Universities in South Africa have emerged from an exceptionally fragmented and divided past and are responding to this by reconceptualising and restructuring their institutional governance structures. This is been done through the introduction of policies and strategies aimed at transforming institutional landscapes and creating environments that are conducive to meeting the demands and pressures of a transformed SA. Previous studies have indicated that there is a need for institutional transformation and change at newly merged universities in SA. However, very little is known about the possible role the arts could play in institutional change and transformation processes and what Badat refers to, when referencing the process of institutional transformation, as “the dissolution of existing social relations and institutions, policies and practices, and their re-creation and consolidation into something substantially new” (2009:456). The goal of this research study is to explore the views, opinions and perceptions of key stakeholders and decision-makers at a comprehensive South African university, in this case, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), in order to gain their insights into the role the arts could play in creating and consolidating a transformative institutional culture at a merged university in SA. The data was obtained from semi-structured interviews with 16 key decision-makers and stakeholders at NMMU. Based on the thematic data analysis, the responses from these key stakeholders indicate that there is wide support for the arts to play a role in the establishment of a transformative institutional culture and it appears that not only should the arts play a role, they should play a central role.

M.Ed. / The end of apartheid also marked the end of a segregated schooling system in South Africa and the new challenge of orientating learners to interact across cultural barriers, in keeping with the Constitution’s promotion of respect for diverse cultures. The Learning Area of Life Orientation, introduced to schools under the new dispensation, provides a real opportunity for them to promote cultural diversity within the classroom. In this investigation, the researcher used qualitative research methods to explore how learners at a primary school perceived cultural diversity. Interviews were conducted to explore their views on interactions across cultural groups and the way cultural diversity could be promoted in the classroom through Life Orientation as a Learning Area. Learners were also observed in the classroom and on the playground. The findings indicate that ethnicity is still a defining factor in schools and that learners often confused race and culture. Learners demonstrated an awareness of difference within their school, which they grouped according to race rather than culture. They indicated that their interactions with different groups resulted in both negative and positive experiences, with differences in languages emerging as the most commonly recognised. They also believed that the majority of their teachers were actively promoting a respect for cultural diversity. However, observations of learners revealed that they preferred to group themselves according to gender rather than culture or race, and while most groups were exclusively male or exclusively female all but three contained a mixture of cultural groups. Learners also proposed a variety of suggestions as to how cultural diversity could be promoted in the Life Orientation class room. From the findings it is clear that the Life Orientation Learning Area offers a realistic opportunity to promote cultural diversity in schools. There also appears to be a need to create an awareness of the difference between race and culture, so that learners can move beyond the narrow confines of apartheid classifications. If learners and teachers are encouraged to promote a respect for cultural diversity at school level, it must eventually permeate societal thinking.

D.Phil. / Being Kenyan means belonging to a number of levels, the national, the local, one’s tribe or ethnic group and supra-state. It means living in a world beyond the Kenyan nation in which absolutism, whether of the ethnic or national civic state, is no longer operative. While encouraging Kenyans to regionalize and globalize, the state in Kenya has also simultaneously sought to construct a nation and develop among Kenyans a sense of national identity. State pronouncements point out that Kenyans need to strengthen their self-identity in the midst of growing globalization and regionalization. They suggest that Kenya needs to teach History in schools to produce a new breed of citizens, imbued with a new vision, characterized by the Kenyan personality, that is individuals who are driven by a deep sense of patriotism and nationalism that transcends ethnic and traditional ties. To achieve this purpose, History teachers must enable students to apply historical knowledge to the analysis of contemporary issues and to deploy the appropriate skills of critical thinking. They teachers need to develop a critical pedagogy in which knowledge, habits, and skills of critical citizenship are taught and learnt. The study adopted a basic interpretive qualitative research design to understand the strategies that the teachers used to develop the attitudes and skills of critical thinking that enable learners to transcend their ethnic and national ties when thinking about issues that are Kenyan. Classroom observations and interviews were employed. The study involved seven provincial secondary schools situated in the Nairobi Province, Kenya. The finding is that to learn history, learners should not be simply inducted into an already existing identity. They have to be assisted to engage in open-ended debates over the nature of this identity as a way of introducing them to historical thinking that links the teaching and learning of history with its disciplined inquiry and core values and make it possible for them to understand their national identity part of a Kenyan culture that is interconnected with others at regional and global levels.

This thesis addresses the question of how a dialogue may be developed between the socio-political notion of pluralism and a pluralistic public sphere, and the design of public space and public architecture. More particularly, it considers how architecture may both accommodate multiple publics while simultaneously framing connection or association between them. Following an exploration of this question at an abstract, theoretical level, the thesis moves to a more specific architectural investigation. This investigation takes the form of a design project situated within the Robson Square complex in downtown Vancouver. The complex, constructed in the mid-1970's, was designed by Canada's pre-eminent architect Arthur Erickson and is the major civic space in the city. The thesis design project undertakes a theoretical re-evaluation and physical renovation of this Utopian mega-structure, with the intention of shifting the existing homogeneity and institutionality of the complex to align it with the thesis argument. Through the vehicle of a design project,, the abstract theoretical argument is translated and focused through the particularities of an architecture embedded in its site. This methodology requires the project to address issues connected to the existing masterwork, including: the question of how to conceptualize monumentally in a grid city; the relationship between the 'sacred' space of the civic circumstance and the 'profane' space of the street and commercial program; the form of the institution within the city; and the issue of working within, and manipulating, a pre-existing architectural language. Further, the scale of the site is reflected in the scope of the design project. The project moves from the development of urban design strategies to the detailed consideration of the material and construction of the different interventions. The architecture remains, however, conceptual and is a demonstration of how the developed strategies may generate form and guide program. The project does not attempt to fully develop a building in detail. The thesis concludes with an afterword on the success of the project as a demonstration of the thesis argument. At the same time, the limits of architecture to act as a socio-political device are acknowledged. Further, speculations are made as to the way in which the position and the strategies developed within the thesis might inform wider discussions on architecture and the urbanism of grid cities such as Vancouver. The key concept forming the basis of these speculations is the idea of a 'difficult' co-existence of parts and a whole, reflecting the pluralistic ideal of association within fragmentation. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

In late 20th century America, multiculturalism emerged as a doctrine of equal respect and a popular ideological framework for resolving intergroup relations. Despite its dramatic presence, many sociologists conclude that the rather vigorous and often contentious academic inquiries into multiculturalism left us without a solid understanding of its significance. In this dissertation I examine survey and personal interview data to more clearly identify patterns of ideological support for multiculturalism or assimilation in the U.S. public and to isolate the motivations for their preferences. Findings based on the survey data indicate that, despite multiculturalism's symbol appeal, it does not seem to guide preferences in favor of or opposition to assimilation/multiculturalism among members of most groups. According to the quantitative data, support for intermarriage is one of the few variables that positively correlates with preferences for assimilation. The interview data indicate a strong tendency among many participants to conflate the meaning of multiculturalism and assimilation. Despite their stated aspirations, many self-identified multiculturalists do not favor cultural pluralism. Apparently a significant number of the interview participants use a synthesis of multiculturalism and assimilation to frame their preferences for social convergence within an assimilationist paradigm - a perspective that only marginally resembles multiculturalism's doctrine of equal respect. Contrary to the extant literature, patterns of support for multiculturalism among the interview participants indicate racial and ethnic cleavages and these patterns correspond to the U.S. social hierarchy. Because racial and ethnic meanings infused the multiculturalism debate with its energy, it is plausible that the subtleties of racial discourse mask common aspirations among racial and ethnic group members. In the last chapter, I employ Alba and Nee's recent theoretical reformulation of the concept of assimilation to explicate the findings of this dissertation.

This study explored assumptions about communication styles used by nationals of countries that share what is perceived as a common native language. Participants were from Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, and the common native language was Spanish. Data were gathered before and after their attendance at a five-day training event with attendees from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay via surv'ey questionnaires (pre) and interview questionnaires (post). The data were analyzed for participants' assumptions about communication styles and whether these were confirmed or challenged by intercultural interaction. They were also analyzed for ways in which the perception of a shared native language could influence assumptions and interactions. The results revealed four primary communication styles involved in participants' assumptions: 1) Harmony versus Assertiveness, 2) Accessibility versus Exclusiveness, 3) Vocabulary, and 4) Intercultural Conflict Styles, among other insights related to the study questions.

While the literature on Black-white differences in major depressive disorder (MDD) and depressive symptoms is robust, less robust is the literature on how these outcomes are patterned within the US Black population and why differences exist. Given increasing numbers of first-generation immigrants from the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, among other regions of the world, as well as increasing numbers of second- and third-generation immigrants, continued aggregation has the potential to mask intra-racial differences between these ethnic-immigrant groups and Black Americans with more distant ancestral ties to Africa (i.e., African Americans). Among these subgroups, the extremely limited data disaggregating the US Black population suggest the following patterns. First, foreign-born Black immigrants have lower levels of MDD and related symptoms relative to US-born Black Americans, a finding which is consistent with theories of foreign-born health advantage. Second, among the US-born, Caribbean adults have higher levels of MDD and related symptoms relative to all other Black Americans, a finding which is inconsistent with theories related to intergenerational declines in health toward convergence to native-born levels. Lastly, and contrary to results among adults, first- and second-generation Caribbeans have lower levels of depressive symptoms relative to all other Black youth. This dissertation sought to better understand how depression and its related symptoms are patterned within the US Black population, as well as how mechanisms causing these outcomes may vary across subgroups defined by domains related to immigration. Chapter 1 was a systematic review, which comprehensively synthesized depression and related symptoms within the US Black population across these domains, including a summary of mechanisms proposed toward explaining intra-racial variation. Using longitudinal data, Chapter 2 examined whether, and if so when, growth curve models of depressive symptoms varied by immigrant generation contrasts among a representative sample of Black youth followed into adulthood. And using representative data from the largest study of Black mental health, Chapter 3 examined whether the relationship between racial identity, a presumed protective factor against depression and related symptoms, and MDD varied between US-born Caribbeans and all other US-born Black Americans. The systematic review of Chapter 1 revealed substantial variation in the prevalence of depression and its related symptoms within the US Black population by nativity, region of birth, age at immigration, and Caribbean ethnic origin. Results additionally confirmed that much of what is known about intra-racial heterogeneity comes from a single data source, the National Study of American Life (NSAL). Using longitudinal data of youth followed into adulthood, Chapter 2 found evidence of diverging depressive symptoms trajectories among Black respondents by immigrant generation (first/second-generation compared with third and higher generations); notably, contrasts among Black respondents varied from those of other racial/ethnic groups (Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, non-Hispanic white). Lastly, results from Chapter 3 suggest aspects of racial identity may not be protective for US-born Caribbeans, pointing to variations in racialization experiences as a distal cause. Additional research using larger sample sizes, more diverse subgroups of Black ethnic immigrants, as well as longitudinal data, is needed to further understand patterns of and additional sources underlying heterogeneity of depression and its related symptoms within the US Black population.

This exploratory and original research project examined the Cultural Mapping & Navigation Assessment (CMN) in order to evaluate it as an intercultural training tool. This instrument was designed by KnowledgeWorkx's multicultural team to assist people in understanding cultural dimensions and developing cultural self-awareness, which are foundational to a person developing intercultural competence. The instrument was evaluated in several ways. The theoretical constructs being measured were reviewed in the literature. The questions used in the CMN were subjected to multilingual and multicultural reviewers and the instrument was statistically analyzed for reliability and validity. Based on that data, changes were made and the revised instrument was administered to a new group. Unstructured interviews were conducted with 10 of the respondents and analyzed for three themes: the degree to which respondents thought their CMN results 4 reflected them; the effects on the participants' cultural self-awareness; and helpfulness as identified by the participants. According to the interviews, the desired outcomes of in creased cultural self- and other-awareness were achieved, as was growth in understanding of cultural dimensions. Content validity is suggested by the strong theoretical foundation. Future research with a larger population will continue to provide important understanding of this valuable intercultural training tool. Finally, information is provided regarding CMN availability, training, support, and cost in order to make it easy for trainers and consultants to evaluate the instrument for their purposes.

No description available.

No description available.