Berlin is heralded worldwide as being a city that is open, innovative and diverse: a true multicultural metropolis. Music plays a central role in the city’s claim to this title. Go to any one of Berlin’s many notorious alternative nightclubs and you will hear techno, house and electronic dance music blasting out to hoards of enthusiastic partygoers. Many of these clubs and their participants claim that these parties represent diversity, acceptance, equality and tolerance: Spaces within which social divisions are suspended, difference is overcome and people are united. This ubiquitous discursive assertion is referred to in this thesis as a “diversity discourse”. This “diversity discourse” will be deconstructed and situated within a wider political context, with a specific focus on perceptions of race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender. Engaging with theories of intersectionality, post-colonial theory (looking specifically at Jasbir Puar’s important work on homonationalism) and employing qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and autoethnographic inquiry, it will be argued that the “diversity discourse” works as a mask to conceal a reality of social segregation. Far from being sites of equality and diversity, it will be suggested that access to these nightclubs is premised on the possession of societal privilege. That being said, it will also be argued that research into EDM nightclub participation refrain from viewing these clubs within a binary framework of “good” or “bad”; Rather, they should be seen as complex sites of ambivalence, within which multiple identities are acted out and explored. The project contributes to the current body of work within the (post-) discipline of intersectional gender studies, arguing for the need for theorisations in the field to encompass notions of intersecting privilege and disadvantage.

Despite its imprecision, social capital is a powerful tool for examining how and why particular forms of social interaction lead to the health and well-being of communities, organisations, and even businesses. Community cohesion as a policy prescription emerged in the UK, following the social disturbances in certain northern cities and towns in the summer of 2001. The official reports into these disturbances identified lack of social interaction between different ethnic groups as a principal cause. Furthermore, social housing was seen as a key factor that could be used to prevent future disturbances. Accordingly, this research focuses on how the assets and forms of social capital act as good predictors of community cohesion, in the context of the New Labour government's aim to use social housing to build cohesive communities. Unless otherwise specified, references to 'the government' throughout this thesis apply to the New Labour administration that came to power in the UK on 2nd May 1997 and ended with the Coalition administration led by the Conservatives on 11th May 2010. This thesis makes use of the linearity between the goals of social capital and the policy aims of community cohesion to match forms of social capital to specific forms of social interaction, in six selected social housing schemes in Bradford. Bradford was one of the cities affected by the disturbances in 2001. Analysis of the forms of social interaction in the case study housing schemes shows that bridging and linking forms of social capital, which could lead to enduring cohesive communities, were mainly latent in the schemes. This suggests that the peaceful co-existence in the case study housing schemes today is, possibly, postponed social conflict in the long term.

Ο πολυπολιτισμικός χαρακτήρας των κοινωνιών αντανακλάται έντονα και στον εκπαιδευτικό χώρο. Συγκεκριμένα, στα ελληνικά σχολεία η συνύπαρξη των ντόπιων μαθητών με μαθητές που προέρχονται από διαφορετικές, πολιτισμικά, χώρες αποτελεί πλέον μια συνηθισμένη εικόνα της νέας σχολικής πραγματικότητας. Λαμβάνοντας, λοιπόν, υπόψη την εκπαιδευτική πραγματικότητα, όπου η πολιτισμική ετερότητα αποτελεί βασικό της στοιχείο και αφορμή για την εκδήλωση ποικίλων φαινομένων, στην παρούσα εργασία θα επιχειρήσουμε να περιγράψουμε τις ενδοομαδικές και διομαδικές σχέσεις που δημιουργούνται σε ομάδες πολιτισμικά διαφορετικές, υπό συγκεκριμένες πειραματικές συνθήκες. Ο πληθυσμός της έρευνας αποτελείτο από τριάντα έξι (36) Έλληνες και αλλοδαπούς μαθητές, οι οποίοι φοιτούσαν σε τρία (3) Ολοήμερα Δημοτικά Σχολεία της Αρκαδίας. Σε κάθε σχολείο δημιουργήθηκε ένα δείγμα δώδεκα (12) μαθητών, εκ των οποίων οι έξι (6) ήταν ελληνικής καταγωγής και οι υπόλοιποι έξι αλλοεθνείς. Για τη συλλογή των δεδομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκε ως ερευνητικό εργαλείο η μη-συμμετοχική παρατήρηση, η οποία διενεργήθηκε με τη βοήθεια ειδικών εντύπων, των ονομαζόμενων « Σχεδίων Παρατήρησης και Καταγραφής της Συμπεριφοράς». Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνάς μου μπορούν να συνοψιστούν στα εξής κύρια σημεία : 1. Σε συνθήκες ανταγωνισμού, τα μέλη της ομάδας των Ελλήνων μαθητών συνεργάστηκαν μεταξύ τους, με στόχο την καλύτερη επίδοση από την ομάδα των αλλοδαπών μαθητών. Η εκδήλωση ενδοομαδικών συνεργατικών τάσεων και η αύξηση της συνοχής δεν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί ανεξάρτητη από την αντίληψη της κοινής καταγωγής και γλώσσας των μελών. 2. Σε συνθήκες ανταγωνισμού, τα μέλη της ομάδας των αλλοδαπών μαθητών, σε μικρό ποσοστό, εκδήλωσαν τάσεις ενδοομαδικής συμμετοχής και συνεργασίας με τα υπόλοιπα μέλη. Το γεγονός ότι προτίμησαν να εργαστούν ατομικά ο καθένας, ίσως οφείλεται στο ότι δεν έχουν εξοικειωθεί με τον ομαδικό τρόπο εργασίας. Η δεύτερη πιθανότητα ίσως είχε σχέση με τη διαφορετικότητα των μαθητών, η οποία αφορούσε πολιτισμικά και εθνικά χαρακτηριστικά τους. 3. Όσον αφορά τη διομαδική διάσταση, δηλαδή τις σχέσεις μεταξύ των δυο ομάδων παρατηρήθηκε ότι αυτές επηρεάστηκαν από την ύπαρξη ανταγωνιστικών στόχων, οι οποίοι είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα την εκδήλωση αρνητικών διομαδικών συμπεριφορών. 4. Τέλος, παρατηρήθηκε ότι η ύπαρξη ενός κοινού στόχου δεν ήταν ικανός παράγοντας για να οδηγηθούν οι δυο διαφορετικές ομάδες, όσον αφορά την εθνική προέλευση των μελών τους, σε συνεργασία και στην ανάπτυξη θετικών σχέσεων. Οι προϋπάρχουσες αρνητικές στάσεις και στερεοτυπικές πεποιθήσεις της μιας ομάδας για την άλλη, σίγουρα αποτέλεσαν ανασταλτικό παράγοντα στην υιοθέτηση ενός ομαδικού τρόπου σκέψης και δράσης από τα μέλη των δυο ομάδων. / The multicultural character of societies reflects in the educational field. Specific, in Greek schools the coexistence of native students with students who come from different cultural societies portrays the new educational reality. Consider the educational reality, in which multiculturalism is a major element and the main reason for the manifestation of various phenomena, in the present research I will attempt to describe the in group and between group relations that form cultural different perspectives, under certain experimental conditions. The sample of the research consisted of thirty-six Greek and foreign students who attend three all-day elementary schools located in Arcadia, Greece. In each school a sample of twelve students was formed in which six of them were Greek students and the six were foreign students. For the collection of the data I used observational note-taking techniques with a checklist that contained various behavioral features (Behavioral checklist). The results of the research can be summarized on the following main points: 1. In competitive conditions the members of the Greek group cooperated and performed on a higher level than the foreign group. The demonstration of in-group cooperative tendency and the increase of cohesion can’t be considered independent from the perception of common origin and language of the members of the group. 2. In competitive conditions, the members of the group of foreign students demonstrate low level in-group cooperative tendencies with the rest of the members. The fact that they prefer to work individually, maybe so because the students were not familiar with working in groups. A second possibility that the students of the foreign group may not have progressed as the Greek student group maybe because of cultural and ethnic differences. 3. According to the relationship between the two groups, it was observed that the relationship between the students was affected because of the existence of competitive goals that resulted in the demonstration of negative between-group behavior. 4. Finally, it was observed that the existence of common goals was not the major factor that guided the two cultural diverse groups of students to cooperate and to create a positive relationship among the two groups of students. The preconceived and stereotypical notions of each group affected their ability to develop a common way of thinking, to interchange ideas and to focus on a common goal.

In 1988, Canada enshrined multiculturalism into law, a democratizing manoeuver that allowed practitioners of non-Western and non-classical forms of music to agitate for equitable access to public arts funding. This agitation ultimately forced government-funded Canadian arts councils to re-examine their Eurocentric granting programs and to expand the parameters by which they fund music. Today’s arts council peer assessors must now assess applications covering a broad range of musical genres and differing aesthetic values, and must incorporate into their evaluations the councils' sociopolitical priorities emphasizing diversity and inclusivity. Yet, few assessors understand why and how identity politics informs the contemporary music-making of ethnocultural minorities and how collectively held stereotypes influence Canadians’ expectation for ethnocultural representation. In this thesis, I endeavour to separate the historical, sociopolitical and philosophical threads that have contributed to the current musical environment in Canada. I begin by examining the parallel histories of funding for high culture—which led to public arts funding—and early celebrations of multiculturalism. I then examine liberal democratic philosophy and how it fostered the “politics of difference” that characterizes Canadian multiculturalism. Although liberal democracy holds that each citizen be recognized as equal and have equality of opportunity to nurture his or her individual, authentic self, Canadians have historically treated ethnocultural minorities unequally, resulting in the latter pursuing politics of difference based upon collective characteristics. Collective difference politics, though, are prone to stereotype. In the Canadian music world these stereotypes are manifest in external desires for authentic ethnocultural representation, which can overshadow a minority musician’s ability to cultivate a unique musical voice. I devote the second part of my thesis to examining the effects of equity initiatives on Canadian arts councils. Based upon interviews with music and equity officers from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council, I show how the dichotomy between collective and individual authenticities results in unequal modes of assessment that perpetuate both ethnocultural stereotypes and Western classical music’s monopoly over funding, limiting our definitions of Canadian music.

This study is about the work around festivals and traditions that takes place in multicultural preschools. The purpose of this study is to describe and reflect upon the work around festivals and traditions in multicultural preschools from the view of five preschool teachers who are active in their profession.  The purpose is also to investigate which festivals and traditions that are given attention at preschool and for what reason according to the preschool teachers. The method of research chosen in this study is qualitative in the form of individual interviews with the intention of obtaining and interpreting the descriptions and reflections of the informants around the subject. The results will be analyzed from an intercultural perspective. The results show that all investigated preschools celebrate the traditional Swedish festivals Christmas, St. Lucia’s day, Easter and Midsummer, and that these festivals take up lots of space in terms of time and labor. At some of the preschools attention was also given to other festivals from different faiths and cultures out of diversity and a more globalized perspective. The results also revealed that all of the preschool teachers were positive to giving attention to festivals from other faiths and cultures. It was considered to bring an increased understanding and respect for differences between people. It appeared that an operation with increased cultural features would result in the confrontation of some difficulties.

In 1988, Canada enshrined multiculturalism into law, a democratizing manoeuver that allowed practitioners of non-Western and non-classical forms of music to agitate for equitable access to public arts funding. This agitation ultimately forced government-funded Canadian arts councils to re-examine their Eurocentric granting programs and to expand the parameters by which they fund music. Today’s arts council peer assessors must now assess applications covering a broad range of musical genres and differing aesthetic values, and must incorporate into their evaluations the councils' sociopolitical priorities emphasizing diversity and inclusivity. Yet, few assessors understand why and how identity politics informs the contemporary music-making of ethnocultural minorities and how collectively held stereotypes influence Canadians’ expectation for ethnocultural representation. In this thesis, I endeavour to separate the historical, sociopolitical and philosophical threads that have contributed to the current musical environment in Canada. I begin by examining the parallel histories of funding for high culture—which led to public arts funding—and early celebrations of multiculturalism. I then examine liberal democratic philosophy and how it fostered the “politics of difference” that characterizes Canadian multiculturalism. Although liberal democracy holds that each citizen be recognized as equal and have equality of opportunity to nurture his or her individual, authentic self, Canadians have historically treated ethnocultural minorities unequally, resulting in the latter pursuing politics of difference based upon collective characteristics. Collective difference politics, though, are prone to stereotype. In the Canadian music world these stereotypes are manifest in external desires for authentic ethnocultural representation, which can overshadow a minority musician’s ability to cultivate a unique musical voice. I devote the second part of my thesis to examining the effects of equity initiatives on Canadian arts councils. Based upon interviews with music and equity officers from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council, I show how the dichotomy between collective and individual authenticities results in unequal modes of assessment that perpetuate both ethnocultural stereotypes and Western classical music’s monopoly over funding, limiting our definitions of Canadian music.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to illustrate and analyze the approach and parental involvement of a group of mothers in their children's schooling. Also their reflections on parental involvement will be highlighted and what the parents experience as obstacles in their involvement. Method: I conducted six semi structured interviews for my research. I chose to interview six mothers who have a child in the sixth grade. I chose specifically the sixth grade because the mothers will have had quite a few contacts with the school at this point. I also chose not to reveal their ethnicity because they cannot represent a whole ethnic group anyway. Result: The result of my interviews show that the parents have different approaches when it comes to parental involvement. The approaches are different between the mothers but one thing they have in common is that they care about their children.  Conclusion: One of the conclusions of this study is that the parents who do not participate in meetings and activities at school, are either because of language barrier or lack of information concerning what the school expects of them. Furthermore the study shows that their lack of participation in school activities does not mean that they are not involved as parents. Instead they express their involvement in different ways, mainly in their homes.

It is sometimes said that the Quebec model of cultural integration constitutes a third way between the French model (republican integration) and the Canadian model (bilingual multiculturalism) for addressing issues relating to immigration. The present thesis analyses that hypothesis by reviewing the history of laws related to language and religion, especially as they concern the integration of immigrants, in France, English Canada and Quebec. In parallel to those legal histories, the thesis presents some statistical data, notably to better understand the motivations of legislators and to assess the degree of conformity between social change and the policies these legislators have sought to pursue. / After having demonstrated certain weakness of the Quebec model of integration, this thesis proposes three reforms to improve it. The first one, which concerns language legislation, is of republican inspiration. The other two focus on laws concerning religion and are inspired by the Canadian model of integration.

Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of supporting home languages for linguistic-minority families in multilingual settings, as the family language is the means through which they can more successfully socialize their children into the beliefs, values, ideologies and practices surrounding their languages and cultures. Although there has been some research examining issues of Spanish acquisition, maintenance and loss in Canada, the language socialization ideologies and practices of Hispanic families have not yet been examined in this context. This ethnographic study investigated language socialization in immigrant families from ten Spanish-speaking countries residing in Greater Vancouver. Thirty-four families participated, three of which were selected for intensive case study in their homes and in three grassroots community groups. More specifically, the study examined the families’ desires and goals with respect to Spanish maintenance, the meanings they assigned to Spanish, and the processes through which they attempted to valorize Spanish with their children. The study found that many families formed support groups in order to transmit language and culture to their children. A cross-case analysis revealed that the families further exerted their agency by strategically turning these spaces into “safe houses” to resist assimilation and into venues for the Spanish socialization of their children, which enabled them to also transmit cultural values, such as familism. The families conceptualized Spanish maintenance as an emotional connection to the parents’ selves and as a bridge between the parents’ past and the children’s future. It was also constructed as a key that opened doors, as a bridge for learning other languages, and as a passport to a cosmopolitan worldview. Detailed discourse analyses revealed how the families utilized explicit and implicit directives, recasts, and lectures to socialize children into Spanish language ideologies. These analyses also showed how children at times resisted the parents’ socialization practices, but other times displayed their nascent understanding of their parents’ language ideologies in their own use of cross-code self-repair. The study offers unique insights into the complexity of L1 maintenance and the dynamics of language socialization in the lives of linguistic minorities and concludes with implications for policy, pedagogy and research.

Communitarianism and harmony ideology have their proponents and critics, particularly as viewed through the lens of conciliation-based dispute resolution. Both features being prominent in the Tibetan Diaspora in India, I hypothesized that the strengths and weaknesses of these orientations could be assessed through the rationale behind the norms of social control operative in the community, and the efficiency and effectiveness of those norms in terms of voluntary compliance. I found that the informal Tibetan mechanisms for dispute resolution were effective and efficient in supporting Indian systems of law enforcement, while allowing a ritualistic affirmation of community. Contrary to proponents of legal centralism and court justice, I found that liberalist values underpinning litigative process were disruptive of social expectations, and had the potential to exacerbate rather than relieve social tensions. The harmony norms that predispose pro-social behavior within Tibetan settlements failed to protect the interests of community members, however, when the challenge came from local Indian groups operating on the basis of their own standards of particularistic allegiance. Legal ethnography best describes the methodology used for this research. Fieldwork drew on: 1) Interviews with twelve settlement officers whose mandate specifically includes mediation of disputes; 2) In-depth interviews with two disputants fighting cases before the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission; and 3) Interviews with over 70 informants (including senior and mid-level exile government officials and settlement residents), together with archival material, to situate findings and verify interpretations. This research contributes a unique non-Western body of data in support of Law and Society scholars, such as Amitai Etzioni and Phillip Selznick, who have argued for devolution of law-like responsibilities to local levels where internalized norms are an everyday means of social control. It also argues against the pejorative interpretation of harmony ideology as depicted by legal centralists such as Laura Nader. By reframing harmony as a function of norm rationale, efficiency and effectiveness, the research offers new variables for assessing the costs and benefits of community. Finally, the Tibetan case studies provide an important comparative for cosmopolitan states that are debating how to accommodate diversity and legal pluralism.