This thesis explores interorganizational cooperation as a tool for grassroots expansion. It focuses on the importance of grounding development work in grassroots perspectives, while acknowledging the structural and practical limitations to this that exist inherently in the organization of the international system and in the nature of development actors. In order to address these limitations, it analyzes the resources, methods, and missions of development actors. It uses this analysis to demonstrate how coordination maximize resources and enables actors to increase their impact. Through a structural analysis of international, national, and local actors and development practices, this paper assesses where there is room in the international system for cooperation. To measure this question it lays out the underlying nature of the international system and the implications it inherently has that complicate interorganizational cooperation and grassroots expansion. Through the case of the Green Belt Movement, this paper investigates the potential for grassroots expansion. This case study demonstrates where there is room for cooperation by illustrating relevant collaborative projects. The Green Belt Movement specifically examines the potential for coordination in Kenya for climate justice, women’s rights, and community empowerment.

Every year, an increasing number of displaced people arrive at the United States of America's border to request asylum. Several groups are working to help migrants by providing them with essential items and services, housing, and legal advice. Drawing on ethnographic findings, this work presents a situated perspective of how citizen responders utilize technological systems to provide relief to those affected by the immigration crisis. Often, these citizens with common goals come together to form organizations. This study investigates how social media and technology support on-the-ground work, advocacy work, care-work, and invisible work of these organizations. Further, I highlight how technological systems fail organizations and how the emergence of care-work replaced these systems. Finally, I make design recommendations to social media and technological systems' design to boost the efficacy of collective crisis response by citizens. / Master of Science / Every year, an increasing number of displaced people arrive at the United States of America's border to request asylum. Several groups are working to help migrants by providing them with essential items and services, housing, and legal advice. Drawing on ethnographic findings, this work presents a situated perspective of how citizen responders utilize technological systems to provide relief to those affected by the immigration crisis. Often, these citizens with common goals come together to form organizations. This study investigates how social media and technology support on-the-ground work, advocacy work, care-work, and invisible work of these organizations. Further, I highlight how technological systems fail organizations and how the emergence of care-work replaced these systems. Finally, I make design recommendations to social media and technological systems' design to boost the efficacy of collective crisis response by citizens.

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Programs that utilize soccer as a tool for social change are steadily emerging throughout townships and rural areas in South Africa, the most economically disadvantaged areas of the country. In South Africa, grassroots sport-for-social-change organizations are compensating for failed government policies and programs that seek to help at-risk youth. As a result, program staff are often members of the community who are not versed in academic critiques of the use of sport in development initiatives. Additionally, much of the existing literature on sport-for-social-change champions the advancement of specific projects without asking critical research questions, which should include the appropriateness of the modality within a given context. In this case, the complexities of using soccer (e.g., its practices, historical significance, and gendered meanings) have not been thoroughly investigated. Soccer is not a "genderless" tool for social change. Participation in violent sports such as soccer has been used to bolster claims of a naturalized dominance of men over women. Although participation by girls and young women in soccer programs (professional and recreational) is increasing in urban townships and rural areas, soccer pitches remain largely "masculinized spaces." In this study, I use qualitative research methods to show how gendered discourses organize sport-for-social-change programs. Using Ashcraft and Mumby's theory of feminist communicology and Connell and Messerschmidt's reformulated theory of hegemonic masculinity, I examine three sport-for-social-change organizations in South Africa through an applied lens with a feminist standpoint. Semi-structured interviews with twelve key informants were conducted over a three-month period between May and August of 2009. All three organizations studied are grassroots organizations that work within a particular area of South Africa. They each target male children and youth between the ages of 6 and 19 from economically disadvantaged households and use soccer as a modality for social change, yet each organization operates within a different cultural context primarily based on participants' racial, regional, and ethnic identities. My research found that masculine discourses were constructed, maintained, and contested in sport-for-social-change organizations through: (a) (Not) Engaging in (Social) Fatherhood, (b) Challenging the Temptation to Lead a Gangster Life and Have a "Gangster" Attitude, and (c) Challenging Patriarchy, Physical Assault, and Cultural "Traditions." Discourses also created paradoxes that worked against the goal of contesting local hegemonic masculinities, although these paradoxes were not typically identified by organizational members. Although I found similarities in the influences of local discourses on organizations such as the lingering effects of The Group Areas Act on urban migration that influenced men's roles within their families; the desire to create positive male role models that rejected characteristics associated with exemplars of hegemonic masculinity identified in each case study; and concerns about stopping the pattern of domestic violence prevalent in some communities, an issue that is also related to spread of HIV, I also found differences. Differences were based primarily on racial, regional and ethnic signifiers and affected the goals of each organization as well as the design of programs aimed at achieving these goals. This study expands the literature on gender issues in sport-for-social-change programs, particularly the designation of public spaces such as soccer pitches as masculinized spaces where women take on the role of visitor rather than welcomed participants. The history of soccer in South Africa proves that changing the gender dynamics on the soccer pitch can lead to significant changes in people's attitudes. Although women in South Africa now also hold important seats in government, the "politics of the pitch" continues to reflect discriminatory practices based on gender. This study shows how Connell and Messerschmidt's (2005) reformulated theory of hegemonic masculinity can be used as a lens to examine the "gendering" (Ashcraft & Mumby, 2004) of organizations through discourse, and some of the repercussions of gendered organizing. Additionally, although this study identified exemplars of hegemonic masculinity that endorsed violent, sexist practices that worked to subordinate women and privilege men, the theory of hegemonic masculinity leaves open the possibility of identifying exemplars of masculinity that also endorse feminist ideals. For example, this study found that discourses surrounding soccer challenged the violent "Body as Weapon" mentality often endorsed by players during football matches. Participants also resisted deeply entrenched cultural beliefs about gender norms by endorsing an ethic of care. Therefore, future case studies of sport-for-social-change organizations may wish to focus on identifying discourses that reject patriarchal beliefs rather than endorse them.

abstract: Over the past twenty years, the state of Arizona has increasingly become a key location for the debate surrounding immigration and border policy in the United States. Its geographical position within the Southwest North American Region (SWNAR) of the United States and shared physical border with México has forged an extensive history of complicated interconnectedness for the Latino community residing in this borderland (Vélez-Ibáñez, 2017). This dissertation examines Arizona’s anti-immigration legislation, focusing on the years between 2000 and 2018, and how, or if, this legislation affected the political participation of Latinos in the state. This research argues that Latinos, both citizen and undocumented, have galvanized across citizenship lines in response to the anti-immigration legislation aimed at criminalizing Latinos, marginalizing their families, and hindering their access to education, public services, and employment opportunities (Philbin & Ayón, 2016). Using theoretical foundations of political mobilization, this work explores the use of anti-immigration legislation as a mobilizing factor for Latino political participation. Further, the findings suggest that the traditional definition of political participation is not sufficient for the wide-ranging activities of the Latino community. This work, therefore, re-contextualizes the term political participation and establishes Latino political participation by incorporating the concept of “funds of knowledge” to account for Latino political practices that have previously been ignored by the traditional definition. For this study, a series of observations of trends in Latino voting and registration and a descriptive historical analysis of Latino political practices led to the creation of questions for the qualitative interview process. Interviews were conducted with fifteen key Latino informants, and their testimonios provide an explanation for the noted trends in Latino political participation during the election years, highlight the political mobilization that incorporated both the undocumented Latinos and Latino citizens, and provide clarification for a recontextualization of Latino political participation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Transborder Studies 2020

The thesis identifies four modes of action and cooperation of transnational networks of GROs by taking the Tanzania Urban Poor Federation (TUPF), a sub-network of Shack Slum Dweller International (SDI), as an example. Based on the understanding of “interpretive network analysis” (Schindler 2006: pp. 100-101), qualitative and quantitative methodologies of data collection and analysis (expert interviews, member survey, on-site visits of projects, review of TUPF and SDI reports) have been applied in the course of field research. Analysis took place based on a set of criteria regarding the current state of knowledge of typologies, structures, processes, dynamics and preconditions for stable, effective networks. Furthermore, mechanisms for network governance are also taken into account. The selected cases represent a range of issues, applied instruments, different modes of cooperation and scopes of action. Based on the set of criteria, the examination is intended to address questions concerning the relevance of local embeddedness and the capability of the local communities of the TUPF to enter into cross-sectoral and cross-level cooperation. Based on these insights, effects for the scope of action, the empowerment of the actors involved and the development of marginalized settlements are indentified. The case-study research on the basis of the TUPF and SDI verifies the potential of networks for the dissemination of knowledge and the creation of social capital and multidimensional cooperation. However, the analysed modes of action and cooperation develop different degrees of capacities regarding these issues. In this context, the assumed interrelation between the degree of extension of the scope of action and the capability to create multidimensional cooperation in the course of networking activities becomes clear. The cases of the TUPF and SDI show that transnational networks of GROs are able to develop cooperation structures and development strategies involving features of integrated approaches which are spatially and socially embedded in local communities and also benefit from transnational and crosssectoral cooperation. The aspects highlighted above represent a range of potentials and preconditions which turned out to be relevant and important for the activities and processes of local communities within the network. These final results are intended to provide guidance for the development of beneficial structures by governmental actors and development organizations. Furthermore, they should be integrated into a reconsideration of cooperation strategies in the course of urban management processes and development approaches to reduce urban poverty.

The thesis identifies four modes of action and cooperation of transnational networks of GROs by taking the Tanzania Urban Poor Federation (TUPF), a sub-network of Shack Slum Dweller International (SDI), as an example. Based on the understanding of “interpretive network analysis” (Schindler 2006: pp. 100-101), qualitative and quantitative methodologies of data collection and analysis (expert interviews, member survey, on-site visits of projects, review of TUPF and SDI reports) have been applied in the course of field research. Analysis took place based on a set of criteria regarding the current state of knowledge of typologies, structures, processes, dynamics and preconditions for stable, effective networks. Furthermore, mechanisms for network governance are also taken into account. The selected cases represent a range of issues, applied instruments, different modes of cooperation and scopes of action. Based on the set of criteria, the examination is intended to address questions concerning the relevance of local embeddedness and the capability of the local communities of the TUPF to enter into cross-sectoral and cross-level cooperation. Based on these insights, effects for the scope of action, the empowerment of the actors involved and the development of marginalized settlements are indentified. The case-study research on the basis of the TUPF and SDI verifies the potential of networks for the dissemination of knowledge and the creation of social capital and multidimensional cooperation. However, the analysed modes of action and cooperation develop different degrees of capacities regarding these issues. In this context, the assumed interrelation between the degree of extension of the scope of action and the capability to create multidimensional cooperation in the course of networking activities becomes clear. The cases of the TUPF and SDI show that transnational networks of GROs are able to develop cooperation structures and development strategies involving features of integrated approaches which are spatially and socially embedded in local communities and also benefit from transnational and crosssectoral cooperation. The aspects highlighted above represent a range of potentials and preconditions which turned out to be relevant and important for the activities and processes of local communities within the network. These final results are intended to provide guidance for the development of beneficial structures by governmental actors and development organizations. Furthermore, they should be integrated into a reconsideration of cooperation strategies in the course of urban management processes and development approaches to reduce urban poverty.