A seguinte Dissertação de Mestrado é o resultado de uma etnografia em campo, dentro do Mestrado em Desenvolvimento Rural. A pesquisa centra-se no Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas (MMC) e na Farmacinha Comunitária do vale da Solidão (Maquiné, RS), espaço onde as mulheres se reúnem para elaborar remédios com plantas medicinais. Esta Farmacinha surgiu em 1991, sendo a precursora de mais de 70 experiências similares. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar, sob a ótica da teoria pós-colonial e da pós-modernidade, qual é o modelo de desenvolvimento que estas mulheres propões e constroem, frente a lógica do discurso desenvolvimentista institucional. Para este fim o trabalho divide-se em três partes. A primeira analisa os diferentes discursos de desenvolvimento a respeito da mulher e do rural, para tratar na segunda parte sobre o próprio MMC e seu discurso feminista e de desenvolvimento, percebido aqui como uma forma de resistência e de revindicação da importância do 'papel da mulher' e da 'luta pela vida'. A terceira e última parte do trabalho analisa as práticas concretas e cotidianas da Farmacinha da Solidão, cujas atividades vêm sendo acompanhadas desde 2012. Se bem estas atividades referem-se em grande parte à elaboração de remédios com plantas medicinais, a perspectiva aqui adotada faz com que percebamos a Farmacinha como um lugar onde o cotidiano e o pessoal tornam-se políticos e enfrentam o modelo, que pretende-se hegemônico, de desenvolvimento. / The following Master' s thesis is the result of an ethnography in the field, within the Masters in Rural Development. The research focuses on de “Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas” (Movement of the Peasant Women, MMC), and the “Farmacinha Comunitária” from the valley of Solidão (Maquiné, RS), space where women come together to develop drugs with medicinal plants. This “Farmacinha” appeared in 1991, being the precursor of more than 7 similar experiences. This thesis aims to analyze, from the perspective of post-colonial theory and post-modernism, which is the development model that these women proposes and built, compared to the logic of the institutional development discourse. To this end, the thesis is divides into three parts. The first one analyzes the different discourses about development about women and rural, and explores in the second one the MMC itself ans its feminist and development discourse, perceived here as a form of resistance and a claim of the importance of 'women's role' and the 'struggle for life'. The third and final part analyzes the practical and everyday practices of the “Farmacinha” from Solidão, whose activities have been followed since 2012. Although these activities relate largely to the development of drugs with medicinal plants , the perspective adopted here makes we realize the “Farmacinha” as a place where the everyday and the personal become politics and face the model, which aims to be hegemonic, of development. / El siguiente trabajo es el resultado de una etnografía en campo, dentro de la Maestría en Desarrollo Rural. La investigación se centra en el Movimiento de las Mujeres Campesinas (MMC) y en la Farmacinha Comunitaria del valle de la Solidão, (Maquiné, RS), espacio donde las mujeres se reúnen para elaborar remedios con plantas medicinales. Esta Farmacinha surgió en 1991, siendo precursora de más de 70 experiencias similares. Esta disertación tiene como objetivo analizar, bajo la óptica de la teoría pos-colonial y de la pos-modernidad, cuál es el modelo de desarrollo que estas mujeres proponen y construyen frente a la lógica del discurso desarrollista institucional. Para este fin el trabajo se divide en tres partes. La primera analiza los diferentes discursos del desarrollo con respecto a la mujer y la medio rural, para tratar en la segunda parte sobre el propio MMC y su discurso feminista y de desarrollo, percibido aquí como una forma de resistencia y de reivindicación de la importancia del 'papel de la mujer' y la 'lucha por la vida'. La tercera y última parte del trabajo parte analiza la práctica concreta y cotidiana de la Farmacinha de la Solidão, cuyas actividades acompaño desde 2012. Si bien estas actividades se refieren en gran parte a la elaboración de remedios con plantas medicinales, la perspectiva aquí adoptada hace que percibamos la Farmacinha como un lugar donde lo cotidiano y lo personal se tornan políticos y enfrentan el modelo, que se pretende hegemónico, de desarrollo.

A seguinte Dissertação de Mestrado é o resultado de uma etnografia em campo, dentro do Mestrado em Desenvolvimento Rural. A pesquisa centra-se no Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas (MMC) e na Farmacinha Comunitária do vale da Solidão (Maquiné, RS), espaço onde as mulheres se reúnem para elaborar remédios com plantas medicinais. Esta Farmacinha surgiu em 1991, sendo a precursora de mais de 70 experiências similares. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar, sob a ótica da teoria pós-colonial e da pós-modernidade, qual é o modelo de desenvolvimento que estas mulheres propões e constroem, frente a lógica do discurso desenvolvimentista institucional. Para este fim o trabalho divide-se em três partes. A primeira analisa os diferentes discursos de desenvolvimento a respeito da mulher e do rural, para tratar na segunda parte sobre o próprio MMC e seu discurso feminista e de desenvolvimento, percebido aqui como uma forma de resistência e de revindicação da importância do 'papel da mulher' e da 'luta pela vida'. A terceira e última parte do trabalho analisa as práticas concretas e cotidianas da Farmacinha da Solidão, cujas atividades vêm sendo acompanhadas desde 2012. Se bem estas atividades referem-se em grande parte à elaboração de remédios com plantas medicinais, a perspectiva aqui adotada faz com que percebamos a Farmacinha como um lugar onde o cotidiano e o pessoal tornam-se políticos e enfrentam o modelo, que pretende-se hegemônico, de desenvolvimento. / The following Master' s thesis is the result of an ethnography in the field, within the Masters in Rural Development. The research focuses on de “Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas” (Movement of the Peasant Women, MMC), and the “Farmacinha Comunitária” from the valley of Solidão (Maquiné, RS), space where women come together to develop drugs with medicinal plants. This “Farmacinha” appeared in 1991, being the precursor of more than 7 similar experiences. This thesis aims to analyze, from the perspective of post-colonial theory and post-modernism, which is the development model that these women proposes and built, compared to the logic of the institutional development discourse. To this end, the thesis is divides into three parts. The first one analyzes the different discourses about development about women and rural, and explores in the second one the MMC itself ans its feminist and development discourse, perceived here as a form of resistance and a claim of the importance of 'women's role' and the 'struggle for life'. The third and final part analyzes the practical and everyday practices of the “Farmacinha” from Solidão, whose activities have been followed since 2012. Although these activities relate largely to the development of drugs with medicinal plants , the perspective adopted here makes we realize the “Farmacinha” as a place where the everyday and the personal become politics and face the model, which aims to be hegemonic, of development. / El siguiente trabajo es el resultado de una etnografía en campo, dentro de la Maestría en Desarrollo Rural. La investigación se centra en el Movimiento de las Mujeres Campesinas (MMC) y en la Farmacinha Comunitaria del valle de la Solidão, (Maquiné, RS), espacio donde las mujeres se reúnen para elaborar remedios con plantas medicinales. Esta Farmacinha surgió en 1991, siendo precursora de más de 70 experiencias similares. Esta disertación tiene como objetivo analizar, bajo la óptica de la teoría pos-colonial y de la pos-modernidad, cuál es el modelo de desarrollo que estas mujeres proponen y construyen frente a la lógica del discurso desarrollista institucional. Para este fin el trabajo se divide en tres partes. La primera analiza los diferentes discursos del desarrollo con respecto a la mujer y la medio rural, para tratar en la segunda parte sobre el propio MMC y su discurso feminista y de desarrollo, percibido aquí como una forma de resistencia y de reivindicación de la importancia del 'papel de la mujer' y la 'lucha por la vida'. La tercera y última parte del trabajo parte analiza la práctica concreta y cotidiana de la Farmacinha de la Solidão, cuyas actividades acompaño desde 2012. Si bien estas actividades se refieren en gran parte a la elaboración de remedios con plantas medicinales, la perspectiva aquí adoptada hace que percibamos la Farmacinha como un lugar donde lo cotidiano y lo personal se tornan políticos y enfrentan el modelo, que se pretende hegemónico, de desarrollo.

This research explores the lived experiences of South Asians college students. This research, through a qualitative study that is rooted in the philosophy of phenomenology, explores the essence South Asians’ identity formation. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with South Asian college students. The data analysis was under a phenomenological lens that centered the lived experiences and the essence of these experiences in the results. Seven themes emerged from this phenomenological study: negotiating bicultural identity, model minority expectations, meaningful impact of religious spaces, understandings of intra-community tensions, racialization of Islamophobia, understandings of South Asian identity and efficacy of Asian American identity. This study’s findings provide a foundation to build a more expansive framework for understanding the identity formation of South Asians.

This thesis examines the connection between Dominican history, the influence of American material culture, and the mythic American Dream as catalysts for migration. The two U.S. occupations and American propaganda through media had a great effect on the deceptive perception of an American life as an effortless method for attaining wealth. Let it Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz, will focus on the character, Esperanza Colon, and her obsession with the lavish lifestyle she views on the television show, Dallas. Material objects, as argued by Daniel Miller in his book, Stuff, work in subtle yet significant ways and determine our function, identification, and experience in society. If the ideal purpose of material culture is to presuppose our roles as individuals, one can conclude that the novel showcases the issues of a subordinate class struggling to attain the material goods that represent economic wealth while maintaining a sense of self-identification and self-agency.

In 1920s-30s São Paulo, Brazil, leaders of the vanguard artistic movement known as “modernism” began to argue that national identity came not from shared values or even cultural practices but rather by a shared way of thinking, which they variously designated as Brazil’s “racial psychology,” “folkloric unconscious,” and “national psychology.” Building on turn-of-the-century psychological and anthropological theories, the group diagnosed Brazil’s national mind as characterized by “primitivity” and in need of a program of psychological development. The group rose to political power in the 1930s, placing the artists in a position to undertake such a project. The Symphony of State charts this previously unexamined intellectual project and explains why elite leaders believed music to be the most-promising strategy for developing the national mind beyond primitivity. In 1935, they founded the São Paulo Department of Culture and Recreation in order to fund music education, train ethnomusicologists, commission symphonies, and host performances across the city. Until now, historians of twentieth-century Brazil have praised music as a critical site for marginalized groups to sound out political protest. But The Symphony of State shows the reverse has also been true: elite groups used music as a top-down civilizing project designed to naturalize racial hierarchies and justify class difference. The intellectual history portion of the dissertation turns on archival sources, newspaper accounts, personal correspondence, modernist literature, and the period’s scholarly journals. The examination of literary form, discourse analysis, and marginalia lends depth to a carefully-documented study of ideas. Then, The Symphony of State brings to bear an innovative reading of ethnographic field books, vinyl records, and music scores to show that the department’s scholarship and symphonic compositions alike furthered the narrative of a nation jeopardized by primitivity. What is more, the department’s composers employed musical properties such as harmony and dissonance as metaphors to convince listeners that a harmonious society required the maintenance of racial and class hierarchies. In bringing further clarity to the department’s intellectual project, the sections featuring music analysis speak to the value of reading music as an historical text. The dissertation accomplishes multiple goals. It uncovers the theory of national psychology driving the musical institution; examines ethnographic material to further understand racial and regional prejudice in the period; and analyzes concert music commissioned and performed by the municipal department. The examination of the musical institution reveals a moment in Brazilian history in which national identity was constructed atop the notion of a shared psychology and in which modernity was believed to come with the musical tuning of the body politic and the training of its mind.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how Christian networks enable strategies of transnational alliance, whereby groups in different nations strive to strengthen one another’s leverage and credibility in order to resolve conflicts and elaborate new possibilities. This research does so by analyzing the case of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC). The project examines the historical development of the IPC from the initial missionary period of the 1850s until the present. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to consider how the historical struggle to articulate autonomy and equality vis-à-vis the U.S. Presbyterians (PCUSA) and paternalist models of ecclesial relations has affected recent political strategies pursued by the IPC. Despite the paternalism of the early missionary model, changing conceptions of social transformation during the 60s contributed to a shift in relations. Over time the IPC and PCUSA negotiated relationships in which groups both acknowledge a problematic history and insist upon an ethnic of partnership and respect. Today, PCUSA groups, in concert with the IPC, collaborate on a range of transnational political strategies aimed at strengthening the IPC’s leverage in local struggles for justice and peace. A review of this case suggests that long-established Christian networks may have an advantage over other civil society groups such as NGOs in facilitating strategies of transnational alliance. Although civil society organizations often have better access to important resources needed for international advocacy initiatives, Christian networks, such as the one established between the IPC and U.S. Presbyterian communities, rely on a history of negotiating power-disparity in order to elaborate relationships based on listening and partnership. Such findings prove important not only to how we conceptualize transnational alliance but also to the ways that we think about the history and future of Christian networks.

MA (English) / Department of English / In this study, I explore the depiction of homelessness in K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents (2000) and Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001). Against the background of post-colonial and transcultural theories, I explore the effects of homelessness on select characters depicted in the two novels, particularly how homelessness and its effects impact on the characters’ identity and human dignity, as some of the themes which the two authors deal with. I achieve this through a close analysis of themes, characterisation and style as well as a demonstration of how the metaphor of the plight of the homeless is drawn from the experiences of the homeless characters portrayed in the novels. I establish, through this study, that the two novels depict characters on whose identity and human dignity, colonialism had an adverse impact. I argue that the corroded dignity and identity of the select homeless characters can be restored through the application of the tenets of transcultural theory. I consistently identify the central morals of the two novels under study as highlighting the need for society to address the plight central to the two novels’ major themes of homelessness, poverty, identity and human dignity against the backdrop of postcoloniality and transculturalism.

Genom användning av diskursanalys ämnar denna studie besvara följande frågor: ”Hur framställs skillnaderna och likheterna mellan våld i nära relationer och hedersrelaterat våld, och hur betraktas de som olika fenomen?” samt ”Hur kan synen av olika kulturer påverkas genom att definiera våldet på olika sätt?”. För att besvara dessa frågor har 29 tidningsartiklar om våld i nära relationer och 61 artiklar om hedersrelaterat våld som skrivits i svenska dagstidningar mellan åren 2002 och 2021 samlats in. Dessa har sedan analyserats med hjälp av Laclaus och Mouffes diskursanalys. Analysen fokuserar på hur hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer presenteras i den mediala debatten. Utifrån analysen uppkom två diskurser: ”Det främmande våldet” samt ”Den mediala rapporteringen av distinktionen mellan olika våld”. Diskursanalysen tillhör det socialkonstruktivistiska perspektivet. Majoriteten av den tidigare forskningen berör det feministiska perspektivet. Dessa perspektiv brukas för att försöka förklara om det finns någon skillnad mellan nyhetsrapporteringen av hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer samt hur detta påverkar synen på icke-svenska kulturer. Studien klargör att det finns en skillnad på rapporteringen av hedersrelaterat våld och våld i nära relationer. Detta bidrar bland annat till att kunna särskilja olika grupper i samhället där etniska minoriteter framställs som främmande och oförmögen att kunna anpassa sig till det svenska samhället. / Through the application of discourse analysis, the purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: “How are the similarities and differences of domestic violence and honour-related violence portrayed, and in what ways are they viewed differently?” and “How can the perception of other cultures be affected by redefining the violence?”. To answer these questions, 29 news articles regarding domestic violence and 61 news articles regarding honour-related violence have been collected and then analysed with the help of Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on the way domestic violence and honour-related violence is portrayed in the journalistic space. Through this analysis, two discourses emerged: “The foreign violence” and “The distinction in portrayal of difference types on violence in the sphere of media”. Discourse analysis lies within the realm of social constructivism. Most prior research touches upon the feministic perspective. These perspectives are used in order to explain any difference in the reporting of honour-related violence and domestic violence in the media, and furthermore how it affects the regard of non-Swedish cultures. The study identified that there is a difference in the portrayal of honour-related violence and domestic violence in Swedish media. Ramifications include segregation, leading to the view that ethnic minorities are unable to conform to the structure of Swedish society at large.

Ce mémoire porte sur les transformations sociohistoriques du gayle en Afrique du Sud, une variété linguistique de l’afrikaans et de l'anglais, au répertoire lexical souvent improvisé. S’appuyant sur six mois de terrain ethnographique au Cap, ce travail se base sur des données (méta)linguistiques tirées d’observation participante ainsi que d’entretiens individuels et de groupe au sein de la communauté coloured. Je critique une perspective qui envisage le gayle comme une « anti-langue » (Halliday 1976), une méthode de communication secrète et exclusive à une communauté fermée. Plutôt, je suggère que le phénomène est mieux compris lorsqu’abordé en tant que registre d'une communauté de pratique (Eckert et McConnell-Ginet 2003). Mes entretiens révèlent son association historique et « enregistrée » avec la figure caractérologique (Agha 2007) de l’homosexuel efféminé coloured ou « moffie ». Toutefois, les participants expriment un malaise face à cette idéologie puisqu’ils sont conscients que cette construction « efface » (Gal et Irvine 2000) les locuteurs non canoniques du gayle. Au-delà de la description lexicale, mon analyse suggère des chevauchements entre les caractéristiques sémantiques et pragmatiques de la variété, toutes deux stratégiquement déployées pour invoquer des caractéristiques évanescentes et des attributs sociaux dans l’interaction (Butler 1990). Au même titre que les éléments du répertoire ne correspondent pas à des significations sémantiques fixes – mais plutôt à des réalisations discursives contingentes – l’utilisation du gayle ne se limite pas à des identités sociales statiques. L'appartenance à la communauté est plutôt marquée par l’utilisation légitime et la compréhension mutuelle de déviations lexicales créatives et contextuelles. / This thesis focuses on sociohistorical transformations of Gayle, a linguistic variety consisting of an often-improvised lexical repertoire superimposed upon either Afrikaans or English in South Africa. Based on six months of fieldwork in Cape Town, this thesis draws on rich (meta)linguistic data drawn from participant-observation, as well as individual and group interviews within the coloured community. I critique an 'anti-language' (Halliday 1976) perspective, wherein Gayle is seen as uniquely anchored to a closed community for which it serves as an exclusive, ingroup code. Rather, I suggest that Gayle is best understood when approached as the register of a community of practice (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet 2003). My interviews expose the historical and 'enregistered' association of Gayle with the racialized, gendered and sexualized ‘characterological figure’ (Agha 2007) of the effeminate coloured gay man or 'moffie'. This association serves as a backdrop to contemporary anxieties about the ways in which Gayle is mapped onto speakers’ social identities and perhaps shows the respondent’s consciousness that these formulations ‘erase’ (Irvine and Gal 2000) non-canonical users of Gayle. Moving beyond lexical description, I suggest overlaps between the semantic and pragmatic features of the variety, both strategically deployed to invoke evanescent characteristics and social attributes in interaction (cf. Butler 1990). Just as elements of the Gayle repertoire do not code for fixed semantic meanings – but are rather contingent, discursive achievements – Gayle does not 'code for' static social identities. Instead, it achieves group belonging in interaction through legitimate use and mutual comprehension of creative linguistic 'deviations' and 'subversions'

Since 2001, the San Colombano Project has provided the College-Bound Tutoring program for disenfranchised prospective first-generation college students in a southwestern community of the United States. However, an evaluation of the program had never been conducted. The purpose of the study was to conduct a qualitative, responsive program evaluation in a naturalistic setting using a case-study approach with a constructivist lens to create a narrative portrait of the program. Guided by critical race theory, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, and Wlodkowski's motivational theory, the study explored the effectiveness of the program. Interviews were conducted and archival data were examined to understand the effectiveness of the program. Interview participants included 5 leaders, 4 alumni/staff members, and 2 adult volunteer tutors. Typological, inductive, and content analyses were applied to the contextualized data. The findings arising from data analyses were based on these themes: (a) authentic hope, (b) social and emotional learning, (c) organizational leadership, and (d) creation of a college completion culture. To promote social change, a program evaluation was provided to San Colombano Project based on these findings. Social change may be achieved through implementation of the program evaluation on behalf of these disenfranchised students by (a) embedding promising practices; (b) extending learning and growth opportunities; (c) leveraging data to improve, sustain, and embed processes; and (d) applying recommendations for enhancing an organizational learning culture.