The intent of this work is to explore how children, youth, and adults with disabilities are discriminated against in cultural systems, specifically the education system, and how the beliefs and structures encompassed in these systems create and recreate the phenomena of ableism. This study will explore the hegemony of ableism within school cultures by exposing prevailing discourses and the systems that enforce these discriminatory discourses and educational practices. Additionally, it will illustrate significant human rights infractions and discriminatory processes that keep disabled peoples throughout the world in states of marginalization and oppression. The analysis of this study shows resistance to the oppression of people with disabilities through the use of critical disability theory, legal theory, and social justice philosophy. In addition, the advancement of inclusive education as a human right is offered as a solution to the collective oppression and states of disenfranchisement that many disabled peoples experience. The exploration of moral and legal theory, equality jurisprudence, and libratory pedagogy will advance a collective human rights framework as an educational model for school cultures globally. This analysis will utilize an equality premise known as the right to belong to defend inclusive education as a fundamental human right. In support of this fundamental right, a theoretical base for inclusive pedagogies reveals how the deconstruction of hegemonic practices and, simultaneously, the development of transformative educational models of learning are necessary best practices in the pursuit of equality for all disabled students. This work concludes with recommendations for changes in educational leadership, philosophy, and research of education for disabled students.

The intent of this work is to explore how children, youth, and adults with disabilities are discriminated against in cultural systems, specifically the education system, and how the beliefs and structures encompassed in these systems create and recreate the phenomena of ableism. This study will explore the hegemony of ableism within school cultures by exposing prevailing discourses and the systems that enforce these discriminatory discourses and educational practices. Additionally, it will illustrate significant human rights infractions and discriminatory processes that keep disabled peoples throughout the world in states of marginalization and oppression. The analysis of this study shows resistance to the oppression of people with disabilities through the use of critical disability theory, legal theory, and social justice philosophy. In addition, the advancement of inclusive education as a human right is offered as a solution to the collective oppression and states of disenfranchisement that many disabled peoples experience. The exploration of moral and legal theory, equality jurisprudence, and libratory pedagogy will advance a collective human rights framework as an educational model for school cultures globally. This analysis will utilize an equality premise known as the right to belong to defend inclusive education as a fundamental human right. In support of this fundamental right, a theoretical base for inclusive pedagogies reveals how the deconstruction of hegemonic practices and, simultaneously, the development of transformative educational models of learning are necessary best practices in the pursuit of equality for all disabled students. This work concludes with recommendations for changes in educational leadership, philosophy, and research of education for disabled students.

Workplace design practitioners and organizational managers are increasingly noticing all the various aspects in which the workplace affects organizations and their employees. The studies on the relationships between the workplace, organizations and their employees are more focused on psychology or facility management than the socio-spatial perspective. Workplace design, configuration and spatial features impact how well and how much a company can benefit from its human capital. Although the concept of the relation of workplace to an organization is not new, it is relatively unexamined. This thesis introduces a new set of spatial variables to workplace studies, following the concept of personal control. The discussed spatial variables effectively describe the features of workplace floor plan and the characteristics of a workstation. Furthermore, this dissertation develops a method that creates the link between workplace spatial setting and a sense of belonging, organizational outcomes – organizational commitment, work motivation, job satisfaction and work performance. Based on the detailed statistical analyses of a field survey that included 336 participants from 16 organizations, a model of spatial features influence sense of belonging and organizational outcomes was identified within this study. The research findings provide evidence for creating a workplace with a sense of belonging and better organizational outcomes through spatial design. This dissertation is comprised of six chapters. Chapter 1, an introduction, provides a general study background, discusses the problems to be solved in the study, and proposes an approach to deal with the target problems. Chapter 2 firstly reviews the current workplace studies related to spatial features. Secondly, it discusses the influence of workstation design on the human muscle system. Thirdly, it discusses the most relevant psychological issues at a workplace as stated by previous researches. Finally, the chapter reveals how a workplace affects the work of an organization. Chapter 3 specifies how workplace influences an employee’s sense of belonging and environmental control, and introduces the conceptual model. It also introduces the independent and dependent variables, generates research hypotheses. Chapter 4 describes the field survey design, procedures and the participants. It also covers the initial data analysis of the field survey: how the survey instrument, the questionnaire, was developed, commenting on all the aspects it includes – spatial experiences, work motivation, commitment, sense of belonging, job satisfaction and work performance. Chapter 5 is data analysis. This chapter discusses the research findings on workplace design features in relation to employees’ sense of belonging, satisfaction with ambient physical environment, and organizational outcomes – commitment, work motivation, job satisfaction and individual work performance. The final chapter summarizes the findings, comments on design implications of the research results, and draws conclusions. The dissertation ends in admitting the limitations of this research and discussing practical implications for future investigation.

This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced.

This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced.

Une étude de terrain a été accomplie dans le milieu associatif immigrant féminin de Montréal afin d’investiguer le rôle que peut avoir la participation à une association de femmes immigrantes quant à l’intégration de celles-ci à leur nouvelle société. Deux associations ont été ciblées pour cette étude : le Centre Femmes du monde à Côte-des-Neiges et le Comité des femmes des communautés culturelles, issu de la Fédération des femmes du Québec. Le premier est un organisme communautaire de quartier et le second, un groupe de défense et de revendication de droits des femmes immigrantes, à l’échelle de la province. Une période d’observation participante s’échelonnant de février 2007 à juin 2008 ainsi que 21 entrevues individuelles auprès de participantes ont été réalisées. L’analyse de ces données montre que la participation contribue, d’une manière tantôt similaire, tantôt distincte à l’intérieur des deux espaces de participation, à différentes dimensions de l’intégration des participantes : l’adaptation fonctionnelle, l’intégration sociale et plus particulièrement l’intégration symbolique. L’aspect symbolique de l’intégration, discuté en profondeur dans ce mémoire, sous-tend les idées de développement d’un sentiment d’appartenance et de reconnaissance sociale à la fois individuelle et collective des femmes immigrantes à l’intérieur de leur nouvelle société. / Fieldwork was carried out in immigrant women’s associations in Montreal to investigate the role of participation of immigrant women in such associations for their integration to their new society. Two associations have been targeted for this study: a neighborhood community association, the Centre Femmes du monde à Côte-des-Neiges, and the Comité des femmes des communautés culturelles of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, a group that defends immigrant women’s rights, at the provincial level. Participant observation was done between February 2007 and June 2008, and a series of 21 individual interviews were completed. Analysis of the data shows that participation in both associations contributes, in similar yet distinct ways, to various aspects of the participants’ integration to the host society: functional adaptation, social integration and, in particular, symbolic integration. This symbolic aspect of integration, which is extensively discussed throughout the thesis, underlies the development of a feeling of belonging and of individual and collective social recognition of immigrant women in their new society.

Drawing upon data from a qualitative interview study on the life stories of young women, the aim of this study is to analyze young womens experiences of difficult life events. Special interest is directed to how cultural frameworks are reflected in young women’s stories about themselves and the family and school worlds they have lived in. During a period of almost four years, I conducted deep interviews with ten young women on two to four occasions. They were between the ages of sixteen and twenty at the time of the first interview and of different classes and local origins. The young women were recruited to the study through leaders of a youth detention home and of a girl group activity. Methodologically, the thesis is based in the general field of narrative research and more specifically in the field of feminist life story research. I employed a holistic and thematic content analysis inspired by hermeneutic interpretation and the mainly focus has been on what was told in the stories. The thesis is written in a context of feminist epistemology and from a critical perspective (cf. Harding, 1986, 2004). It includes, among other things, an assumption that there is a social, cultural and historically created imbalance of power between different groups in society (cf. Anderson, 2003). The theoretical concepts that form the basis of this part of the theoretical framework are social worlds (cf. Shibutani, 1955), exclusion (cf. Goffman, 1963; Young, 1990, 2000), belonging (cf. Molin, 2010; Spånberger Weitz, 2011), agency (cf. McNay, 2003, 2004), space of agency (cf. Eduards, 2002) and social positions (cf. Anderson, 2003). The young women´s stories about family gathered around experiences of parents’ separation, family violence, parental substance abuse and the separation from parents. Their stories of school life gathered mainly around experiences of being different and othered, and these experiences of otherness and alienation were closely linked to bullying, school difficulties and to a general unhappiness at school (cf. Andersson, 1995). In contemplation of life as a series of life events, the young womens stories highlight the importance of difficult life events and the impact they have had on their ability to live their lives. The results portray the importance of considering life as a series of moving events, instant and recurring, and of understanding the consequences of social structures on how life and its conditions change and are linked across borders, between different worlds and different times. In a consideration of the life events as variable, instantaneous and sometimes recurring and changing, every life event has to be viewed as new and important to pay attention to, both as an event in itself and also how this event spreads to other moments and contexts than the time and world in which it occurred. In the assumption of life as moving and of life events as essential elements in a changeable life course, available positions and spaces of agency are made visible in the young womens stories. The cultural frameworks of the good family, the real schoolgirl and an authentic I represent structuring principles for how the events are possible to understand and talk about for the young women. They can be considered as ideal images that both increase and limit their opportunities to make difficult life events and their own actions in relation to the events understandable. In this thesis, it becomes visible that, in order to understand young women’s experiences of difficult life events, we need to place experiences in a context where the different circumstances, such as social positions and local structures, are made visible, analyzed and reflected upon.

This thesis is concerned with cultural connection and its role in creating cultural permanence when planning for Indigenous children and youth in care. Its goal is to mitigate the current path of disconnection and imbalance for Indigenous children and youth in care and to recommend an ecological, holistic approach to child welfare practice. It comprises a literature review that documents theories and practices to support belonging, cultural permanence, and cultural identity for Indigenous children while supporting meaningful connections with family, culture, and community. This information and analysis will be applied to the care of children and youth being served by Northwest Inter-Nation Family and Community Services Society (NIFCS) in British Columbia. The study’s findings will highlight guidance to assist social workers in centering cultural traditions that promote cultural strengths, resiliency, and a sense of belonging for Indigenous children and youth. This thesis will provide suggestions for interacting with the Indigenous community, parents, relatives, workers, and other delegated agencies. Finally, this thesis will explore how one social worker’s dream influences the direction of her practice to build on cultural strengths and spiritual resiliency. / Graduate / 0452 / 0631 / 0628 / kbennett@nifcs.org

This thesis is concerned with cultural connection and its role in creating cultural permanence when planning for Indigenous children and youth in care. Its goal is to mitigate the current path of disconnection and imbalance for Indigenous children and youth in care and to recommend an ecological, holistic approach to child welfare practice. It comprises a literature review that documents theories and practices to support belonging, cultural permanence, and cultural identity for Indigenous children while supporting meaningful connections with family, culture, and community. This information and analysis will be applied to the care of children and youth being served by Northwest Inter-Nation Family and Community Services Society (NIFCS) in British Columbia. The study’s findings will highlight guidance to assist social workers in centering cultural traditions that promote cultural strengths, resiliency, and a sense of belonging for Indigenous children and youth. This thesis will provide suggestions for interacting with the Indigenous community, parents, relatives, workers, and other delegated agencies. Finally, this thesis will explore how one social worker’s dream influences the direction of her practice to build on cultural strengths and spiritual resiliency. / Graduate / 0452 / 0631 / 0628 / kbennett@nifcs.org

Avhandlingens syfte är att fördjupa kunskapen om skolsituationen för barn och ungdomar i samhällsvård samt att fördjupa kunskapen om de processer varigenom de unga finner vägar genom skolan och samhällsvården mot ett självständigt liv som unga vuxna. Studien har genomförts i fem svenska storstadskommuner. Materialet består huvudsakligen av upprepade intervjuer med unga som själva har erfarenhet av att vara placerade i samhällsvård. Som en bakgrund genomfördes en kartläggande aktstudie gällande alla de ungdomar från dessa kommuner, som under 2003 hade placerats i samhällsvård. Intervjudeltagarna valdes ut från denna kartläggning. I analysen av intervjuerna användes en narrativ livsberättelseansats. Fokus i analysen har riktats både mot att förstå de ungas erfarenheter av att leva i skola och samhällsvård och mot att förstå hur de unga, genom sina berättelser, tolkar dessa erfarenheter och på så sätt skapar en meningsfull berättelse om sig själva och sina liv. Resultatet visar att livet i samhällsvård för de unga är präglat av utsatthet på flera nivåer. Socialtjänstakterna pekar mot ett samband mellan svårigheter i hemmet och svårigheter i skolan för de ungdomar som placerades i samhällsvård. Livsberättelserna synliggör hur skolan, familjen och samhällsvården utgör en komplex helhet i de ungas vardag och hur utsatthet inom någon av dessa praktiker därmed tenderar att spridas vidare i en process av överförd utsatthet. I sin kamp för att undkomma denna utsatthet navigerar de unga mot arenor där de kan finna hemmatillhörighet, det vill säga en upplevelse av att förstå och ”höra hemma” i en socialt delad vardagsverklighet. Ett viktigt redskap i de ungas strävan efter hemmatillhörighet är deras förståelsearbete, det vill säga det kontinuerliga tolkningsarbete varigenom de – inom ramen för socialt delade hemmatillhörigheter – knyter ihop sina erfarenheter till en sammanhängande förståelse av sig själva och sina liv. / The aim of this thesis is to gain further knowledge about the school situation for children and youths in out-of-home care; about the processes by which these children and youths find their way through family life, school and care settings; and about their transitions from out-of-home care to an independent life as young adults. The study was conducted in five municipalities in Sweden. The main empirical data was generated through repeated interviews with young people who had the experience of staying in out-of-home care. As a background social services case files concerning all youths from the five municipalities, who during 2003 were placed in out-of-home care, were analysed. The interviewees were selected from this overview. In the analysis of the interviews a narrative life story perspective was used. Focus was directed both towards the understanding of the young people’s school and in-care experiences and at the understanding of how they, through their narratives, interpret these experiences and create a coherent story of meaning about themselves and their lives. The result indicates that life for young people placed in out-of-home care is characterized by vulnerability and exposure on several levels. The case files indicate that there is a connection between the degree of difficulties at home and in school for youths placed in out-of-home care. The life stories show that school, home and care settings, for the youths seem to represent a complex pattern of everyday practices in which their vulnerability tend to spread in a process of transferred exposure. In their struggle to avoid this exposure they strive to find spaces that provide them with a sense of belonging. An important tool in this struggle is their comprehension work, that is to say the continuous interpretive work by which they connect their experiences into a meaningful understanding of whom they are and which life they ought to live.