The issue of the Islamic headscarf has been in the centre of the political debate whether it fits into the Western culture or not. Several member-states in the European Union have issued laws and regulations that impose restrictions on wearing the Islamic headscarf in the public sphere. Even some EU courts have ruled such restrictions imposed by member-states. Recently, this issue has been discussed in the context of the occupational life. In a dispute before the European Court of Justice, the ban was considered as legitimate. In this research, I analyse the judgment from a socio-legal perspective and analyse the intersectional identity of Mrs. Achbita who is a party in the dispute, considering that she belongs to the social category of veiled working Muslim women.

This study explores how the complicated and nuanced identity theory, intersectionality, can be implemented as a communication strategy for sexual health professionals. From interviews with sexual health professionals in Oregon, this research indicates that through the adaptation of a reproductive justice lens professionals can practice intersectionality in their day-to-day work. Strategic communication has longed focused on the “cash value” of theory and suggested that theory is best when it can be applied in real world instances. This research identifies three strategies for application: the use of explicit language, the building of transformative coalitions, and the centering of marginalized voices, stories, and lived experience. This, in combination with an exploration into how sexual health professionals see their own professional and personal identities, indicates that there are very real world applications of intersectional theory that benefit practice.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo discutir de que forma a interseccionalidade dos marcadores sociais de gênero, raça, classe e geração/idade atravessam a relação das mulheres com o Projeto Mulheres da Paz, transcorrendo pelos percursos que as levaram até este projeto social, como definem e entendem o sentido de “ser uma mulher da paz” e a relação deste projeto nos processos de subjetivação. Por meio dos relatos das trajetórias de vida de 10 mulheres da paz, a interseccionalidade destes marcadores sociais e seus atravessamentos na relação das participantes da pesquisa com o Projeto Mulheres da Paz foi descrita e analisada. Conceitos do campo das relações de gênero e sua articulação às questões interseccionais foram fios condutores deste estudo. A partir desta pesquisa foi possível elencar e compreender a magnitude das marcas concebidas pela interseccionalidade do gênero, da classe, da raça e da geração/idade na história de vida dessas mulheres, incidindo na maneira com que produzem sentido à suas participações neste projeto social. Além disso, por intermédio desse engajamento no programa, relevantes elementos imbricaram transformações nos processos de subjetivação, tais como o fortalecimento das relações comunitárias e o empoderamento Fatores que possibilitaram às entrevistadas mudanças nas suas relações familiares, aprendizados sobre relações de gênero e acesso aos direitos e a participação nos espaços públicos de maneira a serem reconhecidas e valorizadas. Outra questão apontada com veemência foi o desafio posto às práticas de trabalho/pesquisa que se pautam no olhar interseccional, em que a operacionalidade deste conceito nos interroga diante de sua complexidade, ao mesmo tempo em que nos convoca a uma perspectiva afinada e valiosa de análise das relações sociais de poder. Por fim, foi percebido que o campo das políticas públicas para as mulheres (e não só) precisa estreitar laços com a discussão teórica e prática das interseccionalidades, como forma de romper com riscos que reproduzam violação de direitos, apostando em estratégias que acionem mudanças nos jogos de poder vigentes na nossa sociedade. / This paper aims to discuss how the intersectionality of social markers, such as gender, race, class and generation/age go through the relationship of women in the Projeto Mulheres da Paz - Women of Peace Project, in free translation - moving along the paths that led them to this social project, how do they define and understand the meaning of "being a woman of peace" and the relation of this social project in subjective processes. Through the narrative of life trajectories given by 10 women of peace, the intersectionality of these social markers and their crossings in relation to the study participants in the Women of Peace Project had been described and analyzed. Concepts from the field of gender relations and their articulation to intersectional issues were conductive wires for this study. From this research, it was possible to list and understand the magnitude of the marks designed by gender intersectionality, class, race and generation/age in the history of life of these women, focusing on the way they produce meaning in their participations in this social project Moreover, through the engagement in the program, other relevant elements intertwined transformations in subjectivity processes, such as the strengthening in community relations and empowerment; factors that had enabled changes in the interviewees‟ family relationships, learnings about gender relations and access to rights and participation in public spaces, in order to be recognized and valued. Another issue strongly pointed was the challenge put to the working practices/research which were based on intersectional look, in which the operationalization of the concept questions us on its complexity, at the same time that calls us to a more finely tuned and valuable perspective analysis of the social relations of power. Finally, it was realized that the field of public policies for women (and not only) have closer ties with the theoretical discussion and practice of intersectionality as a way to break away from risks that reproduce violation. Betting strategies that trigger changes in the power games existing in our society.

Cuidado à população adulta em situação de rua em Lajeado, RS. Essa é a temática que orienta a pesquisa, que tem como objetivo central compreender como as pessoas adultas, em situação de rua, percebem e acolhem as estratégias de cuidado disponibilizadas pelo sistema de Proteção Social na cidade de Lajeado. Para embasar os objetivos da pesquisa, foram criados quatro capítulos conceituais para fundamentar teoricamente a proposta: A praça, o enredo, a história; Paulo, Joaquim e Márcio: quem são eles que compõem a história; Política da Assistência Social; Onde fica a praça? Onde se passa a história? Um pouco sobre Lajeado. Esta é uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, que utilizou como metodologia grupos focais com a população em situação de rua de Lajeado. As falas disparadas nos encontros foram avaliadas pela análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin (2011). Após as transcrições, os conteúdos foram distribuídos em quatro categorias: Vida com Droga, Droga com Vida (versa sobre as relações estabelecidas com o uso de álcool e outras drogas em suas vivências nas ruas); Entre o real e o ideal(izado) (aborda a rede de serviços disponível na cidade, do mesmo modo que avaliam como necessário); Trabalho: o abre e fecha (discute formas de inclusão e exclusão que atravessam o mercado de trabalho); Quem (des) cuida de quem? (analisa as relações de cuidado que vivenciam na rua, que perpassam movimentos de acolhida e violência). Ao longo do processo de escrita do trabalho, foram realizados encontros com a proposta de discutir a construção da história. Nestes foram apresentados os resultados aos sujeitos participantes e, ainda, ocorreram práticas de cuidado como roda de conversa, lanche coletivo, risadas, etc. / Care to people on the street in Lajeado, RS. This is the theme that guides the research, which was aimed at understanding how the adults people on the street realize and embrace the strategies of care provided by the social protection system in the city of Lajeado. To support the objectives of the research, four conceptual chapters were created to theoretically support the proposal: The square, the plot, the story; Paulo, Joaquim and Márcio: who are they that make up the story; Politics of Social Assistance; Where is the square? Where does the story take place? About Lajeado. This is a qualitative study which used as methodology focal groups on the streets people of Lajeado. The statements triggered in the meetings were evaluated by content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011). After the transcripts, the contents were divided into four categories: Life on Drugs, Drugs with Life (it deals with the established relations with the use of alcohol and other drugs in their experiences on the streets); Between the real and the ideal (ized) (it addresses the network services available in the city, as well as evaluating as necessary); Work: opens and closes (discusses ways of inclusion and exclusion that cross the labor market); Who (un) takes care of whom? (It analyzes the care relationships they experience between them, or in their relations on the street, as well as how they perceive the care provided by the city services). At the end of the research and writing process, a meeting was held with the aim to discuss the construction of the story. The results were presented to the participating people and care practices also ocurred as conversation circle, collective snack, laughter, etc.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Spencer Wood / In this study, I investigate UndocuQueer activists and their use of social media as one type of subaltern counterpublic. Subaltern counterpublics are spaces marginalized communities forge to center their voices and experiences. These counterpublics represent aggregations of emancipatory agency and stand as responses to their exclusion or marginalization by the dominant public sphere. UndocuQueer activists strategically engage in the public sphere using social media because it grants them momentum and brings national attention to their agenda. In this research, I use an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to understand the UndocuQueer social movement. The guiding research questions were: 1) How do UndocuQueer activists create subaltern counterpublics? 2) How do UndocuQueer activists present their multiple and complex identities on Twitter? Using critical discourse analysis of Twitter, I coded and analyzed over 600 tweets. To further this analysis, I used critical Xicana feminist standpoint to gather three testimonios of UndocuQueer activists. The major findings are of this project are: 1) the UndocuQueer subaltern counterpublic formed through the state’s anti-immigrant policies and the public sphere’s marginalizations and misrepresentations. 2) the UndocuQueer community forged an intersectional subaltern counterpublic online through their lived experiences as undocumented and queer. 3) the undocu-movements: UndocuQueer, UndocuTrans, UndocuBlack, UndocuAPI, and UndocuSolidarity operate coalitionally; thus, I call this a coalitional intersectional subaltern counterpublic. 4) the UndocuQueer activists use social media for community, expression and support of art, and organizing. 5) Lastly, UndocuQueer activists engage in multiple forms of activism via social media, such as participating in marches and civil disobedience and sharing events, workshops, petitions, and donation pages. Overall, this study provides a rich description of how marginalized communities, especially those of the UndocuQueer community, have great agency despite their precarious situation: a counter narrative that is usually unexposed. This project finds how the UndocuQueer community face multiple marginalizations and exclusions from the state through its anti-immigrant policies, the public sphere through its misrepresentations in the media, from LGBTQ communities and organizations, and from Latinx and immigrant communities. I show how the UndocuQueer’s intersectional and coalitional subaltern counterpublic forged online as a safe haven for themselves and to engage with the public sphere. With this information, we have find better ways to be their allies, support them, and listen to their calls to action.

Within Asian cultures, stigma is commonly associated with seeking professional help for mental health issues, resulting in underutilization of professional services. While recent research has identified unique barriers in seeking help among first-generation immigrant women, perceptions of counselling remain understudied in the context of second-generation Asian Canadian women who identify as bicultural—particularly those facing gender-based violence. This article-based thesis sought to gain a better understanding of second-generation Asian Canadian women’s perspectives on counselling within the context of gender-based violence and bicultural identity. Because visible minority women are often a marginalized segment of the Canadian population, this study drew from the narrative approach, in which stories were collected and analyzed. Semistructured interviews were conducted with five participants. Results are presented in a manuscript and consist of five themes: (a) intersectionality, (b) perceptions of mental health and counselling, (c) barriers to counselling, (d) counselling experiences, and (e) hopes for counselling. Observations on “the bicultural struggle” and gender-based violence are also discussed in the thesis. The findings elaborate understandings of multiple social identities in second-generation Asian women’s perceptions of counselling and experiences with gender-based violence, and help inform multicultural counselling practices with Asian populations.

abstract: Employing Queer Intersectionality, this study explored how undocuqueer activists made sense of, interacted and worked within the intersection of their LGBTQ and undocumented experience. Participants ascribed three overarching self-meanings: Vulnerability, Complexity, and Resilience. These self-meanings describe the ways participants perceived the interplay of their gender, sexuality and immigration status within the current sociopolitical context of the U.S. Recognizing their vulnerability within a state of illegibility, participants described a sense of exclusion within spaces of belonging, and wariness managing relationships with others; opting for more complex self-definitions, they resisted simplistic conceptions of identity that rendered their social locations invisible (e.g., homonormativity, heteronormativity, DREAMer); and describing themselves as resilient, they described surviving societal as well as familial rejection even when surviving seemed impossible to do so. Interacting and working within the intersection of gender, sexuality and immigration status, participants described identity negotiation and coming out as a form of resistance to institutionalized oppression, and resilience amidst simultaneous anti-immigrant, xenophobic and heterosexist power structures. Participants learned to live in multiple worlds at the same time, and embrace the multiplicity of their undocuqueer identity while seeking to bridge their communities through stories, activism and peer education. This study has implications for further understanding the way that queer politics and identity interact/ relate with various axes of inequality. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2015

abstract: This research examines the experiences and perceptions of immigrant and refugee women social entrepreneurs located within a context of economic instability, as well as the strategies that they develop to cope with such crises and volatility. To conduct this research I used a mixed-method, qualitative approach to data collection, including semi-structured, open-ended interviews and a focus group. I used feminist theory and a grounded theory approach to inform the design of my study; as such I acknowledge the participants as knowledge producers and allow for them to add in questions to the interviews and focus group and to comment on drafts of the written portion of the dissertation. The findings have indicated that these women are surviving the economic crisis by combining different income streams, including social entrepreneurship, traditional jobs and state and non-profit-aid. Moreover, the participants have found that besides monetary value, social entrepreneurship also provides alternative benefits such as personal sovereignty in their work environment, work-life balance and well-being. Also, personal history, and family and community embeddedness contribute to women's decisions to pursue social entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the growing body of research on gender and work and fills the gaps in literature currently existing in social entrepreneurship. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2015

abstract: Sociopolitical involvement has been previously shown to be associated with experiences of discrimination. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) racial/ethnic minorities have faced multiple levels of discrimination from the mainstream community, racial/ethnic minority communities, and LGB communities. However, not many studies have investigated the association between intersectional forms of discrimination and sociopolitical involvement. The present study examines differences in perceptions of racism in the LGB community, sociopolitical involvement in racial/ethnic communities, and sociopolitical involvement in LGB communities among LGB racial/ethnic minorities (N = 203, MAge = 27.25). The sample included 107 (52.7%) men and 96 (47.3%) women; 41 (20.2%) lesbians, 89 (43.8%) gay men, and 73 (36.0%) bisexuals; 47 (23.2%) African Americans, 50 (24.6%) Asian Americans, 64 (31.5%) Latinos/as, and 42 (20.7%) from another race/ethnicity or mixed race. This study also looks at the association between perceptions of racism in the LGB community and sociopolitical involvement in racial/ethnic communities and/or LGB communities. Asian American participants reported perceiving higher levels of racism in the LGB community than Latino/a participants. No other differences in perceptions of racism in the LGB community were found between sexual orientation or by racial/ethnic group. No differences between racial/ethnic group or sexual orientations were found in sociopolitical involvement in racial/ethnic or LGB communities. When controlling for sexual orientation, gender, and race/ethnicity, perceptions of racism in the LGB community predicted sociopolitical involvement in racial/ethnic and LGB communities. By exploring correlates of discrimination from an intersectional perspective, this study provides a better understanding of the experiences of LGB racial/ethnic minorities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2016

abstract: This study re-frames learning disabilities (LD) through the emotion-laden talk of four Latina/o students with LD. The research questions included: 1) What are the emotion-laden talk of Latina/o students about being labeled with LD? 2) What are Latina/o students' emotion-laden talk of the idea of LD? I identified master narratives, the "pre-existent sociocultural forms of interpretation. They are meant to delineate and confine the local interpretation strategies and agency constellations in individual subjects as well as in social institutions," (Bamberg, 2004, p. 287) within the following literatures to inform my research questions and conceptual framework: a) historiography and interdisciplinary literature on LD; b) policy (i.e., Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)), c) the academic and d) social and emotional dimensions of LD; and e) student voice research with students with LD. Interdisciplinary, critical ethnographic and qualitative research methods such as taking into account issues of power, etic and emic perspectives, in-depth interviewing, field notes were used. Total participants included: four students, three parents and three teachers. More specifically, descriptive coding, identification of emotion-laden talk, a thematic analysis, memoing and intersectional and cultural-historical developmental constructs were used to analyze students’ emotion-laden talk. Emotion-laden talk about being labeled with LD included the hegemony of smartness, disability microaggressions, on the trinity of LD: help + teachers + literacy troubles, on being bullied, embarrassment to ask for assistance from others and help as hope. The emotion-laden talk about the idea of LD included LD as double-edge sword, LDness as X, the meaning of LD as resource, trouble with information processing, speech, and silence, the salience of the intersection of disability, ethnicity and language and other markers of difference, struggles due to lack of understanding and LD myths. This study provides a discussion and implications for theory, research, policy, and practice. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2016