The wave of gurus in America brought with them cultural transformations particularly in how they interpret Hinduism, how their teachings have adapted in engaging a Western audience, and the sustainability of their religious communities, thus changing the landscape of contemporary Hindu spirituality. The traditional model of the guru and disciple relationship according to Yoga and Vedanta is undergoing a transformation allowing for greater autonomy of the disciple to make decisions in how they appropriate the authority of the guru. This thesis examines the guru and disciple relationship within the institutional organization of the Yoga Research Foundation, founded by the contemporary guru, Swami Jyotirmayananda. Research of Jyotirmayananda’s unique following of Western disciples illuminates the nature of his authority through the establishment of his order and methods by which disciples navigate identity formation and experience religious transmission.

This thesis investigates the nature of environmental racism, a by-product of “slow violence” under capitalism, from the perspective of Jain philosophy. By observing slow violence through the lens of Jain doctrine and ethics, I investigate whether the central tenets of ahimsa and karma are philosophically anti-capitalist, and if there are facets within Jain ethics supporting slow violence. By analyzing the ascetic and lay ethical models, I conclude that the maximization of profit and private acquisition of lands/resources are capitalist attributes that cannot thrive efficiently under a proper Jain ethical model centered on ahimsa (non-harm, non-violence) and world-denying/world-renouncing practices. Conversely, karma and Jain cosmology has the potential to support slow violence when considering their philosophical and fatalistic implications. Furthermore, by connecting the theory of slow violence with the theory of microaggressions, I assert that, while resolving microaggressions, Jainism’s highly individualistic ethical system can hinder confronting slow violence.

This dissertation addresses racism in contemporary Curaçao—a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean that remains a component of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. The dissertation theorizes racism as a partially hidden constituent of the island’s ideology of national identity, which throughout its history has emulated hybridity before being influenced, more recently, by multiculturalism. The research’s main objective is to uncover the ways race and racism have been entangled with Curaçao’s hegemonic ideology of national identity, a reality too often omitted and always under-theorized in Dutch and Dutch Caribbean scholarship. Using historical, ethnographic, statistic, and discourse analysis data, the dissertation reveals how profound the operations of race have been on Curaçaoan society, and on all Curaçaoans on the island and in the diaspora. It discusses the historical formation of ideologies of race and national identity in Curaçao, to contribute to the explanation of the current state of race relations on the island. It exposes the silencing impacts that the hegemonic ideology of national identity has had on individual Curaçaoans’ understanding of self through the reflexive presentation of an intergenerational family history. The dissertation ends with ethnographic analytic descriptions of five neighborhoods differently located in Curaçao’s racial/spatial order, which reveal the mechanizations of multiculturalism and the prevalence of racism.

The purpose of my thesis seeks to uncover the constructed nature of the Anglo-Saxon ethnicity within two works of fiction. My thesis utilizes London’s The Valley of the Moon (1913) and Norris’s McTeague (1899) because they were published in a similar era. Both authors lived and wrote in the Bay Area during the Progressive Era of American politics. Therefore, there is political, stylistic, and regional proximity. Although Anglo-Saxonism has always been present in the United States, the construction of race was changing in the 1900s. The Valley of the Moon and McTeague both contain intriguing (and antiquated) notions of whiteness that further exacerbate the class struggle in California. This thesis describes the convergence of Progressive politics, eugenics, and Marxism within a unique chapter of American history. Through an exploration of Anglo-Saxonism, this examination of racial classifications is an attempt to reveal the inner workings of oppression in America.

Neoliberal globalization can threaten the growth of a global civil society that sanctions power-sharing arrangements. Yet, scholarship that focuses unidirectionally on global processes may in effect eviscerate the transformative power of the local. To counter this tendency, this dissertation examines the interrelationships between contextualized and historically-specific experiences in South Africa and transnational processes through a case study of social entrepreneurship, an emerging global justice movement. Drawing on a 12-months institutional ethnography of Sonke Gender Justice, a transnational social entrepreneurship NGO working to achieve gender equality, prevent gender-based violence and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, this dissertation explores the gendered dimensions of identity construction under conditions of neoliberalism. I look at the ways in which a transnational discourse of masculinity unfolds and is confronted locally as an essential element of the neoliberal project. I argue that, in Africa, the developmentalist agenda of neoliberalism is integrally tied to the demonization of black masculinity, posed as a problem. This acts to elide the ways in which factors of oppression intersect in the manufacture of a patriarchal, sexist, racist and homophobic society, negating any effort to promote healthy gender relations. The dissertation concludes that global discourses and scholarship on African masculinity need to be informed by African women’s lived experiences, survival strategies, and aspirations for gender and racial democracy in order for the development of a truly transformative gendered democracy to occur. This can be accomplished by sound and detailed ethnographic work that engages with the messiness and fluidity of cultures, knowledges, and practices on the ground. This approach opens up spaces of possibilities and visibility for an array of local renegotiations, borrowings, and frank resistances. My conclusion acknowledges the potential for significant contributions to global civil society’s struggle for justice and for transformation when transnational solidarity projects are inserted into local formations. However, these goals can only be accomplished when there is acknowledgement and engagement of the practical ways in which local agents try to negotiate and reformulate transnational discourses and challenge neoliberal representations.

This study examines issues of access to higher education in Florida and South Africa. On November 9, 1999, the Governor of the State of Florida issued Executive Order 99-281 to establish the One Florida Initiative (OFI), which barred the use of race as a factor in university admissions. In South Africa, the government in February 2001 issued its National Plan for Higher Education (SANPHE). This plan outlined a framework to redress past inequities in the higher education system perpetuated by the former government's apartheid ideology. Senior university leaders in Florida and South Africa were required to implement their respective policy. The purpose of the study investigates two research questions: 1. What were the assumptions and political processes that contributed to the establishment of OFI and SANPHE policies? 2. How did the leadership at selected institutions implement OFI and SANPHE policies? Using a qualitative methodology and focused interviews with senior leaders at two universities in Florida and South Africa, this study discusses the challenges and conflicts the leaders faced in implementing their respective policy. The challenges and conflicts included those of university governance, decision-making, leadership style, diversity, affirmative action and policy making. It discusses the unique ways of implementing a policy with which one might not agree and it provides a comparative understanding of challenges faced by university leaders in Florida and South Africa. Five findings were noted from the data analysis. They are: Leaders must have steadfast philosophical beliefs about the need to broaden access for those who have been historically discriminated against; there must be an awareness of the value of affirmative action and diversity to an institution; participatory style of leadership is a characteristic common to all leaders; commitment to team dynamics was a persuasive attribute that the leaders practiced and the exercise of prudent discretion to implement a policy seemed to be an attribute that resonated with all the leaders. The study concluded with a proposition of a model to determine or to predict leadership effectiveness - referred to as the Belief/Action Leadership Style Model and recommendations of areas for further research in Florida and South Africa. This study's results are useful for policy makers and senior leaders at higher education institutions.

This non-experimental study examines the issues of over-representation of minorities in the criminal justice system due to drug-related incidences, race relations, and the impact such representation has on families, children, and communities. The exploration of the current criminal justice efforts against drugs is presented through a meta-analysis qualitative lens in an effort to disseminate the information on those arrested, sentenced, and subsequently incarcerated for various drug offenses. In an attempt to understand the encyclical racial disparities that promulgate the criminal justice system, the study relies on information from several key theorists to cement the discussions in the research. Qualitative data from scholastic and governmental resources will be presented from which the exploration of how drug sentencing and race may be closely related. By examining various case studies, both historical and current, the goal is to clarify the various processes on which different actions have attempted to transform social relationships and the various constraints these movements faced when trying to implement and adapt these transformations. The outcomes of this multi-layered study reveal the evolution of race relations and "identity formation" with which America attempts to change through various systematic processes. The study will examine how the implementation of governmental programs on incarceration impacts social classes and increases racial division. Three research strategies will be utilized: (1) qualitative analysis that covers racism from the media's portrayal of minorities, (2) review of the writings of theorists' addressing whether drug-related crimes or racism adds to disparity in the criminal justice system, and (3) examination of multiple case studies dealing with incarcerations' impact on minority children and communities. Data have been gathered from pre-published reports, newspapers, journals, and experiments conducted by social science theorists dealing with the new drug war and racism, and also the practices of restorative justice. This study suggests that racism is a phenomenon in the lives of every American or immigrant. Even with time and evident changes within society, racism still dominates and determines people's lives. Restoration is not inconsequential, and while various movements link social change with the governing of a new and different leader in America, this study will look at how it is possible to revisit race relations, and implement forgiveness through conflict resolution in an effort to enact systematic changes. These enactments have potential to preserve institutions and save future social infrastructure.

Orientadora: Profª. Drª. Maria Gabriela Silva Martins da Cunha Marinho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Humanas e Sociais, São Bernardo do Campo, 2018. / Este trabalho parte da concepção de que, apesar de findada formalmente com a independência, a situação colonial persiste no Brasil econômica, social e pistemologicamente (assim como em outros países). Compreende ainda que a relação colonial institui linhas abissais entre metrópole e colônia (SANTOS, 2002c). Esta divisão abissal produz não-existências, apagando os saberes, racionalidades e pessoas do lado colonial da linha abissal. Este trabalho se centra no apagamento epistêmico, tendo como objeto a universidade, que tem papel de destaque na afirmação do pensamento abissal que classifica o saber científico moderno como o único válido (SANTOS; MENESES, 2009). Buscando compreender como o pensamento de Boaventura de Sousa Santos tem se inserido neste debate no Brasil a dissertação analisa teses e dissertações que tratam do pensamento pós-colonial/decolonial, e têm como referencial teórico o autor. Foram identificadas contribuições valiosas de Santos tanto no sentido do diagnóstico das relações de dominação e colonialidade, evidenciando suas diferentes expressões em diferentes contextos (principalmente no caso luso-brasileiro), quanto de forma mais propositiva, a partir de sua noção de ecologia de saberes visando um pensamento pós-abissal. / This paper starts from the principle that the colonial situation, although formally ended with independence, persists in Brazil economically, socially and epistemologically (as in other countries). It also comprises that the colonial relationship establishes abyssal lines between metropolis and colony (SANTOS, 2002c). This abyssal line produces non-existences, erasing the knowledge, rationalities and people from the colonial side. This paper focuses on that epistemic erasure, having as object the University, which plays a prominent role in the affirmation of the abyssal thinking that classifies the modern scientific knowledge as the only valid one (SANTOS; MENESES, 2009). In order to comprehend how Boaventura de Sousa Santos thinking has been inserted in this debate in Brazil, the dissertation analyzes other theses and dissertations that deal with postcolonial/decolonial thinking and have, as theoretical reference, the author. Santos' valuable contributions were identified both in the sense of diagnosing the relations of domination and coloniality, highlighting their different expressions in different contexts (mainly in the Portuguese-Brazilian case) and, in a more purposeful way, based on their notion of ecology of knowledges seeking a post-abyssal thinking.

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Representations of natural disasters in Black Southern literature identify social location as the greatest indicator of risk vulnerability. Moreover, they can expose the precarious subjectivity of the Black female reproductive body, as addressed through characters Lulu in Richard Wright’s “Down by the Riverside,” Janie in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Jesmyn Ward’s Esch in Salvage the Bones. Together, these female characters share a legacy of social marginalization and Black female resistance that is (re)shaped through their experiences with ecological catastrophe. This thesis considers these three texts together as an ongoing testimony and as a means to bear witness to a socio-historical record of disaster oppression and Black female resistance.