Recent Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) reforms promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) carried out by the Sierra Leonean government has attracted foreign investors into its extractive industry. Access to natural minerals in the country has been ensured through land leases, and the government of Sierra Leone has obtained the opportunity to accumulate revenues through participation on the global market. However, despite increasing state revenues the country remains underdeveloped and unindustrialized, and faces great challenges in promoting public development within state borders. This study aims at illuminating structures of the global economic system and domestic social fabric which may hinder public development in Sierra Leone. Such structures have be illuminated through the application of a qualitative approach including field work, participating observations and open-ended interviews in Kalansogoia chiefdom during May and June 2013. The findings of this study suggest that the international structure of dependency, and domestic formal; informal; informal institutions; and social networks structures hinder public development within Sierra Leone.

L'évocation de l'Île Maurice fait rêver : ses couleurs « arc-en-ciel », ses plages paradisiaques et sa population accueillante sont bien connues dans le monde. L'île a été tour à tour colonie hollandaise, colonie française et colonie britannique. Aujourd'hui, elle fait toujours partie du Commonwealth, au même titre que d'autres ex-colonies, notamment l'Inde. Après presqu'un siècle et demi de domination britannique (1810-1968), Maurice est aujourd'hui une république indépendante qui souffre des maux typiques de la décolonisation et de l'ère postcoloniale. On y observe les problèmes liés à la construction identitaire, comme dans les sociétés multiethniques, sur lesquels se greffent des dysfonctionnements liés aux inégalités entre les groupes qui composent le pays. Cette thèse se propose de dépasser l'image idyllique que nous avons de cette île, pour nous concentrer sur la vie quotidienne de ses habitants, plus spécifiquement sur les relations sociales qu'entretiennent les « Créoles » avec les autres groupes en présence. Nous tentons d'identifier et d'expliquer les raisons pour lesquelles une certaine catégorie de Créoles est particulièrement touchée par la pauvreté et les discriminations, ce qui entraîne des fléaux tels que la prostitution, la drogue, l'alcoolisme, la violence domestique, le viol, les enfants des rues et les grossesses précoces. Après avoir rappelé les différentes phases de peuplement de l'Île Maurice, nous nous penchons sur les notions, parfois controversées, de « race », couleur, mondialisation, regard et perception, pour essayer de comprendre les relations assez conflictuelles entre les différentes communautés, notamment entre les Créoles et les Hindous. Nous émettons l'hypothèse selon laquelle le passé historique lié à l'esclavage, avec la déshumanisation dont ont été victimes les ancêtres d'un certain nombre de Créoles, pèse encore aujourd'hui sur leurs descendants. À travers des études de cas, des interviews et des observations, nous analysons les limites dans les relations interethniques, intergroupes et intercommunautaires, prenant en compte les particularités de chaque groupe afin de savoir dans quelle mesure certains peuvent être qualifiés d'ethnies, de communauté ou simplement de groupe. Le résultat de nos recherches sur le terrain nous montre que différentes formes de discrimination sont exercées contre les Créoles et qu'elles sont dues essentiellement au verrouillage exercé par les Hindous, les seuls véritables détenteurs des rênes politiques locales, en plus, bien entendu des riches Blancs et des riches Chinois. Nous observons cependant que les Créoles semblent enfin commencer à accepter leur identité, dans un monde postcolonial où ils s'autonomisent et se distancient d'un passé esclavagiste. / The image conveyed by Mauritius is full of fantasy with pretty rainbow colours everywhere, beaches of white sand and friendly people. The island was alternately a Dutch, a French and a British colony. It is still a member of the Commonwealth, like other former British colonies, including India. After almost one and a half century under British rules (1810-1968), Mauritius is now an independent Republic, which suffers from the typical trauma linked to decolonisation and the post-colonial era. As a result, we can spot problems linked to identity construction in multiethnic societies along with the dysfunctions related to inequalities among the groups in this country. This thesis proposes to go beyond the idyllic image that we have of this island, to focus on the daily life of its inhabitants, more specifically on the social relationships among the Creoles and between the Creoles and other groups. We try to identify and explain the reasons why a certain class of Creoles is particularly affected by poverty and discrimination, which lead to evils such as prostitution, drugs, alcoholism, domestic violence, rape, street children and teenage pregnancy. After recalling the different phases of settlement in Mauritius, we focus on some controversial concepts such as, "race", colour, globalisation, gaze and perception, to understand the rather conflicting relations among the different communities, especially between Creoles and Hindus. We hypothesise that the historical past and slavery – as well as the dehumanisation affecting Creole ancestors – are still weighing on their descendants. Through case studies, interviews and observations, we analyse the limits in inter-ethnic and inter-community relations, and attempt to define the specificities of each group to determine whether it can be considered as an ethnic group, a community or a simple social group. The results of our field research show that different forms of discrimination are exercised against the Creoles, and that they are mainly due to obstruction by the Hindus, the only true ‘owners' of local political power along with the wealthy Whites and the wealthy Chinese. However, we observe that the Creoles finally seem to accept their identity in a postcolonial world where they find empowerment and are able to distance themselves from their ancestors' slave past.

Cette thèse montre comment fonctionnent et se déploient, au sein des œuvres littéraires, filmiques et webfilmiques, des scénographies mémorielles et des figurations médiatiques de la guerre d’Algérie. Empruntant sa méthodologie à la sociocritique des textes et aux études intermédiales, l’étude porte sur la manière dont le souvenir de l’évènement se confond avec celle de le relater. Elle examine le rôle du médium qui donne une forme, une matérialité, un dispositif, un type de reconnaissance institutionnelle aux représentations de la guerre et de la mémoire, contribuant aussi à former, modeler le souvenir en le rendant perceptible et intelligible. Comment les groupes de mémoire de la guerre d’Algérie, (harkis, immigration algérienne, pieds-noirs) vivent-ils – toutes proportions et différences gardées – leur rapport au passé à partir du présent ? Leurs mémoires, médiées par les vecteurs culturels (cinéma, littérature, etc.), se disent à partir de sites d’énonciations plurielles dont les espaces (topographies) et les temps (chronographies) sont communs. Elles s’approprient le souvenir de façon similaire, par les scènes narratives du procès, de la rencontre ou du retour construites par le texte littéraire ou filmique. La première partie interroge les rapports entre histoire et mémoire ; en France, leurs conceptions et pratiques, se heurtent à une nouvelle économie mémorielle dans laquelle des groupes de mémoire de la guerre d’Algérie réclament que leur histoire soit reconnue et enseignée. Appuyée par une périodisation de la production gigantesque des cinquante dernières années et par une revue critique de la recherche internationale menée à ce sujet, cette réflexion prend acte de la dispute post-coloniale française et considère l’auteur porteur de mémoire de la guerre d’Algérie pour son exemplarité en tant que témoin post-colonial. Les deuxième, troisième et quatrième parties de cette thèse déplient quant à elles, la scénographie mémorielle spécifique à trois auteurs, tout en la mettant en relation avec d’autres œuvres de genre et médium très différents. Le premier corpus est composé de : Moze de Zahia Rahmani, du tryptique de Mehdi Charef (À-bras-le-cœur, 1962. Le dernier voyage, Cartouches gauloises) et d’Exils de Tony Gatlif. À ces titres s’ajoutent des œuvres qui marquent une série, ensemble aux contours flous auxquels ils se rattachent et qui permettent de mettre à la fois en perspective le commun entretenu entre la série et l’œuvre de l’un des trois auteurs, et la manière dont l’auteur, Rahmani, Charef ou Gatlif s’en distingue de façon significative. Enfin, un troisième type d’œuvres intervient dans l’analyse comme contrepoint souvent paradoxal de cette série. / This dissertation shows how heritage-forming scenarios and media portrayals of the Algerian War have operated and been deployed in literature and cinema, as well as in films on the Web. Taking its methodology from both literary sociocriticism and intermedia studies, the study focuses on how the memory of events becomes confused with how the events are portrayed. The dissertation examines the role of the media that give form, material character, instrumentality and a kind of institutional recognition to depictions of the Algerian War and people’s memories of it, thereby helping to form and model recollections by making them perceptible and intelligible. How do the corpuses of Algerian War memories (of harkis, Algerian immigrants and pieds-noirs) respectively relate to the past from the standpoint of the present? Mediated by cultural vehicles like cinema and literature, these memories are described through pluralistic “enunciation sites” that nonetheless share common spaces (topographies) and eras (chronographies). The memories appropriate the faculty of memory in a similar fashion – through the narrative scenes of trials, encounters or return portrayed in literature or films. The first part of the study explores the relationship between history and memory, now that the conceptions and practices of those concerned are clashing with a new “remembering economy” in which groups who remember the Algerian War are demanding that their history be recognized and taught. Based on a chronological framework of the various periods in producing this enormous body of work over the past 50 years as well as on a critical review of international research on this war, the study takes due note of post-colonial conflict in France and considers certain writers as memory-bearers of the Algerian War and even exemplary post-colonial witnesses of it. The second, third and fourth parts of the dissertation deconstruct the heritage-forming narratives of three writers in particular and relate their narratives to other works in very different genres and media. The three writers, who constitute the primary corpus for this study, are Zahia Rahmani (Moze), Mehdi Charef (his tryptich of À-bras-le-cœur, 1962, le dernier voyage and Cartouches gauloises) and Tony Gatlif (Exils). This basic corpus is supplemented by a number of other works that together constitute a vaguely outlined series that provides perspective on both the commonalities and significant differences of each of the writers (Rahmani, Charef or Gatlif) in relation to the series. In conclusion, a third body of works is adduced as an often paradoxical contrast to the primary series.

No description available.

My study aims to reveal how ideologies, the way we perceive our world, what we believe, and our value judgments inextricably linked to a dominant discourse, have real and material consequences. In addition to explicating how these ideologies stem from a Western philosophical tradition, this thesis examines this thought-system alongside selections from Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Caramelo or Puro Cuento. My project reveals how Cisneros’ spatial narratives challenge ideologies concerning the border separating the United States and Mexico, which proves significant as the project of decolonization and understanding of identity formation is fundamentally tied to these geographical spaces. Through the main chapters in this thesis, it is proposed that Cisneros’ storytelling does not attempt to counter fixed ideas of spaces and identity or an alleged objective Truth and single History by presenting a true or better version, but offers alternative narratives as a form of resistance to dominant discourse.

French Canadian playwright Joseph Armand Leclaire (1888-1931) was very well known and respected in his time. Although he wrote over thirty plays, lyrics to several songs and an abundance of political poems, most of his work has been lost and Leclaire himself seems to have been forgotten. Several of his plays were produced at the time they were written, including his 1916 play La petite maîtresse de l'école (later published in 1929 as Le petit maître d'école), but none have been presented postumously nor have any been translated. This M. F. A. thesis presents the first ever translation and adpatation of Leclaire's play, titled in English as The Little Schoolmaster. The first half of the thesis provide historical context for the play's significance, as well as information about Armand Leclaire and the changes he made to his own work between the original 1916 version and the 1929 published version. The thesis then analyses the creative acts of translation and adaptation, proposing a new model of translation for a linguistically rich audience. Through this new model of translation-adaptation for a bilingual spectrum, the thesis concludes by demonstrating that dramaturgy can serve as a dynamic instrument for communities to engage in the exploration of bilingual and bicultural identity.

Thesis (LLM (Public Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The 1996 Constitution provides in s 25(7) that individuals and communities who had been dispossessed of rights in land after 19 June 1913, as a result of past discriminatory laws, may claim restitution or equitable redress. The Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 reiterates the 1913 cut-off date for restitution claims. The cut-off date appears to preclude pre-1913 land dispossessions. Various reasons are cited for this date, the most obvious being that it reflects the date on which the Black Land Act came into effect. The Richtersveld and Popela decisions of the lower courts appear to confirm the view that historically based land claims for dispossessions that occurred prior to 1913 are excluded from the restitution process. In Australia and Canada restitution orders have been made possible by the judicially crafted doctrine of aboriginal land rights. However, historical restitution claims based on this doctrine are constrained by the assumption that the Crown, in establishing title during colonisation, extinguished all existing titles to land. This would have meant that the indigenous proprietary systems would have been lost irrevocably through colonisation. In seeking to overcome the sovereignty issue, Australian and Canadian courts have distinguished between the loss of sovereignty and the loss of title to land. In this way, the sovereignty of the Crown is left intact while restitution orders are rendered possible. South African courts do not have to grapple with the sovereignty issue since post-apartheid legislation authorises the land restitution process. The appeal decisions in Richtersveld and Popela recognised that some use rights survived the colonial dispossession of ownership. This surviving right was later the subject of a second dispossession under apartheid. By using this construction, which is not unlike the logic of the doctrine of aboriginal title in fragmenting proprietary interests, the second dispossession could then be said to meet the 1913 cut-off date, so that all historically based land claims are not necessarily excluded by the 1913 cut-off date. However, it is still possible that some pre-1913 dispossessions could not be brought under the umbrella of the Richtersveld and Popela construction, and the question whether historically based restitution claims are possible despite the 1913 cut-off date will resurface, especially if the claimants are not accommodated in the government’s land redistribution programme / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die 1996 Grondwet bepaal in a 25(7) dat individue en gemeenskappe wat na 19 Junie 1913 van ‘n reg in grond ontneem is, as gevolg van rasgebaseerde wetgewing en praktyke, geregtig is om herstel van sodanige regte of gelykwaardige vergoeding te eis. Die Wet op Herstel van Grondregte 22 van 1994herhaal die 1913-afsnydatum vir grondeise. Dit lyk dus asof die afsnydatum die ontneming van grond voor 1913 uitsluit. Verskeie redes word vir hierdie datum aangevoer, waarvan die bekendste is dat dit die datum is waarop die Swart Grond Wet in werking getree het. Dit beslissing van die laer howe in beide die Richtersveld- en die Popela-beslissings bevestig blykbaar dat ontneming van grond of regte in grond voor 1913 van die restitusie-proses uitgesluit word. In Australië en Kanada is restitusiebevele moontlik gemaak deur die leerstuk van inheemse grondregte. Historiese restitusie-eise in hierdie jurisdiksies word egter aan bande gelê deur die veronderstelling dat die Kroon, deur die vestiging van titel gedurende kolonialisering, alle vorige titels op die grond uitgewis het. Dit sou beteken dat die inheemsregtelike grondregsisteme onherroeplik verlore geraak het deur kolonialisering. Ten einde die soewereiniteitsprobleem te oorkom het die Australiese en Kanadese howe onderskei tussen die verlies van soewereiniteit en die verlies van titel tot die grond. Op hierdie wyse word die soewereiniteit van die Kroon onaangeraak gelaat terwyl restitusiebevele steeds ‘n moontlikheid is. Suid-Afrikaanse howe het nie nodig gehad om die soewereiniteitskwessie aan te spreek nie omdat post-apartheid wetgewing die herstel van grondregte magtig. Die appélbeslissings in Richtersveld en Popela erken dat sekere gebruiksregte die koloniale ontneming van eiendom oorleef het. Die oorblywende gebruiksregte is later ‘n tweede keer ontneem as gevolg van apartheid. Deur gebruikmaking van hierdie konstruksie, wat dieselfde logika volg as die leerstuk van inheemsregtelike regte en berus op fragmentasie van eiendomsaansprake, kan gesê word dat die tweede ontneming van grond wel binne die 1913-afsnydatum val. Gevolglik sal alle historiese restitusie-eise nie noodwendig deur die 1913- afsnydatum uitgesluit word nie. Dit is steeds moontlik dat sommige pre-1913 ontnemings nooit onder die vaandel van die Richtersveld- en Popela-beslissings gebring sal kan word nie, en die vraag of histories gebaseerde eise moontlik is ongeag die 1913-afsnydatum sal daarom weer opduik, veral indien die grondeisers nie geakkommodeer word in die grondherverdelingsprogram van die staat nie.

Health literacy among the elderly Hispanics is a problem for 44% who read at the lowest level due to issues with recognition, cognition, or vision. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that elderly Hispanics have problems with medication adherence due to health literacy. The social cognitive theory was the framework for this study. Inclusion criteria consisted of being 65-75 years of age, and speaking and/or reading English and/or Spanish. Questionnaires from 156 individuals were completed in Cobb County/Atlanta GA and analyzed using multiple regression to determine the relationship between health literacy and medication usage. Medication adherence was the dependent variable and independent variables were gender, age, Hispanic origin, education, income, income means, health insurance, health literacy, and medication usage. Statistical significance was noted in medication adherence, health literacy, and working full-time. Results were based on the correct answers from health literacy questions, which showed an association between medication adherence and health literacy and a reduction in medication adherence problems among elderly Hispanics who worked full-time. These findings showed a significant association between medication adherence and health literacy level among elderly Hispanics. No medication adherence problems were noted among participants who had good health literacy, unlike participants with poor health literacy. A larger ethnic group may show a variation of problems in future studies. Implications for social change could include recommendations for the use of Spanish language hotlines and reading materials to provide care, knowledge, and medication information assistance.

This thesis examines factors that underscored higher education reforms in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period from 1990 to 2005. The study explores higher education reforms in three national settings – Hungary, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and presents a detailed analysis of the Moldovan case. Rooted in critical approaches to development, transition reforms and policy analysis in higher education, it addresses the new realities of global capitalism, inequitable distribution of power between the industrialized nations and the rest of the world, and the ways in which this power distribution impacts higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Historical analyses, a qualitative cross-national analysis of HE systems in three nations, and interviews with Moldovan higher education policymakers provided rich data on higher education reforms in the region and selected nations. Higher education evolved from institutions serving very select elite in the Middle Ages to universities driving modernization in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, and to diverse institutional types - universities, colleges, institutes - underscoring the massification of higher education after WWII. Policies pursued by Hungarian, Romanian and Moldovan leaders to expand higher education were informed by the national socio-economic, political and demographic contexts, the dominant global development agenda, and international institutional practices. The capacity of national leaders to carry out higher education reforms was limited by the colonial and post-colonial relationships that were established over centuries between each of these nations and stronger regional powers, such as the Habsburg, Ottoman and Russian Empires, the Soviet Union, and the European Union. Major regional powers had a significant role in the formation of nation states, educational institutions and higher education politics. At the same time, national elites used language and ethnic policies to shape social and higher education developments and build national identities. By bringing an international perspective to the analysis of reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, by focusing on Hungary, Romania and Moldova, and by drawing on critical theory and post-colonial studies, this research study contributes to the international scholarly discussion of higher education and development reforms, enriches methodological developments in the field of higher education, and advances the discourse of comparative higher education.

I propose a theoretical framework that describes how avatars incorporate media as an inherent part of their nature and find a hosting body in cyborgs to navigate and spawn in media. I propose the birth of a new scion that combines avatar, medium and cyborg into a conceptual being that I call “ICEVORG.” The ICEVORG expands beyond representation into the actual physical world by means of media transgression—more specifically, by the use of the Strange Loop also known as Metalepsis ICEVORG find an effective soil to thrive and interrogate our ideas of reality by means of iteration, expansion, fragmentation and naturalization. The development of the framework that explains the concept of ICEVORG happens in the interstices between fiction and reality. The ICEVORG transgresses boundaries to reach and transcend the concepts of the avatar and cyborg in order to generate meaning and pursue relevance in contemporary society. By dissecting the ICEVORG under the light of metalepsis that I am able to elaborate a framework to explain the world of post-hyperrealism and how ICEVORGS have become agents of change. Finally, in order to construct my argument, I employ autoethnography, a research methodology that allows for a more personal voice to be included as part of the research process.