This thesis explores what members of religious minorities in Poland think about multiculturalism, the religious and ethnic homogeneity of Poland, and racism. The theoretical part includes discussion about the relation between Christianity and Polish national identity as well as the relation between Christianity and racism. The case study was based on the semi-structured interviews with five individuals representing various religious minorities.   The research conclusions, drawing upon the participants’ observations, are explored within a theoretical framework. The results suggest that the lack of exposure is seen as the foremost reason for racial and religious prejudice. Moreover, religion is identified to be more central than skin colour or other ethnic features when assessing “others”. In order to change minorities' position in Polish society, Poland needs social integration programmes designed together with members of minority communities, as well as the Church’s support in building unity.

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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study examined how gay men construct a gay identity and have relationships within a heteronormative (Kritzinger, 2005) society in South Africa. The impact of this study is that homophobia continues to persist within different levels of society despite progressive legislation (Republic of South Africa, 1998; Republic of South Africa, 2006; Republic of South Africa, 2007), that gender binarisms persist in gay relationships, that power differences impact and shape gay relationships, and that resistance and transgression to heteronormativity were present in some of the narratives. The qualitative study employed a semi-structured guide with in-depth interviews. Sampling procedures that were utilised were snowball sampling in a non-probability sample. Data was collected via an MP3 player and each interview was transcribed and analysed using content and narrative analysis. I-poems using the listening guide (Gilligan et al, 2003) were constructed in six of the narratives. The sample distribution included 15 gay men aged between 20 to 46 years. Of these, 12 participants were black (6 coloured, 3 Indians, 3 African) and 3 were white. / South Africa

Cities in Dust is a collection of 15 short stories and the first two chapters of Biggest Little City, a novel-in-progress. This collection looks at queerness, gender, sex work, addiction, illness, and the effects of displacement--leaving homes, cities, relationships, and theoretical safety before we are ready. Cities in Dust works to tell stories from the space between places and the moment between moments. Transition is a city of its own.

The question of how subordinated groups in democratic states set about shifting their political relationship with their encompassing societies has received little attention among political scientists in Canada. Groups which lack significant political, legal, and economic resources, and which are stigmatized by an inferior status (reinforced by law and policy) do not enjoy the level playing field predicted by pluralist interest group theory. Yet they are sometimes able to overcome these obstacles and to renegotiate their political and legal status. The question is how some groups are able to do this, and what strategies are available to or obligatory for groups wishing to initiate political bargaining. According to the theory of symbolic politics developed here, disadvantaged minorities seeking political benefits from the state will typically conduct politics at the symbolic level. That is, they tend to invoke a range of political symbols and myths: first, to build in-group solidarity by presenting an analysis of a common past and present, as well as a vision of the future society, and thereby legitimate their political aspirations. In the first stage of minority politicization, such groups must: (a) build a sense of community of interests and goals which can be said to represent the reference group as a whole; (b) reverse the stigmatic identity ascribed to them by the dominant society; and (c) find ways of competing with the dominant society, not on the latter's terms, but on alternative ideological grounds. In the second stage of politicization, minorities must: (a) create appropriate demands; (b) learn to use the mechanisms, methods and institutions of the mainstream political process; and (c) eventually routinize conflict by negotiating stable norms to guide on-going relations with government. Subordinated groups do not normally seek purely material benefits. They usually seek symbolic benefits in the form of rights, and a redefined status within society. Thus, much of their politicking is conducted in public, and is largely devoted to capturing public sympathy which can be used as a resource against government. The political myths and symbols employed are characteristically emotive and imprecise. Political goals are presented in symbolic terms, and are advanced at the level of principle rather than substance. When applied to the case of Native Indian politics in the Canadian context, the evidence confirms the accuracy of these hypotheses. Indians have pursued the symbolic strategies predicted by the model: the essence of their political aspirations has been captured in the symbols of aboriginal title/aboriginal rights, land claims, and ultimately, self-government; at the macro level, they have sought predominantly symbolic benefits, as represented by legislative and constitutional recognition of certain rights and privileges; and they have attempted to win public support to use as a bargaining chip vis-a-vis government. However, they have not been entirely successful in their use of the symbolic strategies outlined, and the evidence suggests that they have reached a public opinion impasse. Despite their efforts, public opinion on native and native issues has remained remarkably stable over the last twenty years, so that further effort in this area is likely to bring diminishing returns. In the end, symbolic politics, while necessary for subordinated groups in their fledgling stages of politicization, must eventually give way to more conventional political methodologies as groups become institutionalized in the mainstream political process. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this research study was threefold: to determine if a multicultural art program would have a positive effect on students' appreciation of their own art work, art from other cultures and attitudes towards other cultures. The program supported a multicultural view of art which emphasized the cultural similarities and values which were common to all students. A nonequivalent control-group design was used within a quasi-experimental framework. One grade eight class participated in the Multicultural Program while the other served as the control group. Both classes were pre- and posttested with the Borgardus Social Distance Scale and a Cultural Appreciation Measure to determine if there was an attitude or appreciation change as a result of the treatment. Student journals and a Journal Posttest also provided data for analysis and reflection. No significant statistical differences were found between experimental and control groups on the pre- and posttest. However, student journals and the Journal Posttest provided data to indicate a significant positive change in students' attitudes towards their own art and the art of other cultures. This was complemented by the researcher's journal which described the classroom proceedings. The results from the journals and the Journal Posttest indicate that teaching art through a multicultural perspective, which emphasizes the similarities across cultures, can change attitudes about art. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

a) Basic Problem The main question posed in this research was as follows; where exactly, and in what types of locality have those of French ethnic origin living in the Prairie provinces been most (or least) successful in preserving a distinctive French-Canadian culture. b) Method of Investigation i) The production of detailed population distribution maps showed where, and to what extent, French-Canadians were areally concentrated into distinct group settlements. It is only in such group settlement that such a sub-culture can hope to survive. ii) The varying degree of ethnic homogeneity within the various group settlements was analysed. This study confirmed that the more French Canadians were intermixed with other groups the more susceptible they would be to anglicisation and assimilation. iii) The varying strength of the French-Canadian position was measured by calculating the proportion of French Canadians in each group settlement belonging to a French-language parish - an institution which has played a great role in the cultural survival of the French-speaking minorities. iv) The areally varying strength of French-language education in the Prairie provinces was studied. v) The areally varying degree of access to a French-language newspapers, radio and television was analysed; vi) Population increases and/or decreases among this ethnic group were studied. The extent of these increases and decreases, in both rural and urban areas, affects the strength of this sub-culture. vii) A cartographic description, using the most detailed census data available, was made of those of French ethnic origin who have retained French as their mother-tongue. The retention of French among this group was taken as the key index of assimilation, not least because they have always fervently regarded such linguistic fidelity as the essential basis of their distinctive cultural survival. b) Conclusions i) Neither the province of Quebec, nor the French-Canadian people have ever shown great interest in settling western Canada. ii) A considerable and increasing proportion of French Canadians in the Prairie provinces has become completely assimilated into the English-speaking community. However, within the group settlements the degree to which French has been retained is often high. iii) By far the strongest French-speaking community is situated in south-eastern Manitoba where three large rural groups focus on the unique urban group of St. Boniface. The cultural survival of French-Canadian communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan is much more threatened, either by their cultural isolation from other French-speaking groups, or by the extent to which they have been intermixed with non-French-speaking groups. iv) The key socio-geographic factor in the linguistic assimilation of western French Canadians seems to be the degree to which they are physically intermixed with other groups. This factor emerged as much more important than other considerations such as situation in an urban or rural area, or group settlement size. v) The western French Canadian sub-culture is an extremely "localised" phenomenon. Immediately beyond the "core" areas of the group settlements assimilation becomes very marked, even if a considerable number of French Canadians can still be found. Evidence of assimilation can be found even within the "cores" of some groups. vi) The future survival of this sub-culture depends, among other things, on strengthening French Canadian institutions within the group settlements. This applies particularly to the need to develop genuinely bilingual schools. Also a new form of "group settlement" must be developed to maintain and stimulate French-Canadian institutions and culture among the increasing numbers of Francophones who have left their rural communities for the larger urban areas. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

This thesis aims at locating the position of the Jainas within the Indian religious landscape. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, novel concepts of collective religious identities and the formation of exclusive communities among religious lines have led to the establishment of the popular image of India's religious landscape as consisting of a Hindu majority and several religious minorities. This model is based on exclusive, often antagonistic religious categories. However, by discussing the position of the Jainas within the framework of India's religious pluralism, the present thesis attempts to question this popular concept. As will be argued, similar to members of other religious traditions, among Jainas too the identity discourse of the intellectual elite has introduced broader supra-locally, supra-caste-based concepts of community. However, this process of collective identity and community formation has not been based on, in Harjot Oberoi's terms, the 'construction of religious boundaries' (1994) between Jainas and Hindus. These `blurred boundaries´ between Hindus and Jainas in the modern Jaina identity discourse defy a concrete positioning of the Jainas within the framework of India's religious landscape.This thesis will begin with the analysis of the late 19th and early 20th century Jaina discourse of Western orientalists and intellectual Jainas, and its impact on the `definition´ of `Jaina values´ and the Jainas as a `community´. Mainly focusing on the regional sub-group of the Digambara Jainas of South Maharashtra and North Karnataka, the research will also discuss the impact of non-middle-class `agents´ in the process of community building among Jainas. In this respect it will be argued that lay-ascetic interaction and the performance of distinct rituals and festivals largely contribute to the establishment of community among Digambara Jainas. The strict practice of Digambara ascetics also adds the element of asceticism to the `Jaina values´, which have been propagated by intellectual lay Jaina individuals and organisations from the early 20th century onwards. These propagated `Jaina values´, most prominently among them ahiṃsā and tolerance, make Jainism the most suitable religion for modern times, and symbolise ancient Indian `values´ in their `purest form´.However, regarding the Jainas as a `community´, this Jaina discourse has remained rather vague and abstract. This vagueness finds its most concrete expression in the still undecided legal status of the Jainas regarding their inclusion among the nationwide religious minorities. In comparison to other Indian religious minority traditions, the Sikhs and Buddhists in particular, the `Jaina case´ suggests a complexity of collective religious identifications in the Indian religious landscape, which defies any fixed model.

It is considered by many linguists that all Americans speak an "astandard" English dialect. Field workers have for decades been involved in the task of interviewing people to determine regional dialects, the conclusion being that each dialect is a bona fide language system." However, an important point is that although there is a great diversity in oral language, there is only one accepted written form. (syntax and spelling). One of the most prominent of these divergent patterns is the Black non-Standard (BNS) language with which this paper will be concerned. The BNS language does not represent a failure to learn the rules of Standard English, but rather is an equally highly structured system with rules of its own. Yet, written language corresponds to Standard English rules. The BNS speaking person is exposed to language in conflicting ways. He learns to speak the language accepted by his home and peers. Aurally he is exposed to informal Standard English through school and the media (television, radio, movies). Visually, the materials he is presented to read are formal Standard English. As a result the question might be asked as to whether these conflicting presentations interfere with the achievement of this divergent speaker.

The first chapter relates the size of the present-day LGBT population to the discovery of gold during the nineteenth century gold rushes. Comparing the surroundings of gold rush counties to other mining counties, we find that there are currently 15% more same-sex couples in former gold rush counties and that residents of these counties have more favorable attitudes toward homosexuality. Gold rush counties were initially isolated, mostly uninhabited and lacked strong formal institutions, which helped shaping pro-LGBT attitudes. Examining channels of persistence, we provide empirical evidence for selective migration and the lack of strong religious institutions. The second chapter examines the impact of gender focused labor legislation on women’s labor force participation and economic empowerment. We rely on historical legislative acts passed by state legislatures and exploit whether or not states passed regulatory laws regulating overall and industry specific employment and work conditions for women, night work laws and labor laws requiring provision of seats for working women. We exploit the fact that not all states enacted these laws as well as the variation in the timing of enactment of such laws. Our results show that women in comparison to men in treated states are more likely to be in the labor force post introduction of night work laws in comparison to control states. We also document the effect of industry-specific labor policies on women’s likelihood to be employed in the affected industry and in higher-wage occupations within the industry of interest. Policy implications of our findings endorse the adoption of labor laws in favor of women to advocate their empowerment through a higher involvement in the labor market and financial independence. The third chapter tests the doctrine of first effective settlement by relating early settlers’ culture to within state variation in gender norms in the United States. In 1973, the cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky postulated that the distinctive traits of early settlers at initial stages of institutional development may be crucial for cultural formation. I capture settlers’ culture using past female labor force participation, women’s suffrage and financial rights at their place of origin. I document the distinctive characteristics of settlers’ populations and provide suggestive evidence in support of the spatial (across locations) and vertical (over time) transmission of gender norms. My results show that women’s labor supply is higher, in both the short and long run, in U.S. counties that historically hosted a larger settler population originating from places with favorable gender attitudes. My findings shed new light on the importance of immigrants’ characteristics and their countries/states of origin for cultural formation in hosting societies.