Let me share with you Ubuntu oralities. These stories will connect us in a familial dialogue about how we can and are regenerating beyond neo colonialism by using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a philosophical and ethical system of thought, from which definitions of humanness, togetherness and social politics of difference arise. Ubuntu can also be viewed as a complex worldview that holds in tension the contradictions of trying to highlight our uniqueness as human beings among other human beings. My interpretation of our Indigenous Ubuntu knowledge communicates how my understanding of Ubuntu is influenced by my Maseko Ngoni and Shona ethnic identities. Another influence of my understanding of our Ubuntu worldview comes from the African languages of my familial communities which are the main tools that I draw on for accessing our shared meaning and creating new shared meaning. The geopolitical experience of being Black in Africa and then leaving Africa for the West also has influenced my understanding of Ubuntu. These are my strengths and limitations in engaging Ubuntu. I give you this information because it is not my aim to create a false dichotomy about Blackness; rather, it is my aim to enter our global contemporary Black academic discourse with another form of remembering Blackness. My remembering is grounded in my own experience which has found constancy through Ubuntu languages and other social symbolic expressions. This cultural transmission process has allowed knowledge from my ancestors to cascade down to me. I believe that by sharing our social stories we build collective confidence to engage and challenge each other with respectful curiosity and, above all, with love. Love is the expression of relational care for our interconnectedness, which is the basis for researching our truths in our shared humanity. Ubuntuness has many ways of transmitting knowledge. This being said, for this work I will focus on how we can share our fragmented memories through our stories of family, community and nationhood, as a way of better understanding our Ubuntuness. This is the process of love creating possibilities beyond pain, isolation, abandonment and hate.

Let me share with you Ubuntu oralities. These stories will connect us in a familial dialogue about how we can and are regenerating beyond neo colonialism by using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a philosophical and ethical system of thought, from which definitions of humanness, togetherness and social politics of difference arise. Ubuntu can also be viewed as a complex worldview that holds in tension the contradictions of trying to highlight our uniqueness as human beings among other human beings. My interpretation of our Indigenous Ubuntu knowledge communicates how my understanding of Ubuntu is influenced by my Maseko Ngoni and Shona ethnic identities. Another influence of my understanding of our Ubuntu worldview comes from the African languages of my familial communities which are the main tools that I draw on for accessing our shared meaning and creating new shared meaning. The geopolitical experience of being Black in Africa and then leaving Africa for the West also has influenced my understanding of Ubuntu. These are my strengths and limitations in engaging Ubuntu. I give you this information because it is not my aim to create a false dichotomy about Blackness; rather, it is my aim to enter our global contemporary Black academic discourse with another form of remembering Blackness. My remembering is grounded in my own experience which has found constancy through Ubuntu languages and other social symbolic expressions. This cultural transmission process has allowed knowledge from my ancestors to cascade down to me. I believe that by sharing our social stories we build collective confidence to engage and challenge each other with respectful curiosity and, above all, with love. Love is the expression of relational care for our interconnectedness, which is the basis for researching our truths in our shared humanity. Ubuntuness has many ways of transmitting knowledge. This being said, for this work I will focus on how we can share our fragmented memories through our stories of family, community and nationhood, as a way of better understanding our Ubuntuness. This is the process of love creating possibilities beyond pain, isolation, abandonment and hate.

The purpose of the project was to encourage and increase the level of Christian Fellowship (Koinonia) and involvement in the Trinity African Episcopal Methodist Church, Atlanta. The church is situated in what was a transitional community. It is now approximately 98% black in the South West section of the city. The project consisted of five (5) consecutive weeks of student input. It involved 24 - 42 members, divided into three (3) groups. Group A, the control group, attended the worship services and took the questionnaire. Group B, the target group, attended the worship services, attended the input sessions, and took the questionnaire. Group C, the super target group, participated in all of the above activities, in addition to engaging in encounter sessions with the student. The worship services were the traditional order of worship of the A. M. E. Church with an emphasis on fellowship, i.e., the call to worship, the scriptures, the prayers, the hymns, and sermons. Five (5) sermons were preached focusing on the need for fellowship, what it is, and how it can be accomplished and maintained. The input sessions were weekly, one to one hour and a half (1-1.1/2) sessions consisting of study sessions, discussions, group interaction, prayers, and the sharing of a repast. The encounter sessions with the student consisted of frank dialogue between the student and participants in Group C. The overall hypothesis was that as a result of the worship and preaching services the participants would show an increase on all positive statements the questionnaire; and that Groups B and C would show more of a significant change than Group A, and Group C would show more of a significant change than either of the other two groups. While there was some positive movement by all of the groups, there was not enough of significant changes to merit any real attention. This does not mean that the project was a failure. For in the ensuing months following the project there was an increase in persons joining the congregation, expressed appreciation for the church by members who participated in the project, increased attendance at most of the church functions, and a much better enthusiasm regarding the local church and the Church in general. For this I am grateful to the Lord. The first-half of this final report consists of the writer's reflections on the Black Church as a unique religious institution; The calling to the Black church to address itself to the historical mission of the Black church and the mission of the Church; the writer's theory of ministry; and a survey of the meaning of Liberation and Koinonia from biblical, theological, and sociological perspectives. The second-half of the report focuses on the actual project involving the writer's understanding of liberation and Koinonia and an amalgamation of the two. Charts, graphs and tables have been inserted to aid the reader in ascertaining the mathematical breakdown of the growth-decline of the project participants. The final chapter focuses on the future aspects of the writer's ministry, goals for the church as well as for the writer.

The ministry of the class leader and a working class leader system are still very much needed in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This work attempts to show that the class leader system can still be a viable part of the A.M.E. Church, but it must be modified from its original form and shaped into a contemporary mechanism for ministry. The lack of training of the class leaders in Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, in Northampton County, North Carolina, proved to be the rule, rather than the exception. The church was thereby rendered ineffective in its ministry. This work seeks to find a practical way to equip the class leaders of the Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church for effective ministry. The ministry project was an effort to address this issue by formulating and administering a training program for class leaders. The ministry project shows that positive results are practical and possible, but there must be a continuous program of training to equip class leaders for effective ministry.

This project that was designed to enhance the development of moral character of African-American children, ages nine to twelve (9-12). For purposes of this dissertation, moral development and character development are used interchangeably. A curriculum was developed for children and one for parents to assist them to help young people reach their potential in regard to moral character development. The underlying principles of the study were moral character, spiritual formation, and faith development. The major premise of the project was that if children feel good about themselves and feel a connection to God, then people will behave better, love themselves and God, and they will make better decisions to negotiate life. This pilot study was conducted at two urban churches. There was a total of 35 children participating in the study, and there were 38 parent participants. The training took place over a sixteen-week period. The results of the study indicate that there was a significant increase in self-esteem among the children. Additionally, findings from the behavioral scale demonstrated a significant positive change in behavior among children. There was also a significant improvement of the parents' level of contentment with their children.

This project dissertation, entitled 'Grief Management: Programming for Care in the Local Church', addresses the issue of grief that is caused by the death of a significant other. This work also includes information on the dynamics of grief; grief management resources from psychological, sociological, and theological perspectives. In addition, it gives an overview of the African American church as a resource for grief support. The dissertation provides a model for programming for grief management and grief support for the Ben Hill United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a discipleship training program at New Horizons Church of God in Christ. The model sought to develop this program with a view towards incorporating elements of the tradition of the Church of God in Christ along with Bible study and intercessory prayer. The project was composed of eight weekly sessions. The purpose of this project was to determine whether this style of training, in conjunction with traditional forms of spiritual formation already in place, would promote more committed church members. This project was developed out of the writer's personal concern for retaining new and oriented members. At the heart of this dissertation is the theory that spiritual transformation takes place as a result of intentional and, consistent Bible study and prayer in a small group setting in addition to the Holiness-Pentecostal discipleship uniquely appropriated through its traditions, worship style and community. The result of this study exposed an added dimension necessary to the process of transformation already present in the Pentecostal Church; that is the small group, in-depth study of the Word of God that promotes a hunger for scripture and therefore a hunger for God. The ultimate aim of this study was to find a way to develop commitment to one's faith in the context of the Church of God in Christ. This project was developed in response to a perceived lack of commitment and understanding of the nature and definition of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

The aim of the study is to look at the social formative processes of the Somali-Canadian youths, known as the ‘say-wallahi’ generation, go through. My research primarily focuses on how I learned to survive as a racialized person in the White Canadian nation space by holding onto my Somali identity, and how my journey diverges and converges with Somali-Canadian youth. First, I examine how the media socially constructed the Somali identity through a colonial gaze in a Toronto Life article. Secondly, I narrate some of my own schooling experiences for they speak to the deep psychological and spiritual scars that I embody as a racialized Somali. Especially, my interest is to show how instrumental Somali dhaqan was to my survival of the colonial/racializing gaze. Finally, I stress the importance of and the need for Somali youth to engage in de-colonizing/ de-racialization processes that encompasses their re-discovery of their indigenous Somaliness.

The microfinance revolution of the 1980s acclaimed micro-credit as a tool that would improve the lives of economically active people trapped in poverty. The 2006 Nobel prize awarded to Mohammed Yunus and Grameen Bank confirmed for the industry’s advocates that microfinance was a panacea, and billions of dollars have been channeled to financial services for the poor. However, a series of high-profile scandals in 2010 shook development agencies’ faith in micro lending, and support has waned in light of evidence that microfinance alone cannot change structural inequalities and end poverty. I show that politics operate throughout the industry, reproducing inequalities within the process of micro lending. In my political ethnographic study of 460 people in three countries, I find that race and class politics is entrenched in all three countries, yet there are different outcomes related to attitudes of microfinance managers. In Jamaica and Guyana, micro lenders demonstrate that historically rooted racial and class biases go beyond gender to determine the allocation of micro loan resources. Ingrained biases interfere with the allocation of loans to the urban poor because discriminatory practices reinforce pre-existing social divisions. The Haiti case is hopeful: lenders, particularly the caisses populaires (credit unions), are made up of socially conscious people who recognize the country’s exclusionary politics. Managers and staff have class origins similar to the clients they serve and view micro loans as a tool to contest class and race-based oppressions. Haiti’s case suggests that collective systems such as those found in the caisses populaires and informal banks are effective because they relate to people’s history; and managers influenced by the masses, organize financial programs that are responsive to their clients and remain free from elite capture. This bottom-up approach in microfinance determines a greater level of social transformation for the urban poor.

Where Outreach Meets Outrage: Racial Equity at the Canada Council for the Arts (1989-1999), examines the early formation of racial equity policies at The Canada Council for the Arts. In this research project, I am primarily interested in understanding the ways in which ‘culture’ is employed by the state, the Canada Council for the Arts and by black artists to articulate and communicate complex issues that pertain to notions of art, citizenship, solidarity, justice, multiculturalism, belonging and nationhood. The research places culture and cultural production centrally within claims and calls by racialized artists for the ethical redistribution of societal resources and participation in societal structures. I look at questions of how community is produced and struggled over in relation to claims for cultural resources. This thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach drawn from the disciplines of sociology, anthropology and critical cultural studies to allow the complex relationships between activities of the Canadian state, racial equity policy making at the Canada Council, and grass roots social activism to emerge. I argue that state practices of management are elastic and that racial equity policies at the Canada Council emerged out of a confluence of transformational activities simultaneously taking place at the state/institutional and grassroots levels. The significance of this research project is that it fuses contemporary cultural production and art within contemporary social justice paradigms that seek to understand the processes and practices within liberalism that produce oppressions and resistance through an exclusionary politics of representation. This dissertation study will have both applied and theoretical implications in the Canadian context both within and outside of the academy in the fields of the arts, cultural policy and education.