This thesis is an examination of how white women in interracial relationships and/or white mothers of biracial children understand race. Through interviews with six self-identified white women who have black-white biracial children, I seek to understand what role racism plays in their lives and whether these women have a heightened consciousness about race as a result of being in an interracial family. Using their narratives and a spatial framework, I explore the concept of white supremacy, whiteness and blackness, representations of white femininity and black masculinity in the media, and how white women in interracial relationships cross the colourline in their everyday lives. I suggest that white women learn about colourlined spaces in public, but that they also learn about blackness and teach their biracial children about antiracism in private spaces. Overall, white women need to negotiate rules and norms within racial hierarchies in order to navigate white supremacy.

This thesis is an examination of how white women in interracial relationships and/or white mothers of biracial children understand race. Through interviews with six self-identified white women who have black-white biracial children, I seek to understand what role racism plays in their lives and whether these women have a heightened consciousness about race as a result of being in an interracial family. Using their narratives and a spatial framework, I explore the concept of white supremacy, whiteness and blackness, representations of white femininity and black masculinity in the media, and how white women in interracial relationships cross the colourline in their everyday lives. I suggest that white women learn about colourlined spaces in public, but that they also learn about blackness and teach their biracial children about antiracism in private spaces. Overall, white women need to negotiate rules and norms within racial hierarchies in order to navigate white supremacy.

My dissertation examines the putative success of Curitiba, the Brazilian capital of Paraná, and seeks to understand how it came to be touted as the model city of Brazil. The standard explication for Curitiba’s success credits the power of a single city agency, the Urban Planning and Research Institute of Curitiba (IPPUC), and the vision of its first president, Jaime Lerner. According to this narrative, in 1971 IPPUC formalized a broad urbanistic vision for the city’s growth and initiated projects aimed at improving traffic congestion, expanding green space, and increasing city and social services. I argue that the narrative of the institute’s contributions provide an incomplete genealogy of Curitiba’s success. It fails to examine the historical context of the city’s status and does not consider the significance of publicity campaigns in sustaining this image. Also, IPPUC’s story is not only tendentious but derivative. My historical research shows how IPPUC has rearticulated longstanding tropes that celebrate the region’s unique characteristics -such as Curitiba’s edenic cityscape and its European social composition- and has recycled deterministic arguments related to race, ethnicity, and geography. My dissertation demonstrates that exceptionalist discourses have circulated for more than a century. I trace these claims from the 1880s to the 1940s and investigate how and why they changed over time. I show that politicians first initiated efforts to promote the region at the turn of the twentieth century to attract European colonists. Over the next fifty years, politicians, elites, and intellectuals forwarded new claims that positioned Curitiba and Paraná as ideal locations for economic and social development. Planning specialists from around the world have closely studied Curitiba’s urban development, but in their analyses they have largely failed to consider the intellectual and social constructs that undergird this story of progress. My dissertation focuses on century-old celebratory claims about Curitiba and reveals the epistemological roots of the current explications of the city’s success. / text

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

Submitted by PAULO EDSON LIMA DOS SANTOS null (slep_1@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-24T16:53:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação texto final.pdf: 2130932 bytes, checksum: 88d7049e4d255b3efcd6763d6a84da2e (MD5) / Rejected by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com), reason: Solicitamos que realize uma nova submissão seguindo a orientação abaixo: O arquivo submetido está sem a ficha catalográfica e sem o certificado de aprovação. A versão submetida por você é considerada a versão final da dissertação/tese, portanto não poderá ocorrer qualquer alteração em seu conteúdo após a aprovação. Corrija esta informação e realize uma nova submissão contendo o arquivo correto. Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2017-08-25T14:45:36Z (GMT) / Submitted by PAULO EDSON LIMA DOS SANTOS null (slep_1@hotmail.com) on 2017-08-25T19:34:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - versão definitiva.pdf: 1974703 bytes, checksum: 0f55a8e93b1e949b45327ed17759b9d0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-08-29T14:26:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_pel_me_arafcl.pdf: 1974703 bytes, checksum: 0f55a8e93b1e949b45327ed17759b9d0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-29T14:26:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_pel_me_arafcl.pdf: 1974703 bytes, checksum: 0f55a8e93b1e949b45327ed17759b9d0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-21 / O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir a perspectiva social da população negra na representação política em instâncias decisórias e identificar um reflexo da agenda de luta antirracista. A partir do conceito de representação especial de grupo, de Iris Marion Young, este trabalho buscou identificar, em prerrogativas do agente político, o encaminhamento de demandas sociais. A perspectiva social dos grupos sub-representados pode ser reconhecida na ação e no exercício de representar. Além de reconhecer uma agenda de luta antirracista da população oprimida, foram identificadas diretrizes institucionais que remetem ao reconhecimento e à representação, mas que esbarram ainda na estrutura que edifica desigualdades socioestruturais na sociedade brasileira. Nesse sentido, a instituição política permanece em busca de mudanças significativas na dinâmica social da população. Os diversos indicadores de vulnerabilidade da população negra brasileira, no entanto, indicam uma marginalização social, econômica e, sobretudo, política. Para qualificar esta análise, tornou-se necessário conceber a perspectiva sócio-histórica do negro, a partir dos estudos de Florestan Fernandes e Carlos Hasenbalg, além de apresentar uma configuração geral do movimento negro organizado na construção da agenda antirracista. Fez-se indispensável também considerar as diretrizes jurídicas para espelhar o reconhecimento e qualificar a hipótese da sub-representação, ao passo que se verificam o exercício no Congresso Nacional e as diretrizes partidárias. A coleta de dados consistiu-se na pesquisa realizada no portal da Câmara dos Deputados, nas atividades legislativas, nos projetos de leis e em outras proposições com o intuito de buscar por um conjunto de termos que abrangesse a temática racial. A representação política negra foi evidenciada na atuação dos agentes políticos nos projetos de leis e em outras proposições na atividade parlamentar, entre 2011 e 2015, no Congresso Nacional, com intuito de verificar o reconhecimento da perspectiva social. Em síntese, comprova-se um cenário de sub-representação, mesmo diante de elementos e diretrizes que rementem a uma agenda de luta antirracista, tanto nas diretrizes constitucionais quanto nas diretrizes partidárias. Apesar disso, a ação dos agentes políticos está sendo responsiva conforme os princípios de representação democrática. / The objective of this work is to discuss the social perspective of the black population in political representation in decision-making bodies and to identify a reflection of the antiracist agenda. From the concept of special group representation, by Iris Marion Young, this work search for identify, in the prerogatives of the political agent, the referral of social demands. The social perspective of underrepresented groups can be recognized in action and in the exercise of representing. Besides acknowledging an agenda of antiracist struggle of the oppressed population, institutional guidelines were identified that refer to recognition and representation, but which still run into the structure that builds socio-structural inequalities in Brazilian society. In this sense, the political institution remains looking for significant changes in the social dynamics of the population. Several indicators of vulnerability of the Brazilian black population, however, indicate a social, economic and, above all, political marginalization. In order to qualify this analysis, it became necessary to conceive the socio-historical perspective of the black, from the studies of Florestan Fernandes and Carlos Hasenbalg, besides presenting a general configuration of the black movement organized in the construction of the anti-racist agenda. It was also necessary to consider the legal guidelines to mirror the recognition and qualify the hypothesis of under-representation, while the exercise in the National Congress and the party guidelines are verified. The data collection consisted of the research carried out on the portal of the House of representatives, in legislative activities, in draft bills and in other propositions with the intention of searching for a set of terms that covered the racial theme. The black political representation was evidenced in the performance of the political agents in the draft legislation and in other proposals in the parliamentary activity, between 2011 and 2015, in the National Congress, in order to verify the recognition of the social perspective. In summary, a scenario of under-representation is proven, even facing of elements and guidelines that refer to an anti-racist agenda, both in the constitutional guidelines and in the party guidelines. Nevertheless, the action of political agents is being responsive in accordance with the principles of democratic representation.

Cybercrime offences know no limits to physical geographic boundaries and have continued to create unprecedented issues regarding to the feasibility and legitimacy of applying traditional legislations based on geographic boundaries. These offences also come with procedural issues of enforcement of the existing legislations and continue to subject nations with problems unprecedented to its sovereignty and jurisdictions. This research is a critical study on the legal aspects of cybercrime in Nigeria, which examines how laws and regulations are made and applied in a well-established system to effectively answer questions raised by shortcomings on the implementation of cybercrime legislations, and critically reviews various laws in Nigeria relating or closely related to cybercrime. This research will provide insight into current global cybercrime legislations and the shortfalls to their procedural enforcement; and further bares the cybercrime issues in Nigeria while analysing and proffering a critique to the provisions as provided in the recently enacted Nigerian Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2015, in contradistinction to the existing legal framework in the United Kingdom and the other regional enactments like the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection 2014, and the ECOWAS Directive on Cybercrime 2011.

The school has an anti-racist mission where teachers, especially social studies teachers, have a central role. Previous research shows, however, that the school often lacks in counteracting racism, which raises questions about how teachers see racism as a phenomenon and school as an anti-racist place. There is a lack of knowledge about how social studies teachers perceive the anti-racist work and whether and, in such cases, how they implement anti-racism within the framework of social science teaching. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate social studies teachers' perceptions of and implementation of an anti-racist mission in upper secondary school. This was done through five semi-structured interviews which were analyzed with Michael Lipsky's (2010) theory of grassroots bureaucracy which is supplemented by Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson's (2015) theory of cultural and structural factors, Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill & Brian Turners (2006) definitions of individual and structural racism and Emma Arnebacks (2012) identified courses of action against racism. The results show that no teacher has an explicit anti-racist attitude, but they perceive the task as aimed at counteracting students 'tendencies to express "problematic" thoughts or opinions, which is a description of purpose that is influenced by teachers' understanding of racism as an individual phenomenon. The attitude to the assignment is positive, but it is perceived to be fraught with challenges that arise partly because of a perceived limited scope for action, and partly because of the teachers believing that there is a measure of anti-racism in the teaching. The teachers also perceive the social studies teacher's special role in an anti-racist assignment partly negatively as it is described as becoming a workload. Criticism is directed at a deficient teacher education that structurally limits the anti-racist work as they feel that it has to a low degree equipped them with competence in racism despite the subject's special relevance, and partly because the entire teacher education was not characterized by this which could even the workload. The teachers believe that they implement the anti-racist mission, and the courses of action are mediating, democratizing, and partly relationally characterized where concrete strategies in social studies are to provide knowledge and practice critical reflection in the students. Important knowledge is mainly about democracy and human rights, and an important skill is critical thinking. The study's conclusions are that social studies teachers do not perceive the school as an explicit anti-racist place, but rather in an implicit way. The fact that the mission is not explicitly carried out can mean that anti-racism is lacking when knowledge of racism is limited, especially when a structural reflexivity is lacking. Although teachers may neglect different expressions of racism in school, the implementation is still often consistent with the curricula's formulations of the anti-racist mission.

The purpose of this study is to explain the process of designing the architecture of StrangeSpaces, an itinerant festival for transcultural performing arts groups or artists which starts from the original idea and terminates with the description of a possible structure. The process of designing StrangeSpaces is based on an investigation on the transcultural performing art’s field and on conversations with experts, which together transformed the original general idea of a festival, into the specific architecture of the StrangeSpaces festival. The investigation resulted in a personal definition of ”transcultural performing arts”, that subsequently led to the identifications of three elements of transculturalism which define the festival’s goals as ”encounter with the other” in multiples and different yet equal levels. Another result of this investigation is the contextualization of StrangeSpaces in the contemporary international cultural politics. In fact, the transcultural encounter and exchange can be viewed as a possible response to the increasing need of sustainable international performing art in local, national and European cultural communities. The conversations with experts in the field of international performing arts complemented the investigation, contributing to the ideological principles of StrangeSpaces, such as anti-racism and anti-colonialism, as well as to a model of democratic and sustainable design, in which multilingualism and cosmopolitan aspects of the society are essential cues. The result of the study is a design of the architecture of three versions of StrangeSpaces, an itinerant transcultural performing arts festival that is born to be a space, a free place where people play, exchange roles, art, experience starting from their own culture, but reaching and reflecting into the other, mirroring a society of sustainable diversity.

Hate crime is a collective name for criminal acts committed due to the offender’s prejudice or hate against an individual or a group of people. There is no explicit legal definition of “hate crime” in Swedish criminal law, but in 1994 a rule called “straffskärpningregeln” has been introduced, primarily to combat racist crime and protect vulnerable groups in society. The rule means that all types of crime may constitute hate crimes if the motive is to aggrieve a person or group of people because of race, colour, ethnic origin, creed, sexual orientation or similar circumstance (Penal Code 29 chapter 2§ 7p).The aim of this essay is to study and investigate how the Swedish judicial system handles hate crime cases, but also to describe constructions of crime victims and discuss perpetrator’s motives. In order to gain a better understanding of hate crimes in the Swedish context, the ideal victim theory has been applied. With the use of critical discourse analysis, I have identified three different discourses. The results of my study are among other findings that the Swedish legal system need to make visible how “straffskärpningregeln” is applied. The perpetrator paints a stereotypical picture of “the others” by categorizing themselves as “we” and the others as “them” and thereby constructing differentiated categories.