This thesis examines the production of Tamil youth in the state of Canada as threats, extremists, radicals, terrorists, and as subjects to be engaged in de-politicized humanitarian discourses of reconciliation and peace. By drawing attention to the exclusion of Tamils from rights in legal proceedings, the positioning of youth protesters as harbingers of a multicultural 'crisis,' and the role of education in securing Canada's response to the MV Sun Sea as a 'humanitarian' project, I argue that the targeting Tamils is not only integral to Sri Lanka's ongoing genocide, but is also crucial to the Canadian state's project of white settler colonialism. In examining the law, media and education as sites of racial management in the 'War on Terror' and its globalized counter-terrorism regime I identify the targeting of Tamil diaspora youth as a necessary racial logic for the legitimacy of the Canadian state in an era of official multiculturalism.

In this thesis I survey the terrain of digital interactions between youth, corporations and pop culture texts in order to complicate current visions of participatory culture. I argue that popular images of the empowered young users of a new digital democracy need to be complicated by asking questions about the politics of digital participation: about whose voices are heard, about where attention is centred, about how interactivity is defined, about who is rewarded for creative labour. The opening chapter introduces key issues within a critical examination of digital participation, including commodification, user agency and intellectual property. It also outlines my methodologies and my choice of research site – namely internet television, and the proliferation of corporate and youth practices around digitized television texts. The next two chapters provide case studies that identify and evaluate not only the interactions between corporate producers and young users, but also the power relations between the two. First, I analyze young women‘s video remixes of the program Gossip Girl. I consider the remixes as gendered texts that contribute new aesthetics and concerns, even as they reproduce dominant interpretations of contemporary girlhood. I also consider the distribution of the videos on YouTube, noting how their circulation simultaneously challenges corporate ownership and creates profit and promotion for those same corporate owners. Next, I examine interactions around the The Colbert Report. Focusing on the program‘s official discussion boards, I demonstrate how young fans have taken up Stephen Colbert‘s invitation to join in the parody by creating a vibrant, dialogic and rowdy community that has frequently come into conflict with Comedy Central producers. In their attempts to address these conflicts and create alternative spaces of their own, these young people gesture towards larger tensions over the control of public digital dialogue. The final chapter draws on my research and experience as a teacher to consider how these case studies might help us to frame our own educational projects. I call for a digital literacy curriculum that provides both a place for students to reflect on their daily activities within mediated environments and the opportunity to experiment with digital production.

Nous avons développé un modèle qui cherche à identifier les déterminants des trajectoires scolaires des élèves universitaires en articulant deux perspectives théoriques et en utilisant une approche méthodologique mixte en deux phases : quantitative et qualitative. La première phase est basée sur le modèle de Tinto (1992) avec l'incorporation d'autres variables de Crespo et Houle (1995). Cette étape a atteint deux objectifs. Dans le premier, on a identifié les différences entre les variables exogènes (indice économique, l'éducation parentale, moyen au lycée et moyenne dans l’examen d'entrée) et trois types de trajectoires: la persévérante, de décalage et d’abandon. Cette phase était basée sur les données d'un sondage administré à 800 étudiants à l'Université de Sonora (Mexique). Les résultats montrent que ceux qui ont quitté l'institution ont obtenu des scores significativement plus bas sur les variables exogènes. Le deuxième objectif a été atteint pour les trajectoires persévérantes et de décalage, en établissant que les étudiants ont une plus grande chance d’être persévérants lorsqu’ils présentent de meilleurs scores dans deux variables exogènes (l'examen d'entrée et être de genre féminin) et quatre viable endogènes (haute intégration académique, de meilleures perspectives d'emploi, ont une bourse). Dans la deuxième phase nous avons approfondi la compréhension (Verstehen) des processus d'articulation entre l'intégration scolaire et sociale à travers de trois registres proposés par Dubet (2005): l'intégration, le projet et la vocation. Cette phase a consisté dans 30 interviews avec étudiantes appartenant aux trois types de trajectoire. À partir du travail de Bourdages (1994) et Guzman (2004), nous avons cherché le sens de l'expérience attribuée par les étudiants au processus éducatif. Les résultats révèlent cinq groupes d’étudiantes avec des expériences universitaires identifiables : ceux qui ont une intégration académique et sociale plus grande, les femmes travailleuses intégrées académiquement, ceux qui ont les plus grandes désavantages économiques et d’intégration scolaire, ceux qui ont cherché leur vocation dans un autre établissement et ceux qui n'ont pas poursuivi leurs études. L'utilisation de différents outils statistiques (analyse de corrélation, analyse de régression logistique et analyse des conglomérats) dans la première phase a permis d’identifier des variables clés dans chaque type de trajectoire, lesquelles ont été validées avec les résultats de la phase qualitative. Cette thèse, en plus de montrer l'utilité d'une approche méthodologique mixte, étend le modèle de Tinto (1987) et confirme l'importance de l'intégration scolaire pour la persévérance à l'université. / We developed a model that seeks to identify the determinants of university student academic paths articulating two theoretical perspectives trough the use of a mixed methodological approach in two phases: quantitative and qualitative. First, the quantitative model based on Tinto (1992) with the incorporation of other variables from Crespo and Houle (1995). This phase attained two purposes. In the first, were determined the differences between the exogenous variables (economic index, parents’ educational level, high school average and average of the entrance exam) and three types of trajectory: persistent, lagged and attrition. This phase was based on data from a survey applied to 800 students at the University of Sonora (Mexico). The results show that those who left the institution had scores significantly lower at the exogenous variables. The second objective was achieved from the trajectories persistent and lagged. It was found that there is a greater chance of having a persistent trajectory when students have a high academic integration, better scores on the entrance exam, more employment expectations, having obtained a scholarship and being a woman. In the second phase a deeper understanding (verstehen) of the processes of articulation between the academic and social integration was developed through three registers: integration, project and vocation, as proposed by Dubet (2005). This phase consisted in conducting of 30 interviews with students of all three types of trajectories. From the work of Bourdages (1994) and Guzman (2004), we sought the meaning of the experience given by the students to the educational process. The results reveal five groups of students with identifiable college experiences: the ones with highest academic and social integration, the female workers with academic integration, the ones most economically disadvantaged and lower academic integration, those who sought his vocation in a different institution and the ones who dropped out. The use of different statistical tools (correlation analysis, logistic regression analysis and cluster analysis) handled in the first phase identified key variables in each type of trajectory, which were validated with the results of the qualitative phase. This thesis, in addition to showing the usefulness of a mixed methodological approach, extends the Tinto’s model (1987) and confirms the importance of academic integration for persistence in university studies. / Se desarrolló un modelo que pretende identificar las determinantes de las trayectorias estudiantiles universitarias articulando dos perspectivas teóricas mediante un proceso de acercamiento metodológico mixto en dos fases: cuantitativa y cualitativa. La primera fase se fundamenta en el modelo de Tinto (1992) con la incorporación de otros conceptos a partir de Crespo y Houle (1995). Esta fase cumplió dos objetivos. En el primero, se determinaron las diferencias entre las variables exógenas (índice económico, escolaridad de los padres, promedio de preparatoria y promedio del examen de ingreso) y tres tipos de trayectoria: perseverante, rezagada y de abandono. Esta fase se basó sobre los datos provenientes de un sondeo administrado a 800 estudiantes de la Universidad de Sonora (México). Los resultados muestran que quienes abandonaron la institución presentaban puntajes significativamente más bajos respecto a las variables exógenas. El segundo objetivo se alcanzó a partir de las trayectorias perseverante y rezagada; estableciéndose una mayor probabilidad de ser perseverante si presentan mejores puntajes en dos variables exógenas (el examen de admisión y ser mujer) y cuatro variables endógenas (integración académica alta, contar con mayores expectativas de empleo, haber obtenido una beca y no tener deudas). En la segunda fase, se profundizó la comprensión (verstehen) de los procesos de articulación entre la integración académica y social a través de tres registros propuestos por Dubet (2005): integración, vocación y proyecto. Esta fase consistió en la conducción de 30 entrevistas con estudiantes de los tres tipos de trayectoria. A partir de los trabajos de Bourdages (1994) y Guzmán (2004), se buscó el sentido de la experiencia otorgada por los estudiantes a su proceso formativo. Los resultados revelan cinco grupos de estudiantes con experiencias universitarias identificables: los de mayor integración académica y social, las trabajadoras integradas académicamente, los de mayores desventajas económicas y de integración académica, los que buscaron su vocación en otra institución y los que no continuaron estudiando. La utilización de diversas herramientas estadísticas (análisis de correlación, análisis de regresión logística y análisis de conglomerados) manipuladas en la primera fase permitió identificar variables determinantes en cada tipo de trayectoria, que fueron validadas con los resultados de la fase cualitativa. Esta tesis, además de mostrar la utilidad de un acercamiento metodológico mixto, extiende el modelo de Tinto (1987) y confirma la importancia de la integración académica para la perseverancia en los estudios universitarios.

This thesis examines the production of Tamil youth in the state of Canada as threats, extremists, radicals, terrorists, and as subjects to be engaged in de-politicized humanitarian discourses of reconciliation and peace. By drawing attention to the exclusion of Tamils from rights in legal proceedings, the positioning of youth protesters as harbingers of a multicultural 'crisis,' and the role of education in securing Canada's response to the MV Sun Sea as a 'humanitarian' project, I argue that the targeting Tamils is not only integral to Sri Lanka's ongoing genocide, but is also crucial to the Canadian state's project of white settler colonialism. In examining the law, media and education as sites of racial management in the 'War on Terror' and its globalized counter-terrorism regime I identify the targeting of Tamil diaspora youth as a necessary racial logic for the legitimacy of the Canadian state in an era of official multiculturalism.

In this thesis I survey the terrain of digital interactions between youth, corporations and pop culture texts in order to complicate current visions of participatory culture. I argue that popular images of the empowered young users of a new digital democracy need to be complicated by asking questions about the politics of digital participation: about whose voices are heard, about where attention is centred, about how interactivity is defined, about who is rewarded for creative labour. The opening chapter introduces key issues within a critical examination of digital participation, including commodification, user agency and intellectual property. It also outlines my methodologies and my choice of research site – namely internet television, and the proliferation of corporate and youth practices around digitized television texts. The next two chapters provide case studies that identify and evaluate not only the interactions between corporate producers and young users, but also the power relations between the two. First, I analyze young women‘s video remixes of the program Gossip Girl. I consider the remixes as gendered texts that contribute new aesthetics and concerns, even as they reproduce dominant interpretations of contemporary girlhood. I also consider the distribution of the videos on YouTube, noting how their circulation simultaneously challenges corporate ownership and creates profit and promotion for those same corporate owners. Next, I examine interactions around the The Colbert Report. Focusing on the program‘s official discussion boards, I demonstrate how young fans have taken up Stephen Colbert‘s invitation to join in the parody by creating a vibrant, dialogic and rowdy community that has frequently come into conflict with Comedy Central producers. In their attempts to address these conflicts and create alternative spaces of their own, these young people gesture towards larger tensions over the control of public digital dialogue. The final chapter draws on my research and experience as a teacher to consider how these case studies might help us to frame our own educational projects. I call for a digital literacy curriculum that provides both a place for students to reflect on their daily activities within mediated environments and the opportunity to experiment with digital production.

In an attempt to close the gaps between diaspora and regional studies an Afro-Asian comparative perspective on African and Indian identity will be explored in the countries of Guyana and South Africa. The overlying aim of the ethnographic research will be to see whether blackness can be used as a unifier to those belonging to enslaved and indentured diasporas. Comparisons will be made between the two race models of the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean worlds. A substantial portion will be set aside for a critique of the concept of Coolitude including commentary on V.S. Naipaul. Further, mixing, creolization, spirituality and the cultural politics of Black Consciousness, multiculturalism, and dreadlocks will be exemplified as AfroAsian encounters.

In an attempt to close the gaps between diaspora and regional studies an Afro-Asian comparative perspective on African and Indian identity will be explored in the countries of Guyana and South Africa. The overlying aim of the ethnographic research will be to see whether blackness can be used as a unifier to those belonging to enslaved and indentured diasporas. Comparisons will be made between the two race models of the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean worlds. A substantial portion will be set aside for a critique of the concept of Coolitude including commentary on V.S. Naipaul. Further, mixing, creolization, spirituality and the cultural politics of Black Consciousness, multiculturalism, and dreadlocks will be exemplified as AfroAsian encounters.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / The purpose of this study was to further develop an understanding of the nature of the adaptation process of adult first generation students to the undergraduate college experience. This study utilized the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) in conjunction with personal interviews to explore whether first generation adult college students adapt differently to college than do their continuing generation peers and if there is a commonality of experience, across demographic differences, for first generation, adult college students. Fifty-five adult college freshmen were surveyed using the SACQ. From this sample, sixteen first generation volunteers were interviewed regarding their college experience. T-test analysis of the SACQ scores showed that the first generation students were not adjusting to college as well as their continuing generation peers on the overall measure to adjustment and on three of the four subscales. The personal interviews indicated that while there was variation in the first generation students’ adaptation with seven of the sixteen volunteers classified as adjusting poorly to college, three with mixed adjustment, and five with good adjustment, there were also commonalities in the students’ experience, regardless how well they were adjusting to college. Eleven meta themes emerged from the interview data, and these themes correlated with characteristics of nonpersisters as compiled by Kasworm, Polson, and Fishback (2002). This research indicated that further investigation into adult first generation college students is appropriate especially with regard to how these adults view themselves as role models. In addition, this study indicates a need for future research into the links between adult students’ first generation status and persistence problems in their college experience.

Cette thèse porte sur les choix de l’école secondaire par des parents immigrants dans le contexte montréalais pour leurs enfants. Elle analyse la façon ils perçoivent le marché scolaire. Elle examine également les logiques d’action, contraintes (réelles ou perçues) et stratégies qui sont au cœur des choix. Elle vise aussi à mettre en lumière les défis et les besoins spécifiques de choisir l’école en contexte migratoire. Pour ce faire, le cadre d’analyse mobilisé conçoit les choix comme le résultat de l’articulation de déterminants individuels et familiaux et d’effets structurels. Il reconnaît aussi que les parents immigrants sont insérés dans des relations familiales et des réseaux sociaux et inscrits dans différentes positions sociales. Plaçant les acteurs sociaux et le sens qu’ils donnent à leurs choix au centre de l’analyse, cette thèse s’inscrit dans une sociologie compréhensive. Les analyses se basent sur trente entrevues semi-dirigées réalisées auprès de parents immigrants de Montréal ayant au moins un enfant fréquentant une école secondaire. Cette thèse illustre que les parents immigrants se positionnent différemment envers le marché scolaire montréalais et vivent diverses expériences. Ces différences s’expliqueraient par des positions sociales distinctes, des valeurs et des visées différentes, des trajectoires de vie diverses, etc. Malgré cela, la thèse met de l’avant l’existence de tendances fortes traversant le corpus. Certaines se rapportent aux effets de l’expérience migratoire sur les choix et à des positions sociales minorisées. D’abord, la majorité a une représentation négative des programmes réguliers au public, les poussant à les éviter. Cette perception est, entre autres, influencée par la présence d’un discours dans l’espace public en défaveur de ces programmes. Ensuite, malgré des positionnements distincts relativement au marché scolaire montréalais, la majorité a choisi l’école secondaire pour des visées de reproduction ou de mobilité sociale ascendante (choix stratégiques). Un sentiment d’impératif caractérise les choix stratégiques, notamment afin d’augmenter les chances que le projet migratoire soit un succès. Certains appartenant à des communautés ethnoculturelles racisées ressentent davantage cet impératif afin de contrer une discrimination systémique perçue sur le marché de l’emploi. Enfin, l’analyse révèle la présence d’un sentiment de méconnaissance du système éducatif du Québec, attribué à l’expérience migratoire, plaçant les parents immigrants devant des défis et des besoins spécifiques en matière de choix de l’école secondaire. Étant proactifs, la plupart ont réduit cette méconnaissance perçue grâce à la détention d’un capital scolaire de niveau universitaire, mais aussi à leurs réseaux sociaux locaux. Or, les parents immigrants sont inégalement informés, mettant en lumière un enjeu relatif à l’équité devant la possibilité de choisir l’école secondaire. La thèse soulève la question du rôle du système éducatif dans cette iniquité. La thèse contribue à l’avancement des connaissances sur les dynamiques à l’œuvre dans le marché scolaire montréalais, ainsi que des effets des modes de régulation du système éducatif québécois les inégalités sociales. Elle contribue également à l’avancement des connaissances sur les rapports des personnes immigrantes au système éducatif du Québec, et à la société québécoise. / This thesis examines immigrant parents’ choice of a high school for their children in Montreal. It analyzes how they perceive Montreal’s school market, and examines the logics of action, constraints (real or perceived) and strategies at the heart of their choices. It also aims to shed light on the challenges and specific needs associated with choosing a school in the host country. The analytical framework mobilized conceives choices as the result of the articulation of individual, familial and structural determinants. It also recognizes that immigrant parents evolve within family contexts and social networks and hold various social positions. Rooted in an interpretative sociology, social actors and the meaning of their choices are placed at the center of the analysis. The analyses are based on data from thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with immigrant parents from Montreal who have at least one child attending a high school. This thesis illustrates that immigrant parents position themselves differently towards Montreal’s school market and have different experiences. These differences are the result of different social positions, values, goals, life trajectories, etc. However, general trends are uncovered in the corpus. Some of these relate to the experience of being an immigrant and/or belonging to a marginalized or racialized group. First, the majority of respondents have a negative perception of regular programs in the public sector, which leads them to avoid these. This perception is partially influenced by the presence in the public space of an unfavorable discourse regarding these programs. Next, despite different positioning towards Montreal’s school market, the majority choose a high school to ensure the reproduction of their social status or to achieve upward mobility (strategic choices). A sense of urgency surrounds these strategic choices, notably in regard to increasing the chances that the migration project is a success. Immigrant parents belonging to a marginalized or racialized group feel this urgency more strongly due to perceived systemic discrimination in the labour market. Finally, the analysis reveals feelings of disorientation in relation to Quebec’s education system, which respondents attributed to their experience as immigrants. These feelings leave immigrant parents facing specific challenges and needs in terms of choosing a high school in the context of Montreal. Because they are proactive in collecting information about high schools and their programs, most can reduce their feelings of disorientation and unfamiliarity. The possession of a university-level diploma is helpful in this process, as are parents’ local social networks. Nonetheless, the analyses show that immigrant parents are unequally informed, highlighting inequalities in the possibility of choosing a high school. This thesis raises the possible role of the education system in the creation of these inequities. This thesis contributes to the advancement of knowledge on the dynamics at play in Montreal’s school market, as well as on the effects of the structure of Quebec’s educational system on social inequalities. It also contributes to the advancement of knowledge on immigrants’ relationship to Quebec’s educational system and to Quebec’s society more broadly.

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