The What If Collection is a visual narrative that confronts white supremacy, the social, economic, and political ideology used to subjugate black civilization via colonial rule and enslavement in history and via structural racism today. Many white people have been socialized into a racial illiteracy that fosters white supremacy. This racial illiteracy fails to realize and understand the destructive effects of Western dominance on the rest of the world, particularly on past and present Africa and her diaspora. In response, utilizing discursive design, the collection constructs a counter-story that depicts a shift in the power structure in which the white oppressor is placed in the historical experience of the black oppressed. Moving forward from the past, a contemporary society is visualized where black people are the dominant force.

This dissertation explores the intellectual discourse on race in the early twentieth century, particularly from 1919 to 1958, examining how British and American eugenicists and Caribbean nationalists debated the limits of colonial politics in the British Caribbean using academic and scientific language. These discussions emerged in the aftermath of World War I, the economic crises that led to the Great Depression, the political and labor unrest in the British Caribbean, and consequences of the Second World War. The dissertation’s goal is to examine how residents of the British Caribbean understood, appropriated, and challenged some of the principles of eugenics, particularly those espousing ideas of white superiority. The dissertation has taken great consideration of both private and published sources from white and black intellectuals in the Anglophone Caribbean to document the dissemination of concepts of race, ethnicity, and identity in the region during the interwar period. Additionally, focusing on such critical areas as education and social policies, it explores whether eugenic ideas influenced the twentieth-century governance of British West Indian colonies.

This thesis works to establish a literary theory and cultural studies as a theoretical lens with which we can view harmful emerging pop culture phenomena like the so-called alt right. The premise is supposed in three parts, with the first being a simple introduction to the Pepe character and how he is grounded in literary studies through a comparison of Sherlock Holmes and his early fandom. The second part is a survey of the legacy of Jim Crow and I present the evidence that Pepe is very much Crow’s spiritual successor in their shared preoccupation with white anxiety. The third is a discussion of language in which I bridge the use of memes as language with how that language effectively communicates. Ultimately, Pepe the Frog is able to tap into the pop culture collective through a democratizing of language facilitated by digital spaces on the internet, and his proliferation is made readily viral by the racist language he speaks through ala Jim Crow era anxieties.

There is a tendency in education theory to place the focus on the consequences of racial hegemony (racism, Eurocentric education, low performance by racial minorities) and ignore that race is antecedent to these consequences. This dissertation explores the treatment of race within critical theory in education. I conduct a metaphysical analysis to examine the race concept as it emerges from the works of various critical theorists in education. This examination shows how some scholars affirm the scientifically discredited race concept by offering racial essentialist approaches for emancipatory education. I argue that one of consequences of these approaches is the further tightening of racial constraints on the student’s personal autonomy. This mandates that critical theorists gain a deeper understanding of race as a problem, conceptually, epistemically, ideologically, and existentially. I argue that critical theorists of education draw from work conducted in the philosophy of race by theorists such as K. Anthony Appiah, Jorge Gracia, Charles Mills, and Naomi Zack to gain insights on the metaphysics of race to better inform theory and praxis. I further recommend the creation of a critical philosophy of race in education to address and combat race as a problem and its consequences. I contend that the groundwork for philosophy of race in education must entail strategies that encourage and assist theorists and teachers to move toward the elimination of the race in society, while utilizing race only as heuristic tool to address its consequences. Additionally, I argue that a philosophy of race in education must advocate for an education for autonomy as a means to racial liberation for students.

This thesis aims to investigate the traces of multicultural implications in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere 1779/80. On one level, Campe’s adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe appears to awaken or sustain potential colonial fantasies among its German readers. However, Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere does not follow colonial conventions, such as exhibited in Defoe, but instead depicts a society based much more on the concept of a common humanity shared by Europeans and Caribbean natives alike. It conceives of cooperation and exchange as a mutual gain for both parties. Robinson’s island functions as a kind of social testing ground offering opportunities for trial runs of Campe’s social-utopian concepts. In this way, the society Campe portrays offers an implicit critique of the colonial realities in his era as practiced by the European colonial powers. Thus, Robinson der Jüngere goes beyond the obvious pedagogical aim, inspired by Rousseau, to raise pious, self-sufficient and industrious citizens. Instead its underlying socio-political message deserves attention. In comparison with Defoe, Campe distances himself from practices of then-current colonial behavior, such as slavery and self-enrichment from exploiting natural resources. Among the indications that Campe was attempting to establish an ideal alternative to the colonialism of his era are his depictions of an amicable bond between Robinson and Freitag, the marriages of Europeans and natives and even the distinct wish of the Spaniards and Englishmen to remain in the ideal society Robinson had crafted on his island, rather than returning to Europe. The international success of Robinson der Jüngere suggests the lasting influence it had on generations of readers. In the analysis I present, Campe subliminally educates the listening children in the book and the reading public to become open-minded citizens of future societies.

Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, la notion de Failed State est utilisée dans les relations internationales pour décrire des États rencontrant des difficultés à exercer un monopole de la violence légitime sur leur territoire. La thèse se pose la question de savoir dans quelle mesure cette notion a pu jouer un rôle dans les rapports de domination en cours dans les relations internationales. L’étude montre que la notion a été créée par un communauté épistémique et des entrepreneurs de sens avant tout américains et proposait en effet un système de représentation selon lequel le salut des Failed State reposerait avant tout sur la mise en place de politiques très intrusives de la part des États les plus puissants de la planète. L’étude poursuit en montrant que ce système de représentation, créé à grands frais par un ensemble d’acteurs académiques, médiatiques et philanthropiques, n’a toutefois pas toujours réussi à justifier la mise en place des politiques intrusives souhaitées. A travers de nombreuses études de cas (Afghanistan, Haïti, Irak, Somalie, Palestine, Liban, Libéria, Soudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivie, Pakistan, Colombie, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinée-Bissau et République centrafricaine), le travail démontre que la notion de Failed State n’a pas toujours eu l’efficacité souhaitée et a au contraire été détournée, parfois avec succès, pour résister aux politiques perçues comme intrusives par des acteurs prétendument dominés. L’étude conclut que si il est théoriquement possible de dominer par les idées, il est aussi possible de résister aux idées par les idées. // Since the end of the Cold War, the notion of Failed State is used in international relations in order to describe States that have difficulties to exercise a monopoly of legitimate violence on their territory. The thesis raises the question of how this concept influenced the relations of domination in the international relations. The study shows that the concept of Failed State was created by an epistemic community and a group of entrepreneurs primarily based in the United States. The notion promoted a system of representation based on the idea that the salvation of the Failed States rested on their acceptance of very intrusive policies leaded by the most powerful States of the world. The study also shows that this representation system, created at great expense, has not always been able to justify the intrusive policies it was designed to legitimize. Through numerous case studies (Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Pakistan, Colombia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Central African Republic), it is shown that notion of Failed State has not always reached the efficiency desired by its creators and has instead been used, sometimes successfully, to resist policies perceived as intrusive by the allegedly “dominated” actors. The study concludes that while it is theoretically possible to rule with ideas, it is also possible to resist ideas with ideas.

Haitian university students represent a part of the increasing diversity of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. Using an ethnographic approach, I explore university students’ motivations for studying in the Dominican Republic, their experiences at Dominican universities and in Dominican society, Haitian student organizations, and their future plans. Additionally, I focus on Haitian students’ experiences with discrimination and how they relate to other Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. I find that most students come to the Dominican Republic due to the difficulty of gaining entrance to affordable Haitian universities and logistical convenience. The university is a unique setting where Haitian and Dominican students are clearly peers, which results in increased interactions between the two groups and decreased discrimination towards Haitian students. However, Haitian students remain a relatively isolated group within the university and in the larger Dominican society. Many students reported experiencing discrimination, although students identified class, rather than race or nationality, as the main reason for discrimination. Furthermore, I focused on the role of language in migrants’ experiences. I found that while a high command of Spanish allowed migrants to avoid identification as Haitian and subsequent discrimination, Kreyòl was used as a resource to create solidarity and maintain cultural ties to Haiti. My research suggests that it is important to keep in mind the distinct notions of race and nationality in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic when considering contemporary struggles for the rights of Haitian migrants and their descendants in the Dominican Republic.

The trials of a comfort woman was never revealed after the conclusion of WWII. More than half a century has passed before the name was uttered on the international stage. Why the sudden break of silence? What is the response of the Japanese government. In this paper, we discuss the issue of the comfort women and the the political implications it holds on Japan. Japan's failure to accept wartime reparation, largely due to Allied intervention, has resulted in the widening gap between Japan and Asia. This paper focuses on the combination of increased US influence as a result of the San Francisco Treaty of 1951 and Japan’s fervent nationalistic identity served to widen the gap between Japan and other East and Southeast Asian nations, making reconciliation over the issue of comfort women a problem that remains unresolved to this day.

This thesis aims to investigate the traces of multicultural implications in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere 1779/80. On one level, Campe’s adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe appears to awaken or sustain potential colonial fantasies among its German readers. However, Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere does not follow colonial conventions, such as exhibited in Defoe, but instead depicts a society based much more on the concept of a common humanity shared by Europeans and Caribbean natives alike. It conceives of cooperation and exchange as a mutual gain for both parties. Robinson’s island functions as a kind of social testing ground offering opportunities for trial runs of Campe’s social-utopian concepts. In this way, the society Campe portrays offers an implicit critique of the colonial realities in his era as practiced by the European colonial powers. Thus, Robinson der Jüngere goes beyond the obvious pedagogical aim, inspired by Rousseau, to raise pious, self-sufficient and industrious citizens. Instead its underlying socio-political message deserves attention. In comparison with Defoe, Campe distances himself from practices of then-current colonial behavior, such as slavery and self-enrichment from exploiting natural resources. Among the indications that Campe was attempting to establish an ideal alternative to the colonialism of his era are his depictions of an amicable bond between Robinson and Freitag, the marriages of Europeans and natives and even the distinct wish of the Spaniards and Englishmen to remain in the ideal society Robinson had crafted on his island, rather than returning to Europe. The international success of Robinson der Jüngere suggests the lasting influence it had on generations of readers. In the analysis I present, Campe subliminally educates the listening children in the book and the reading public to become open-minded citizens of future societies.

Since the end of World War II, and especially over the past three decades, there has been a dramatic increase of interactions between international financial institutions (IFIs) and states. This paper will explore these interactions by examining the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This paper rests on the assumption that the complex implications of these interactions are not yet comprehensively understood and will move towards that goal by setting forth a collection of new approaches to further understand IFI-state interaction. It will discuss Jordan’s economic and political history, structural adjustment policies implemented by the IMF, and responses and consequences of such policy on economic, cultural, and political dimensions. Then, theories on sovereignty, identity, nationalism and colonialism will be applied to Jordan-IMF interaction in order to suggest new ways of understanding the implications of IFI-state interaction.