From the unique perspective of the oath, this study investigates the entanglements of change in Kenya during the Mau Mau period, 1952-1960. Specifically, it challenges the prevailing Mau Mau narrative, revealing the oath as a complex, adaptive, and rational process ordered around symbols, gestures, and statements with long standing meaning and power. All Mau Mau initiates were required to take a secret oath of unity in order to join the struggle. Breaking the oath invoked an unstoppable curse on oathers and their families. As a result, the oath became a powerful mechanism in the formation of Mau Mau and served as a precursor to Kenyan Independence in 1963. Contrary to the long standing discourse of savagery, the Mau Mau oath was actually an elaborate, dynamic, and sophisticated ceremony based on ancient oathing traditions, symbolism, and beliefs. It was reconstituted from its former state to one that was much more offensive, secretive, dangerous, and inclusive of other groups such as women who were previously excluded. The oath was a product of the economic, political, cultural, and social unrest of the time. In addition to tracing historical developments and modeling the oath experience, this study explores the radicalization of the oath during the Mau Mau period forming new relationships to gender, crime, and purification that did not exist prior to the 1950s. This study centers the oath as the object for historical analysis through the investigation and documentation of African rituals, beliefs, and memories. The past is reconstructed from oral tradition, personal narratives, ceremonial reenactments, survey data, archived documents, ethnography, and myths. The sources reveal that Mau Mau oathers had their own imaginations, dreams, and objectives associated with the restoration of their stolen land and freedom. These varied perspectives demonstrate colonial contradictions juxtaposed with African oral accounts and memory. This study offers a fresh way to look at the contested Mau Mau past through the lens of the often misunderstood and misinterpreted oath. It intervenes with a new African Mau Mau story of reinvention, renewal, and power.

Contemporary research on immigrant economic integration identifies growing economic disadvantages faced by immigrants and probes sources of the disadvantages by focusing on immigrants’ pre-migration and ascriptive characteristics. However, little empirical evaluation exists on how immigrants overcome their initial economic disadvantages over time. This dissertation departs from previous research by studying the roles of two post-migration factors – schooling (formal education and language training) and the employment of female spouses – in the exits from low wages and low family income (poverty) among recent immigrants. The analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) – a three-wave survey of immigrants who arrived in Canada in 2000-2001 – produces three main findings. First, investing in host country formal education is beneficial for the economic advancement of new immigrants – especially highly educated ones. This finding confirms the role of skill upgrading programs for adult immigrants as an effective immigrant settlement policy, given that the majority of recent immigrants have postsecondary education but that their initial economic hardships are growing. Second, the benefits of English/French language lessons are real. This finding counters a common criticism that language lessons for adult new immigrants, which are often funded by the governments, are not helpful. Indeed, standard logistic regression analysis of the LSIC data shows that immigrants who enrolled in language lessons have no advantage in exiting poverty or low wages. However, the bivariate probit model demonstrates that this is because unmeasured characteristics of the language lesson participants confound the true benefit of language lessons. Third, this dissertation research highlights the role immigrant women play in lifting their families out of poverty when they work. This finding has an implication particularly for women of Arab and Middle Eastern origins as their notably lower labour force participation rates explain much of their high poverty rates.

Through an analysis of Social Studies textbooks of the government primary school curriculum of Bangladesh, this thesis highlights the role of the education system in pushing poor and ethnic minority children out of school. The texts and graphics are analyzed in order to examine the ways in which they oppress and exclude these children by perpetuating dominant ideologies of nationhood, constructing a notion of the “ideal citizen,” and criminalizing those who do not fit this category. Using an anti-colonial and post-colonial theoretical framework, the study situates the education system of Bangladesh within its histories of colonial domination and argues that the discourses present in these textbooks reflect colonial forms of racism and oppression, and reproduce class and ethnic hierarchies characteristic of the larger Bangladeshi society. Most importantly, this study advocates the need for a just and equitable education system that respects all children of Bangladesh as citizens of the country.

Contemporary research on immigrant economic integration identifies growing economic disadvantages faced by immigrants and probes sources of the disadvantages by focusing on immigrants’ pre-migration and ascriptive characteristics. However, little empirical evaluation exists on how immigrants overcome their initial economic disadvantages over time. This dissertation departs from previous research by studying the roles of two post-migration factors – schooling (formal education and language training) and the employment of female spouses – in the exits from low wages and low family income (poverty) among recent immigrants. The analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) – a three-wave survey of immigrants who arrived in Canada in 2000-2001 – produces three main findings. First, investing in host country formal education is beneficial for the economic advancement of new immigrants – especially highly educated ones. This finding confirms the role of skill upgrading programs for adult immigrants as an effective immigrant settlement policy, given that the majority of recent immigrants have postsecondary education but that their initial economic hardships are growing. Second, the benefits of English/French language lessons are real. This finding counters a common criticism that language lessons for adult new immigrants, which are often funded by the governments, are not helpful. Indeed, standard logistic regression analysis of the LSIC data shows that immigrants who enrolled in language lessons have no advantage in exiting poverty or low wages. However, the bivariate probit model demonstrates that this is because unmeasured characteristics of the language lesson participants confound the true benefit of language lessons. Third, this dissertation research highlights the role immigrant women play in lifting their families out of poverty when they work. This finding has an implication particularly for women of Arab and Middle Eastern origins as their notably lower labour force participation rates explain much of their high poverty rates.

Through an analysis of Social Studies textbooks of the government primary school curriculum of Bangladesh, this thesis highlights the role of the education system in pushing poor and ethnic minority children out of school. The texts and graphics are analyzed in order to examine the ways in which they oppress and exclude these children by perpetuating dominant ideologies of nationhood, constructing a notion of the “ideal citizen,” and criminalizing those who do not fit this category. Using an anti-colonial and post-colonial theoretical framework, the study situates the education system of Bangladesh within its histories of colonial domination and argues that the discourses present in these textbooks reflect colonial forms of racism and oppression, and reproduce class and ethnic hierarchies characteristic of the larger Bangladeshi society. Most importantly, this study advocates the need for a just and equitable education system that respects all children of Bangladesh as citizens of the country.

New immigrants to Canada, specifically those of non-Western origin, frequently experience the phenomenon of the no Canadian work experience employment barrier. This paper is based on information gathered in a focus group comprised of male and female new immigrants with university education and advanced skills and work experience who have been in Canada for less than five years. The focus group revealed respondents did face the no Canadian experience barrier. But they actively created strategies to overcome the barrier, which included: researching and doing more preparation for the realities of the Canadian job market prior to arriving in Canada but not simply relying on insufficient information provided from Canadian government, having decent English language abilities and a mild accent, altering their resumes and verbalization of their experiences to fit in with Canadian employer expectations. This paper also found that government and settlement organization current strategies and services were ineffective for highly educated and skilled immigrants and ignored the needs of immigrant women with young children. In conclusion, issues related to intercultural communication need to be considered for smoothing immigrants integration into the Canadian workforce.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Antonia Darder. Includes supplementary digital materials. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-256) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Adviser: Mari Jo Buhle. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-241).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Advisor : K. Dian Kriz. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 328-356).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Antonia Darder. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-165) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.