M.A. / This study serves to expand the work of A.C. Faul on scale development in social work to incorporate the demand for multiculturalism. Ecometrics – the measurement of ecosystems – is a steadily growing field in South Africa. To date, however, scale development has assumed that the ecometrics will be practiced in a monocultural context. This is obviously not the case in South Africa. Consequently, the research goal is to design a process model for the development of social work scales for multicultural use in South Africa. As a secondary objective, the study aims to test this model in practice, through the development of a multicultural scale that accurately measures the social health of military employees/families. A number of issues underlying the technical aspects of multicultural scale development are first explored, including issues of the characteristics of ecometrics; the meaning of the term culture; the emic-etic debate; cultural equivalence; and bias, fairness and standards in ecometrics. Thereafter, a process model for the development of multicultural ecometric scales is introduced and five main phases are described: analysis, design, development, evaluation, and diffusion & adoption. Each of these phases is further decomposed into main moments and steps, each of which is described at both theoretical and technical levels. In order to test this process model in the real world, a new multicultural, multilingual, multidimensional, systems-oriented, salutogenic scale was created, called the Military Social Health Index. In the analysis phase, the need for the scale was analysed and the innovation requirements determined and contracted with the client. A theoretical framework – family resilience theory – was identified and explored, resulting in the development of an assessment model that underlies the scale. The cross-cultural comparability of the constructs was assessed and each construct was operationally defined, using facet maps. In the design phase, a multicultural, multilingual team of social workers generated close to 200 items, as well as instructions, using a multifocus approach, in which items were generated in four languages simultaneously (English, Zulu, Setswana and Afrikaans). Only items that could be expressed equivalently across languages were accepted. This resulted in an initial instrument, comprising 175 items (plus 16 demographic items), covering seven constructs, in four languages, at an average reading level of Grades 6-7. During the development (or field testing) phase, the instrument was reviewed by a group of social workers for content relevance, translation equivalence, item formulation, etc. Thereafter it was reviewed by focus groups of soldiers in the SANDF. Finally, the instrument was subjected to an analysis of linguistic equivalence. In response to each review, changes were made to the instrument.

[pt] O presente trabalho tem por objeto a análise das contribuições apresentadas pela teoria do discurso de Jurgen Habermas à discussão sobre a formação da identidade no espaço público deliberativo; pretende-se analisar a possibilidade de consenso em meio às diferenças das sociedades multiculturais. Nessa perspectiva, as democracias contemporâneas passam a ter como desafio a garantia de representação e participação das minorias. Por isso, a identidade e os vínculos associativos nas sociedades pós-convencionais são influenciados pelas diversas formas de interação. Sob o paradigma da intersubjetividade, Habermas propõe uma fundamentação procedimental dos direitos fundamentais. Pretende-se por meio da idéia de democracia deliberativa e de políticas de reconhecimento reconstruir os argumentos de Habermas acerca da coesão interna entre Estado de Direito e Democracia. / [en] This paper is aimed to analyses the contribution presented by the Haberma’s discourse theory and its point over the identity formations in a deliberative and public space. It’s intended to analyses the possibility of a consensus among multicultural differences in our society. From this perspective, the current democracy is happen to be challenged to guaranty the representation and participation of the minority groups. Thus, the identity and the associative links in a post conventional society are influenced by many forms of interaction. Under the intersubjectivity paradigm, Habermas proposes a procedural foundation of fundamental rights. It’s intended through a deliberative idea and political acknowledgment rebuilt Habermas’s points over the inner cohesion between State Law and Democracy.

Le travail de recherche se focalise sur le renouveau de l’identité française à San Rafael, Veracruz au Mexique depuis les années quatre-vingts à nos jours. Cette période actuelle voit en effet culminer dans cette ancienne colonie agricole un mouvement que l’on peut désigner comme étant une revitalisation de l’identité française.Cette étude se focalise sur les raisons profondes de ce renouveau et le fonctionnement de celui-ci, mais elle appréhende aussi les enjeux majeurs et les conséquences sur la localité. Pour cela, et considérant la complexité des contextes dans lesquels la migration française au XIXe siècle, l’abandon progressif de l’identité française au début du XXe siècle puis la revitalisation se sont passés, cette recherche s’inscrit pleinement dans la section CNU-14 (espagnol) mais s’inspire des outils et des méthodes de l’anthropologie historique.Trois thématiques principales sont abordées, basées sur le constat général du phénomène étudié, les mécanismes du processus de revitalisation de l’identité française et les répercussions du contexte national sur l’identité des acteurs sociaux de la localité / This research focuses on the revival of the French identity in San Rafael, Veracruz in Mexico since the eighties to present. This current period saw indeed a peak in this ancient farm settlement movement that can be designated as French identity revitalization.This study focuses on the underlying reasons for this revival and operation of it, but it also captures the major issues and the impact on the locality. For this, and considering the complexity of the contexts in which the French migration in the nineteenth century, the gradual abandonment of French identity in the early twentieth century and the revitalization happened, this research is in the field of the fourteenth section of National Council of Universities (spanish speciality), but is inspired by the historical anthropology's tools and methods.Three main themes are addressed, based on the general observation of the studied phenomenon, the mechanisms of the revitalization process of French identity and the impact of the national context on the identification of local social actors.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Kakali Bhattacharya / Thomas Vontz / The purpose of this study was to better understand constructs of national identity in transnational space by illuminating the processes and relations of national identity disruption and development. This study is pertinent as cultural and social identities are traditionally framed by nation-centric processes in education. However, the effects of globalization continue to transform education through learning abroad initiatives and changing migration behaviors, which necessitates perspectives de-centering the nation as an assumed boundary. The theoretical framework for this study was transnationalism. A transnational perspective has brought new focus to educational research and national identity development by questioning the multiculturalist assumption of nationality as stable national identity and exploring the concepts of national identity and nationalism in transnational spaces created by globalization. The methodological approach was critical autoethnography as informed by narrative inquiry, in which I critically examined my own disruptive experience as a teacher in the Marshall Islands by engaging in retellings of experiences with one of my former Marshallese students as an informant. The method of interactive interviewing with an informant was necessary to develop a critical lens and to connect individual reflexivity with writing ethnographically to relate to broader human experience. Qualitative coding methods were applied to our retellings as thematic analysis to categorize accounts in the narrative. Finally, writing as a method of inquiry and analysis was used to explore emotions, positionality, and perspective. Through iterations of performing narrative with the informant and applying narrative analysis I found that the theme of belonging was apparent as a personal feeling in our narrative. Recognizing this as the theme posed another question; how does this address the original guiding question: what is a sense of belonging in terms of relations and processes? To answer this I considered space-sensitive understandings of belonging as a transnational perspective. This conclusion reconceptualized and grounded national identity development in the materiality of belonging as a feeling to reflect (1) the material consequences of physical characteristics, (2) the allocation of resources, and (3) language as power. In curriculum and instruction, this understanding of belonging as process could reinforce the ideological inclusivity of multiculturalism while liberating constructs of identity from the constraints of the nation. This perspective could have implications on the development of students’ national and transnational identities, allowing for the recognition of diversity without diminishing issues of difference such as racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia in society creating students capable of celebrating difference while recognizing inequity and promoting social critique.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Within the context of South Africa‘s diverging religious, cultural and social backgrounds, new questions on the nature of a multicultural society are raised from the perspective of human rights. The universality and indivisibility of human rights are challenged by this diversity and consequently implies that standards, concepts and structures for implementation have to be reconsidered. International and national standards are being (re)interpreted and attention is not only focused on the contents of the norms but on the limitations imposed thereupon. The debate on whether limits should be set in permitting or accommodating cultural or religious pluralism is becoming extremely relevant. The manner in which these questions are responded to is even more prominent in the light of our history of apartheid which has disregarded respect for religious and cultural diversity. In the scope of this research emphasis will be placed on the right to freedom of religion and in particular the limitation of the right to religion in an attempt to balance conflicting rights and accommodates religious diversity. The right to freedom of religion albeit constitutionally entrenched is subject to reasonable and justifiable limitations. However, no clear guidelines have been formulated on the criteria for limiting the right to freedom of religion. The main aim of this research is to find guiding criteria to facilitate the imposition of limitations on the right to freedom of religion. The limitations of the right to freedom of religion are interrelated with the following research questions: Firstly, the definition afforded to the right to freedom of religion in accordance with national and international standards; secondly, the relationship between culture and religion and any interconnection that exists between these rights. This is followed by the influence of the particular value framework or normative commitments f the judiciary on the interpretation of the right to religion, as well as the relationship between the state and religion. The above issues will be researched both on a national and an international level. The aim is to conduct research that will build on an appreciation of the guidelines that should be employed in ensuring the protection of the right to freedom of religion. To this end comparisons will be drawn with other legal systems, which on the one hand acknowledge the protection of the right to freedom of religion and on the other hand have to find ways in which the right can be balanced in the event of conflict. It is envisaged that the research of the criteria imposed on the limitation of the right to religion both on a national and an international level will assist in suggesting criteria that will influence scholarly debate on the topic. In addition that this debate will allow for the formulation of a transformative approach within the South African context that sanctions the celebration of diversity in all its aspects and in particular the right to freedom of religion. / South Africa

Doctor Educationis / This study looks at the effect of a cross-cultural instructional approach on the learners’ conceptions of lightning and attitude towards science. It explored Basotho conceptions of lightning and thunder under the following themes: nature of lightning, protection against lightning, animalistic/humanistic behaviour of lighting and nature of wounds inflicted by lightning.

This study is a content analysis of political writings of Aggrey Klaaste (1988-2002). Six theoretical themes suggest that Klaaste’s Nation Building philosophy can help deal with racial and social divisions in the country. These historical divisions are the source of racial tensions, lack of inter-racial socialisations and cause separate living. Lack of social cohesion makes it impossible for post apartheid South Africa to achieve much-needed single national identity. The process of nation building proposed by Klaaste starts with breaking down what he refers to as ‘the corrugated iron curtain’. Social curtaining is deliberate actions by people of different racial groups, religious formations and social classes to build psychological, physical, institutional, political, economic and religious boundaries around themselves to keep others outside their living spaces. These conscious barriers result in unstable democracy as the majority (black population) get frustrated with shack dwellings - as symbols of poverty - while the white population and the middle class blacks move to white suburbs. Moving to upmarket suburbs does not necessarily make race groups to cohere and share a common national identity. Instead informal settlements breed social ills such as poverty, crime and drug substances abuse. This status quo can cause serious political instability which will affect everyone – black and white. Klaaste argues that for collective survival all race groups need to enter into politics of action. For this he proposes specific processes and actions through Nation Building. It is argued that political solutions have failed to unite people and leaders from all sectors of society should emerge. Blacks cannot moan and hate forever. Whites will be affected and must actively support the rebuilding process. This treatise proposes nation building as a process to help everyone to find uniting issues free of political ideologies to create new brotherhood and Ubuntu.

This present study investigated South African Afrikaans-, English- and Xhosa-speaking male and female urban secondary school adolescents‟ (N = 1301) perception of the relative importance of identity-related domains by investigating the choices that they carried out in relation to meaningful identity-related areas of their lives. Consequently a structured questionnaire consisting of 14 domain particular areas was used. In Eriksonian terms, one could say that the South African society is in a psychosocial crisis. Almost all the domain-specific items were regarded as relevant “Very important” or “Fairly important” by a notable or significant majority of participants. All fourteen of the domains were regarded as “Very important” by at least 35 percent of the participants from two cultural groups, namely African and Coloured sub cultural groups; while twelve of the domains were regarded as “Very important” by at least 50 percent of the African subgroup and thirteen domains were regarded as “Very important” by 40 percent of the Coloured subgroup. “Leisure and recreational activities”, “Friendships with members of the same sex peer group”, “My political views and convictions” and “Friendships with members of the opposite sex peer group” were however, still regarded as “Fairly important” by 56 percent, 53 percent, 58 percent and 52 percent of the total research group respectively. It should also be noted that generally females in the sample were more inclined to evaluate domains that had a bearing on interpersonal relationships as significantly more important than the males namely: Friendship with members of the same-sex peer group, What kind of person I want a permanent relationship with, What kind of person I want to marry, and How I should act as husband or wife. The males tended to evaluate the domains, Sexual matters and Friendship with members of the opposite sex more significantly important than the females did.

The thesis explores the ways in which Serbian ethnic media in Canada represent their own group and “Others”, specifically Croats, Slovenians and Catholics, Bosniaks, Albanians and Muslims, Montenegrins and the West. The research investigates the convergence of these representations with Canadian multiculturalism. The thesis epistemologically feeds from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s 18th century theories of recognition and patriotism, Stuart Hall’s (1997) theory of representation and identity and Edward Said’s (1978) theory of Orientalism, and is further guided by the theoretical frameworks of Charles Taylor’s (1994) politics of recognition, Benedict Anderson’s (1992) long-distance nationalism and Maria Todorova’s (1994) Balkanism. Qualitative content analysis through purposive and sequential sampling of Serbian ethnic broadcasting is conducted to gauge the programs’ representations of the “Self” and “Others”. Ethnic media provide a method to promote a minority group’s heritage, but also to facilitate communication between various cultural, ethnic, religious and racial groups. In the age of an increased critique of multiculturalism, the role of ethnic media rises in importance. The findings of the thesis show that Serbian ethnic media employ Canadian multiculturalism to promote Serbian heritage, but also to stereotype other groups. Applying the theoretical juxtaposition of multiculturalism, nationalism and “Othering”, this research argues that through negative identification of “Others”, Serbian ethnic media deviate from Canadian multiculturalism that calls for a positive recognition of all Canadian groups.

The recent controversy over the 2014 proposed Quebec Charter of Values suggests the integration of minorities is, at present, a fundamental social and political debate in such a multicultural nation as Canada. Yet, minimal consideration has been given to second-generation citizens who find themselves living between various dimensions of culture. This study examines the impact of legislated multiculturalism and how it has evolved to influence second-generation Canadians in this country. This qualitative research explores the contemporary challenges of multiculturalism by examining the phenomenological analysis of second-generation Canadian Ismaili Muslim men in Montreal, Quebec. In-depth interviews were conducted to expand their perspective of identity negotiation in Canada. Research findings suggest that a symbolic sense of identity is created by simultaneously being part of the cultures found in Quebec, Canada and the global Ismaili Muslim diaspora community. This study argues that research participants challenge fixed conceptions of cultural identity markers; that their sense of diaspora community is indispensable to their perception of home and belonging in Canada; and that the legislation of multiculturalism is a practical and positive influence for second-generation Canadians. This discussion of the second-generation identity, along with the literature review and findings, provides further insight into the Canadian approach of multiculturalism.