This study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has helped them resist the erosion of those aspects of their cultural identity targeted by colonial practices through its promotion of the Coptic language, pride in Coptic history, and Christianization of the landscape. This study also suggests that The Vision tradition has helped alleviate the conditions of material and economic oppression of Copts. Drawing upon theories of Foucauldian genealogy and postcolonialism my research examines the development of Coptic identity and subjectivity in relation to assimilation practices. Using oral studies and ethnopoetics, this study traces the process of composition, transmission, stabilization and systemization of The Vision over sixteen hundred years and its dispersion over a wide geographic region from Egypt to Ethiopia, Syria, and the US. My research suggests that the resilience and effectiveness of The Vision as oral tradition lies in the stability of its core message and its ability to absorb and adapt peripheral changes to the needs of each given historical period. Close analysis of this core message as gleaned through comparative manuscript study also supports important revisions to its datation, and enables us to claim its Coptic authenticity. Previously, the only academic scholarly work concerning The Vision centered on its diffused Syrian and Ethiopian variants while its Coptic manuscript history remained largely unknown. / This study, which emphasizes the specifically Coptic origins, history and significance of The Vision of Theophilus, therefore fills a vital scholarly gap: Locating cultural resistance and agency in orality, this study shows how The Vision has historically acted (and still acts today) as a repository of Coptic history and culture enabling Copts to articulate a separate identity over long periods of time, and amidst a wide range of historical and socio-economic factors. / by Fatin Morris Guirguis. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study was designed to measure the relation of education and ethnic identity to attitudes towards bilingualism in two different ethnic groups, Asian and Latinos in the United States. In order to do this, an instrument was developed to measure attitudes towards bilingualism. No significant relations were found among education or ethnic identity and attitudes towards bilingualism in either group, but analyses revealed several other significant relationships. The two subscales of ethnic identity, MEIM-R Commitment and Exploration, were related to each other both within Asian and Latino groups and in all participants combined. In the combined sample, education levels of participants' mothers was correlated with the MEIM-R subscale of Exploration. In addition, participants with a Bachelors Degree or above were found to have significantly higher ethnic identity levels of MEIM-R Commitment than participants with an Associates Degree or below. Participants with mothers who possess a Bachelors Degree or above were found to have significantly higher ethnic identity levels of MEIM-R Exploration than participants with mothers who possess an Associates Degree or below. Finally, Asian participants were found to have lower levels of MEIM-R Commitment when compared to Latino participants. / by Cuong T. Le. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The visualization of recent episodes regarding apparently unjustifiable deaths of minorities, caused by police and federal law enforcement agencies, has been amplified through today's social media and television networks. Such events may seem to imply that issues concerning racial inequalities in America are getting worse. However, we do not know whether such indications are factual; whether this is a recent phenomenon, whether racial inequality is escalating relative to earlier decades, or whether it is better in certain regions of the nation compared to others. We have built a semantic engine for the purpose of querying statistics on various metropolitan areas, based on a database of individual deaths. Separately, we have built a database of demographic data on poverty, income, education attainment, and crime statistics for the top 25 most populous metropolitan areas. These data will ultimately be combined with government data to evaluate this hyp othesis, and provide a tool for predictive analytics. In this thesis, we will provide preliminary results in that direction. The methodology in our research consisted of multiple steps. We initially described our requirements and drew data from numerous datasets, which contained information on the 23 highest populated Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States. After all of the required data was obtained we decomposed the Metropolitan Statistical Area records into domain components and created an Ontology/Taxonomy via Protege to determine an hierarchy level of nouns towards identifying significant keywords throughout the datasets to use as search queries. Next, we used a Semantic Web implementation accompanied with Python programming language, and FuXi to build and instantiate a vocabulary. The Ontology was then parsed for the entered search query and returned corresponding results providing a semantically organized a nd relevant output in RDF/XML format. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Family and children are brought to the front in contemporary Russia and constitute an important policy area. Manifesting the centrality of family and children, the period 2018―2027 has also been officially proclaimed “the decade of childhood”, leading to numerous policy initiatives and momentous media attention. The thesis explores this current development with a particular interest in what role the family plays in asserting and negotiating (state) power and in the overall national project of constructing Russianness. The aim is thus to examine the articulations of Russianness and family in policy and media in contemporary Russia. The analysis is conducted mainly at the level of discourse and is inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. Applying constructivist theories of nationalism in conjunction with feminist theories that critique the concepts of the nation and the state, the thesis demonstrates how the discourse articulated in policy documents and state-controlled media interconnects “family”, “tradition”, and “Russianness” and what possible effects are produced as a result. It also discusses how categories of gender, class, ‘race’/ethnicity and sexuality inform the articulated national identity. The thesis argues that despite civic “Russianness” (rossiyskaya naciya) being furthered as the desired national project, a number of articulations clearly point to nation’s ethnic character. As “Russianness” and “tradition” are loosely defined the viability of such articulations is questioned, given both Russia’s history and the coming transformations of the Russian welfare state.

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-03-18T18:12:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 identidade_etnico.pdf: 4196495 bytes, checksum: 0248ef21e29eedeee3c9bdc1a1c63368 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-18T18:12:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 identidade_etnico.pdf: 4196495 bytes, checksum: 0248ef21e29eedeee3c9bdc1a1c63368 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-14 / Nenhuma / A tese busca averiguar a visibilidade da Educação das Relações Étnico-Raciais na implantação da legislação concernente, em universidades de caráter comunitário no sul do Brasil, sendo uma do Vale do Rio Ivaí, no Paraná, uma do Vale do Rio Itajaí, em Santa Catarina e uma do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, no Rio Grande do Sul. Na pesquisa realizada, mediante análise de documentos oficiais, de atividades acadêmicas e de falas de entrevistados, nas três instituições, ao mesmo tempo em que se constataram alguns importantes indícios da visibilidade da temática e da inclusão dos afrodescendentes, deparou-se também com a real realidade da relação entre brancos e negros, em cada um dos três contextos, expressa em resistências à inclusão desta temática e de seus sujeitos, que se misturam com os avanços havidos. Estas resistências são disseminadas e focadas, com maior ou menor intensidade, e dizem respeito a cada contexto. Trabalhando questões relativas à exclusão/inclusão, à identidade, à visibilidade/invisibilidade, ao controle por reações e olhares, e às oportunidades, o estudo ajuda a constatar (ou desvendar): 1) dificuldades muito específicas vividas pela população afrodescendente, sobretudo, envolvendo processos sutis que excluem ou retardam a participação desta população nas decisões sociais, educacionais, inclusive nas decisões concernentes à sua própria identidade; 2) a percepção repetida de que afrodescendentes organizam trabalhos, criam possibilidades e condições, apresentam metodologias e projetos, mas, no final, a branquitude ou a branquidade acaba se apoderando e assumindo o protagonismo, com ou sem a participação desses; 3) o papel importante exercido pelas pastorais da Igreja Católica, nos três contextos, com destaque também ao forte papel exercido pelo diálogo inter-religioso em uma das instituições. A pesquisa, também, ajuda a verificar 1) a existência de processos históricos muito diferentes, comparando os três contextos, do movimento negro e, consequentemente, das relações étnico-raciais, assim como sua repercussão na maior ou menor sintonia das instituições pesquisadas com a temática em pauta; 2) a existência diferenciada de dinâmicas institucionais internas a cada uma das instituições, considerando a sua história institucional e as decisões oficiais recentes no que concerne às iniciativas em prol da institucionalização da Educação das Relações Étnico- Raciais. A constatação geral é de que existe um bom início de esforço pela inclusão e emancipação, mas há muito a fazer, pois prevalecem resistências e silêncios que às vezes se expressam em reações carregadas de sutileza e frieza. O estudo tem como referência na sua construção teórica aportes de Kwame Anthony Appiah, Florestan Fernandes, Alberto Melucci, Vron Ware, Maria Aparecida Bento, Kabenguele Munanga, Paulo Freire, Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva e Silva, Nilma Lino Gomes, Frantz Fanon e outros. Dele resulta, de forma renovada, a partir das três instituições e seus contextos, a convicção de que a inclusão dos afrodescendentes é uma questão de ética e moral no que diz respeito a direitos sociais e de identidade étnico-racial, frente a uma dívida histórica da sociedade brasileira, quese deixou embalar em seu berço esplêndido de branquidade. / This dissertation seeks to determine the visibility of the Education of Racial-Ethnic Relations in the implementation of the concerning legislation in southern Brazil community colleges, being one from Vale do Rio Ivaí, in the State of Paraná, another from Vale do Rio Itajaí, in the State of Santa Catarina, and another one from Vale do Rio dos Sinos, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. In the research conducted by analysis of official documents, academic activities and interviewees speeches in the three institutions, while some important clues of visibility of the issue and of the inclusion of African descent people were found, one faces also the real reality of the relationship between blacks and whites in each of the three contexts, expressed as resistance to the inclusion of this subject and its subject, mixed with advances that has taken place. These resistances are widespread and focused, with more or less intensity, are related to each context. Taking into consideration subjects related to exclusion/inclusion, identity, visibility/invisibility, control by reactions and perceptions, and the opportunities, this paper helps to find or unveil 1) very specific difficulties experienced by people of African descent, especially involving subtle processes that exclude or hinder the participation of these people in social, educational decisions, including in the ones concerning their own identity; 2) the repeated perception that African descent people organize work, create opportunities and conditions, provide methodologies and projects, but in the end the whiteness end up taking hold and taking the leading role, with or without their participation; 3) the important role played by the Catholic Churchs pastoral organizations, in the three contexts, highlighting also the strong role played by inter-religious dialog institutions. The research also helps determine 1) the existence of very different historical processes, comparing the three contexts, of the black movement and, consequently, of ethnic-racial relations, as well as its impact with more or less consistency of the institutions researched in the issue in question, 2) the differentiated existence of internal institutional dynamics to each college, considering its institutional history and its official recent decisions regarding the initiatives for the institutionalization of the Education of Racial-Ethnic Relations. The general finding is that there is a good start to struggle for inclusion and empowerment, but there is much to do, because it is prevailing resistance and silences that sometimes manifest themselves in reactions loaded with finesse and coolness. The study is referred in its theoretical construction inputs by Kwame Anthony Appiah, Florestan Fernandes, Alberto Melucci, Vron Ware, Maria Aparecida Bento, Kabenguele Munanga, Paulo Freire, Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva e Silva, Nilma Lino Gomes, Frantz Fanon and others. It results, from the three institutions and their contexts, the belief that the inclusion of African descent people is a matter of ethics and morality with regard to social rights and ethno-racial identity, compared to a historical debt of the Brazilian society, which left his pack in splendid cradle of whiteness.

O Programa de Reflexões e Debates para a Consciência Negra é um projeto político-pedagógico que desenvolveu uma metodologia de implementação da Lei n. 10.639 de 2003 em todas as disciplinas que compõem o currículo escolar do ensino médio. Esse projeto é realizado em uma unidade escolar de formação de ensino médio, situada no bairro de Quintino Bocaiúva, zona norte, da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, entre os anos de 2004 e 2008, especificamente no turno da noite. A promulgação dessa lei criou a obrigatoriedade de inserção dos conteúdos de História Africana e Cultura Afro-brasileira, nos currículos escolares em âmbito nacional. A partir da metodologia desenvolvida pelo Programa de Reflexões e Debates para a Consciência Negra, investigam-se, no presente trabalho, os sujeitos educativos, as práticas pedagógicas, a cultura escolar e as tensões e negociações cotidianas que ocorreram no processo de realização dessa nova proposta curricular. Para a realização desta análise foram utilizadas como aporte teórico-metodológicos teorias de Análise de Discurso (AD), estudos culturais sobre currículo e estudos etnográficos dos espaços educativos, para se compreender o contexto escolar e suas (re)configurações. As análises revelaram que a implementação da lei provocou a construção e reconstrução interna de estratégias e metodologias de trabalho. E que estas ações institucionalizaram internamente esta prposta curricular como missão institucional escolar, e ao mesmo tempo, a projetou para fora dos muros escolares criando diálogos e parcerias com demais setores da sociedade. / The Reflections Program and Debates for the Black Consciousness is a political-pedagogical project that developed a methodology for implementation of Law No. 10,639 of 2003 in all disciplines that comprise the curriculum of the school. This project is carried out in a school unit training school located in the neighborhood of Quintino Bocaiúva, north of the city of Rio de Janeiro, between the years 2004 and 2008, especially on the night shift. The enactment of this law created the mandatory inclusion of the contents of African History and Afro-Brazilian Culture, in school curricula nationwide. Based on the methodology developed by Reflections and Debate Program for Black Consciousness, can be investigated in this study, subjects educational, teaching practice, school culture and everyday tensions and negotiations that occurred in the process of realization of this new proposal curriculum. To conduct this analysis were used as the theoretical and methodological theories of Discourse Analysis (DA), cultural studies and ethnographic studies on curriculum of educational spaces, to understand the school context and its (re) configuration. The analysis revealed that the implementation of law caused the internal construction and reconstruction strategies and metologias work. And these actions internally institutionalized this curriculum as institutional mission school, and at the same time, the projected outside the school walls creating dialogues and partnerships with other sectors of society.

Den här studien handlar om en grupp barn som inte har några föräldrar i Sverige, och som därför bor på institution. På senare tid har man tillskrivit dem kategoriseringen ensamkommande. Bakom det begreppet finns barn i olika åldrar som har lämnat sin familj och sitt hemland för ett nytt liv på en plats i världen med större framtidsmöjligheter. Många av dessa barn, som flyr till västvärlden på egen hand, delar erfarenheter av att placeras på institution. Mer precist är det en sådan tillvaro denna studie kommer att kretsa kring.

Conflict in deeply divided societies often has a profound impact both on the societies in which the conflict is located, and on the surrounding states and societies. Constitutional engineers working in such societies are inevitably attracted to power-sharing as a means of stabilising inter-group relations. Consociational democracy is a form of power-sharing democracy which is particularly attractive for a divided society, because its demands on the society are relatively few. It aims to separate the communities in the conflict as much as possible, while emphasising elite co-operation in the formal institutions of government. A difficulty with consociational democracy, however, is that the elite co-operation it requires to function is also required for the system to be adopted, yet will not necessarily be present. Cyprus is an excellent example of the difficulty of gaining agreement on a consociational regime for a divided society. In 1963, the consociational Republic of Cyprus collapsed as a result of mistrust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In 2004, a consociational system of government was designed for Cyprus by a team of UN experts under the direction of then-Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The system of government was rejected in April 2004 at a referendum, and, consequently, was not adopted. This thesis examines why Cyprus has thus far been unable to adopt a political settlement. Failure is as hard to explain as success. Success may have many fathers and failure none, but there are as many possible causes of a failure as of a success. There is also the difficulty of the counter-factual: what facts would need to be different to produce success where experience is only of failure. The thesis systematically examines possible causes of failure, including the idea of consociational democracy itself, the particular consociational designs proposed for Cyprus, and the influence of historical aspirations and experiences. Particular attention is paid to the idea that there may be key factors which must be present before a consociational solution can be adopted. The factors, selected for this case study for their apparent relevance to Cyprus, are elite co-operation, segmental isolation, a balance of power between the disputant groups, and the ability of the international community to offer incentives for compromise. It is argued that these factors, especially elite relations and the complex web of causes which determine these, are central to an explanation of the Cyprus experience.

This thesis concerns the differences in how ethinic groups co-exist in two different environments in the same country, with a focus on the ethno-political. My research questions are: Why are ethnic or interpersonal relations characterized differently in different regions? How and why do conflicts or agreements arise in specific environments? The aim is to understand the connection between inter-ethnic relations and environmentally specific factors. I am concerned with those mechanisms and processes which determine the type of ethnic relation – as conflict or mutual understanding - in specific environments. The thesis uses case studies of two contrasting multiethnic cities with different interethnic relations – Erbil and Kirkuk in Kurdistan/Iraq. My explanatory model consists of four main factors: I) historical factors in terms of critical events; II) institutional factors such as institutional efficiency and security; III) structural factors such as group size, territorial base and different tolerance systems; and IV) social relational factors such as the significance of inter-ethnic contacts and social capital. The empirical work demonstrates that the relations between the above mentioned factors in the respective environments determine the outcome of the inter-ethnic relations. The results show that one factor can be more important than another factor, but how the factors impact upon one another and under what circumstances is of significance. The presentation of environmentally specific differences shows that ethnic groups do not have static boundaries and are not necessarily hostile to one another. Conflict is not the given form of relationship between ethnic groups. That is, the result can be read as a critique of those who necessarily see potential conflicts between groups with cultural differences and those who essentialize cultural groups. In this context one can see a chain of interrelated factors; the relevance of which is dependent on the specific situation. Some of the negative factors that can increase the possibility of conflict and decrease the possibility for peaceful co-existence include: Instability in the political climate; insecurity; institutional ineffectiveness; segregation; undefined relations of power; and an ethnic composition maintaining the balance of power. If these factors combined result in a high level of complexity, which makes ethnicity stand out in terms of ethnic competition, the likelihood of ethnic conflict is significant.

Aquesta tesi està basada en l'etnografia d'un institut d'educació secundària situat en una ciutat mitjana de Catalunya, amb un nivell socioeconòmic mig-baix i una important presència d'immigrants (de diferents zones de l'estat espanyol i d'Àfrica, sobretot marroquins i gambians). El treball inclou una recerca bibliogràfica i de clarificació teòrica amb la que es pretén situar els fenòmens que s'estudien (identitat, racisme i violència) en el moment històric i context social actual, per tal de poder explicar l'ascens o la importància d'aquests fenòmens, així com les relacions que es poden establir entre ells.La primera part de la tesi respon a la voluntat de contextualitzar teòricament la recerca etnogràfica i de situar les observacions d'aula en un marc social més ampli. A la segona part es presenten les aportacions que han realitzat els sociòlegs i els antropòlegs de l'educació a l'anàlisi del tractament de la diversitat ètnica, del racisme i de la violència en l'àmbit escolar. A la tercera part es desenvolupa el treball de recerca etnogràfica centrat en l'anàlisi de les relacions interètniques de l'alumnat. / This doctoral thesis is based on the ethnography of a state secondary school situated in an average-sized town in Catalonia with a medium-low socio-economic level and a population that includes considerable numbers of immigrants both from other parts of Spain and from some African coutnries (principally Morocco and Gambia).The thesis includes bibliographical research and a theoretical clarification to situate the phenomena of indentity, racism and violence within the historical and social context of the present day. The growing importance of these phenomena and the relationships established between them are explained in this context.The first part of the thesis endeavours to provide a theoretical context for the ethnographic research and to situate the classroom observations within a much wider social framework.The second part of the thesis introduces contributions from educational sociologists and anthropologists to the analysis of how ethnic diversity, racism and violence are dealt with in schools.The third part develops the ethnographic research by focusing on the interethnic relations among the students.