Kiva is an international non-governmental organization that competes for funds with others in the field. As a consequence, some special relationships and dependencies are formed. This paper argues that among the most significant ones are the representations of borrowers on Kiva’s online lending platform. The work hypothesizes that while Kiva has the potential to create a friendly environment where both participatory and problem-solving style of communication is encouraged, the organization turns out to be a development factor with international importance which inevitably influences the stereotyping of individuals from the Global South. In that sense, the representations of people from the Global South on Kiva’s online platform seem to continue a well-established tradition of Western-centrism, thus admitting further stereotyping also of the audience from the Global North.Through the lens of postcolonial theory and critical discourse analysis as research methods, the research questions and the hypotheses of the paper aim at contributing to the current debates on the existing power relations between the Global South and North by providing information on: how are people in need represented through profiles of single parents as borrowers on Kiva’s website; do representations of single parents contribute to the process of creating stereotypes; what is the role of microfinance in development.By using the most recent data from Kiva's online lending platform, the work aims to present evidence on the stereotypization of representations of a specific sample group of borrowers – individual single parents. While taking into consideration Kiva's ambition towards creating cooperation based on reciprocal dignity, the paper provides some possible interpretations of the way individuals in need are portrayed. It aims to come to the aid of individuals who have interests in the development field, who may want to rethink fundraising strategies involving both visual and textual representations of people, especially in the field of online lending.

No description available.

Woke-washing gives companies the possibility to take advantage of the consumers social, environmental, and political values to improve business. In contrast to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green-washing, woke-washing is a new term in the global north andthere is a lack of understanding to what extent it is relevant to the global south contexts. The purpose of this study was to explore how, and to what extent woke-washing arguments are usedwithin the published peer-review literature focusing on CSR discourse among business firms with operations in developing countries. The study was conducted through a structured literature review and an interpretative content analysis, and the results were discussed with thehelp of intersectionality and the decolonial approach of border thinking. This study concludes that arguments related to woke-washing are to be found within the literature on companies CSRoperations in developing countries. However, the power structures that affects who conduct the “washing” vary across developing countries. The woke-washing phenomenon that connects to the arguments in the literature shows that through CSR-initiatives companies, operating indeveloping countries, try to satisfy consumers. Since the values of the consumer in the global north differs from the values in the global south, the consumer from the global north alsocontributes to woke-washing. This is not true for all CSR-operations by businesses in the global south, however, it is a large enough occurrence that the discussion needs more attention in future research.

Mathare as an informal settlement of the Global South which suffers from an inconsistent water supply and periods of scarcity, relies for its provision on water vendors. This dissertation strives to advance scholarly debates on understanding the production and governance of the ‘actual water supply’ beyond and in relation to the centralised piped water network, and to thinking the conditions for possible change to modes of water supply. An empirical investigation was conducted on certain temporalities of change and continuity in the relational practices of governance actors of the water provision, the water vendors, situated in the informal settlement of Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya. As such, experiences of water scarcity among the water vendors are suggested to contribute to shape Mathare’s water provision by motivating practices circulation, especially regarding water storage. The water vendors might also crucially sustain and re-configure rules, interact with, and be affected by artefacts involved in the water infrastructure through practices of maintenance, repair, but also decay through temporary events of water infrastructure disruption. In turn, looking at relations shaping the water governance, stable relations are suggested to be re-produced through ‘twilight’ actors and temporal modalities in the water infrastructure.

[pt] O campo da Economia Política Internacional (EPI) é tradicionalmente composto por acadêmicos ocidentais e concentra-se na literatura clássica europeia, com três abordagens clássicas, que são o liberalismo, o nacionalismo e o marxismo. Tendo em mente que o termo internacional pressupõe um alcance global da disciplina, é relevante compreender os esforços de teorização do campo por parte de acadêmicos do Sul Global, que entendem temas como mercado, Estado e desenvolvimento a partir da perspectiva de fora da Europa, influenciados inclusive pelas suas próprias filosofias autóctones e milenares. Sendo a China um poder hegemônico em ascensão e dispondo de uma bagagem filosófica e científica antiga, é importante compreender como os acadêmicos chineses da área entendem a EPI, de forma que o pensamento chinês possa ser definido seja em aspectos ocidentais clássicos ou mesmo compondo novos aspectos específicos para a China, o que potencialmente pode transformar a disciplina como um todo. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar temas da Economia Política Internacional, como desenvolvimento, promoção da indústria, protecionismo, mais-valia, relações entre Estado e mercado à luz do pensamento moderno e antigo dos próprios chineses, em diálogo com a EPI tradicional (majoritariamente anglo-saxã, mas não apenas), especialmente o Nacionalismo Suniano, Confucionismo, Taoísmo e do sistema Tiangxia de ordem mundial. Essa análise nos permite concluir que o pensamento autóctone da China é muito mais do que uma mistura de abordagens ocidentais: ele compõe a sua própria abordagem única que pode mudar a disciplina em direção a novas formas de compreensão da Economia Política Internacional. / [en] The field of International Political Economy (IPE) is traditionally comprised of Western scholars and focuses on classical European literature, composed of three classical approaches, which are liberalism, nationalism and Marxism. Bearing in mind that the term international presupposes a global reach of the discipline, it is relevant to understand the efforts to theorize the field by academics from the Global South, who understand themes such as market, State and development from the perspective of outside Europe, even influenced by their own indigenous and ancient philosophies. As China is a rising hegemonic power and has ancient philosophical and scientific background, it is important to understand how Chinese academics in the field understand IPE, so that Chinese thought can be defined either in classical Western aspects or even composing new aspects specific to China, which could potentially transform the discipline. This dissertation aims to analyse themes of International Political Economy, such as development, promotion of industry, protectionism, surplus value, relations between State and market in the light of the modern and ancient thought of the Chinese themselves, in dialogue with traditional IPE (mostly Anglo-Saxon, but not only), especially Sunian Nationalism, Confucianism, Taoism and the Tiangxia system of world order. This analysis allows us to conclude that China s indigenous thought is much more than a mixture of Western approaches: it composes its own unique approach that can shift the discipline towards new ways of understanding International Political Economy.

Missio Dei is a phrase used to describe the mission of God, as revealed in Scripture. One of the key verses to understanding the ultimate goal of God’s mission is the vision of heaven given to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Rev 7:9). God’s mission is to have for Himself a special redeemed people from every ‘People Group’ on earth. In Trinitarian Missio Dei, God is a ‘sending’ God, who sent Himself in pursuit of lost mankind; who sent His Son, Jesus to bear the sins of a lost world upon His body on the Cross; and who sent the Holy Spirit to instruct and empower the Church, which is commissioned and sent forth to carry on His mission of having a people from among all ‘Peoples’ of the earth. The shift in the center of gravity of world Christianity from the Global North to the Global South can be seen as God’s divine orchestration in raising up a mighty army, who will take the Gospel to the remaining unreached, unengaged ‘Peoples’. The Chinese house church networks have sensed God’s calling to take the Gospel ‘back to Jerusalem’ crossing the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim worlds, along the ancient eastern Silk Routes. As part of this Global South migration, Chinese are already living in over 140 countries around the world, where many of these unreached ‘People Groups’ are located. We see the Nestorian ‘merchant missionaries’ as a model for Chinese migrants to fulfill God’s calling to complete the ‘Great Commission’ mandate. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Missio Dei is a phrase used to describe the mission of God, as revealed in Scripture. One of the key verses to understanding the ultimate goal of God’s mission is the vision of heaven given to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Rev 7:9). God’s mission is to have for Himself a special redeemed people from every ‘People Group’ on earth. In Trinitarian Missio Dei, God is a ‘sending’ God, who sent Himself in pursuit of lost mankind; who sent His Son, Jesus to bear the sins of a lost world upon His body on the Cross; and who sent the Holy Spirit to instruct and empower the Church, which is commissioned and sent forth to carry on His mission of having a people from among all ‘Peoples’ of the earth. The shift in the center of gravity of world Christianity from the Global North to the Global South can be seen as God’s divine orchestration in raising up a mighty army, who will take the Gospel to the remaining unreached, unengaged ‘Peoples’. The Chinese house church networks have sensed God’s calling to take the Gospel ‘back to Jerusalem’ crossing the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim worlds, along the ancient eastern Silk Routes. As part of this Global South migration, Chinese are already living in over 140 countries around the world, where many of these unreached ‘People Groups’ are located. We see the Nestorian ‘merchant missionaries’ as a model for Chinese migrants to fulfill God’s calling to complete the ‘Great Commission’ mandate. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Heavy Metal is a peculiar music genre, made by fans for fans, which spread throughout the entire planet and became, over its five decades of existence, a global community as well. These aspects of Heavy Metal make it a very interesting phenomenon to study. Heavy Metal has previously been researched with a micro outlook on its local connotations in several different Global South countries, analyzing one at a time. As far as the whole Global Metal community is concerned, to this day, there seems to be no literature that is based on the Global South perspective, but only on the Western one. As it has not been attempted to study Global Metal with a macro outlook and to take a broader perspective on it, this research employs a larger view on the Global South’s point of view on Metal culture. Therefore this study aims at giving possible explanations about the reasons behind Heavy Metal worldwide spread. Results will show how further Heavy Metal reception studies on Global South metalheads should be approached through the lens of the Cosmopolitan paradigm; how the metalheads of the sample tend to indicate Death Metal as the most spread sub-genre and to describe themselves as open minded and tolerant. This research helps showing a slight tendency of metalheads to consider themselves part of a Global community, which is defined more like a family, underlining their inclination towards cosmopolitanism. Finally it will show how there should be a broader study on the sense making of well-known songs to determine whether or not there is a certain degree of similar interpretation across different cultures.

abstract: Engagement as a concept and emerging theory has been explored, but key elements have not been clearly described, and as such, work has not been comprehensive in nature. Research was needed to explore the concept and theory of engagement in general, as well its application to the study of volunteer tourism. Additional research was also needed to incorporate youth perspectives of a volunteer tourism program, along with exploration of engagement impacts on program youth. The purpose of this case study was to explore participant engagement in a volunteer tourism youth education program and impacts on program youth as perceived by program participants (volunteer tourist teachers, adult residents, and program youth). Confined within the Engagement Theoretical Framework, data were retrieved from nonprofit documents and websites, researcher observations, individual interviews, and focus groups (two focus groups used participant generated photo elicitation method). Findings suggest participant engagement in a volunteer tourism program is related to the themes of connection, communication, and hope. The primary reason participant engagement in this program is due to the Mpingo (tree), the symbolic bridge between community members and volunteer tourist teachers. This culturally relevant symbol has linkages to the study of signs (or symbols) called semiotics. Through volunteers traveling to this area to teach, this culturally relevant symbol helps to connect, aids in the communication between, and gives hope to, participants. Significant contributions of this study to literature include: volunteer tourist and community member engagement plays an important role in the planning, and the sustaining, of volunteer tourism community development programs today; program youth perspectives about program impacts may result in prospective youth leadership and future adult civic engagement; program skill matched volunteers are likely to be repeat volunteers which leads to group cohesion and program sustainability; and the major theme of hope appears to be a significant motive for program participation in a community development project. In terms of deep meaning ascribed to culturally relevant symbols, this unique finding contributes to engagement research by understanding there are multiple dimensions involved in a diverse group of participants engaged in a specific community program. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2018

I argue that a country’s preferences in an international trade negotiation ultimately reflect the domestic distribution of power across economic sectors not only in the field of the market, but also in the field of society. Fields correspond to arenas of power. Whereas in the market societal actors have economic capital (EC), their position in society determines their identity capital (IC). The more a sector is associated to the dominant conception of national identity, the higher is its IC. Both types of capital impact a sector’s political power (PP). IC manifests itself in the phase of ratification either instrumentally, when in dispute in the political field, or structurally, if embedded in state institutions. Hence, when IC is instrumentalised, only if the coalition in government espouses a social paradigm to which a sector is mostly associated it will be able to convert its level of IC into PP. As ratification shadows negotiation, constraints in this latter phase tend to be false positives in explaining the formation of the national interest. The hypothesis on the role of IC in shaping the weight of sectors’ preferences in trade negotiations is tested along with a process of theory-building through a multi-method structured-focused comparison. For the comparison, two countries were chosen as their societies are diverse in terms of identity, yet each represents a variety of the effects of IC. Brazil and India have identity-based social cleavages that are expressed in structural and instrumental terms respectively. They are key players in the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) multilateral system of trade, having participated of the Doha Development Round of trade liberalisation. Brazil expressed interest for liberalisation as the mostly racially-diverse sectors had offensive demands. In turn, protectionist demands prevailed in India, as defensive sectors are associated to the dominant secularist paradigm of national identity.