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A Gentle Unfolding: The Lived Experiences of Women Healers in South-central Indiana

Martin, Samantha L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1398799871

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Cross-Cultural, International Education.
This research examines the lived experiences of nine women healers in South-central Indiana in terms of their journeys towards becoming healers. As a phenomenological case study, the goal is to discern the essence of participants' experiences becoming a healer. The study examines interview data using an inductive approach in order to answer the following research question: what is the essence of these specific participants' experiences of becoming a healer? Additionally, the study explores the following sub-questions; 1.) What can be understood about becoming a healer, in a general sense, by interpreting these specific women's experiences and life stories from a phenomenological perspective? 2.) How do participants make meaning of their lived experiences, their chosen path, and their identities as healers? In answering these questions, this study employs feminist, critical, and social theory frameworks. Nine women consented to participate in open-ended, semi-structured interviews and discuss their life histories, current paths as alternative healers, and worldviews. Additionally, one participant-observation and one observation were conducted to supplement interview data and immerse the researcher into the experience of healing and the lives of healers. The results of data collection are organized into four thematic areas that shed light on the nature of participants' experiences of the phenomenon under investigation. The major themes represent aspects of a cyclical, ongoing process or journey towards becoming and being a healer, from these participants' perspectives and experiences. These themes are; 1.) "Awakening," or the importance of inner transformation to facilitating healing work, 2.) "Open-mindedness," or the importance of developing a critical awareness of the self and society at large to the process of becoming a healer, 3.) "Grounding," or the importance of building connections to sustained empowerment as a healer and as a woman in order to reach a state of "Groundedness", and 4.) "Integrity" and maintaining an ethic of care, or the importance of understanding and living by a certain set of ethics that help ensure empowerment on the individual level and a positive conceptual relation to clients and the wider world to developing and maintaining efficacy as a healer. These four themes inform conclusions about the essence of the phenomenon, Empowerment. Detailed analysis of each theme as well as the essence of the phenomenon is provided, and possibilities and implications for further research are considered. Connections are made to human development, adult identity transformation, and women's journeys of empowerment. The study concludes with the researcher's reflections on the process of conducting this project and its implications as a phenomenological analysis.
Christopher Frey, PhD (Advisor)
Sherri Horner, PhD (Committee Member)
Ellen Berry, PhD (Committee Member)
254 p.
Adult Education; Alternative Medicine; American Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Education; Gender; Gender Studies; Native Americans; Religion; Spirituality
women healers; healers; alternative medicine; human development; identity development; empowerment; Indiana; United States; settler-colonial theory; hegemony; alienation; Foucault; Marx; Gramsci; Jung; wounded healer; feminist theory; ways of knowing

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Martin, S. L. (2014). A Gentle Unfolding: The Lived Experiences of Women Healers in South-central Indiana [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1398799871

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Martin, Samantha. A Gentle Unfolding: The Lived Experiences of Women Healers in South-central Indiana. 2014. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1398799871.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Martin, Samantha. "A Gentle Unfolding: The Lived Experiences of Women Healers in South-central Indiana." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1398799871

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1398799871
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.