Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2488. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 345-366).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1940. / Typescript. Includes abstract and vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-240).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 259-275).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2000. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 521-542).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-456) and index.

abstract: This thesis seeks to build upon the empirical use of the Copenhagen School of security studies by evaluating and investigating speech-acts in recent Guatemalan newspaper media as they relate to drug trafficking within the geopolitical borders of Guatemala, particularly induced by Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel. The study attempts to engage a critical theoretical framework to study securitization within the country and thereby build upon the theory by conducting real-life analysis. Using a research program that is made up of content and text analysis of national press and presidential speeches, I test several hypotheses that pertain to the processes of Guatemala's current drug trade and drug trafficking securitization. By coding securitizing speech-acts and discursive frames in the national print media, I identify the national elite, the power relations between the national elite and citizenship, and attempts to dramatize the issue of drug trade. Upon analyzing the findings of such securitization, I propose several hypotheses as to why the national elite seeks high politicization of drug trade and the implications that rest on such drastic measures. This thesis itself, then, has important implications: it uses empirical tools to help further the theoretical foundations of the Copenhagen School, it examines the process of securitization study from a real world context outside the developed world, and it presents important information on the possible consequences of securitizing drug trade. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Political Science 2011

This study examines the Corvette, an automobile with a distinct place in American literature and culture. For more than fifty years, the Corvette has been in the process of becoming what is described as an "icon," although this progress has never been satisfactorily approached and explained. Why this particular machine has not just survived, but come to be recognized--by and large by most if not all Americans--as the signifier of various virtues (and some vices) is a question of some significance: in analyzing the reasons for the Corvette's long life and success as an overwhelmingly positive and distinctively American car, we look at the literature and culture of the United States. What this reveals is a complex web of ideas and attitudes that centers on one thing--a material object with six different forms over fifty years, yet one that has always retained its identity and power to signify. The approach here is thematic rather than historical. As a popular subject, the Corvette already has historians who look at it as a tangible thing that can be described, measured, and defined. My assignment is different: through the lens of critical theories, several of them, and a wide range of materials--film, novels, songs, and more--I seek to discover some essential aspects of the car that make its image dynamic and permit it to evolve over time. This is not an easy process; it has demanded an open mind to materials not often looked at in an English dissertation. The Corvette and its image are described in four areas and a conclusion: * The Corvette: the Empty, the American, and the Deadly Signifier (the original that becomes America's image of itself and the danger of speed and technology out of control) * The Image of Potency: the Corvette, Males, and Minorities (aggressive sexuality, African-American males, and male domination) * Women, Sex, and Identity as Power: the Corvette, Baddest Mother of Them All (phallic females, the car as sexual power and identity) * Corvette as Art: the Expressive Image (the car's own self-reflexive nature, the automobile as fashion--belonging ["I stand out, yet I belong"] and sense of self--and its presence in "art") * The Corvette: Image and Object

In this phenomenological study, I examined the educational experiences of six international doctoral students of Education at a Midwestern university. The purpose of this study is to understand how the participants make meaning of their educational experiences. Several theories influenced this study. These include critical theory, co-cultural theory, transformative learning theory and the concept of cultural scripts. A qualitative approach was used to gather detailed data from the participants. Data collection included a series of three in-depth, semi-structured interviews with each participant and two focus group interviews. All of the data collected were carefully coded, looking for three central topics of self reflection, transformative experiences, and meaning making. The participants' understanding of their transformation as learners tied closely to their academic accomplishments, which include completing tasks and assignments, being accepted in academic community, having articles published in academic journals, and presenting their academic work at conferences. Much of their transformation and meaning making related to their instrumental learning. The study suggests that educators should encourage students to broaden their frames of reference by inviting them to engage in meaningful discussion that is beyond instrumental learning in order for the students to develop critical thinking and to be in charge and accountable for their learning towards critical consciousness.

Peace negotiation is a complex political process used to end a conflict and establish peace. This thesis provides a qualitative analysis of the FARC-EP documents in preparation for the peace negotiations. Using Neocleous concept of pacification and Hannah Arendt’s concept of the political, I explored the ways in which the FARC-EP resist liberal peace by re-politicizing the conflict, addressing the sources of the inequalities and injustices generated by and for capitalism, and implying alternative ways of thinking about politics, power, justice and security to transform society. The analysis revealed that the FARC-EP thinks about peace and conflict resolution as a political process requiring social transformation of deep structural conditions through negotiation and deliberation in order to create a more just society. The FARC-EP conceptualizes peace as a complex political process that must be under local ownership and domestically rooted. In doing so, the FARC-EP addresses the root causes of the conflict by calling for transformative justice, replacing national security with integral security, extending politics beyond representative democracy and demanding equality to end the power imbalances that are so prominent in Colombia. By negotiating with the Colombian state, the FARC-EP accepts that not all their proposals will be implemented, given that it is in fact a negotiation. As a result, I conclude that peace negotiations can have the opposite effect and pacify political-military organizations in order to protect capitalist order after armed conflict has failed to succeed.

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is central to political discourses and educational concerns as a means for economic development, poverty alleviation, youth employment, and social mobility. Yet, there is an intriguing contradiction between this consideration and the real attention dedicated to TVET. Research on African TVET is varied, but tends to be narrowly focused on issues of policies, economic strategies, cost-efficiency, curriculum contents, and outdated equipment. Offering an alternative inquiry, the purpose of this conceptual dissertation was to use critical education theory and post-colonial insights to explore the macro and micro challenges SSA TVET systems are facing in a global context. Indeed, in the era of economic and cultural globalization, the African continent has the opportunity to make its way toward socioeconomic development. Still, rich countries are getting richer and the poor poorer. The African continent is rich in natural, mineral, agricultural, human, and intellectual resources. Thus, there are opportunities for well-being and educational prosperity. However, all statistics show that Africans are the poorest in the world. I argue that this poverty is socially constructed and not an inevitable condition for Africans. Unemployment is a tough reality in SSA. The number of students enrolling in TVET is increasing. From the critical and post-colonial conceptual framework I illustrate structural and systematic concerns to show how SSA TVET systems involve oppression, exploitation, marginalization, prejudice, stereotypes, gender discrimination, reproduction, hegemony, and subalternity. Through the concept of democratic education Dewey and Freire offer, I envision, idealistically and realistically, a holistic and emancipatory TVET where the main concern would not just be to train hands but also heads. In so doing, SSA TVET could develop students' critical awareness about citizenship, self-determination, and problem-solving in order to create social cohesion, peace, and stability in Africa.