<p> The purpose of this research is to examine sexual identity and sexual fluidity from a multicultural social work perspective. Examination includes having an understanding of the components of sexual identity development, the stability of sexual identity overtime and the challenges of sexual fluidity and identity. This provides a more substantial evaluation of themes within sexuality.</p><p> This content analysis of existing literature on sexual identity and sexual fluidity reveals findings and gaps in the research. In addition, it identifies areas in which further research is needed. This allows for more competent social work practices to effectively address issues of sexual identity. Findings suggest that it is difficult to capture the basic process that each individual experiences because circumstances can be unique for everyone. Patterns based on categorization within sexuality suggest that sexuality should be understood on a continuum.</p>

The point of departure for “Affecting change? Cultural politics of sexuality and ‘race’ in Norwegian education” is the reconfiguration of sexual and racial politics in the Norwegian public sphere over the past decade. Both gender equality and homotolerance was transformed from contested political issues to common values that were seen to positively distinguish Norwegian culture in this process. Furthermore, these issues were increasingly taken up to describe both cultural differences and “cultural conflicts” internationally and in Norway. This development can be traced in curriculum and textbooks from 2006-2010, especially in the discussions of cultural differences in Social Science. Through interrogations of both the discursive interconnections between gender, sexuality, and “race,” and how the issues of sexuality and “race” are tackled in education separately, the dissertation highlights that both education about sexuality and “race” in contemporary Norway can be informed by a postcolonial critique that reveals the persistence of racializing discursive strategies in Norwegian education. “Affecting Change? Cultural Politics of Sexuality and ‘Race’ in Norwegian education” is an article based dissertation that investigates the cultural configurations of sexuality and “race” in Norwegian education as they appear in textbooks and in classroom interaction. It consists of four articles and an introduction that discusses contextual, methodological, and theoretical issues that were important for the research that the articles present. The articles focus on a) the cultural politics of Norwegian sex education, b) the interplay between sexuality and questions of cultural differences in Social Science textbooks, c) conceptual and affective problems in education about “race” and racism, and d) the impact of affective educational spaces on teaching and learning questions of “difference” in the classroom. The first two articles primarily consist of discussions of existing research and textbook analyses. The latter two are based on classroom observation. The analysis highlights the persistence of heteronormalizing and racializing conceptual frameworks in education that aims to combat discrimination. Specifically, it argues that the denial of “race” as a relevant concept in Norwegian public discourse and education currently hinders educational efforts to prevent racism among young people. Furthermore, it sheds light on how affective aspects of classroom interaction can strengthen or work against education that reproduces oppressive social norms. These considerations of the cultural politics of sexuality and “race” in Norwegian education are informed by a theoretical and methodological discussion about affect and cultural analysis. Drawing on both psychosocial perspectives and Deleuzo-Guatarian affect theory, the dissertation explores the persistence of oppressive social structures through a focus on psychosocial aspects of racist interaction, and the potential for social change that can be traced through affect on the level of the situation. In the articles, affective inquiry on both these levels helps highlight both how racism is enacted and thwarted in educational encounters.

<p> The purpose of this project was to identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund an existing violence prevention program designed to change cultural norms around masculinity that condone and glorify violence. The grant would fund the expansion of the program into targeted organizations that the host organization was previously unable to collaborate with for a variety of reasons. An extensive literature review increased knowledge about the problem of violence and its relationship to traditional or hegemonic definitions of masculinity and provided information about evidence-based violence prevention programs that the grant writer then used to design a best-practices approach to phase two of the existing program. A search for potential funding sources resulted in the selection of the Office on Violence Against Women, a division of the United States Department of Justice, as the best funding source for this project. Actual submission and funding of this grant were not a requirement for successful completion of this project.</p>

Within the context of national levels of poverty, structural adjustment policies and the AIDS epidemic, this thesis analyses the experiences of children and young people in difficult circumstances in Tanzania from a gender perspective. Using the social construction of 'childhood' as the theoretical framework, the study is based on participatory, child-focused ethnographic research, which was conducted in Arusha, northern Tanzania 2000-2002. Following an overview of the global concept of childhood, the phenomenon of street children, and concepts of childhood in Tanzania, I provide a reflexive account of the research process. Based on the findings, I explore children's and adults' perceptions of the socio-cultural concept of childhood, children's different gendered experiences, and attitudes towards education. The study then examines street children's experiences of 'home' and their narratives of why they left their immediate household. In the light of the experiences of some street children who had been orphaned by AIDS and whose families and communities were unable to support them, I analyse the experiences of children from HIV / AIDS-affected households, and young people's age-related and gendered vulnerabilities to HIV infection. The contradictions and contrasts of life on the street are explored, based on children's experiences, with gender identified as a key differential. I examine the survival strategies and coping mechanisms, both materially and emotionally, that children develop in order to survive independently in the street. Using Moser's framework of 'practical' and 'strategic' needs and interests (1989) I explore ways of responding to the experiences of children and young people. Children's participation in decision-making at the local, regional, national and international levels is analysed, and I draw up a series of policy recommendations which aim to meet children's practical and strategic needs. In the light of the previous chapters, I re-evaluate the concept of street children and offer some ways forward.

No description available.

Since the end of the Second World War, race relations and immigration have become major subjects of debate in the political, social and cultural life of Britain. The presence of immigrants from Britain's former colonies and the subsequent arrival of economic migrants and asylum seekers have triggered discussion of many issues, not least those surrounding difference, assimilation, diversity and identity (Gilroy 1993). It is these particular issues (and the tensions that they engender), often articulated through the depiction of mother-daughter relationships, which are dramatized in the work of contemporary Black British female playwrights such as Winsome Pinnock, Trish Cooke, Paulette Randall, Maya Chowdry, J. B. Rose, Tanika Gupta, Rukhsana Ahmad, Jackie Kay, Grace Dayley, Jacqueline Rudet, Maria Oshodi and Zindika2. My thesis is thus about the construction of mother-daughter relationships as presented in the work of these playwrights. It places particular emphasis on how mothers and daughters negotiate their relationships, positions and identities in the context of their respective experiences as first- and second- generation female migrants in Britain.

This thesis centres on the perceptions of social work professionals involved in incest intervention in Taiwan. It is based on 39 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with respondents from three categories: social workers, social work supervisors and counsellors/therapists, from different regions of Taiwan, working in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Centres. The gender distribution of the interviewees, 35 women and 4 men, reflects the numerical dominance of women in social work. This study shows that the majority of the respondents were assigned child protection work without consultation, reflecting the hierarchical decision-making process in Taiwanese social work, overriding staff autonomy, personal preferences and training background. Child protection work creates high pressure and necessitates joint decision making involving all related disciplines. Almost every worker interviewed felt a high level of stress and a need for support in dealing with incest/child sexual cases, perhaps due to insufficient knowledge and inadequate training. The shorter the time frame they face, the more mistakes they may make. I utilized two theoretical viewpoints, including family systems theory associated with pathological behaviours and feminist theory, to elucidate how interactions between gender and power contribute to gender inequality in intervention outcomes. My findings suggest that the current child protection procedure in Taiwan raises significant concerns. These include time-constraints in intervention and psychotherapy, the sequencing of the procedure, and lack of gender-awareness. It seems the hierarchical organisational structure directly and indirectly encourages social workers to be overreliant on their supervisors in decision-making. The relationship between the supervisor and supervisee is often inadequate, leading to many supervisees feeling undermined and discouraged from growing personally in confidence. My study found that no one particular intervention fits all cases and the therapeutic approach chosen will depend on the circumstances of the case, based on the therapist's training background, individual personality variations and experience. However, practitioners identified 'sensitivity: 'accompaniment' and 'empowerment' as effective and important. Radical changes in attitude, an incorporation of a feminist approach, a gender understanding work culture and a clear resolve to make positive changes in the fields of education, practice and reforms in legal and hierarchical structures may resolve some of the difficulties the present system of social work practice in incest faces.

Gender inequality is deeply entrenched in society. This continues to restrict women's opportunities in life and has also been widely seen as an obstacle to economic development. Wage employment is seen as important mechanism for empowering women, and also conferring benefits on the family and society as a whole. This thesis examines patterns of inequality in the food-processing and the textiles and garment industries in Ghana, the structural factors that are responsible for producing gender inequality and their impacts on the socio-economic advancement of women. Within the cross-sectoral case study, a comparative gender and social relation analysis was undertaken to explore the factors that determined the allocation of economic resources and nature of power relations within the labour market and the household. The study of occupational segregation, access to training, career advancement opportunities, decision-making authority and responsibilities, earnings and domestic responsibilities led to the conclusion that, comparatively, the majority of women do not have equal opportunities in the "feminised" food processing and textiles industries in relation to men. With some inter-sectoral variations, the disparity between men and women is also widened as a result of the influence of the size of firm. The processes are complex because they are intertwined with wider socio-demographic, cultural, economic, and legal elements. However, within this complex set of factors, employers' preference and taste for discrimination is arguments concerned with the issue most central to gender inequality in these industries. These preferences are based on the economic rationality of profit maximisation and production efficiency, which is in turn intertwined with the cultural stereotypes concerning men and women's abilities and their attitudes to work. Recommendations to address the structural inequalities which exist between men and women in these industries and in Ghanaian society as a whole are set out.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2226. Adviser: Pat Gill. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-177) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

This thesis looks at the representations of four contemporary Portuguese women writers, Helia Coreia, Lidia Jorge, Teolinda Gersao and Ines Pedrosa in literary histories, press critical commentaries and digital media. This study analyses how far a gendered critical view is present inch of the three different media and whether any alternative contextualisation exists that allows for a non-gendered, universal critical representation of female authorship. The process of canonisation within the Portuguese cultural field is studied here, following the fundamental changes in the critical landscape over the past thirty years, especially the new possibilities offered in electronic media. This thesis explores the juxtaposition between an elitist institutionalism, which can be found in academic, press and online criticism, and the presence of alternative critical voices in cultural criticism, that would adequately represent female authorship and open up the critical debate, so the traditional constructions of cultural value, such as a division into popular and quality literature, can be re-evaluated.