -- St. Francis Xavier University, 2009
Publisher
Ottawa : Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, [2010]
Description
1 microfiche
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
This thesis describes the study of grief, transformative learning, and individuation and the relationship between these topics. Here, grief is related to a variety of losses and changes in life including the loss of a sense of Self. The study includes nine participants, eight women and one man, whom were interviewed to create personal narratives. All of the narratives were captured by telephone with the exception of one, which was completed in-person. Each interview was approximately 1 to 2 hours in length. Presented in their own words, each narrative depicts the participants experience with grief and their journey to make meaning out of that experience. Grief is explored as a catalyst for transformative learning and individuation through extrarational approaches, which surfaced in the narratives. The study shows how adults make meaning of their experiences with grief through journaling, nature, movement, literature, story, music, ritual, imagination, and intuition and how those approaches connect us with a deeper meaning and a stronger self concept, which in turn is transformative. The study also describes the process of alchemy as metaphor for the internal process of transformative learning and individuation and further explores the relationship of the topics to the emergence of the Self and the soul. The methodology which informs this study is narrative inquiry. Due to insufficient literature in the field of adult education to support a full literature review the research was also drawn from literature on depth psychology, spirituality, and personal growth.
ISBN
9780494558614
049455861X