The purpose of this thesis is to destabilize notions that representations of ‘Indians’ as they appear in contemporary Switzerland, Germany, and France are benign. Rather, Europeans in this region rely on ‘playing Indian’ and consuming Indianness to understand themselves as white modern subjects. I demonstrate how this operates through two case studies and argue that colonialism persists through symbolic dialectical processes between North America and Western Europe. Colonial discourse, and regimes of representation, concerning Indianness circulate across geographical locations. I link these symbolic representations to ongoing material struggles of Indigenous peoples for self-determination and land rights. Switzerland’s foreign investments and free trade with Canada for natural resources on unceded Indigenous territories implicates them in a neoliberal colonial paradigm that continues to dispossess peoples of their land. I turn to Indigenous artists and international solidarity networking as potential strategies that address both symbolic and material processes of colonization.

The purpose of this study is to engage in a discussion that is currently marginalized in academic spaces, about the notions of energy and impacts of it on students' learning process and accomplishment in the educational space. While teachers' low expectations and negation on racialized students, and hostilities from other peers has been studied, not much attention has been paid to how those teachers' and peers' energy such as hostility has impacted on students' learning process and accomplishment. In this thesis, I employ Japanese Indigenous ways of knowing to explore this theme. However, my discussion about the impact of energy on student learning process is not limited to the Japanese context only; I have expanded the discussion to the Eurocentric educational system as well. My thesis aims to contribute to the instructional and pedagogical implication for classroom teachers.

This study examines relationships between Indigenous parents and their children’s non-Indigenous teachers. As many Indigenous students are taught by mostly non-Indigenous teachers, this thesis aims to provide teachers with insights or strategies on how to work in a community that is perhaps unknown to them. There are three areas of focus within this thesis: critical issues within systems of education in Indigenous communities, critical issues that Indigenous parents face, and critical issues that schools with Indigenous students face. This project has given both parents and teachers the chance to talk about the experiences of Indigenous children, the experiences of parents and teachers, and the relationships that form between the school, home, and the community. Also included are ideas that can be used by schools, school boards, and Indigenous communities to encourage strong relationships between homes of students and their schools.

The purpose of this thesis is to destabilize notions that representations of ‘Indians’ as they appear in contemporary Switzerland, Germany, and France are benign. Rather, Europeans in this region rely on ‘playing Indian’ and consuming Indianness to understand themselves as white modern subjects. I demonstrate how this operates through two case studies and argue that colonialism persists through symbolic dialectical processes between North America and Western Europe. Colonial discourse, and regimes of representation, concerning Indianness circulate across geographical locations. I link these symbolic representations to ongoing material struggles of Indigenous peoples for self-determination and land rights. Switzerland’s foreign investments and free trade with Canada for natural resources on unceded Indigenous territories implicates them in a neoliberal colonial paradigm that continues to dispossess peoples of their land. I turn to Indigenous artists and international solidarity networking as potential strategies that address both symbolic and material processes of colonization.

This dissertation comprises two essays. While the topics of both essays are different both are interrelated on the base of economic development. The first essay examines ethnic wage gaps on segmented labor markets with evidence from Latin American countries. The second essay revisits the determinants of fiscal decentralization with an emphasis on the role that geography plays in determining fiscal decentralization. The first essay contributes to limited literature on ethnic wage gaps in Latin America. It examines ethnic wage gaps for workers in formal and informal labor markets. Using data from Latin American countries we estimate and examine across-ethnic wage gaps for informal and formal markets, their changes over time, factors that explain their differences, and the wage gap distribution. More specifically, we verify that different ethnic wage gaps do exist across formal and informal markets; they behave differently not only at their means but also along the wage distribution. The results indicate that higher ethnic wage gaps in informal sectors exist not only on average but also throughout the distribution. In addition, we find that wage gaps have declined significantly over the last 10 years. we explain this by examining changes in the prices of institutional factors and changes in human capital endowments. The distributional analysis shows a decrease in the unexplained component, especially in the top part of the distribution. The second essay contributes to the existing literature on the determinants of fiscal decentralization by motivating theoretically and exploiting in depth the empirical relevance that geography has as a determinant of fiscal decentralization. The relationship between decentralization and geography is based on the logic that more geographically diverse countries show greater heterogeneity among their citizens, including their preferences and needs for public goods and services provisions. Communications and physical distance are also a very important issue and play a key role on the effect of geography over time. (Lora et. al., 2003) argue geography plays a key role in economic and social development, as well as in the institutional design of the countries; yet, this effect could be enhanced (or diminished) in the presence of better physical infrastructure or communications. The theoretical model in this paper builds on the work by Arzaghi and Henderson (2002) and Panizza (1999). For the empirical estimation, we use a panel data set for approximately 91 countries for the period 1960-2005. Physical geography is measured along several dimensions, including elevation, land area and climate. We construct a geographical fragmentation index and test its effect on fiscal decentralization. In addition, we interact the geographical fragmentation index with time-variant infrastructure variables in order to test the effect that infrastructure and communications have on the relationship between geography and fiscal decentralization. For robustness, we construct Gini coefficients for in-country elevation and climate. We find a positive and strong correlation between geographical factors and fiscal decentralization. We also find that while the development of infrastructure (in transportation, communications, etc.) tends to reduce the effect of geography on decentralization, this effect is rather small and mostly statistically insignificant, meaning that the impact of geography survives over time. The strategy has additional value because geography may be used as an instrument for decentralization in future econometric estimations where decentralization is used as an explanatory variable, but may be suspected to be endogenous to the economic process being studied (economic growth, political instability, macroeconomic stability, income distribution, etc.).

Indigeneity plays a central role in planning for diversity and creating inclusive cities in Canada. In the public domain, racism remains prominent in cities and presents challenges to the realization by urban Aboriginal peoples and Newcomers of their aspirations in urban society. In Winnipeg, an Aboriginal-led organisation has initiated partnerships with Newcomer settlement organisations to bring both groups together to build intercultural relationships. A case study of the United Against Racism/Aboriginal Youth Circle component of Ka Ni Kanichihk (KNK) provides the opportunity to examine the effects of its partnerships on the following matters: promoting cross-cultural understanding and friendships, changing negative perceptions and building confidence among Aboriginal peoples and Newcomers vis-a-vis each other, and help indirectly to facilitate Newcomer integration into neighbourhoods predominantly occupied by Aboriginal peoples in Winnipeg. An analysis of the data gathered on the partnership programs revealed that prior to participating in these programs there were negative preconceptions about one another based on false impressions. The programming has facilitated the sharing of cultures and ideas. This has also helped members of both groups to value their cultural differences and similar history of colonialism where they exist, develop a shared understanding of the racism that confronts Aboriginal peoples and racialized Newcomers, break down stereotypes, and build friendships. This thesis reveals that in the short term, the programs and partnerships of KNK are contributing to better cross-cultural understanding and relations within a multiculturalism framework, and that in the long term they have the potential to contribute to better cross-cultural understanding and relations within an intercultural framework. The cross-cultural networks being developed bode well for the potential of developing instrumental policy and advocacy partnerships in addressing common issues faced by Aboriginals and Newcomers through progressive urban policy in Canadian cities.

This study is a sequential multi-methods research effort which examines the issue of equality in Chinese higher education after the recent expansion, and explores how educational equality has been shaped by policies which reflected the shifting value orientations of the government since 1949. Quantitative methods were used to discover the current patterns of educational equality. The dataset is derived from a survey carried out under a project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Logistic regressions were conducted to discover the relations between students’ social background characteristics and their likelihood of studying in different part of the differentiated higher education system. The findings show that while overall access has increased greatly, advantaged groups have maintained their advantage in gaining entry to higher status universities and attractive disciplines. The study went deeper to explore the changing patterns of educational equality through historical analysis of policy using the lens of culture, since social phenomena are context-based and culture is a deep yet decisive force which has previously been given inadequate attention in relation to this issue. Applying a multidisciplinary approach, an indigenous analytical framework was developed which identified six dimensions of culture relating to educational equality, and Chinese cultural values were then organized along these dimensions. This framework was used to explain the results of the quantitative analysis at a deeper level. It was also used to construct ideal types of elitism and populism as a means of analyzing the historical process of policy change. The study found that policies regarding educational equality swung between these two poles in post 1949 China, due to an internal tension in the Chinese cultural value system which was in turn stimulated or provoked by diverse external influences. Four major modes were identified: politically restrained elitism, politically restrained populism, inclusive elitism, and a tendency toward harmony. This approach represents an original attempt to develop an indigenous framework to interpret educational equality through a cultural lens. The dissertation also seeks to contribute to knowledge and theory development in the comparative research on educational equality more widely, and to provide insights that may inform policy making.

Over two billion people are currently living in poverty (less than $2 a day) around the world. 15 percent of this group is of indigenous backgrounds. Similar to the overall composition of the world, 10 percent of Latin America’s population is indigenous, yet one quarter is living on less than $2 a day. Approximately forty years ago the modern day microfinance movement began in Bangladesh and has since spread throughout the world. Microfinance strives to provide financial services to those who do not have access to the traditional financial sector. Making capital available helps alleviate poverty by providing the poor with credit and other financial services that can help generate income through smart investments. Bolivia and Peru currently have the most advanced microfinance sectors, which is in large part attributed to the financial reforms of the 1990s. However, regardless of the quality of the microfinance sectors in Bolivia and Peru, the indigenous people remain untouched by their services. Specifically, the Quechua and the Aymara, who live in the highlands of the Andes and around Lake Titicaca, are among the poorest people in both countries. The Quechua and the Aymara would greatly benefit from access to microfinance by utilizing their traditional cultures to make income-generating businesses.

This study is a sequential multi-methods research effort which examines the issue of equality in Chinese higher education after the recent expansion, and explores how educational equality has been shaped by policies which reflected the shifting value orientations of the government since 1949. Quantitative methods were used to discover the current patterns of educational equality. The dataset is derived from a survey carried out under a project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Logistic regressions were conducted to discover the relations between students’ social background characteristics and their likelihood of studying in different part of the differentiated higher education system. The findings show that while overall access has increased greatly, advantaged groups have maintained their advantage in gaining entry to higher status universities and attractive disciplines. The study went deeper to explore the changing patterns of educational equality through historical analysis of policy using the lens of culture, since social phenomena are context-based and culture is a deep yet decisive force which has previously been given inadequate attention in relation to this issue. Applying a multidisciplinary approach, an indigenous analytical framework was developed which identified six dimensions of culture relating to educational equality, and Chinese cultural values were then organized along these dimensions. This framework was used to explain the results of the quantitative analysis at a deeper level. It was also used to construct ideal types of elitism and populism as a means of analyzing the historical process of policy change. The study found that policies regarding educational equality swung between these two poles in post 1949 China, due to an internal tension in the Chinese cultural value system which was in turn stimulated or provoked by diverse external influences. Four major modes were identified: politically restrained elitism, politically restrained populism, inclusive elitism, and a tendency toward harmony. This approach represents an original attempt to develop an indigenous framework to interpret educational equality through a cultural lens. The dissertation also seeks to contribute to knowledge and theory development in the comparative research on educational equality more widely, and to provide insights that may inform policy making.

This thesis argues the need for major change in higher education options currently available to Native American students in the United States. Universities and Tribal Colleges represent the most common choices that Native students opt for in seeking degrees in tertiary education. However, for the most part, Universities and Tribal Colleges are not working effectively enough to produce the levels of success that are significantly transforming of the wider social, economic and cultural crisis conditions within many Native American communities. This thesis will focus on how to develop a major transformation of the higher education sector generally, a focus which also positively includes the underdeveloped potential that lies within the Tribal Colleges and Native programs in various university sites. This thesis attempts to clarify what has gone wrong in the higher education of Native Americans and to propose a national, innovative strategy for intervention. Identifying what is problematic in existing approaches will build critical insights that will inform the new strategies for change. The overall argument is that new institutions which are more sensitive and responsive to Indigenous aspirations first and foremost, need to be considered as a key in transforming Native American higher education performance. Rather than define absolutely all of the possible ingredients of what might be included in a new higher education model, this thesis works first to identify and aggregate a number of key barriers and constraints by collating different information streams. Once identified these critical elements, practices, values and structures that are deemed to be the major barriers to Native success are then used to inform the proposed new institutional framework. While a single institution model is ultimately proposed by this thesis, it should be regarded as ‘an’ answer, not ‘the’ answer. A broader intention of this thesis is to bring more focus to this area of concern and underdevelopment within Higher Education and suggest that there are different answers and possibilities (as the Maori examples have demonstrated) that are truly innovative, and which can profoundly impact Native American individual and community social, economic, cultural and political development and advancement.