The aim of the thesis is to explore how parents' life experience can become a resource to strengthen teaching about, and for, cultural diversity with the help of homework assignments and teacher feedback. Two of the four articles included are based on data from the Läxprojektet (2004-2006) [The Homework Assignment Project], which was a practicebased, collaborative research project at a multi-lingual and multi-cultural secondary school. The material collected from project and used in this thesis consists of collaborative homework assignments, audio recorded lessons, student texts and interviews with parents, students and teachers. Article A concerns teachers' feedback during classroom discussions. Results consist of seven categories of feedback and show that all feedback, in contrast to previous research, does not support students' learning. Article B show that collaborative lessons that are based on parents' life experience may fulfill the function of boundary objects (Star &amp; Griesemer 1989) between home and school. Article C deals with the relationship between homework and feedback, which is studied in a research review. Article D revealed that issues concerning how cultural diversity was highlighted at the municipal level and in school planning were primarily featured in the municipalities with the highest proportion of multilingual immigrant students. Thesis results suggest that: Feedback is a challenge for teachers when the content of what the students present is unknown. Parents' life experiences can be a resource in a content-based partnership between home and school. Teaching about cultural diversity is facilitated by the existence of cultural diversity among students and parents. In summary, results indicate that there are several factors that influence whether and how content and teaching about, and for, cultural diversity succeeds in schools. These factors affect the individual level, the classroom level and partially also the municipal level. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: In Press; Paper 3: In Press; Paper 4; Submitted.</p>

This research seeks to understand how Québec governments have constructed the relation between national identity and cultural diversity from the 1960s’ Quiet Revolution to the 2010s by analyzing the discursive and historical dynamics that have shaped Québec identity politics in this period. First, it clarifies how national identity and cultural diversity are symbolically constructed in relation to one another by analyzing three key discursive lenses that have shaped the construction of national identity and cultural diversity in Québec since the Quiet Revolution, namely nationalism, pluralism, and secularism. These lenses offer different interpretations of the identity-diversity problematic, suggesting competing imperatives that social actors must balance against one another when constructing the relation between national identity and cultural diversity. Second, this research examines how state actors in Québec have mobilized these lenses through policy initiatives and discursive strategies and tried to influence how members of their community think about national identity and respond to cultural diversity. Québec governments’ approaches to diversity management have shifted significantly in this period, from promoting the French language and intercultural integration in the mid- to late-20th century to focusing on religious difference and rigid secularism in the early 21st century. Contributors to this shift include increasing nationalist anxieties through the 1990s, followed by the reasonable accommodation debate and the Bouchard-Taylor Commission in the 2000s. This analysis highlights the challenges that sub-state nationalists face when constructing the relation between national identity and cultural diversity, including the need to manage the cultural anxieties of the majority group. / Graduate

Increased global migration has spurred a vibrant current of research into the economic effects of cultural diversity. Birthplace diversity has become an important indicator used to measure cultural diversity caused by bilateral migration. We detect a lack of studies that explore the short-term effects of birthplace diversity on economic growth. Using a panel dataset including data from 110 countries between years 1990 and 2014, we explore the short-term effects of birthplace diversity on GDP per capita growth. We anticipated that birthplace diversity would carry short-term costs that would negatively affect economic performance, and that the positive effects of birthplace diversity found in previous studies would materialize only in the long-run. Our results provide only weak support for our hypothesis. In the long run our results do indicate a small positive effect of increased birthplace diversity among immigrants on GDP per capita growth, and an increase of the relative size of the immigrant stock correlates with lower GDP per capita growth in the short run, in a more pronounced and negative way.

This thesis explores the desirability of Australia???s State museums to be inclusive of diverse cultures. In keeping with a cultural studies approach, and a commitment to social action, emphasis is placed upon enhancing the ability of State museums to fulfil obligations and expectations imposed upon them as modern collecting institutions in a culturally diverse nation. By relating the desirability and ability of State museums to attaining social justice in a multicultural Australia through broadening the concept of Australia???s heritage, the thesis is firmly situated within post-colonial discourse. The thesis analyses State multicultural, heritage, and museum legislation, in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, with regard to State museums as agents of cultural policy. Results from a survey, Greeks and Museums, conducted amongst Australia???s Greeks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, reveal an anomaly between their museum-going habits and the perception of those habits as expressed by government policies promoting the inclusion of Australians of a non-English speaking background in the nation???s cultural programmes. In exploring the issue of inclusiveness, the thesis highlights the need for cultural institutions to shift the emphasis away from audience development, towards greater audience participation. The thesis outlines an initiative-derived Queensland Model for establishing an inclusive relationship between museums and communities, resulting in permanent, affordable, and authoritative collections, while simultaneously improving the museums??? international reputation and networking capabilities. By using the example of one of the nation???s non-indigenous communities, and drawing upon material obtained through the survey, and a catalogue containing photographs and lists of Greek textile collections found in the Powerhouse Museum (MAAS), Sydney, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Immigration Museum, Melbourne, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, as well as collections owned by private individuals, the thesis focuses on the role played by museums in constructing social cohesion and inclusiveness.

The literacy experiences of a small group of culturally-diverse children were examined in this study. The experiences, too, were diverse – and influential. The children, five girls aged four – five years, attended the same Preschool, in an inner suburb of a large city in Australia. Data were gathered at home, during the last two months of the preschool year and, for three of the children, during writing sessions in the first six months of Year One. Vygotskian ideas on meaning-making were integrated with other perspectives on development, literacy learning and teaching from a sociocultural, theoretical framework. The purpose was to identify dimensions of children’s literacy experiences and provide insight into ways in which children negotiate culture, literacy, and schooling, challenge current perspectives, contribute to research knowledge and determine how teachers might take account of cultural diversity in classrooms to better support children in literacy learning. A grounded theory method was employed using multiple data collection tools and techniques in both home and school contexts. Data were coded using a process of constant comparison to identify features, characteristics and dimensions of children’s literacy experiences. Independent inter-rater agreement on the coding of features at home, Preschool and school was 98.4%. Findings included a variety of values, beliefs and perspectives amongst parents and between teachers in relation to literacy learning, roles and relationships, and home-school connections. Children’s literacy experiences at home differed in terms of nature, frequency and resources and experiences in each of the settings were very different. A major finding was that children acted as agents of their own learning: mixing, transferring, trying out, adapting, and experimenting to determine appropriate practices and make decisions including when to exercise choice to enact agency. These assimilation and accommodation adaptations were identified as akin to code-switching, labelled as culture-switching, and identified as areas requiring further research.

In this essay I present the process, learnings and final results of my master project. The project focuses on the education Swedish for immigrants, SFI, and how design can play a role in improving the education to better meet the needs of the learners and become more of a step towards inclusion.  I identify two learner groups; the experienced and the novice learner, with different needs and prerequisites. During the project I develop a focus towards the novice learner and the problem I call the vicious circle. By this term I refer to that too big gaps between the learners former knowledge/experiences and the education results in lost motivation and self-esteem and many learners giving up or getting stuck in the education.  Throughout the project I use an iterative process, in three loops, where I involve the stakeholders in the development of my ideas through interviews, observations and colaborative workshops.  My final proposal is a the learning service “Matprat”, which invites the learners as co-creators of the education and puts their experiences and knowledge in the centre of learning.

Using a phenomenological approach, this study examined the lived experiences of students and instructors in relation to culturally diverse classrooms in an urban Canadian post-secondary institution, and what meanings they ascribed to those experiences. Data were collected through individual interviews with nine students and seven instructors, who had experienced the phenomenon. Findings revealed that first, all participants, students and instructors, were keenly aware of differences in how they personally differed and how they observed differences in those around them. Second, participants’ social location impacted how they experienced differences. Third, in their fears and hopes, participants expressed a range of emotional responses to differences. Both students and instructors seemed to have similar hopes and fears. Emotional responses were dependent upon the nature of the critical events pertaining to difference which, in turn, prompted participants to adopt strategies to deal with these events. Fourth, the discussion about cultural diversity exposed a paradox and irony between what participants said and what they actually experienced. Although participants enthusiastically attested to the richness of diversity, when looking beneath the façade, a dystopian utopia emerged where participants were “surrounded by all these contradictions.” Participants experienced a form of every day culture shock every time they entered a university classroom, and they uniformly talked about valuing difference, but practice often demonstrated the opposite. This became evident when participants talked about the pressure to fit in and about wanting to belong. Fifth, most participants evidenced varying levels of ambiguity about their personal and public identity, demonstrated in seemingly self-deprecating language. Sixth, although the traditional academic system illustrated evidence of nontraditional methods, at times the impression of openness seemed paradoxical. The distinctive nature of this study revealed that when using Freire’s critical pedagogy and Mezirow’s transformative learning as theoretical frameworks, results showed a continuum on the spectrum of power sharing with some instructors still seeing themselves as vessel fillers, to instructors on the other side of the spectrum, willing to reevaluate traditional models. Such a study is important because cross-cultural competency and sensitivity, as Street (1984) says, are essential components in today’s culturally diverse work, academic, and social environment.

This thesis explores the desirability of Australia???s State museums to be inclusive of diverse cultures. In keeping with a cultural studies approach, and a commitment to social action, emphasis is placed upon enhancing the ability of State museums to fulfil obligations and expectations imposed upon them as modern collecting institutions in a culturally diverse nation. By relating the desirability and ability of State museums to attaining social justice in a multicultural Australia through broadening the concept of Australia???s heritage, the thesis is firmly situated within post-colonial discourse. The thesis analyses State multicultural, heritage, and museum legislation, in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, with regard to State museums as agents of cultural policy. Results from a survey, Greeks and Museums, conducted amongst Australia???s Greeks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, reveal an anomaly between their museum-going habits and the perception of those habits as expressed by government policies promoting the inclusion of Australians of a non-English speaking background in the nation???s cultural programmes. In exploring the issue of inclusiveness, the thesis highlights the need for cultural institutions to shift the emphasis away from audience development, towards greater audience participation. The thesis outlines an initiative-derived Queensland Model for establishing an inclusive relationship between museums and communities, resulting in permanent, affordable, and authoritative collections, while simultaneously improving the museums??? international reputation and networking capabilities. By using the example of one of the nation???s non-indigenous communities, and drawing upon material obtained through the survey, and a catalogue containing photographs and lists of Greek textile collections found in the Powerhouse Museum (MAAS), Sydney, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Immigration Museum, Melbourne, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, as well as collections owned by private individuals, the thesis focuses on the role played by museums in constructing social cohesion and inclusiveness.

Dissertation (MHSc--Health Science) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2003. / Also held in print (94 leaves, 30 cm.) in North Shore Campus Theses Collection (T 616.8914 PAT)

abstract: Public discourse conveys and constructs sophisticated, nuanced and often conflicting notions of place, identity, culture, and religion. Comprehending the significance of place-based discourse is essential to understanding many of the contemporary difficulties facing Native American peoples. This is particularly true of the Western Apache people who constitute their places via discursive engagement. This project examines the Western Apache in their fight to save Dzil nchaa si an (Mount Graham) from a multi-telescope observatory upon its summit. Using discourse and text analysis to examine the public rhetoric, I suggest that the Western Apache understand the mountain as a participatory partner in community viability and Apache identity. I also suggest that the discourse surrounding the Mt. Graham controversy provides a mechanism to understand how Apache discourse links past and present practices and identity as seen through four emerging thematic elements: ethics, relatedness, knowledge, and religious verbiage. Understanding how discourse reveals cultural norms and practices and sustains cultural integrity is important as communicative disjunctures impact the effective responses of Native American and other diverse groups. These issues are framed within the national debate regarding cultural significance and bear directly upon the success of other preservation efforts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2012