Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

States increasingly rely on ambient environmental monitoring systems to provide information on environmental conditions in order to make science-based decisions on resource management. This kind of monitoring relies on a network of state and intergovernmental agencies to generate indexes, thresholds, and indicators to assess the status of air, water, and biodiversity. As a result, these thresholds and indexes generate representations of environmental change, and they establish acceptable limits on pollution. However, in settler states like Canada, there are often major gaps in how First Nations experience environmental change compared to the agencies that produce the science. In recent years, monitoring has taken on a new importance because the findings from these agencies contribute to understanding how industrial development impacts First Nations’ treaty rights. Many First Nation communities have called for greater say in government agencies and have advocated for indicators that represent both their basic environmental concerns and their treaty rights. Using oil sands monitoring agencies as a lens, this dissertation examines the politics of environmental knowledge production between Indigenous groups and the state. I employ the “logic of elimination” concept from settler colonialism studies to explore the extent to which Indigenous groups have been incorporated in research design, decision-making, and the establishment of environmental thresholds. I use interviews, participant observation, and a Q-method survey to develop an understanding how settler colonialism functions not only through policies and legislation, but also scientists’ positionalities. The findings from this research demonstrate that monitoring agencies have no uniform policies to guide how they work with First Nations. Because of this, agencies have continually engaged with First Nations as stakeholders—not rights holders. This designation places First Nations on the same level as other interest groups and limits their abilities to shape what is monitored and how thresholds are set. As a result, the stakeholder position offers few avenues for First Nations to ensure treaty rights are considered in monitoring activities. / 10000-01-01

viii, 170 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This thesis examines the connection between colonialism and violence during the early years of English settlement in North America. I argue that colonization was inherently destructive because the English colonists envisioned a comprehensive transformation of the American landscape that required the elimination ofNative American societies. Two case studies demonstrate the dynamics ofthis process. During the Anglo-Powhatan Wars in Virginia, latent violence within English ideologies of imperialism escalated cont1ict to levels of extreme brutality, but the fracturing ofpower along the frontier limited Virginian war aims to expulsion of the Powhatan Indians and the creation of a segregated society. During the Pequot War in New England, elements of violence in the Puritan worldview became exaggerated by the onset of societal crisis during the Antinomian Controversy. The resulting climate of fear unified the colonies and created an ideological commitment to the genocide of the Pequots. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Jack Maddex, Chair; Dr. Matthew Dennis; Dr. Jeffrey Ostler

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Abstract Within the globalization of business, international and cross-cultural management has acquired a greater meaning also among management and organization scholars. Consequently, the debate about the conceptualization and meaning of cultural differences has arisen. This thesis sees culture and cultural identity as inductive and discursive. This means that the traditional understanding of cultures and related identities as being rather fixed is questioned. Cultural identity, culture and otherness are in this thesis looked through the lens offered by post-colonial theory. As the thesis investigates a Finnish organization operating in Estonia, the adaptation of post-colonial theory is believed to offer interesting insights to the identity construction inside the organization in question. Even though colonialization has never been actual, the relationship between the two countries displays the features of a colonial relationship. During its history, Finland has been taken a role as the “big brother” of Estonia and it has been argued that Estonia has been going through cultural “Finlandisation”. Today, however, the situation may have changed and therefore it is interesting to take a look at whether the post-colonial relations have had an effect on the identity construction and perception building between Estonians and Finns in an organizational context. As the findings indicate, cultural identity of the Estonian employees is constructed in three discourses and in the same way the Finnish managers are constructing their ideas of the Estonians in various discourses. By treating cultural identity as fixed and objective, it would not be possible to reveal its diversity. In addition, when investigating Estonian identity construction and the construction of otherness by Finnish managers, utilization of post-colonial theory reveals that Estonians do not construct their identities based on the post-colonial array, whereas for Finnish managers it has a greater role. Furthermore, the power construction in the organization is also not a fixed, one-way process, but rather a mutual process affected by multiple identity constructions.

The current framework for reconciliation is based on the Court’s accepted the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty, legislative power and underlying title. The basis of this is their interpretation of Section 91(24), which reads it as a plenary grant of power over Indians and their lands. This has led them to simply bypass the question of the inherent right of self-government and to generate a constitutional framework that amounts to little more than a proportionality check on the exercise of Crown sovereignty. I argue that if we are to find a meaningful reconciliation—and not simply one that is assigned by the logic of force that resides behind the unquestioned assumption of sovereignty—then we will need to address the history of sovereignty without assuming its foundations. My project sets out to expose the limitations of the current model by following the lines of descent and association that underlie the legal conceptualization of Aboriginal sovereignty. / Graduate / 2019-01-01

In this thesis I explore the relationships between post-secondary education in the field of international development, and the maintenance and practices of white settler-colonialism at home and abroad. My method is to search for recurring present and absent themes found in French and English course syllabi of the Canadian Master’s Program in Globalization and International Development of the University of Ottawa. Through search strings in 81 syllabi of four mandatory courses taught over an 8-year period, 2007-2015, I find that colonialism is little mentioned, and when it is, it is usually either as something of the past or something geographically distant. I conclude that, for students, academics and others to address settler-colonialism as an obstacle to decolonization, requires (1) acknowledging their current role in naturalizing settler-colonialism, (2) denaturalizing the logics of settler-colonialism, and (3) working to deliberately give up on white settler futures, while other futures (Indigenous futures) are flourishing through the process of decolonization. While this content analysis is only a small and possibly ungeneralizable example of higher education and its simultaneous potential for colonization and decolonization, it nevertheless represents an addition to the few applications of the theoretical field of settler-colonial studies and of its material implications.

Mayan peoples of the Yucatán peninsula were colonized subjects of the Spanish empire from 1546 until 1821. Often, the events of nearly three centuries are viewed as a singular struggle between European hegemonies and a monolithic indigenous community that oscillated between passivity and rebellion. This dissertation shows that responses to colonial circumstances can be best understood by paying particular attention to the scale of interpretation. Analysis of extensive and intensive archaeological survey data from Beneficios Altos, a frontier Spanish colonial province, reveals the effects of colonial policy on nearly every segment of society. Archaeological materials are complemented by an interrogation of geographically relevant documents collected from Mexican archives. These two lines of information combine to suggest that investigation of the colonial process benefits from a microhistorical perspective that focuses on the roles of individuals and communities surviving colonial circumstances. This dissertation focuses on one element of the colonial relationship: the negotiation of alienating pressures from a hegemonic authority that sought to define every aspect of daily life and interaction. Negotiation took place not between idealized collective Spaniard and Maya entities, but rather between persons seeking to improve their personal circumstances either as agents of the colonizers or as members of the colonized--often a fluid distinction. Individual negotiation and alienating pressures are presented in this dissertation as they were materialized upon Beneficios Altos landscapes. Employing a microhistorical focus but heeding macrohistorical trends, this study examines negotiated survival through the following watershed events and processes: sixteenth century battles of the conquest period; rapid redefinition of the physical and spiritual layout of the region by the Catholic Church; establishment of foundational politics and economic policies of colonialism; world events that inspired a dramatic reversal of demographic trends within this frontier region; nineteenth century eruption and chaos of a violent military conflict known as the Caste War; and the identities of those who resettled the fractured landscape during the twentieth century. This dissertation focuses on individual interactions and highlights the importance of frontier areas and archaeological landscapes in crafting a new perspective on the nature of colonialism.

Announced in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) is a global development project that extends across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Most Western scholars and politicians have been highly critical of the BRI, particularly in connection with sub-Saharan Africa, defining the project as neo-imperialistic and arguing that only China would benefit from it in terms of political, economic, and military expansion. This thesis uses Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria as case studies to measure the effectiveness of the BRI in the development of these three countries. On the basis of this analysis, it can be posited that not only China, but also sub-Saharan African countries, specifically continental coastal democracies with access to natural resources that engage with China as business partners within the BRI's context, derive substantial benefits from their partnerships. To different degrees, Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria, are presented with opportunities to improve their infrastructure, enjoy economic growth, and reduce inequality by engaging in the BRI. Key Words:​ ​Sub-Saharan-Africa, China, Belt Road Initiative, development, economics, neo-imperialism, natural resources, infrastructure Title:​ China and Africa: The Dragon in The Lion's Den

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This chapter will start the debate by concentrating on the phenomenon or occurrence of religious pluralism. Thereafter, the reasons for its existence and its importance in providing a system of coexistence in mutuality will be examined. The contours of interreligious interaction will be outlined as briefly as possible, by assessing the processes of interreligious dialogue and the role this dialogue must play, from a Christian perspective. An attempt will be made to show how Christianity's view of the other shifted from viewing the other as posing a threat, to regarding the other as affording an opportunity to understand personal and individual reality within a context of diversity. A further attempt is made to show how by mutual effort evil and injustice can be eradicated through dialogue, within the interreligious context.