This thesis explores the experiences and practices of disaster relief volunteers. This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over a period of fifty-three days in the summer of 2007 at the post-hurricane Katrina Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. Through innovative practices and a commitment to the principle of “solidarity not charity” volunteers produce not just material aid, but an ideology of social justice. This thesis is also an exercise in engaged scholarship in that the author directly participated in the disaster relief effort as a volunteer.

WOMEN’S RELATIONSHIPS: FEMALE FRIENDSHIP IN TONI MORRISON’S SULA AND LOVE, MARIAMA BA’S SO LONG A LETTER AND SEFI ATTA’S EVERYTHING GOOD WILL COME by KADIDIA SY Under the Direction of Renée Schatteman, Chris Kocela and Margaret Harper ABSTRACT This study analyzes female friendship in four novels written by black diasporic women and examines the impact of race, class and gender on women’s relationships. The novels emphasize how women face the challenges of patriarchal institutions and other attempts to subjugate then through polygamy, neo-colonialism, constraints of tradition, caste prejudice, political instability and the Biafra war. This dissertation uses characterization and plot analysis to explore the different stories and messages the novels portray. As findings this study foregrounds the healing powers of female bonding, which allows women to overcome prejudice and survive, to enjoy female empowerment, and to extend female friendship into female solidarity that participates in nation building. However, another conclusion focuses on the power of patriarchy which constitutes a threat to female bonding and usually causes women’s estrangement. INDEX WORDS: Women’s relationships, Female friendship, Female bonding, Sisterhood, Female solidarity, Female Empowerment

This study examines the development gap that has emerged between the co-operative sectors of the Canadian provinces of Québec and Saskatchewan since 1980. It harnesses historical research, textual analysis, and semi-structured interviews to better understand how some movements are able to regenerate their movements in the face of crisis. The study finds that the regeneration of the Québec movement reflects the concertation (concerted action) of social movement, sector, and state actors. Deeply rooted in a collectivist tradition of cultural nationalism and state corporatism, this democratic partnership supported the renovation and expansion of the co-operative development system in a virtuous spiral of movement agency, innovation, and regeneration. Concertation of social movement and state actors created momentum for escalating orders of joint-action, institution-building, and policy and program development. By contrast, the degeneration of the Saskatchewan movement reflects the decline of the agrarian economy and movement and a failure to effectively coordinate the efforts of emerging social movements and the state for development action. This has yielded a vicious spiral of movement inertia, under-development, and decline. Although green shoots are in evidence, regeneration efforts in Saskatchewan lag Québecs progress in rebuilding the foundations for effective democratic partnership. The study concludes with a detailed comparison of these diverging movements, offering conclusions and recommendations for the repair of the Saskatchewan development system and the regeneration of its co-operative movement.

This study examines the development gap that has emerged between the co-operative sectors of the Canadian provinces of Québec and Saskatchewan since 1980. It harnesses historical research, textual analysis, and semi-structured interviews to better understand how some movements are able to regenerate their movements in the face of crisis. The study finds that the regeneration of the Québec movement reflects the concertation (concerted action) of social movement, sector, and state actors. Deeply rooted in a collectivist tradition of cultural nationalism and state corporatism, this democratic partnership supported the renovation and expansion of the co-operative development system in a virtuous spiral of movement agency, innovation, and regeneration. Concertation of social movement and state actors created momentum for escalating orders of joint-action, institution-building, and policy and program development. By contrast, the degeneration of the Saskatchewan movement reflects the decline of the agrarian economy and movement and a failure to effectively coordinate the efforts of emerging social movements and the state for development action. This has yielded a vicious spiral of movement inertia, under-development, and decline. Although green shoots are in evidence, regeneration efforts in Saskatchewan lag Québecs progress in rebuilding the foundations for effective democratic partnership. The study concludes with a detailed comparison of these diverging movements, offering conclusions and recommendations for the repair of the Saskatchewan development system and the regeneration of its co-operative movement.

Post-recession, middle-aged parents may provide various types of support to their grown children and parents. In the current study, parents age 40 to 60 (N =92) reported on a survey the support and affection they exchange with each child over age 18 (N =169) and each parent (N=185). The middle-aged generation (G2) differentiated among children (G3) and parents (G1) within families, and provided emotional, financial, and practical help on average to their children. The more dependent the child (G3), the more support was exchanged. Dependence was measured on normative status like education, employment, disability, and crisis as well as the emotional support and the overall affection. Parents (G1) received as a function of their dependence upon their children. Findings support contingency theory; downstream flow is more common in both physical and emotional support. Furthermore, the motivation the phenomenon is explained based on developmental stake theory and developmental schism to assure support later in life and progeny success. Finally, additional analysis of the upstream support found that a function of the existing relationship and individual factors based on caregiver burden, filial maturity, and appraisal impact the support exchange.

In asking ‘How do queer Palestinian womyn ‘queer’ Palestinian identity”, the present research focuses on the various forms of traditional, narrative, and creative resistance practices of Palestinian womyn who challenge the following three narratives: 1) the national narrative which tags ‘queer’ as ‘Other’ and which posits the national movement at the top of the hierarchy of struggles; 2) the colonial narrative which is sustained by the Israeli public relations campaigns aiming to portray Israel as a modern, progressive, safe gay haven for queers, in opposition to a Palestine and Arab World which are said to be integrally homophobic, barbaric, regressive, etc. in an attempt to ‘pinkwash’ the occupation; and 3) the neocolonial narrative in which Western and Israeli Jewish queer movements reproduce colonial dynamics in their attempt to ‘save’ Palestinian queers who are deemed to be powerless, voiceless victims in need of saving.

The purpose of this essay is to give the reader an insight in the subject of torture. This is done through both an historical perspective and by showing how torture methods are used today, even though torture is prohibited by law. Many refugees who come to Sweden today have survived torture, and the trauma can cause multiple illnesses related to the tragic memories. In addition to physical damage many also suffer from depression and post traumatic stress, due to the experiences of torture. Together with the Swedish Red Cross we designed a questionnaire which was sent to politicians and elected officials. In the questionnaire we asked questions concerning knowledge of injuries due to torture and what treatment options these people have in Sweden. Some of the questions are based in the concept of solidarity. The responses from this survey are the basis for analysis and discussion and are linked to our theories of organization and solidarity. The analysis shows that the knowledge is generally good, and the political parties in general have a collective solidarity approach to the care of people who are victims of torture.

This dissertation contributes to the literature on intergenerational transfers by examining the dynamics of financial assistance provided by midlife parents to their adult children across the life course. This dissertation also examines whether the cumulative advantage hypothesis stretches across generational lines during co-occurring life course experiences so that financial transfers convey additional advantages to adult children. I use panel data from four waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998) to provide a broad picture of the process of financial assistance to younger adults within extended families. I constructed within-family trajectories of assistance to demonstrate that financial transfers are more common than previously estimated. Over 60% of all midlife-parent households gave $500 or more at least once and many parents gave multiple transfers and/or gave transfers to several adult children during a seven-year period. In an examination of kinship structures that differentiates between paternal children and maternal children within blended families, I use nonlinear logistic regression models to show that the decreased likelihood that fathers provided financial assistance to children from a previous marriage accounted solely for the reduction in transfers that all stepchildren received compared to biological children. Multilevel regression models demonstrate that transfer amounts are also influenced by kinship structures and parental resources. Additional analyses show adult child life course transitions related to schooling and coresidence were influential for parents' transfer behaviors while other life course transitions related to work, marriage, home ownership and the addition of a grandchild to the family were not influential. The number of life course transitions experienced by adult children during later waves significantly increased the likelihood of transfer receipt. However, the diversification of experiences over time made it difficult to pinpoint specific life course transitions relevant to financial assistance from parents. The strong impact of previous transfers upon the likelihood that adult children would receive transfers at later waves shows that patterns of repeated transfers were common for many intergenerational families. I argue that future research should analyze the impact of parental wealth on transfers and should explicitly examine parents' motives for giving money to adult children. / Dissertation

In this study, possibility of establishing feminist solidarity, sustained and based on feminist politics in Turkey is examined. Commonality discourse, the notion of sisterhood and identity politics, creating illusionary homogeneity are criticized of being exclusionary and limiting. Contemporary accounts of feminist solidarity are investigated in order to find a way out for establishing solidarity across difference. However, it is seen that these contemporary approaches are far from designating a driving force to stimulate feminists / activists to come together. It is argued that in order to achieve feminist solidarity respecting differences is a must. It is also argued that solidarity has to become a powerful relation among feminists and to do so internalized inequalities and power holding within activism has to be interrogated. Consciousness raising among activists is offered as a means to overcome challenges to activism and barriers to solidarity. Furthermore it is argued that feminism has to become the motto of activism and feminist politics as the basis for establishing feminist solidarity.

The thesis attempts to provide an analysis of the role of trade union membership in the formations of trade union consciousness and worker identity and the assumption that the trade union membership is influential in the formation of worker identity is tested in this study. It is mainly based upon a field study conducted in Railcar Factory of T&Uuml / VASAS in Sakarya, makes a comparison between union member workers and non-union member subcontractors in terms of the formation of trade union consciousness and worker identity. It will also be possible to point out concretely that the formations of trade consciousness and worker identity are analysed through perceptions, consciousness and attitudes by taking the social, economic and political dimensions into consideration. It is analysed that the trade union membership has not a significant influence on the formation of worker identity and there are no big differences among the union member workers and subcontractors in terms of the aproaches towards trade unionism, working class consciousness and worker identity.