This thesis examines the everyday experiences of Anglophone communities in three different regions of Quebec – the Gaspésie, Gatineau and Eastern Townships – with the aim to understand their sense of place. Specifically, the focus is on the role of different geographic contexts on everyday access to social services, particularly healthcare, and how these experiences contribute to Anglophones’ place attachment. Data collection involved semi-structured personal interviews with ten participants in each region. Comparative analysis yielded three main findings: (1) issues with accessing healthcare in English reinforces Anglophones’ minority status; (2) in spite of the challenges faced as a linguistic minority, Anglophones demonstrate a strong sense of place to their region; and (3) feelings of home, heritage, and rootedness constitute elements in Anglophones’ place attachment and contribute to their sense of place in Quebec. The study also concludes that age, mobility, and location are important variables in influencing everyday experiences in each of the three regions.

The purpose of this paper is to study the processes of identity and feelings of connectedness among first and second generation of Kurds in the Swedish society. In previous research I assumed that this sense of belonging to a nation includes identity and language. As regards the theory part, I have chosen to use a number of studies to elucidate this issue. The theories used in the study focuses primarily on the understanding of identity. Identity in this context can include linguistic, religious, cultural acts, even nationality or that claiming membership to a particular group. I have implemented twenty-four depth interviews with first and second generation of Kurds in the ages 21–58. Some of these respondents came to Sweden as refugees during the 1980s - either alone or with their families, and some of them started a family after assuming residence in Sweden. The other respondents, called second generation of Kurds, either came as children or were born here in Sweden. The method used in this thesis is a qualitative data study which aims to create a deeper understanding of the underlying causes of the phenomenon or event explored. I chose the qualitative research method because it provides an appropriate framework for performing this type of study where the focus is in a deep description of personal experiences. Results from my research shows that almost all respondents have a sense of belonging to their original homeland (Kurdistan) and their second homeland Sweden. Respondents identify themselves based on how others in society perceive and categorize them. It also appeared that the second generations of Kurds have better opportunities to influence, act, communicate, balance and to create as well as recreate their identity than the first generation of Kurds. The results show that the younger generations of Kurds have a stronger ability and courage to exhibit their chosen existence or identity(s) in the Swedish society. Their curiosity and tolerance are part of this new young generation of Kurds, and they are building a strong identity within their environment. According to the respondents, the first socialization begins in the family. The family's dear and close people is the individual's first contact with the outside world.

A previous study on students approach to problems of Set Theory in Iran brought me somehypotheses. These encouraged me to test the hypotheses in this supplementary study. Mypurpose of this study was to consider some students' cognitive difficulties in Set Theory. Iinvestigated students’ conceptual understanding of two major concepts of Set Theory – theconcepts of inclusion and belonging. I also studied the ways students use Venn diagram tofigure out problems in Set Theory. I wanted to examine how students figure out the differentmeanings of words in the natural and formal language. To do so, I analyzed six experiments. Icompared three experiments with the experiments of my previous study in Iran. My researchquestions suggested using a qualitative research method. My theoretical framework built aroundtheories of semiotic activities, which were used in the analysis.The results indicated that students can make unfortunate use of Euler–Venn diagrams. A set ofsets was a difficult concept for students. Some words in natural language, even the word "set" inboth natural and formal language, caused confusion for students when introduced in Settheoretic contexts. Students failed sometimes to distinguish between sets and elements. Theexperiments showed that students’ cultural context had affect on students' cognition regardingmathematical objects.

Academic achievement among Latino adolescents was examined to determine what contextual factors contribute to school success. ANCOVA analyses indicated that lower levels of perceived discrimination and a higher sense of school belonging were associated with better grades. Neighborhood social capital was not associated with school grades. More adaptation stress was associated with lower grades for US-reared students, but it was not associated with grades for more recent Latino immigrants. The findings suggest that discrimination, school belonging, and adaptation stress play an important role in academic achievement among Latino youth. They also suggest that immigrants may be more academically resilient than their second generation peers in the face of adaptation stress.

The thesis provides a political analysis of a position paper on government programming recently adopted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) a national ethno-cultural organisation that ostensibly represents over one million Canadians of Ukrainian heritage and a historically important player in the development of multiculturalism in Canada. The impetus for such an analysis is to explore whether there are alternative policy directions available to the UCC that could satisfy its mandate developing and enhancing the Ukrainian-Canadian community while taking into account the reality that Ukrainian-Canadians culturally resemble more and more the broader Canadian society. <p>In a wide-ranging analysis that criticizes both, official Canadian multiculturalism for falling short in meeting its commitment to cultural pluralism and the UCC for upholding a position that relies on a static or retrograde version of culture, the thesis makes the case for a multiculturalism that can recognize cultural differences while allowing for change. <p>The thesis is significant because it asks relevant questions concerning how multiculturalism in Canada takes into account an increasingly heterogeneous citizenship characterized by cultural change. In this regard, the thesis is of particular importance to Canadians who claim a multiplicity of cultures rather than a single ethnicity and yet still express a desire to be included in the discourse on Canadian national identity.

<p>In my dissertation I propose that the detailed representation of food and eating in seventeenth-century Spanish art and literature has a double purpose: to reaffirm a state of well-being in Spain, and to show a critical position, because artistic creations emphasize those subjects who, because of social status or cultural background, do not share such benefits. This double purpose explains why literature and painting stress the distance between foodstuffs and consumers, turning food into a commodity that cannot be consumed directly, but through its representation and value. Cervantes's writing is invoked because, especially in Don Quixote, readers can see how the protagonist rejects food for the sake of achieving higher chivalric values, while his companion, Sancho Panza, faces the opposite problem: having food at hand and not being able to enjoy it, especially when he achieves his dream of ruling an island. The principle is similar in genre painting: food is consumed out of the picture in still lifes, or out of the hands of the represented characters in kitchen scenes, for they are depicted cooking for others. Because of the distance between product and consumer, foodstuffs indicate how precedence and authority are established and reproduced in society. In artistic representations, these apparently unchangeable principles are mimicked by the lower classes and used to establish parallel systems of authority such as the guild of thieves who are presented around a table in a scene of Cervantes's exemplary novel "Rinconete and Cortadillo." Another problem to which the representation of foodstuffs responds is the inclusion of New Christians from different origins. In a counterpoint with the scenes in which precedence is discussed, and frequently through similar aesthetic structures, Cervantes and his contemporaries create scenes where the Christian principle of sharing food and drinking wine together is the model of inclusion that dissolves distinctions between Old and New Christians. I argue that this alternative project of community can be related to the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain, decreed in 1609, because this event made many subjects interrogate themselves about their own status and inclusion. An artistic model of response to these interrogations about belonging is the figure of the roadside meal, which appears as the main motif of a meal shared by Sancho and a self-proclaimed Christian Morisco in the second part of Don Quixote, and reappears in a painting by Diego de Velázquez, which presents in the foreground a dark-skinned servant working in a kitchen, and in the background another roadside meal: the Supper at Emmaus. Both in literature and painting the way of preparing meals, eating and drinking creates ties, establishes a different principle of belonging, and promotes unity. In this alternative model characters are recognized as subjects of the kingdom as long as they eat and drink the way Christians do. Even though this model still leads to a single Christian kingdom, paintings and writings suggest a different form of cohesion, in which subjects are considered equal and recognize each other because of their participation.</p> / Dissertation

This essey aims to investigate how inherited and acquired resources has influenced the choice of education. It is in this essays ambition to understand how the recources operates in a process from childhood to a certain education. The study was conducted using eight qualitative interviews with firstyearstudents in nursing and economics courses at Linnaeus University. By using Bourdieu's theories about habitus, capital and horizon of possibilities I wanted to understad how the students inherited and acquired recoures had operated in their choise of education. The main conclution is that the educational choice is strongly influenced by the individual's social belonging and must be understood as a result of the individual's history. The inherited and acquired resources have contributed to only certain choices and actions have been seen as possible and desirable in the students life. Students who share similar social backgrounds and resource assets are therefore likey to choose similar educational courses.

The growing Latino population is directly affecting institutions of higher education. Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), whose stated missions do not specifically address Latinos, are becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). As HSIs continue to emerge across the country, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are also responding to demographic shifts, especially in Texas. Although their historic mission focuses on educating African Americans, some Texas HBCU presidents and administrators maintain that their supportive campus environment could serve as a possible opportunity for Latino student success. HBCU outreach efforts offer a variety of areas for further investigation, but the intent of this study was to examine the first, critical year and perceptions of sense of belonging. Furthermore, since Mexican Americans represent the majority of Latinos in Texas, indeed the country, this qualitative study specifically focused on the first-year experiences of Mexican Americans in a Texas HBCU. The primary methods for data collection included two semi-structured one-on-one interviews, a student questionnaire, campus observations, and analytic memos. Thus, the current study sought to fully document the first-year experience and perceptions of sense of belonging as recounted by second- to fifth-year Mexican American students enrolled in a Texas HBCU. / text

In an effort to better understand retention, a survey was developed to ask students at a southern land-grant university how they communicate with each other. Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) was previously used to identify communication networks in urban neighborhoods. My thesis adapted this theory and networks to identify the strength of three communication techniques of college students and how it effects a student’s sense of belonging which can impact that student’s intent to stay in school.

This study examined the perceptions of non-native English speaking immigrant students at a small Canadian university relating to their transition to university, their experiences within the social and academic contexts of the campus, and their sense of belonging on their campus. This study used a phenomenological approach, and was supported by a conceptual framework of minority student persistence and belonging within postsecondary education. The findings of this study suggest that these students’ positive social experiences and perception of the campus as being diverse and open to diversity were connected to students’ sense of belonging. The findings also suggest that increased availability of customized support is needed for non-native English speaking students on this Canadian campus, and that greater awareness among university faculty and administration needs to be paid to students’ integration in classroom and campus practices. This thesis concludes with recommendations for practice and future research.