Unitarian Universalism has arrived at an historic inflection point that calls it to an overarching purpose of helping to bring about the Beloved Community in the wider world while dismantling racism and other systemic oppressions in its members and institutions. For most UU congregations the former is a familiar goal that compels social justice work, but transforming themselves seems a bewildering and daunting goal. This mixed method study of six UU congregations and 50 of their leaders proposes a support structure for congregations on this journey to help them change their institutional leadership practices and foster spiritual vitality in all their members.

No / Honour Based Violence results in several deaths each year in the UK and has many health and social implications. In recent years, practitioners have stated that the scale is increasing and that government policies are not making adequate provision to address it as a major problem. The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report remains the most comprehensive government document on the issue of honour based violence in England and Wales to date. We used the Rist policy cycle framework to critically analyse the Report, dismantling the policy process into three key stages for subsequent independent assessment. Current policy defines and categorises honour based violence differently from domestic violence yet has chosen to tackle it under the rubric of domestic violence. Responses have been constrained by limited capital to adequately finance specialist interventions, lack of expertise, inability to reach individuals who are most susceptible therefore highly vulnerable, and contraction of specialist non-governmental organisations who have always been at the fore in tackling issues on honour based violence. Consequently, the government’s response has been unconvincing and improperly conceptualised by accepting it into the broader context of violence against women and hence domestic violence. Stronger coordinated response at local level is needed but this is where issues of community, integration, tolerance, and the Big Society agenda are made complex and serve to confound new legislation and policy. Overcoming highly sensitive cultural barriers is a key challenge to all. Consequently, we recommend that for honour based violence to be tackled effectively, the government needs to re-access and take a broader view on the issue by constructing honour based violence within the discourse of human rights in order to declare a position that sits easily in the context of cultural differences and the Big Society.

The dialectics of globalization and multiculturalism is encountered everywhere and is an inescapable world reality. It has also become a major factor affecting teacher education. As a meeting ground and intercept for educational programs, teacher education provides an interface for both global imperatives and local identities. Ethiopia has pronounced achievements in most education programs at all levels, although official documents indicate variance in the quality of attainment across the levels (ESDP IV, 2011). Local studies (Ambisa, 2008; Amaliraj, 2008) also found that teacher education suffers from a lack of relevance and poor quality. Moreover, the demand for qualified teachers who are competent to shape the young generation through balancing the glocal context is increasing. This study investigated how local identities and global imperatives are integrated in contemporary Ethiopian teacher education at all levels. Critical theory was employed as the paradigm for the study. This epistemological view underpinned a discussion of the effect of globalization and multiculturalism on the world’s functioning. The research approach in the empirical study was qualitative and an interpretive case study method was employed. The units of analysis were literatures, such as The Lexus vs. the Olive Tree; McWorld vs. Jihad; The Clash of Civilization: The West vs. the Rest; and Demonstrating Common World Culture of Education (CWCE) or Locating A Globally Structured Agenda for Education (GSAE); and the contemporary Ethiopian teacher education programs (the PGDT and TESO programs). Data collection tools were basic dialectical questions under Eemeren’s (1986) established ‘system of norms’, observation, interviews and focus group discussions. Confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent, resolution of conflict of interest and intellectual ownership were considered in the study. The dialectical analysis investigated the four quadrant glocal relationships model and described the role players in each quadrant where nations may locate themselves. Moreover, the comparative analysis indicated that globalization has not yet become an issue in contemporary Ethiopian teacher education, while multicultural practices are fragmented and are addressed only in response to ethnic demands for accommodation. To this end, Ethiopian teacher education should redefine its programs in order to adjust to global understanding in an endeavor to produce competent teachers for the global market. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The dialectics of globalization and multiculturalism is encountered everywhere and is an inescapable world reality. It has also become a major factor affecting teacher education. As a meeting ground and intercept for educational programs, teacher education provides an interface for both global imperatives and local identities. Ethiopia has pronounced achievements in most education programs at all levels, although official documents indicate variance in the quality of attainment across the levels (ESDP IV, 2011). Local studies (Ambisa, 2008; Amaliraj, 2008) also found that teacher education suffers from a lack of relevance and poor quality. Moreover, the demand for qualified teachers who are competent to shape the young generation through balancing the glocal context is increasing. This study investigated how local identities and global imperatives are integrated in contemporary Ethiopian teacher education at all levels. Critical theory was employed as the paradigm for the study. This epistemological view underpinned a discussion of the effect of globalization and multiculturalism on the world’s functioning. The research approach in the empirical study was qualitative and an interpretive case study method was employed. The units of analysis were literatures, such as The Lexus vs. the Olive Tree; McWorld vs. Jihad; The Clash of Civilization: The West vs. the Rest; and Demonstrating Common World Culture of Education (CWCE) or Locating A Globally Structured Agenda for Education (GSAE); and the contemporary Ethiopian teacher education programs (the PGDT and TESO programs). Data collection tools were basic dialectical questions under Eemeren’s (1986) established ‘system of norms’, observation, interviews and focus group discussions. Confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent, resolution of conflict of interest and intellectual ownership were considered in the study. The dialectical analysis investigated the four quadrant glocal relationships model and described the role players in each quadrant where nations may locate themselves. Moreover, the comparative analysis indicated that globalization has not yet become an issue in contemporary Ethiopian teacher education, while multicultural practices are fragmented and are addressed only in response to ethnic demands for accommodation. To this end, Ethiopian teacher education should redefine its programs in order to adjust to global understanding in an endeavor to produce competent teachers for the global market. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale (CBMCS) and training as a tool to increase cultural competency skills. The interest of this was to determine if the training brought about a change in empathy or effectively increased knowledge about the importance of culture.

Some researchers argue that the immigrant integration approaches in liberal (and “Western-“) states are becoming more and more alike. Some claim that the previous philosophises of integration (i.e. multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism) no longer exists in liberal states. This study assesses the robustness of this “convergence claim” within an East-EU context. The purpose of the study is to analyse the policy trends of immigrant integration in the East-EU and assess the robustness of the convergence claim. The analysis and methodological approach is based on a theoretical framework of ideal-types (multiculturalism, segregationism, universalism and assimilationism). The study objects are Estonia and Poland, and the analysis is primarily based on national legislation and policy documents. The study describes the immigrant integration trends in Poland and Estonia in the “post-Soviet era”, looking at the policy trends between 1991-2008. During this period both countries have shown tendencies of segregationism and cultural monism. It is clear that Estonia and Poland (i.e. parts of East-EU) have not adopted a more “Western-style” approach regarding immigrant integration, i.e. there is no evidence of such convergence. In fact, the ethnic component of their immigrant integration approaches stands in contrast to the “convergence thesis”.

The study records narratives told by 11 black and coloured ex-pupils, who between 1992 and 1998 gained access to being educated at a private European school in the suburbs of Johannesburg. The contextualised stories of how they developed "texts of identity" for themselves within the multicultural setting of the school were used to explore a process called "rewriting the self". The identity of the school also is contextualised within its own socio-cultural community, as well as that of multiculturalism in schools. The study is placed within a postmodern Community Psychology epistemology, with a social constructionist "lens" attached to it. The excess of a social construction "lens" (such as "anything goes") is countered by defining the key notions of "texts of identity" - a "sense of self", "human diversity" and "multiculturalism" - within the collapsed boundaries of sameness and differences, global and local, as well as personal and collective notions of the self. The notion of transformation is contextualised as part of the process of "rewriting the self". This is illuminated by means of discourses of the past and human agency/empowerment as well as those related to the South African history of colonisation and apartheid. Narrative discourses also are introduced as a related epistemology and used to construct the ex-pupils' narratives within an Action Research mode, formulated in three ever-widening and interlocking phases. In the process of re-telling their stories the ex-pupils gained self-knowledge regarding how their schooling experiences allowed them to "stretch across (their) boundaries" and re-identify themselves anew. The vantage point was achieved by means of the ex-learners deconstructing their stories as part of a series of reflexive conversations. The insights yielded in this manner achieved the objective of the narrative research procedure. Viewed in a wider South African context, the ex-pupils' personalised stories highlight important issues that help or do not help South Africans make sense of their past and re-identify themselves within new boundaries. One issue that still hamstrings South Africans "rewriting the self" is the dominant discourses of the past regarding race and culture. It is suggested that a "common humanity" discourse (as well as that of "hybridity") be developed more fully as the way out. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This thesis deals with textbooks for the school subject Swedish as a Second Language published during the period of 1995-2005. The target group for the textbooks in Swedish as a Second Language in this study is young people or adults who have immigrated to Sweden. Immigrants and people of foreign origin who live in Sweden are in general structurally subordinated as regards to socioeconomic factors, which connects to the socio-economical segregation problem. Using this as a point of departure the ideology production in the textbooks is studied, mainly from the representations of gender, ethnicity and class. The thesis takes its theoretical departure in the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s (1891-1937) concept of hegemony which is based on a mutual understanding between the dominating social classes and the dominated social classes within society. The hegemony is not static but open for negotiation and it is constantly reshaped and renewed. The point of departure is that the teaching materials on the free market are considered to be an arena for ideological struggle, where counter-hegemonic activities occur. The questions posed in the thesis concern which ideologies are produced in the textbooks and the relation between the ideology production and the target group of the teaching materials. The results from the ideology analysis show that the ideology produced in the textbooks varies. The most coherent ideology appears in textbooks which politically connect to the far left and to the Social Democratic party. It is also in these textbooks that the assimilation tendency is the strongest, pertaining to Swedish gender equity and child rearing. One of the textbooks has counter hegemonic content which connects to the anti-globalization movement. In the analysis of the ideological content of the textbooks in relation to the target group it is shown that the expectations are low for them. This is expressed through content relating to the target group concern salary earners and public sector. Focus on entrepreneurship and enterprising is rare and concern famous Swedish companies and trademarks and does not relate to the target group and their provision in Sweden. Thereby the target group is subordinated on the Swedish labour market. The representation also implies in several respects the target group as ignorant. The image of the Swedish homogenous society rests on certain rather hegemonic perception; that is the secular, scientific and rationally built modern society. This representation entails that the multiculturalism that has existed historically and in contemporary society is not acknowledged.

When President Sebastián Piñera entered office in 2010 the Mapuche indigenous people were receiving two contrasting messages from the Chilean State. On the one hand, the government ratified ILO Convention 169, pledging to protect the indigenous right to prior consultation in programs that affect their communities. On the other hand, the government was involved in the oppression of Mapuche communities in the region of the Araucanía through militarisation and the application of the Anti-Terrorist Law to punish radical Mapuche activists that protest corporate encroachment on their land. While Piñera had the opportunity to legitimize the Mapuche demand for self-determination by implementing ILO Convention 169 according to international standards and putting an end to the “Mapuche Conflict,” instead the situation of the Mapuche political movement worsened under his leadership. The Piñera administration used indigenous rights policy and a discourse of terrorism as a strategy to delegitimize the Mapuche demand for self-determination in order to protect corporate profitability, a key factor in the Chilean neoliberal economic project.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Nationalism is quite easy to understand, but somewhat difficult to explain. In terms of understanding nationalism, we do not need to know anything more about society and sentiment than what is taken for granted in everyday life. An individual who ‘drops’ into a foreign culture may know absolutely nothing about its people’s songs, rituals, amusements and traditions: why some customs evoke tears, and others, bravado. This person would feel no sense of collective awe or inspiration when touring historic battlefields and monuments of an unfamiliar country. Nevertheless, he or she would likely understand and appreciate that all of these things are steeped in meaning and identity. These instances of meaning and identity may not be felt, shared or even fully known, but their role as expressions of nationalism can be readily appreciated. The global spread of nations entails an array of mutually unfamiliar national identities, but the actual phenomenon nationalism is rarely foreign to anyone. From an outsider’s perspective we do not know how certain expressions are significant to a particular group, but we do understand that they are expressions of national belonging. Explaining nationalism is more difficult for the simple reason that experiencing and recognizing a phenomenon is not sufficient to account for its existence. Customs and rituals are two suggested properties of nationalism, but what is the causal relationship between such properties and the end phenomenon (how does custom actually lead to nationalism, if at all)? The answers to these questions are still a matter of debate. The situation is only made worse by the fact that most theories explaining nationalism seem to rest on a tower of abstractions. For instance, it may seem uncontroversial for some to argue that nationalism is an outgrowth of ethnic identity. However, this just begs the question. What is ethnicity? The potential for regress to abstraction is a major impediment to theory. This thesis will examine the problem of explanation: the reasons why theories of nationalism have struggled with explaining nationalism, and a discussion on how to overcome these difficulties. Specifically, this thesis will show that: 1) The problem of explaining nationalism is due in part to the ‘classical’ problem found in the literature: whether nationalism is an ‘ancient’ social phenomenon, or a ‘modern’ phenomenon which can be dated (roughly) to the late eighteenth century. 2) Debates regarding the classical problem are closely affected by philosophical issues in the social sciences. 3) The incorporation of a consilient methodology (i.e. a research program that unifies theories of social science with theories of natural science) can provide a new strategy for future theories of nationalism and work to solve the classical problem.