ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the years 1980-2000 as a sociologically transformative period in Boston's history. The guiding research question is how organized politics and the policies that emerged responded to racial conflict, inequality and economic development, and wholesale change in the city's economic base during this period. The policies of the three governing regimes--the end of Kevin H. White's sixteen-year term, Raymond L. Flynn's nine years in office, and the beginning of Thomas M. Menino's twenty-year mayoralty--are analyzed in the content of these domains to identify the outcomes of several policy agendas that have helped shape life in Boston today. This analysis is in the context of urbanization and urbanism, viewed through the lenses of urban regime, growth machine coalition, progressive city, and government communalism theories. The study utilizes retrospective autoethnography linked with interviews and archival data research. The study found that during the end of the mayoral administration of Kevin White, Boston was in turmoil politically and racially. Political contests centered on growing poverty and inequality and racial unrest in the city. The election of 1983 was a "critical election" both because an African American was in the final runoff and because the two finalists repudiated the growth machine coalition and the racial politics of the past. Flynn's election began the populist transformation of economic policies in Boston to heal racial divisions. After he resigned to become Ambassador to the Vatican, the urban regime of Thomas Menino left intact many of the redistributive policies Flynn enacted; however, it also gradually returned to the growth machine coalition model of economic development, fueling the greatest class and income inequality in Boston's history. In the final analysis, both the policies of each urban regime and the activities of the religious, cultural, business, and neighborhood organizations that comprise city life changed the city in sociologically significant ways. This is the story of Boston 1980-2000, the role of its three mayors during that period, and how the city entered the twenty-first century with its physical decline in part reversed but with issues of race and class remaining significant touchstones.

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The purpose of this study was to examine parent (e.g., exposure to diversity) and child factors (e.g., age, anxiety and prosocial behavior) as they relate to the transmission of messages related to race and culture. An exploratory hypothesis was that Black parents would exhibit more cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust than White parents. In addition, there were hypotheses that the messages that parents impart to their children about race would be influenced by the age of the child or parents’ experience with diverse groups of people. Online questionnaires were distributed to parents and the final sample consisted of 183 parents of Black children (N = 90) and White children (N = 93), aged four to fourteen years old (M = 8.08). Overall, this study found that Black parents engage in more conversations about race and culture than White parents. However, there were no racial differences between number of messages of equality. The hypothesis that the frequency of preparation for bias messages increases as children get older was supported. The hypothesis that Black children who have higher scores on dimensions of racial socialization would have higher levels of prosocial behavior was supported. The hypothesis that the affective valence of exposure to diverse groups of people would be positively related to egalitarianism was supported. The present study adds to the current literature by highlighting that different messages about race and culture need to be communicated for children in the majority culture versus minority culture.

The rebellion was the result of many and varied Bondelswarts grievances, accumulating into discontent. The attempted arrest of Morris and the bungling of subsequent negotiations was the last straw. Their distrust, fear and suspicion of the Government, built up from German times, made any negotiations doubly difficult. They were a proud people, proud of their history and traditions, and proud of their tribal identity. Their days of complete independence were not long gone, and only in the early 1920's was there any appreciable white settlement in their area. It was then, while they watched their lands being irrevocably divided up amongst whites, that with the increased white settlement came stricter and more burdensome laws. In some respect, the rebellion was the last stand of a people driven to frustration and poverty. It was indeed, as Freislich calls it, the last tribal war. They fought a futile battle against the inexorable advance of white technology and civilization, and in this sense their ultimate revolt was perhaps inevitable (Conclusion: p. 229-230)

The aim of the study was to explicate the experience of interracial love relationships between Blacks and Whites in South Africa. As a point of departure, a basic question was established which would elicit the actual experience of this phenomenon. The researcher conducted twelve interviews and chose the six psychologically richest accounts. The researcher then analysed in detail (using the phenomenological method) the resulting protocols comprising the interviews. The researcher then explicated the experience and discovered that interracial love was a historical process of going through a relationship over time. The subjects experienced a particular historical background in the face of which they felt unfulfilled which brought about the potential to search for authenticity in a particular way. The subjects were placed in a situation where interracial love became a possibility. The subjects saw the other as human and fell in love. A new horizon emerged and a learning experience, about themselves and the world, occurred. The element of conflict was always present which was exacerbated by the South African Apartheid system. Subjects experienced fulfillment and disappointment depending on whether or not their historical demand was met. This structure of the experience was dialogued with the writings of existential-phenomenological philosophers and psychologists and also with that of previous research in the context of discussing particular areas of psychological significance such as historical background and Apartheid, racism, alienation, motives for interracial love, love and the universality of human nature and interracial love as a learning experience.

Magister Artium - MA / This thesis evaluates Turner's capacity to encourage a shift in white politics towards New Left radicalism. Despite Turner's influence on many, tensions arose between Turner's politics and more orthodox forms of socialism, embodied in unions and in vanguard parties. The socialist political culture which developed after his death was driven by leaders who were determined to build organizations that could meet tangible, short-term goals. What was lost in abandoning 'the necessity of utopian thinking' as outlined by Turner? Eclipsed through banning and assassination, and simultaneously marginalized by doctrinaire Marxism, Turner's work has yet to take its proper place in the history of liberation struggle in South Africa. This thesis aims to revive Turner's discourse by re-engaging with the utopian elements of his thought, making them available for our present political climate. / South Africa

Since the arrival of the first African slaves to Cuba in 1524, the issue of race has had a long-lived presence in the Cuban national discourse. However, despite Cuba’s colonial history, it has often been maintained by some historians that race relations in Cuba were congenial with racism and racial discrimination never existing as deep or widespread in Cuba as in the United States (Cannon, 1983, p. 113). In fact, it has been argued that institutionalized racism was introduced into Cuban society with the first U.S. occupation, during 1898–1902 (Cannon, 1983, p. 113). This study of Cuba investigates the influence of the United States on the development of race relations and racial perceptions in post-independent Cuba, specifically from 1898-1902. These years comprise the time period immediately following the final fight for Cuban Independence, culminating with the Cuban-Spanish-American War and the first U.S. occupation of Cuba. By this time, the Cuban population comprised Africans as well as descendants of Africans, White Spanish people, indigenous Cubans, and offspring of the intermixing of the groups. This research studies whether the United States’ own race relations and racial perceptions influenced the initial conflicting race relations and racial perceptions in early and post-U.S. occupation Cuba. This study uses a collective interpretative framework that incorporates a national level of analysis with a race relations and racial perceptions focus. This framework reaches beyond the traditionally utilized perspectives when interpreting the impact of the United States during and following its intervention in Cuba. Attention is given to the role of the existing social, political climate within the United States as a driving influence of the United States’ involvement with Cuba. This study reveals that emphasis on the role of the United States as critical to the development of Cuba’s race relations and racial perceptions is credible given the extensive involvement of the U.S. in the building of the early Cuban Republic and U.S. structures serving as models for reconstruction. U.S. government formation in Cuba aligned with a governing system reflecting the existing governing codes of the U.S. during that time period.

"The Erasure of the Essential Afro Element of Mestizaje in Modern Mexico: The Coding of Visibly Black Mestizos According to a White Aesthetic In and Through the Discourse on Nation During the Cultural Phase of the Mexican Revolution, 1920-1968" examines how the Afro elements of Mexican mestizaje were erased from the ideal image of the Mexican mestizo and how the Afro ethnic contributions were plagiarized in modern Mexico. It explores part of the discourse on nation in the narrative produced by authors who subscribed to the belief that only white was beautiful, between 1920 and 1968, during a period herein identified as the "cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution." It looks at the coding and distortion of the image of visibly black Mexicans in and through literature and film, and unveils how the Afro element "disappeared" from some of the most popular images, tastes in music, dance, song, food, and speech forms viewed as cultural texts that, by way of official intervention, were made "badges" of Mexican national identity. The premise of this study is that the criollo elite and their allies, through government, disenfranchised Mexicans as a whole by institutionalizing a magic mirror—materialized in the narrative of nation—where mestizos can "see" only a partial reflection of themselves. The black African characteristics of Mexican mestizaje were totally removed from the ideal image of "Mexican-ness"1 disseminated in and out of the country. During this period, and in the material selected for study, wherever Afro-Mexicans—visibly Afro or not—are mentioned, they appear as "mestizos" oblivious of their African heritage and willingly moving toward becoming white. The analysis adopts as critical foundation two essays: "Black Phobia and the White Aesthetic in Spanish American Literature," by Richard L. Jackson; and "Mass Visual Productions," by James Snead. In "Black Phobia..." Jackson explains that, to define "superior and inferior as well as the concept of beauty" according to how white a person is perceived to be, is a "tradition dramatized in Hispanic Literature from Lope de Rueda's Eufemia (1576) to the present" (467). For Snead, "the coding of blacks in film, as in the wider society, involves a history of images and signs associating black skin color with servile behavior and marginal status" (142). / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

M.A. / This mini-dissertation deals with Herman Charles Bosman's depiction of racial prejudice among the different racial groups in South Africa in the period of the 1930s and 40s. The overarching issue of the narrator's racism forms the focus of discussion. Oom Schalk Lourens's storytelling techniques are a matter of cardinal importance that colours the entire interpretation of Mafeking Road. The introductory section of this study provides some biographical details about the author himself. This is followed by an exploration of Bosman's treatment of race and racial issues in three stories. Bosman's exploration of race relations involving blacks, Indians, whites as well as other minority groups is a reflection of his genuine concern for South Africa's future society as a whole. In the course of this study a brief analysis is also made of the author's portrayal of female characters. In the conclusion Bosman's overall achievement in terms of the major theme, race relations, is assessed. It is argued that the overt racism of Bosman's narrator Oom Schalk Lourens cannot be ascribed to the author himself; that it is the case, rather, that the author manipulates his narrator to achieve an ironic effect. In the final analysis, Bosman is critical of the racist attitudes his characters display, but his method is to satirise and debunk these attitudes gently and obliquely.

After hundreds of years of contact, the relationships between the people of Native Nations and the Canadian Nation are still filled with turmoil. This is common knowledge. What isn't well known, are the personal consequences for children who have Native and non-Native ancestors. This thesis is written with the assistance of eight people of mixed ancestry, who share their experiences, ideas, strategies and dreams, to help others who are dealing with similar issues. This thesis has been organized around the dominant themes and commonalities that have emerged out of eight interviews, into four sections: CONTEXT, CHALLENGES, STRATEGIES & GIFTS. The context that mixed ancestry individuals are born into is complex. Euro-Canadian designs on Native lands and resources resulted in policies that had, and continue to have, a devastating effect on Native people. Legal manipulations of Native identity, in particular, have resulted in the emergence of hierarchies of belonging. Such hierarchies are maintained by enduring stereotypes of "Indianness" and "Whiteness". For some mixed ancestry individuals, negotiating the polarized hierarchies of Native and Canadian societies can result in feelings of being split, and the need to harmonize aspects of the self, with varying social environments. Various strategies are used to deal with such issues, internally and externally. Ultimately, through choices, strategies and transformations, it is possible to transcend the challenges of mixed ancestry, and to lead more fulfilling lives. My hope is that this thesis will be of assistance to people of mixed ancestry and to those trying to understand the complexities of Native- Canadian relations, at least to the point of inspiring more discussions and research. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate