How to use $(this) in a quoted selector

How to use $(this) in a quoted selector

I have a UL list with hyperlinks in the LIs.

When I click on the hyperlink, I want to go up the list, and get the html() within the first LI in the list.

I have a ('a') click function that returns the hyperlink as $(this).

Now how do I get up to UL and down to LI?

(It's actually more complicated because I really want to go up to a top level UL and down to a top level LI...but let's start here).

When I start with $(this) how can I integrate it into a selector?

For example, I can supposedly do ("LI > UL > LI:first"), but can I do ("$(this) > LI > UL > LI :first") or do I do ($(this) "> LI > UL > LI:first") ?