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The thesis is concerned about the postcolonial context of the minority tribal people, the Taiwan Yuen-Chu-Min (台灣原住民, TYCM), in Taiwan. The argument of this thesis includes two parts: Part one provides the background to develop the foundation for the contextualization of the TYCM tribal people’s colonized experience and postcolonial discourse in light of their contextual concerns－tribal mother tongue, tribal texts, and ordinary tribal people; Part two draws connections between these TYCM tribal people’s postcolonial concerns and biblical interpretation, which is called “TYCM Tribal Biblical Interpretation”, and practices reading Gen 2:4b-25 with the subaltern people, TYCM ordinary tribal people, through the Five Step Reading Process in a group collaborative effort with 14 tribal reading groups. The project of TYCM Tribal Biblical Interpretation, as practiced through the Five Step Reading Process, is committed to create decolonization strategies to connect with the colonized experience of tribal people to help them play their traditional role of the Prrngawan to facilitate ordinary tribal people to become the “real” and “flesh-and-blood” readers of their tribal texts and biblical texts through their mother-tongue to freely participate in constructing and in continuing to restore their tribal spirituality, worldviews, and appropriation readings to highlight de-colonized biblical readings in their struggles of their postcolonial context in present day Taiwan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The study is premised on a notion of 'African crisis'. Since the notion of crisis is multi-dimensional, hence susceptible to variable interpretations and emphases, the study posits and argues two interconnected hypotheses, thus operating within a finite investigative and interpretive framework It is hypothesised that a crisis of the state in Africa to a significant extent is a crisis in the spheres of political legitimacy and social cohesion. As both spheres fall within the operational ambit of ideology, the study examines the concept in some depth. In order to investigate the problematic of ideology in decolonising and postcolonial Africa, a distinction is made between ideology per se and phenomena and practices deemed ideological. During a process of exploring and analysing this distinction, cognisance is taken of the interface between ideology and social science paradigms. From this interface emerges the notion of an 'ideological paradigm'. Accordingly, it is hypothesised that two dominant paradigms in Cold War era Africa, namely, modernisation theory and scientific Marxism, are implicated in the crisis of the state. Included in this proposition is an argument that the application of exogenous developmental schematics in effect reproduced a colonial ethos inhospitable to endogenous innovation and initiative, not least in respect to the formulation and application of ideologies adequately congruent with - hence intelligible to - the lived worlds of Africans. Moreover, to the extent that the post Cold War era is characterised by the dominance of a neoliberal paradigm, this contention is of continuing relevance. The better to distinguish between an ideological paradigm and an ideology, the study investigates two significant departures from paradigmatic convention in decolonising Guinea-Bissau and postcolonial Tanzania. Both Amilcar Cabral and Julius Nyerere articulated and applied ideologies on the whole grounded more in local contexts than in exogenous paradigms. While Cabral's thesis is discussed at some length during the course of a literature review, Ujamaa in Tanzania comprises the dissertation's main case study. Tanzania is conceptualised as embarking on a post-independence quest for an inclusive epistemology on which to base an ideology at once locus-specific and informed by general tenets of human-centred socialism. From this quest emerged a national ethic that - in a post Cold War era - continues to influence state-societal relations in Tanzania, and thus has proven to be of lasting value. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This project seeks to critically examine the hegemony and imperialism of liberal-democratic modernity, and the possibilities for forms of politics that are rooted in subaltern difference. I argue that one of the great challenges in resisting the hegemony of liberal-democracy is that it offers a broad family of both conservative and progressive/critical languages that can be adopted and used by elite and subordinate groups alike. The availability of critical or dissenting languages that are internal to liberal-democracy often entices subordinate groups to make use of them, but this only furthers the subalternization of other distinct normative or practical traditions. I aim to articulate an alternative form of politics that remains rooted in subaltern difference, and is not simply based on an internal or immanent critique of liberal-democracy. This is a type of ethico-politics that seeks to actualize subaltern goods and traditions in its very practice or way of life, and to build its forms of resistance and transformation upon this practice. This dissertation (a) explores some of the key features of this kind of subaltern ethico-politics; (b) examines the ways in which contemporary modes of postcolonial and political thought, especially those with critical or emancipatory intent, often serve to contain and/or efface this form of subaltern praxis; and (c) addresses some of the broader questions and challenges this praxis poses for resistance to imperialism and coalition-building among diverse social movements today.

This project seeks to critically examine the hegemony and imperialism of liberal-democratic modernity, and the possibilities for forms of politics that are rooted in subaltern difference. I argue that one of the great challenges in resisting the hegemony of liberal-democracy is that it offers a broad family of both conservative and progressive/critical languages that can be adopted and used by elite and subordinate groups alike. The availability of critical or dissenting languages that are internal to liberal-democracy often entices subordinate groups to make use of them, but this only furthers the subalternization of other distinct normative or practical traditions. I aim to articulate an alternative form of politics that remains rooted in subaltern difference, and is not simply based on an internal or immanent critique of liberal-democracy. This is a type of ethico-politics that seeks to actualize subaltern goods and traditions in its very practice or way of life, and to build its forms of resistance and transformation upon this practice. This dissertation (a) explores some of the key features of this kind of subaltern ethico-politics; (b) examines the ways in which contemporary modes of postcolonial and political thought, especially those with critical or emancipatory intent, often serve to contain and/or efface this form of subaltern praxis; and (c) addresses some of the broader questions and challenges this praxis poses for resistance to imperialism and coalition-building among diverse social movements today.

This paper is divided into four chapters. The first one examines the shift in policies from Nasser to Sadat paying close attention to the effects on women. It contextualizes the space in which Islamic movements would come about. The second chapter traces the historical role of women in nationalist projects. It also looks at historical tensions between secular and Islamic women. Then the paper surveys the demographics of Islamic movement and the role of women within four parts of it: the Muslim Brotherhood, the Jama‘at, local mosque communities, and charity work. The third chapter then reviews liberal feminist critique of Islamic female activism. This critique is divided into three sections: tradition v. modernity, patriarchy in Islam, and the veil. The chapter then looks at three problems (universality, lack of context, and positionality) with this critique and briefly looks at the material consequences of such an 4 approach. The fourth chapter gives a background of postcolonialism, applies it to Islamic female activism, and demonstrates why it is crucial to work within a postcolonial framework.

Climate change is an issue that is increasingly being adopted into various NGO campaigns. Drawing on a theoretical framework that is grounded in post-colonialism and subaltern studies, this thesis investigates representations of agency in the climate change discourse of Oxfam International. The central research question guiding the study is: To what extent do developing world people and countries have agency in Oxfam International’s 2009 climate change campaign? The methodological approach used to address this question combines content analysis and critical discourse to analyze 105 documents published by Oxfam in the lead up to the 2009 U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The findings reveal that that developing world subjects tend to possess less speaking space and to be represented with less agency than their developed world counterparts.

First Nations foodways have been altered through systemized efforts of colonization and were effectively reduced in part from the creation of stores and through limiting reserve systems. The current research seeks to understand the dietary choices and changes among three generations of Fist Nations women. Research takes place in a remote First Nation community in Northern Ontario. The differing food practices among the three generations of women highlight transformations resulting from a traumatic history. Decreases in the consumption of traditional, land based foods, as well as the practices around these foods (procurement, preparation, knowledge exchange and social engagement) alter the experiences of the younger generations. The conversations/exchanges around food take place within the culturally significant space of the teepee. The teepee is a core element. These exchanges have a tremendous bearing on the overall wellness of these women and their efforts to reclaim and remain culturally resilient.

The purpose of this study is to examine how two Muslim feminists perceive themselves to betreated by the Swedish majority society and within the secular feminist movement. Thesurvey was conducted using qualitative method with a total of two interviews. For the study'stheoretical perspectives, I have used postcolonialism and postcolonial feminism. The result ofthe survey and the analysis show that the informants say that they face an image of Muslimwomen as considered being under oppression. The informants believe that this stereotypicalimage has its origin from the colonial period. The question that is most important for themwithin feminism is to be treated as a feminist and as a Muslim without being questioned. Theyfeel like it's hard to identify with the Swedish secular feminism, but they also feel that thegroup of Swedish secular feminists have a difficulty identifying themselves with Muslimwomen too. Consider this, one of the informants does not feel welcome among Swedishsecular feminism while the other one never had an interest in becoming a member of itbecause she did not consider them to strive for the same goal as herself. The informantsclaims that there are opportunities for them to speak in the public debate, but as Muslimfeminists they are facing a bigger struggle.

In this thesis I investigate and problematize the historical location of the term 'religion' and examine how this location has affected the analytical reading of postcolonial fiction and poetry. The term 'religion' has been developed in response to a Western Enlightenment and Christian history and its adoption outside of this context should therefore be treated with caution. Within postcolonial literary criticism, there has been either a silencing of the category as a result of this caution or an uncritical and essentialising adoption of the term 'religion'. I argue that a vital aspect of how writers articulate their histories of colonial contact, migration, slavery and the re-forging of identities in the wake of these histories is illuminated by the classificatory term 'religion'. I demonstrate this through the close reading of Guyanese fiction and poetry, as critical themes are seen and discussed that would be otherwise ignored. Aspects of postcolonial theory and Religious Studies theory are combined to provide a new insight into the literature and therefore expand the field of postcolonial literary criticism. The way in which writers 'remember' history through writing is central to the way in which I theorize and articulate 'religion' throughout the thesis; the act of remembrance is persuasively interpreted in terms of 'religion'. The title 'Memory and Myth' therefore refers to both the syncretic mythology of Guyana, and the key themes in a new critical understanding of 'religion'. Chapter One establishes the theoretical framework to be adopted throughout the thesis by engaging with key developments made in the past decade by Religious Studies theorists. Through this dialogue, I establish a working definition of the category religion whilst being aware of its limitations, particularly within a discussion of postcolonial literature. I challenge the reluctance often shown by postcolonial theorists in their adoption of the term 'religion' and offer an explanation for this reluctance. Chapter Two attends to the problems involved in carrying out interdisciplinary research, whilst demonstrating the necessity for such an enquiry. Chapters Three, Four and Five focus on selected Guyanese writers and poets and demonstrate the illuminating effect of a critical reading of the term 'religion' for the analysis of postcolonial fiction and poetry. Chapter Three provides a close reading of Wilson Harris's novel Jonestown alongside theoretical and historical material on the actual Jonestown tragedy. Chapter Four examines the mesmerising effect of the Anancy tales on contemporary writers, particularly poet John Agard. And Chapter Five engages with the work of Indo-Guyanese writer, David Dabydeen and his elusive character Manu.