The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the impact that historical (and cultural) contexts have on the production of theories and concepts. In specific, I am interested in the relationship between historical and cultural contexts and the production of theoretical knowledge. I define historical periods in theory as modernist and an "after-modern" context, which comprises poststructuralism, postmodernism and post-Marxism. My case is the life and work of Antonio Gramsci; a "classical theorist" whose work remains salient across the social sciences and humanities. I hypothesize that in order to understand the historiography of knowledge in the social sciences, from the classical period to the present, significant points of "departure" in theory (e.g. Gramsci, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism) need to be viewed contextually. By extension, a better way to fully understand Gramsci's insights, and their endurance, for the study of race, sexuality, culture and politics is to situate his methodology, theories, and concepts historically. In the dissertation propose two ways to test this hypothesis: 1. I provide an historically grounded interpretation of Gramsci's political thinking (a orienting place for much of Gramsci's thought) which includes, for example, changes in his perspective about the strategic role of specific political groups, e.g. social movement organizations, in achieving political goals; 2. I embed his theoretical and conceptual framework within the theoretical discourses prevalent during his time, which would include, for example, the rise and predominance of Italian positivist criminology as a racial discourse. I also hypothesize that in this case, such an interpretation is necessary to fully and accurately understand the potential contribution of Gramsci's theoretical framework to contemporary theoretical discourses in both the social sciences and humanities-based disciplines. This dissertation is organized around the following sets of questions. My originating question, which establishes the analytical framework for the dissertation, is: What impact does historical (and cultural) contexts have on the production of theories and concepts? As it pertains to my specific case, the life and work of Antonio Gramsci, I sharpen the point by asking: In the context of the originating research question, In what ways have the historical (and cultural) contexts effected the production of theories and concepts in Gramsci's work? This dissertation represents a contribution to the sociology of ideas as well as to classical theory by providing a new lens through which to look at the early contributions of sociological knowledge. Further, each individual section?which represents explorations of specific theoretical rubrics?may lead to contributions within these distinct areas.

AIDS Saskatoon, considered as a health social movement, is the focus of this research. It uses notions of life-world, system and life-world colonization as well as the typology of politics introduced by Cohen and Arato to answer the questions:<p> Why did AIDS Saskatoon emerge?<p> Is AIDS Saskatoon a defensive or an offensive social movement?<p> The defensive movements action is directed inward to the lifeworld and civil society, while the offensive modes of movement activism directed outward to state and economic institutions. With regards to the first question, I argue AIDS Saskatoon was formed as a reaction to patterns of the colonization of the life-world of people living with HIV/AIDS. Relative to the second question AIDS Saskatoon is seen to be a creative response to the colonization process that takes an organizational form conducive to both defensive and offensive dimensions.<p> Data for this study were derived from ten qualitative interviews were conducted - five with individuals diagnosed HIV/AIDS positive, three with the AIDS Saskatoon administrative staff, and two with the founders of AIDS Saskatoon.

AIDS Saskatoon, considered as a health social movement, is the focus of this research. It uses notions of life-world, system and life-world colonization as well as the typology of politics introduced by Cohen and Arato to answer the questions:<p> Why did AIDS Saskatoon emerge?<p> Is AIDS Saskatoon a defensive or an offensive social movement?<p> The defensive movements action is directed inward to the lifeworld and civil society, while the offensive modes of movement activism directed outward to state and economic institutions. With regards to the first question, I argue AIDS Saskatoon was formed as a reaction to patterns of the colonization of the life-world of people living with HIV/AIDS. Relative to the second question AIDS Saskatoon is seen to be a creative response to the colonization process that takes an organizational form conducive to both defensive and offensive dimensions.<p> Data for this study were derived from ten qualitative interviews were conducted - five with individuals diagnosed HIV/AIDS positive, three with the AIDS Saskatoon administrative staff, and two with the founders of AIDS Saskatoon.

Denns C-uppsats i kulturantropologi utforskar fenomenet dumpster diving, vad det innebär och varför människor rotar efter mat i soptunnor. Mitt syfte är att undersöka de tankegångar människor har som är engagerade i dumpster diving och vad vi kan lära av dem. Jag har även i denna studie belyst de etiska, ekologiska och ekonomiska konsekvenserna kring det faktum att vi slänger så mycket ätbar mat och visat att dumpster diving är till viss del en lokal lösning på ett globalt problem.

Adopting ¡§Radical Actions¡¨ is the impression which Greenpeace gives to the outside world, and they are skilled at that way. When facing difference of culture, history, political, economic and society, what actions would this organization comes from west society take? China and Indonesia are the 1st the 3rd Greenhouse gases country, so this article puts them together to understand how Greenpeace faces different external environment and how it engages the environment campaign. This article figures that Greenpeace will hire local environmentalists; in China, Greenpeace is submissive to the authority, and it not only helps China become a renewable energy power, but push environmental laws and citizen environmental education. In Indonesia, Greenpeace respects local traditional culture, customs and provides the way to solve problems. It also contains its radical image to get the media attention, encouraging citizen to learn Greenpeace¡¦s actions. Because of different society situation, Greenpeace uses different methods between China and Indonesia, we can realize that not only radical actions Greenpeace takes, but adjusting their solution according to different surroundings.

American cities have a combination of policies that both provide emergency services and restrict the movements and activities of homeless people. These policies are the product of active public debates that construct narratives that explain the causes of homelessness and characterize homeless people. I identify both the policy opportunities and limits created by the way interest groups talk about homelessness by weaving together framing theory with analysis of discursive units employed in the public discussions about homelessness published in the St. Petersburg Times, in Pinellas County, Florida. This county is representative of other metropolitan regions that experienced rapid growth, gentrification, and are now seeing skyrocketing rates of foreclosures. I situate this local debate within the nationally circulated publications referring to homelessness to identify underlying assumptions that shape the outcomes in Pinellas County and set the stage for similar discussions across the United States. I examine how these narratives function in collective action frames of homelessness, the resulting opposing views of who should respond, and how the issue of homelessness should be treated given the legal division between public and private property in our capitalistic society. Frames must be considered rhetoric because they are employed to advance persuasive arguments. The various issue and collective action frames used to shape city policies each form an argument about homelessness. Discursive units are the building blocks of these arguments. Hence, I examine the place of the discursive units of thematic values, anecdotal narratives, and characterizations within these frames. I find that the city council responds to the competing interest group frames by selectively adopting different discursive units from each group in order to frame the situation of homelessness in the region as a crisis. While maintaining the use of the same thematic values and anecdotal narratives, the government is able to transcend competing characterizations of the homeless, creating space for their new policies to pass and succeed with the support of constituents from opposed interest groups.

Thesis (M.A.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 16, 2009). Advisor: Elizabeth Smith-Pryor. Keywords: Civil Rights Movement; Black Power; Black Feminism; Gender; Race; Class; Sexuality; Nationalism; Black Radicalism. Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-139).

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

This study departs from Gállok, an area 40 kilometres northwest of the city Jokkmokk, in northern Sweden. This is a place to which local people and Saami reindeer herders have material interests and emotional bonds. The mining company JIMAB wants to prospect for extracting minerals from this area. In the summer of 2013 local people, Saamis and environmental activists gathered in Gállok in order to protest and make resistance against these plans. Activism was made, debate articles were written, demonstrations were organized and information about what was going on in Gállok was shared through social media. The aim of this study is to examine the cultural processes of the anti-mining movement, in particular the happenings in Gállok in summer 2013. How did this anti-mining movement take form? What kind of strategies and methods were used, in order to mobilize participants? This study focuses on the material and bodily aspects of resistance and activism. What kind of material interests lie behind the involvement? How do they use their bodies as tools to make resistance? Furthermore the current thesis examines some of the reasoning, questions and emotions that circulate in the movement. Around which questions and values do the participants in the anti-mining gather? How do emotions affect people's involvement? One of the main arguments of this study is that social movements can be understood both as political and cultural. Is this also the case with the anti-mining movement in Gállok? This study consists of 5 chapters and a summary. The first chapter presents the theories, methods and materials that have been used in this study. In chapter two the reader is presented to the historical background and context of the anti-mining movement. In the third chapter, we examine some of the main reasonings, questions and emotions that circulate in the movement. The fourth chapter focuses on the happenings that took place in Gállok in the summer of 2013, when activists, locals and Saami people where gathered to protest and make resistance. In the fifth chapter a anti-mining demonstration that took place in Jokkmokk in the winter of 2014 is analyzed. The conclusions are then drawn in the final brief summary.

Political representation remains one of the areas in American life in which gender inequality is most pronounced, and scholars claim that women’s reluctance to run for office is now the most significant barrier to gender equality in the political sphere. Yet, researchers have not adequately grappled with the complexities and contradictions in women’s “deciding to run” accounts and have often overlooked the varied narrative strategies of women leaders across race, class, and social movement identities. I conducted 46 interviews with women leaders in Texas and fieldwork in a political campaign to examine the stories women tell to explain their decisions whether or not to run for office. I find that the “deciding to run” narratives that African-American women and Latinas employ are distinct from the stories white women use to explain their decisions whether or not to run for office, as they more often draw from civil rights discourses of courage, confidence, and commitment to their causes. I argue that feminist organizations actually encourage women to downplay their political ambition in the attempt to spread their social movement messages that women need to be recruited more heavily to run for office. These messages play an important role in influencing the reluctance story told by most of the white women I interviewed. I argue that structural factors such as majority-minority and majority-white voting districts also play a large role in shaping the “deciding to run” accounts of candidates and potential candidates, as raced-gendered and social movement discourses take different forms and carry varying weight in these political contexts. My findings challenge the dominant explanation for women’s sparse levels of office-holding, which suggests that women are under-represented in politics because they lack the confidence to enter political races. In addition, I highlight the political ambition of African-American women and Latinas, whose remarkable success records in seeking and winning elective office have not been accounted for in current paradigms explaining women’s under-representation. Finally, my research exposes the cultural dynamics underlying women’s “deciding to run” explanations, as I illuminate how women draw from raced-gendered and social movement discourses to account for their political decisions. / text