Master of Arts / Department of History / David A. Graff / Michael Ramsay / In 1988, Irving Brown received the Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan for playing a crucial role in breaking the hold of international communism over postwar Western Europe. By doing so, he can truly be called one of the architects of Western democracy. Brown also made extraordinary efforts to fight international Communism in French North Africa during the 1950s. This paper seeks to answer the question of why these efforts in North Africa failed, and it will show the limits of American labor‘s international influence during the Cold War, in particular in French North Africa. Irving Brown successfully strengthened anti-Communist unions in Europe, and had the financial backing of the Truman Administration for those projects. However, Brown‘s efforts to build anti-Communist trade unions in Tunisia and Algeria did not have the backing of the U.S. government under the Eisenhower Administration. Instead, the AFL-CIO, with Brown as its representative, attempted to use the non-Communist International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to influence the nationalist movements of Tunisia and Algeria through their respective national unions, the Union générale tunisienne du travail (UGTT) and the Union générale des travailleurs algériens (UGTA). Disagreements within the ICFTU severely inhibited Brown‘s effectiveness and prevented him from fully realizing the AFL-CIO‘s policy goals in North Africa. Brown was overly dependent on Tunisia for his operations with the Algeria labor movement, and the ICFTU was incapable of providing adequate support to the Algerians to compete with its Communist rival, the World Federation of Trade Unions. To the extent that independent Tunisia was Western-oriented, Brown was successful in his efforts. However, in the long run, Brown failed as an architect of Western democracy, as Tunisia became a dictatorship with a socialist economy. In Algeria, the state of war forced the UGTA to turn to the Eastern bloc despite Brown‘s personal dedication to North African independence and development. Furthermore, in independence, Algeria‘s government embraced socialism and single party rule.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen S. Myers-Bowman / The purpose of this study was to conduct a phenomenological inquiry into the impact HIV/AIDS-related stigma has on People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their family members in Ghana and the overall relationship family members have with PLHA. The study explored the concept of stigma in the Ghanaian context, ways in which it is expressed, factors influencing HIV- related stigma and its consequences on both PLHA and their family members. Strategies that PLHA and their family members consider for effective HIV- related stigma prevention were also explored. The study further explored some of the gender- biased nature of HIV- related stigma in Ghana. Data was gathered qualitatively through interviews with five PLHA and their discordant family members. Interviews were transcribed and translated into English, coded and analyzed. After inductively establishing themes and categories, final confirmatory analysis was deductively established, by using the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model and Symbolic interaction theory to affirm the authenticity and appropriateness of the inductive content analysis. The study found that HIV- related stigma begins with serostatus disclosure. Stigma is manifested in myriad contexts including the family, community, healthcare institutions and gender. The major factors influencing stigma are insufficient knowledge of HIV transmission, fear and misconception of HIV created by the media, cultural and religious factors as well as poverty. Family members experienced similar stigma as PLHA, such as loss of jobs, loss of social network, loss of identity and self stigma. However extreme impacts such as suicidal thoughts were only experienced by PLHA. The impact of HIV- related stigma is worst for women because of beliefs and values relating to gender- role expectations. While women accept and support their husbands when they have HIV/AIDS, women are often neglected and abandoned by their husbands. To address this stigma, participants suggested house to house education, financial support from the government, revision of educational content especially discontinuation of negative images of HIV/AIDS used by the media. Implications for this study in the areas of research, practice and policy are provided.