Graduate

Digital storytelling uses technology in order to capture people’s stories digitally, weaving together images, music and narration to create a vivid, multi-media story in the form of a short movie. Story creators are taken through a workshop in order to equip them with the technical and other skills needed to create the stories themselves. In the case studied, a group of gender and HIV activists participated in intensive four-day workshops sponsored by a South African non-governmental organisation. Seven interviews were conducted with workshop participants to capture their experiences of the workshops. Following a grounded theory approach, the interview transcriptions were analysed using an open coding process, which lead to the emergence of a clear central story line. The conceptual framework or theory emerging from this qualitative case study is that in digital stories as tools for social change and activism, technology’s role can be understood through conceptualising it as a medium and a mediator, with its properties as a medium enabling it to play a mediating role in a number of different types of relationships. A potential gap in the literature was identified in the process of writing this dissertation, which is that most examinations of the use of technology in social change and activism concentrate on the Internet and email. Hence there is a need for further research into how a range of technologies are currently and can potentially be used in the services of social change. It is hoped that this dissertation will contribute to addressing that gap. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

By 1994 education in South Africa had collapsed (TRC, 1998; CCOLT, 1996). In response, South Africa's first non-racial government initiated a wide ranging School Reform (SR) program. However, almost a decade after the reforms commenced there have been very few substantial changes in the majority of South African schools: The Education Rights Project (2003a) and the South African Human Rights Commission argue that SR is failing the majority of South Africans. This thesis explores an alternative, School-Community Development (SCD), that integrates school reforms with programs that draw members of the school's neighbouring community (the "school-community") into the process of changing schools. I argue that SR is an inadequate response to the problems that confront schools. Using the case study method I show that SR is enhanced when integrated with locally developed social, cultural, economic, and school development programs. The thesis makes two contributions to the literature. First, the thesis challenges the "simplistic solutions to educational problems" (Anyon, 1997, p. 12) that constitute SR. Second, the thesis presents a materially grounded critique of SR in South Africa that evokes the "multiple voices" (Sayed, 2002, p. 32) from the four case study schools. Accordingly, our understanding of "making change work at the micro level", a neglected area of South African educational research (Sayed and Jansen, 2001, p. 7), is enhanced. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research investigates the engagements between community activists and urban authorities in the provision of sustainable sanitation services in the informal settlements of Khayelitsha Cape Town. Since 2008, there have been contestations on the exclusion of informal settlements in the planning and delivery of sanitation services by the City of Cape Town. The planning and decision-making of sanitation services in the informal settlement is complex due to numerous stakeholders involved and thus not clear on how sustainable sanitation can be achieved. The challenge has been on understanding the level where decision-making in the provision of sanitation services is more effective for sustainable sanitation.

This study addresses the extent to which feminist jurisprudence literature has developed the potential to initiate a legal paradigm shift leading to legal and consequent social change that would alleviate gender inequality. Drawing upon Kuhn's (1970) and Stacey and Thorne's (1985) arguments, I theorized that for a paradigm shift centered upon women and women's experiences to occur, feminist jurisprudence, particularly second- and third-phase feminist jurisprudence, needs to be incorporated into, and accepted by the mainstream. Through quantitative analysis I evaluated, first, the publication and citation patterns and the diffusion of feminist jurisprudence litearature as evidenced in articles published between the years 1983 and 1994 in legal journals assigned impact factors by the Social Science Citation Index. Second, using content analysis, I classified feminist jurisprudence articles published in the subfields of family and penal law --theorized to differ in degree of androcentrism-- according to the three phases of feminist jurisprudence theory. My quantitative analysis showed that the number of feminist jurisprudence articles published in mainstream legal journals is increasing over time. Further, feminist jurisprudence articles published in legal journals with higher impact factors tend to receive larger numbers of citations than articles published in journals with lower impact factors. Finally, although the overall impact factor of journals publishing feminist jurisprudence articles is declining, feminist jurisprudence literature is present among a wide spectrum of legal specializations. My qualitative analysis showed that there was an equivalent number of family and penal law articles which exhibited second- and third-phase characteristics. However, family law articles tended to cover a wider range of topics than penal law articles. Furthermore, family law scholars were more likely than penal law scholars to address issues of differences among women and feminists, thus, exhibiting third-phase characteristics. In constrast, penal law scholars tended to focus upon differences between feminists and non-feminists and the practical difficulties resulting from the structure, organization and practitioners of the criminal justice. Overall, my analysis showed that feminist jurisprudence appears to have developed the potential to initiate a paradigm shift within the legal discipline. However, in addition to feminist theorizing, feminist activism is important for the realization of legal and social changes that will alleviate gender inequality. / Ph. D.

This research project aims to contribute to the field of communication and social change through the analysis of different humoristic subversive mechanisms used by feminist comedians in Spanish society and their potential as a transformative tool in the country’s socio-political context.The personal stories of three feminist comedians interviewed for this research are analysed through the feminist standpoint theory, valuing the epistemic knowledge of women’s experiences and the potential of their communication through comedy as a contestation tool. Understanding knowledge as socially situated, through the experiences of the interviewed women, this research provides an analysis of the evolution of subversive mechanisms through comedy to contest the existing sociopolitical barriers.Comedy provides a safe space for the communication of subversive feminist messages that generate alternative points of view contesting existing hegemonic structures of knowledge and contribute to break gender stereotypes regaining subjectivity for women. Sharing marginal personal stories could promote connections among women through the identification of the oppressions suffered, creating a sorority movement that contributes to the evolution of feminism.

Please note: this work is indefinitely embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and fill out the appropriate web form. / Based on a qualitative study on the new development of Presbyterianism in China, this thesis explores the urban and rational side of Chinese Christianity, so as to open an empirical window on meso-level social change in urban China. From an empirical perspective, although the organizational form of the Presbyterian Church in China and its scope are still in the fledging stage, the discursive practices and the institutional and coalition building of Chinese Presbyterians fit into the profile of a social movement. This preliminary data collected so far examines the emerging Protestant elites and their role in the precarious civil society of today’s China. On the normative side, these Chinese Presbyterians articulate a strong political theology that blends the Anabaptist and the reformed theologies. In addition, the institutional and the missional tension of this movement is also under examination. In the end, this project is an experiment that tests the commensurability between theology and social sciences, especially the viability of theologically engaged ethnography. / 2031-01-01

A decline in parent participation in one impoverished Pre-K through Grade 5 school in Texas over recent years has been an ongoing concern for school administrators. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate parent perceptions of the school's efforts to involve parents in the school. Research questions focused on identifying factors that inhibited parental involvement concentrating on parent perceptions of school efforts. Constructivist theory and the advocacy/liberatory framework formed the conceptual framework for this study. A triangulation method for data collection included parent interviews, teacher questionnaires, and observations of parental involvement activities over 12 weeks. Participants were a typical sampling of 9 teachers and 9 parents. Observations were logged and coded. Teacher questionnaires were thematically coded and used to create probing questions for parent interviews. Interview transcripts were coded, and member checks validated findings. Results indicated that school practices for parent involvement were unclear to parents, inconsistently implemented, and poorly communicated. Parents reported that consistent communication and encouragement could help break down barriers to participation. As a result of these findings, a parental involvement project was formulated including research based goals, a plan for implementation, and a program evaluation. These findings and proposed project could lead to positive social change by assisting local staff to design a parental involvement program that gives parents a voice in school practices and by providing a model for other schools struggling to involve parents.

This applied dissertation was conducted in order to compare levels of socially responsible leadership, as reported in the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL, Dugan & Associates 2012; Dugan, Komives & Associates, 2009), between students at community colleges and 4-year colleges. The problem this study addressed was the relatively limited knowledge about the leadership development of students attending community colleges (Basham & Mathur, 2010; Cloud, 2010). Students who have the ability to engage in on-campus activities have a greater opportunity to become involved in any one of a variety of leadership positions and activities such as student-organization officers, student employment, retreats, and trainings. Engaged students, therefore, are more easily able to translate leadership involvement into specific skills that can be included on their resumes and marketed to future colleges or potential employers. An adapted version of the MSL scale (Dugan & Associates 2012; Dugan, Komives & Associates, 2009), an instrument created to observe the effects of postsecondary education on the leadership development of college students, was administered to over 300,000 students at approximately 250 institutions. Specifically, the instrument investigates college experiences and their influences on leadership-related outcomes of students such as complex cognitive skills, social perspective-taking, and leadership efficacy. Results revealed significant differences between students attending community colleges and those from 4-year colleges with regard to several values of leadership development: change, citizenship, controversy with civility, and consciousness of self. It can be concluded that students attending community colleges, when compared to those from 4-year colleges, have significantly higher scores for change, controversy with civility, and consciousness of self. In comparison, students from 4-year colleges have higher citizenship scores.

Public art with religious themes or inspiration often represents, promotes, or challenges the concerns, values, characteristics, and/or history of the community in which this art is situated. This dissertation explores the contribution of public religious art to generating dialogue about social issues, in particular homelessness. It builds on scholarship indicating that publicly engaged art is a catalyst for promoting mutual understanding among diverse stakeholders with differing worldviews and joins an ongoing scholarly debate about the place of religion in a secular democratic society. As a case study, I use Timothy Schmalz’s bronze sculpture entitled Homeless Jesus, as an example of public art intended to generate public awareness about social marginalization and homelessness. Situated within the critical paradigm, this dissertation uses a case study methodology to explore the ways faith-based organizations and secular media elicit and use meanings through the representation of sculpture in public and mediated spaces. To gain multiple vantage points for examining the meanings and uses of Homeless Jesus, this case study draws on interviews with faith leaders at organizations who have a replica or are located near the replica in Hamilton, Ontario (n=12), online news articles that reference it (n=85), and photos of replicas in six urban locations. Data analysis proceeded through three stages: an iconography, a narrative inquiry, and a thematic analysis. This case study culminates in insights on the relationship between public religious art and public dialogues on social issues, such as homelessness. Findings indicate that public religious art is a mode in which faith-based organizations seek to contribute to public dialogues about social issues in a manner that is accessible and acceptable to those with differing worldviews. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Public art with religious themes or inspiration can represent, promote, or challenge the concerns, values, identity, and/or history of the communities in which it is situated. Using Timothy Schmalz’s bronze sculpture entitled Homeless Jesus, as an example of public religious art intended to generate awareness about homelessness, this dissertation explores the contribution of public religious art to public dialogues about social issues. To understand how faith-based organizations and secular media interpret and use Homeless Jesus, I analyze photos of replicas, online news articles that reference it, and interviews with faith leaders at organizations that have a replica or are located near the replica in Hamilton, Ontario. Findings indicate that faith-based organizations use art to contribute to public dialogues in a manner they hope is accessible to and respectful of those with differing worldviews.