Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 99 p. Includes bibliographical references.

M.A. (Semitic Languages and Cultures) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the nature and role of Liberal Party activists in the political life of British Columbia. As activists are at the central core of political parties, describing these activists is essential for understanding parties and the political process in general. The description and analysis are based on the results of a survey of the 1987 Liberal leadership Convention conducted by several members of the Political Science Department at the University of British Columbia, including the author. The resulting information was collated and analyzed then compared with the accepted wisdom concerning Liberal supporters in British Columbia. This thesis reveals the Liberal Party activists in British Columbia to be quite typical of activists found in other parties in Canada. As a result of the party's centre position in the polarized politics of this province, it does tend to attract activists disenchanted with this style of politics. This results in a heterogeneous collection of beliefs amongst activists. The success of the federal Liberal Party and the importance of many federal issues for Liberal Party sympathizers encourages provincial activists to adopt a federal oriented perspective on politics. This is at odds with the two major parties in British Columbia. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Orientador: Silvio Yasui / Coorientador: Flávio Fernandes Fontes / Banca: Ricardo Rodrigues Teixeira / Banca: Danilo Saretta Verissimo / Banca: Eduardo Vianna / Banca: Elizabeth Maria Freire de Araujo Lima / Resumo: O ciclo de protestos iniciado no Brasil em Junho de 2013 trouxe à cena pública o debate sobre movimentos sociais e ações coletivas. A perda da relevância dos sindicatos e partidos políticos na articulação e condução dos eventos chamou atenção de cidadãos e pesquisadores. Esta pesquisa endereça essa, e outras perguntas, partindo das disputas de sentido envolvendo os termos 'militância' e 'ativismo'. Através de uma revisão narrativa de literatura sobre os sentidos da palavra militância nos artigos científicos publicados no Brasil entre 1980 e 2015, definiu-se o termo como metodologia para interferir/intervir nas normas sociais. Essa definição ressalta o que há de comum entre os fenômenos agrupados sob os dois termos e possibilita propor investigações sobre aquilo que há de diferente entre eles. Os conceitos de repertório, estratégia e instituição são sugeridos para escrutinar os sentidos presentes nas palavras. Esse último é usado para explicitar as relações entre mudanças macrossociais e a subjetividade de militantes e ativistas. A tese responde a seguinte questão: como as diretrizes que ancoram e organizam as estratégias militante e ativista modulam os processos de subjetivação de militantes e ativistas? A investigação foi realizada através dos seguintes procedimentos: a) estudo orientado das principais teorias sobre ação coletiva na literatura sociológica brasileira, europeia e norte-americana; b) proposição de modelo teórico para explorar as diferenças de sentido entre os... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Brazilian protest cycle triggered in 2013 brought the debate about social movement and collective action to the center of the public scene. The decreasing relevance of trade unions and political parties in this process made researchers and citizens aware that something had changed in Brazilian civil society. This research addresses these issues using as a starting point the symbolic disputes connected to the words militância and ativismo. Having revised the scientific articles published from 1980 and 2015, with the aim of understanding how Brazilian researchers used the word militância, it was possible to define theterm as a methodology to intervene in the current social norms. This definition highlights the shared meanings of militância and ativismo and sets the path to scrutinize the differences between them. Three concepts are suggested with which to critically examine these differences: repertoire, strategy and institution. The last notion allows one to explore the relations between macro social changes and the militant and activist subjectivities. The question guiding this dissertation is: how do the guidelines anchoring and organizing the militant and activist strategies modulate militant and activists subjectivity? The research was conducted. through the following procedures: a) literature review of main psychological and sociological theories about social movement and protest in the Brazilian, European and North American traditions; b) construction... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Over the past years, particularly during 2018, Chilean society has experienced a robust feminist movement led by high school students. At the same time, mainstream society and researchers claim that Chile is experiencing a youth civic and citizenship education crisis, particularly among young women. I address this apparent contradiction by challenging the futuristic approach in citizenship education taken in the country and exploring how young women are currently politically engaged and challenge gender oppression within their high schools and their activist spaces. I have used a post-human and post-colonial feminist theoretical framework to answer the following research question, How do female public high school students in Chile who identify as feminist or politically active produce their gender/political subjectivities in the 2018 context of contentious feminist politics? And, sub questions; How do they do this while engaging with feminist discourses and practices in and outside of school? How do they do this while engaging with historical narratives? Finally, how do they do this while engaging with formal political education in school? A context of contentious feminist politics will be understood as a context where feminism is prevalent in public discourse, which forces people -in this case students- to take a stance concerning this subject. To answer the research questions, I conducted a critical ethnography, observing classes and other activities at Edelbina González High School, a Chilean all-female public high school with an active group of high school feminists. During my fieldwork, I invited six 12th-grade participants to be my focal group of observation and to take part in individual testimonios interviews and collective art-based testimonios workshops. Through these methods, I produced fieldnotes of observations, transcriptions and audio-recordings of the interviews and workshops, and photographs of the school space and students’ art pieces. I analyzed the data through a three-layer process using thematic coding analysis, narrative structural and content analysis, visual analysis, and “plugging in with theory” analysis (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012). This study engages with lengthy discussion regarding education and reproduction of gender regimes; it explores how oppressive systems transform but remain, particularly in regards to citizenship and formal political education through neoliberal discourses of girl empowerment. It also shows how feminist female high school students communally and creatively respond, theorize, and re-imagine political engagement within these frames, providing insights into what is, and what can be education for democratic citizenship and gender justice. The Feminist students in this study produced themselves as nomadic mestiza bodies engaging with pre-existing political frameworks but at the same time built something more. The students assembled themselves within an antagonistic us/them framework within the Chilean Student Movement, which considers the state and school as adversaries attempting to oppress them. Their high school attempted to reproduce them as feminine, successful, conflict-free neoliberal girls. Regardless, the feminist students displaced both the antagonistic and neoliberal model producing their gender/political subjectivities as nomadic, ever-shifting, vulnerable and strong, and connecting themselves with collective memories and historical narratives. The production of the feminist students’ gender/political subjectivities through “affectivism,” resistance, and political caring rendered the participants as nomadic mestiza bodies, always becoming, collectively connected and empowered by one another to produce political change.

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After the 2016 United States presidential election, people became newly involved in social action and civic engagement efforts around the nation. This participation involved joining both established and newly developing groups. One newly developed group was Indivisible. Indivisible chapters were created all over the country; group goals included resisting the aims of the Trump administration and saving democracy. The chapters looked different depending on the local context and group member composition. Some early participants moved on; other activists remained involved in this work over time. Not enough has been understood about their reasons for staying committed, or what kind of learning and changes resulted from their involvement in these communities. This study considered the Indivisible participants who were new to activism, and their experiences with learning, sustained involvement, and community. This study focused on the factors that kept new activists involved in Indivisible social action efforts from 2017 to 2020, what participants learned or how they changed through their involvement, and the roles of community in participants’ learning or development. Participants were involved for a minimum of two years; 93% had been involved for four to five-plus years at the time of the study (n=51). All of the study participants were able to articulate what they had learned through their participation in Indivisible activities. Learning more about the experiences of new activists was prioritized to understand how to support adult learners drawn to social activism and civic engagement in the future. This qualitative case study included accounts from participants in Indivisible groups from around the United States. Data were collected from 55 participants who submitted demographic questionnaires with critical incident questionnaires, with a subset of 22 participants then doing a follow-up interview. A different subset of four participants also participated in a focus group. The study found eight factors that sustained involvement, seven sub-factors that could help to sustain involvement, and three factors that may hinder involvement. The most significant factors were: (1) Community relationships and friendships, (2) Making a difference and thinking more was possible, and (3) Having a sense of duty, and belief that quitting was not an option. The most reported sub-factors were: (1) Supportive family members and friends and (2) Indivisible’s flexible format helping participants make it work for their interests and contexts. There were eleven findings specific to learning. The learning and changes findings included: (1) Participants learned about democracy and activism; (2) Participants learned to contribute and work together in community; (3) Participants had increased consciousness; (4) Participants experienced leadership or personal development; (5) Participants reported becoming more empowered, assertive, and politically engaged; (6) Learning was supported and facilitated in Indivisible communities through several community aspects. The findings of this study may be of interest to adult learning professionals interested in learning that took place within social action or civic engagement activities, and for people seeking to encourage and support new participation in social action organizations.

Despite the election of a Black President and media assertions at the time heralding a “post racial” America in which racial divides no longer exist, health disparities, poverty rates, incarceration rates, discrimination and educational inequality still are a daily reality for African Americans. African Americans still have the burden of having to cope with racism making the explorations of coping strategies for African Americans dealing with racism vitally important. The present study explored religious orientation, spirituality, race-related stress, mental health outcomes and activism for African Americans. In particular, race -related stress was predicted to be significantly predictive of activism, such that the more one has experienced race related stressors the more likely they would be activated to engage in social justice related activities (H1). The study predicted that higher levels of quest religious orientation and intrinsic spirituality would be related to higher levels of African American activism (H2a). It was also predicted that higher levels of religious fundamentalism would be related to lower levels of activism (H2b). Regarding the relationship of spirituality and activism to mental health, it was predicted that quest religious orientation and intrinsic spirituality and activism would be related to greater mental health outcomes (H3a), while a fundamentalist spiritual orientation and race-related stress would be related of poorer mental health (H3b). It was also predicted that African American activism would be related to greater mental health outcomes (H4a) and that racism-related stress would be negatively related to mental health (H4b) The results indicated that for this sample, none of the spirituality variables (Quest Orientation, Fundamentalism Orientation, and Intrinsic Spirituality), nor the experience of racism (race-related stress), nor African American Activism, was related to mental health. However, the variables examined were significantly related to African American Activism. Quest Religious Orientation, Intrinsic spirituality, and race-related stress were all positively related to engagement in action for racial justice. Fundamentalist religious orientation was negatively related to action for social justice.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Hons.))--University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "Research thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Honours) Social Ecology, School of Social Ecology and Lifelong Learning, University of Western Sydney, August 2001." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 398-400).

It presents a profound paradox that the end of formal apartheid in South Africa and the political ascendancy of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress have also signalled the disintegration of people’s power and the marginalisation of a once formidable anti-capitalist Left. Those who refused to be defeated and insisted that a better world was still possible asked anew, What is to be done? Their answer was to build a new Independent Left, using the Non-Governmental Organisation as their primary tool. This dissertation examines two leftist NGOs with distinct political approaches to organising, which have shaped formal anti-capitalist strategies in Cape Town over the past decade. The Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), an activist space, policy think-tank, and alternative media centre, has aimed to restore the politics of the united front by bringing together employed and unemployed workers to lead a new eco-socialist Left alternative. Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU), an activist research and legal centre focusing on housing in the inner city, has fostered an inspiring movement of building occupiers and aimed to deconstruct the legacy of the apartheid city. Through a militant commitment to this wider Independent Left community, I have accompanied these organisations in their efforts, seeking to understand the role they can play in improving society. This dissertation investigates the central question of how to effectively utilize NGOs in the struggle for freedom and equality within the context of neoliberal capitalism. It has become clear that intellectual genealogies and ideological fortitude have laid the political foundation of these projects. Combined with the NGO’s formal and hierarchical structure, key themes that define the practices of these organisations have emerged. Matters of dependency and control, as well as organising and leadership, have been crucial features of these projects. This has engendered tensions within the organisations between technocratic and intellectual modes of rule, as well as resistance to these governing structures. Taken together, this analysis provides a window into the possibilities and limitations that these organisational tools offer for radically reimagining our world.