The farm novels of southern Africa can be considered microcosms of gender stereotypes and racial attitudes. Reading these novels using post-colonial, Marxist, and feminist theory is especially useful in thinking about how these novels reflect female writers’ perspectives about the success of the imperialism in Africa and the lasting effects of colonialism on gender and race relations. In addition, these novels provide interesting insight into colonialism, allowing each author to comment on the effect of imperialism on both the colonized and those who take up the colonial project. This dissertation examines novels by three female African writers: The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner, The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing, and When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head. Written at different stages of colonial power, each novel represents agrarian life in southern African colonies that share similar cultural, historical, colonial, and racial attitudes. These novels can be interpreted as building on, challenging, and “writing back” to the concept of the plaasroman, a genre central to the South African colonial experience. In addition to discussing how these novels undermine traditional forms of pastoral literature in order to comment explicitly on those forms’ failure to account for the farm experience in southern Africa, this dissertation applies postcolonial, Marxist, and ecofeminist criticism to delve into issues of postcolonial identity, racism, and the role of the farm as both a microcosm and a catalyst for change.

African American (AA) women have the highest rates of obesity and weight-related diseases of any other cultural group in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between acceptance of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) cultural construct and the following weight-related health factors: body mass index (BMI), high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes mellitus (DM). The hypothesis was that a positive relationship exists between accepting the SBW persona and weight-related health factors. The theory of womanism was used to guide this study. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 127 AA women to participant in an online survey. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the demographics. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the research questions. The affect and regulation subscale from the Strong Black Woman Cultural Construct Scale was used to measure mental and emotional strength. Willingness to ask for help was measured using the General Help Seeking questionnaire original version. The Emotional Eating Scale measured eating behaviors in response to anger, frustration, depression, and depressed mood. The Perceived Stress Scale measured perceived stress. The results of the analyses revealed that mental and emotional strength were significantly related to BMI and high blood pressure. There was no significant relationship found between mental and emotional strength and heart disease, stroke, and DM. This study could provide useful information for future weight management treatment for AA women. Positive social change is implied because understanding weight gain in this population may help to decrease the incidences of obesity and associated weight-related illnesses.

Between 1990 and 2005, the state of affairs in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including Liberia, remained fragile due to continuous civil unrest and war. Although peace initiatives were initiated, progress toward peace has remained minimal. Ghana, one of the nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, has continued to demonstrate significant stability and progress in the midst of civil and political conflicts in the sub-region. Currently, little research exists on how Ghanaians managed to remain stable, while countries in the sub-region continued to experience civil unrests and wars. Using Eisenstadt's theory of sociological modernization as the theoretical foundation, the purpose of this holistic case study sought to understand factors that have driven stability in Ghana. Data were collected from multiple sources including 15 research participants of diverse professions and perspectives, numerous pertinent documents, and field notes. All data were inductively coded and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. Social change lessons extracted from the study linked to core findings include (a) Ghanaians demonstrate an understanding of the importance of both African and Western cultural experiences and integrating the experiences from both cultural sectors for national harmony, and (b) Ghanaians are pursuing a national development agenda through economic reforms, participatory democracy, and some level of equal distribution of the national wealth. The effectiveness of Ghana's national development agenda is demonstrated by capacity building and the strengthening of social service programs not just in the urban sector, but also in the rural sector of Ghanaian society. These two core social change lessons could remain useful for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Many countries in West Africa, including Liberia, remain trapped in extreme poverty and dysfunctional social services amid continued increase in foreign aid. This study examines complexities influencing decisions of government donors in determining the kind of development assistance needed in Liberia and nation states in West Africa. This research explains the ways in which aid perpetuates poverty instead of alleviating it using interdisciplinary research approaches. Although aid is critical to Liberia’s development agenda, aid implementation faces numerous challenges because of extant poverty and rampant corruption. Part of the problem in Liberia is not solely the failure of aid to meet its goals. I conclude that poverty persists despite billions of dollars in aid because of corruption, human rights abuses, and inequalities, not the concept of aid. Democracy is effective when economic development allows citizens to have power within their own nation and government is accountable to its citizens.

Women on Wednesdays presentation.

Healthcare providers increasingly recognize the importance of collaboration among stakeholders in cost-effective healthcare delivery. While collaborative relationships offer great advantages, little research has addressed their relevance in an international development aid context, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The region is a major recipient of international development support, yet health indicators on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and child and maternal mortality indicate the health of the region is among the weakest worldwide. This sequential mixed method, descriptive study of a USAID-funded community health program in Ghana examined the nature of collaboration among six stakeholders and impact of this collaboration on effectiveness of program implementation. Stakeholder and resource dependence theories provided conceptual frameworks for analysis. Data were collected through surveys and interviews of officers of participating organizations (POs) and community health officers (CHOs). Surveys were analyzed using means, standard deviations, and t tests, while coding and themes determination were adopted for the interview data analysis. Results from both sources were integrated. Findings indicate both POs and CHOs perceived human relationship factors as more critical than physical resources. Collaboration, shared decision making, and frequency of communication in the relationship were perceived to substantially improve CHO skills and rural healthcare quality. Recommendations include active development of strong trust and dialogue in future relationships. These results could have important implications for positive social change by identifying the bases for collaborative success in providing impoverished rural communities with cost-effective and quality healthcare to address critical community health needs.

Postconflict governments and counterparts have collaborated to provide skills training to communities as a critical postconflict development strategy. In these undertakings, the role of community members remains largely undefined. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand the perceptions held by rural community members regarding the role they played in influencing government's policy priority for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a local human development strategy in postconflict Liberia. The conceptual framework was based on human capital theory and concepts of motivation and achievement. Fourteen participants were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected from interviews, focus group discussion, and documents and analyzed using constant comparison. Results indicated that increasing human capital, restoring self-esteem, encouraging civic participation, and building peace were among the community members' motivations for establishing a skills training institution. Leadership, advocacy, and ownership were major roles community stakeholders played in establishing their local skill training institution; voluntarism and collaboration were found to be strategies for support to the local TVET initiatives. Findings have positive social change implications for facilitating community-initiated TVET programs for youth employment as well as informing TVET policies in countries transitioning from conflict to development.

The number of orphaned children in many parts of Africa is increasing as their parents die from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The research problem addressed in this qualitative study was lack of understanding by others about how the managers of orphanages in 2 African countries -- South Africa and Zimbabwe - were responding to the emotional and social needs of these orphans. The purpose of this study was to develop an orphanage management theory or model that could replicate the African kinship environment in the orphanages under study. Nurturing leadership theory provided the conceptual backdrop for this study. The research design was informed by Glaser's grounded theory (GT) approach. Data collection involved a qualitative survey of 20 administrators in 2 orphanages in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Open coding, memoing, and selective coding of this data yielded a nurturing model for orphanage management in the cultural context of the African kinship system. From the viewpoint of social change, this research suggests development of a family-oriented orphanage management system to help the orphans live healthy and productive lives without the stigma of HIV and AIDS.

In the context of rapid urbanization, globalization, market liberalization, and growing flexibility of labor in the post-Fordist era, urban environments have seen economic opportunities and employment in the formal sector become increasingly less available to the vast majority of urban dwellers in both high-income and low-income countries. The intersectional forces of globalization, and neoliberalization have contributed to the ever-growing role of informal economic opportunities in providing the necessary income to fulfill household needs for individuals throughout the world and have also influenced social, cultural, and spatial organization of informal sector workers. Using a case study and ethnographic information from several regions of southern Ghana, this research examines the way in which informal sector food vendors in Ghana are imbedded in larger global food networks as well as how globalization is experienced by vendors at the ground level.

Low-income immigrants in the United States experience declining health with increasing length of stay in the country. Their declining health over time has been associated with increased smoking, obesity prevalence, and higher risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. How immigrants perceive their body weight and size, influenced by social interaction, culture, gender, and acculturation is also significant to healthy weight maintenance. Not knowing one's healthy weight could result in body weight misperception and resistance to attaining a healthy weight. The aim of this qualitative study, based on the social constructivist framework, was to understand Nigerian women immigrants' (NWI's) body weight self-perceptions (BWSPs), their experiences with weight changes after immigration, and what it meant to them within their historical, immigration, and cultural contexts. Data were collected from audio recorded interviews of 8 purposefully selected NWIs living in Middle Tennessee. After a process of content analysis of transcribed interviews using NVivo, participants' BWSPs were described and interpreted using hermeneutic phenomenology. The key findings of this research were that participants perceived themselves overweight compared to when they had just immigrated to the United States; believed that age, marriage, change in environment and food contributed to their weight gain; and were not accepting of their weight gain, which led them to eating healthier and moving more in order to lose weight. Findings from this research have social change implications for reducing health disparities by disseminating timely health information accessible to immigrants to educate them about nutrition and physical activity behaviors for healthy weight maintenance.