This thesis looks at the failure of individual people living in affluent societies to do more to help those living in conditions of extreme poverty at the present moment. Affluent people have the capacity to assist, by contributing additional funds to aid and humanitarian organisations. Given an understanding of what is at stake, the fact that they fail to do so is both morally problematic and difficult to explain. Yet, without an understanding of the causes of inaction, it is difficult to know what measures may be taken to alleviate extreme suffering in the world today. The thesis draws upon different philosophical accounts of practical reason to argue that the conduct of the affluent can only be understood in one of three ways: these people may lack decisive reason to assist, they may be misinformed, or they may be rationally deficient in some regard. Considering each possibility in turn, it advances two central arguments. Firstly, the normative reasons claim is sound: affluent people, who do not incur minor costs by assisting, ought to do more. Secondly, these people tend to have false beliefs about the nature of poverty, to make substantive errors of judgement, and to follow flawed patterns of reasoning when they deliberate about what to do. Taken together, these factors explain their failure to act. Building upon this diagnosis, the thesis then considers how to respond to the problem of inaction, advancing a solution that is institutional in character. It argues for the construction of a division of labour between state and citizen, at the national level, which would see political institutions take on responsibility for poverty eradication, thereby leaving individuals freer to pursue their own personal goals and objectives. In order to perform this function effectively, wealthy nations would have to improve the quantity and quality of assistance that they provide to low-income countries. They would also have to cease partaking in practices that harm the global poor. This approach has a number of advantages over reliance on private philanthropy alone: it forms part of a fair and effective solution to the problem of motivating assistance, the arrangement it proposes is both stable and legitimate, and it is also something that could be achieved in practice. Therefore, it represents part of the best possible way in which to proceed.

Looking through the philosophical lens of love, this study seeks a deeper understanding and appreciation of how postsecondary social justice educators use storytelling, in the context of critical peace education, to create social change. This research explores the guiding question of how storytelling is used to encourage social change and to inspire action toward the goal of greater social justice. The argument for the importance of this research is located within the crisis of neoliberalism, where the very tenets of democratic education are being challenged by an educational agenda that favors standards-based learning and employment training over the critical and analytical thinking skills required for democracy to flourish. The results of this study identify storytelling as a method of ideology critique, and locate it within a larger process of loving praxis. A theoretical model of loving praxis is offered to explain how postsecondary social justice educators engage story as an action that leads to the goal of social justice. The steps in the model describe how valuing the common good motivates social justice educators to take action through storytelling, toward the outcome of building transformation, voice, and agency within students as a means to build greater social justice. The sense of possibility that is cultivated in this process re-engages the cycle by validating the value of and hope for the common good.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects that a training workshop and collective shaping had on the reflective statements and feeling and emotion labels in a written response to videos relating to social issues. The workshop included a presentation interspersed with videos to help practice dialoguing and guide discussion toward generating discourse for social change. The effects of the workshop were evaluated using a single subject A – B design with multiple probe measures across three participants. Participants were given a prompt to write a descriptive narrative in response to a video clip, creating a permanent product for quantitative and qualitative analyses. The study resulted in slight increasing trends for both reflective statements and feeling and emotion labels for Participants 1 and 2. Further analyses show that Participant 3, despite showing little change across reflective statements and feeling and emotion labels, showed significant increase and more stability in the percentage of total words within reflective statements. The results of the workshop are discussed in the context of future research, including the role of social issues in our everyday language and how that affects us at a personal level.

Prejudice establishes coercive contingencies that restrict human rights and diminish quality of life. Social media has made the oppression experienced by individuals more apparent. Perspective taking and empathy can change prejudicial behavior by fostering relationships and encouraging self-identification with those who are different from ourselves. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a guided collective shaping program on the occurrence of perspective taking and empathetic responses when viewing social justice media. The effects of the workshop were evaluated using a multiple baseline design across workshop topics. Written responses to video clips were analyzed before, during, and after training. The results of the study were inconclusive. The results of the training, based on the responses measured, indicate an increase in one measure of perspective taking and no changes in the other measures. At the same time, anecdotal observations indicated a change in the way participants talked about the issues over the course of the training. The results are discussed within the context of response form measurement, the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential research directions.

<p></p><p>The objective of this dissertation is to highlight the way history is taught in Perú, more specifically in Chavín de Huántar. As well as bring to the light the complex dynamics that revolve around this teaching, including the education system and the archaeological, local, and national government policies. This study becomes important in a world where Indigenous Peoples and women continue to be excluded from historical narratives made for the public. The main motivation to conduct this work was the need to decolonize the way history is taught and transform it into an empowering topic that can potentially contribute to a more just world. </p><p>The aim of this research project was to answer the following research questions: (a) What do children in Chavín de Huántar, Perú know about their local past? (b) How do different institutions, organizations, and community members influence such teachings? and (c) How can archaeologists contribute to a more empowering and less oppressive teaching of the past? To accomplish this objective an ethnography of learning with a critical epistemology was conducted during August 2016 and August 2017. This ethnography included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, photo and drawing elicitation with children, and two outreach projects (a summer camp and a teacher workshop). This work also includes a large number of photographs to contextualize the reader and make her/him/they feel more present at Chavín during my research, while I describe the surroundings and circumstances in which learning occurred while I was there. </p><p>This dissertation is divided in seven chapters. Chapter one provides the reader with a literature and theoretical background, while in chapter two I provide a general discussion and context of Chavín de Huántar as a town and as the archaeological UNESCO world heritage site with the same name. Chapter three will be dedicated to describing the methods used throughout this ethnography and applied public archaeological outreach. In chapter four, I begin to answer the proposed research questions. While in Chapter seven I will provide final remarks and conclusions. </p><p>My research and analysis has brought to light that children in Chavín de Huántar have a basic understanding of Chavín as a “Golden-Age”. This time period is promoted by the local and national government to incentivize tourism as well as what most archaeological work is concentrated on. In addition, local and national institutions mostly concentrate on this time period ignoring over 3000 years of local history, with some exceptions, especially the National Museum of Chavín. In addition, the political and communication problems between the town and the archaeological project “Research and Conservation project in Chavín de Huántar” influence strongly the lack of knowledge children and other community members have about the archaeological site. </p><p> </p><p>Although there is a constant blaming among the institutions of whose fault it is that children do not now too much about their history, my research provided evidence that in each one of these institutions there are people willing to work in collaboration in order to benefit children. In chapter six, I will provide details about two projects created and implemented in collaboration: a summer camp and a teachers’ workshop. These projects seemed to be well received in the community but more like them need to continue in order to have sustainable results. However, these projects proved that collaboration is possible and necessary. I conclude this dissertation providing recommendations for numerous stakeholders in Chavín de Huántar and in Perú, including the archaeological project, the municipality of Chavín, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Education. </p><p></p>

Student Number : 0104363F - MSc research report - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / South Africa is a constitutional state. The constitution is the supreme law of the country (RSA, 1996). Any of the state laws, policies and programmes that are inconsistent with the constitution are invalid, thus they have no legitimate standing. In the preamble of its constitution, the post apartheid South Africa sworn itself as a country recognising the past injustices, hence planning for the society based on social justices, in order to improving the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person. The Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa, as it encompasses all human rights, especially socioeconomic rights, whose fulfilment will contribute towards realisation of equal and united society based on social justice. However, the post apartheid South African government adopted a Free Basic Water policy as a way of adhering to the constitutional requirements of ensuring that everyone has the right to sufficient water. Access to clean sufficient water has been identified as a crucial requirement for Care and Prevention to the HIV/AIDS affected households. In the midst of socioeconomic inequalities, scarce water resources and high HIV/AIDS prevalence confronting the post apartheid South Africa today, the Free Basic Water policy guarantees every household of eight; irrespective of its socioeconomic status and health concerns, 6kl/6000 litres of water every month free. The local government has been blamed for not being responsive these special water needs of the poor HIV/AIDS households, especially in townships areas, where water is mostly provided on cost-recovery. However, little attention has been paid on the difficulty faced by the local government authorities in this regard. The report argue for a need of collaboration between planners and others major stakeholders, to come up with group-conscious water policy that will guide for planning of a society based on social justice. However, the research recommends that this policy should not only be guided by / concerned with justice and fairness in the distribution of basic needs of the society with special needs. More important, this new policy should be fair, thus account for the sustainability of the water resources, since South Africa is regarded as water-scarce country.

ABSTRACT In this Masters Research Report, I argue that different conceptual frameworks play a central role in influencing whether and why independent funders in South Africa choose to engage in either social justice philanthropy or traditional philanthropy. Based on documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with a sample population of independent funders and experts in the philanthropic field in South Africa, this research first puts forward a different understanding of social justice philanthropy, from a South African perspective. Based on this understanding, the research then reflects that the way in which independent funders conceptualise and operationalize the reasons why they do the work they do and their roles in relation to other development role players are the central elements that influence the nature and scope of the funding approaches, priorities and strategies that they adopt.

Thesis advisor: Carlo Rotella / Thesis advisor: Cynthia A. Young / From the BLKARTSOUTH literary collective in the 1970s, to public-storytelling-based education and performance forms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and fiction and nonfiction collections in the years since the storm, this study traces how New Orleans authors, playwrights, educators, and digital media makers concerned with social justice have mirrored the aesthetics and epistemologies of the collaborative African diasporic expressive traditions that began in the antebellum space of Congo Square and continue in the traditions of second-line parading and Mardi Gras Indian performances today. Combining literary analysis, democratic and performance theory, and critical geography with interviews and participant observation, I show how New Orleans authors, theatre makers, and teachers have drawn on "second-line" knowledges and geographies to encourage urban residents to recognize each other as "divided subjects" whose very divisions are the key to keeping our social and political systems from stabilizing and fixing borders and ethics in a way that shuts down possibilities for dissent, flux, and movement. Building on diverse scholarly arguments that make a case both for New Orleans's exceptionalism and its position, especially in recent years, as a model for neoliberal urban reform, this study also shows how the call and response aesthetics of community-based artists in New Orleans have influenced and benefited from the rise of global democratic performance and media forms. This dual focus on local cultures of resistance and New Orleans's role in the production of national and transnational social justice movements enables me to evaluate New Orleans's enduring central role in the production of U.S. and transnational constructs of African diasporic identity and radical democratic politics and aesthetics. Chapter One, "Second Line Knowledges and the Re-Spatialization of Resistance in New Orleans," synthesizes academic and grassroots analyses and descriptions of second lines, Mardi Gras Indian performances, and related practices in New Orleans through the lenses of critical geography and democratic theory to analyze the democratic dreams and blues approaches to history and geography that have been expressed in dynamic ways in the public spaces of New Orleans since the era of Congo Square. My second chapter, "'We Are Black Mind Jockeys': Tom Dent, The Free Southern Theater, and the Search for a Second Line Literary Aesthetic," explores the unique encounter in New Orleans between the city's working-class African American cultural traditions and the national Black Arts movement. I argue that poet and activist Tom Dent's interest in black working-class cultural traditions in New Orleans allowed him to use his three-year directorship of the Free Southern Theater to produce new and lasting interconnections between African American street performances and African American theatre and literature in the city. Chapter Three, "Story Circles, Educational Resistance, and the Students at the Center Program Before and After Hurricane Katrina," outlines how Students at the Center (SAC), a writing and digital media program in the New Orleans public schools, worked in the years just before Hurricane Katrina to re-make public schools as places that facilitated the collaborative sounding and expression of second-line knowledges and geographies and engaged youth and families in dis-privileged local neighborhoods in generating new democratic visions for the city. This chapter contrasts SAC's pre-Katrina work with their post-Katrina struggles to reformulate their philosophies in the face of the privatization of New Orleans's public schools in order to highlight the role that educational organizing in New Orleans has played in rising conversations throughout the US about the impact of neo-liberal school reform on urban social formations, public memory, and possibilities for organized resistance. Chapter Four, "'Running and Jumping to Join the Parade': Race and Gender in Post-Katrina Second Line Literature" shows how authors during the post-Katrina crisis era sought to manipulate mass market publication methods in order to critically reflect on, advocate for, and spread second-line knowledges. My analysis of the fiction of Tom Piazza and Mike Molina, the non-fiction work of Dan Baum, and the grassroots publications of the Neighborhood Story Project asks how these authors' divergent interrogations of the novel and non-fiction book forms with the form of the second line parade enable them to question, with varying degrees of success, the role of white patriarchy on shaping prevailing media and literary forms for imagining and narrating the city. Finally, Chapter Five, "Cross-Racial Storytelling and Second-Line Theatre Making After the Deluge," analyzes how New Orleans's community-based theatre makers have drawn on second-line knowledges and geographies to build a theatre-based racial healing movement in the post-Katrina city. Because they were unable and unwilling, after the Flood, to continue to "do" theatre in privatized sites removed from the lives and daily spatial practices of local residents, the network of theater companies and community centers whose work I describe (such as John O'Neal's Junebug Productions, Mondo Bizarro Productions, ArtSpot Productions, and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center) have made New Orleans's theatrical landscape into a central site for trans-national scholarly and practitioner dialogues about the relationship of community-engaged theatre making to the construction of just and sustainable urban democracies. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English.

ABSTRACT This paper analyses what has arguably become a salient feature of a ‘just city’ and social development on an international level, namely social justice. Specifically, it focuses on the role of the Johannesburg’s civil society organisations in promoting greater social justice for forced migrants (refugees and asylum seekers) living in the downtown Johannesburg. For this purpose, a case study was carried out, particularly with Africa’s forced migrants living in the inner city of Johannesburg (in Hillbrow and Yeoville). The research makes use of in-depth interview and participant observation methods to uncover the perspectives of a group of refugees and asylum seekers and members of seven civil society organisations, working with forced migrants in Johannesburg. The main research question that the study addresses is: What role can civil society organisations play in facilitating greater social justice for Africa’s asylum seekers and refugees living in the inner city of Johannesburg? I have concluded that Johannesburg’s civil society organisations have the potential, which may allow them to bring social transformation and create a just city by promoting a greater social justice for forced migrants living in the inner city. To achieve this goal, they should play a reformative and transformative role in the inner city, by challenging government exclusionary policies and decisions relating to the forced migrants; and, at the same time, they should mediate between the government and forced migrants at the local and national levels. To conclude this report, I recommended civil society organisations to develop strong collaboration with the city’s planners for a better improvement of the quality of life of forced migrants in the inner city. I also recommend the national government to decentralise its decision-making power on international migration issues by conferring to the provinces and local governments certain power which can allow them to develop internal structures (taking into account the context of each province), which can allow them to protect the basic rights of refugees and asylum seekers, such as the rights to work, to study, and to access free health care.

In response to increasing patterns of socio-spatial segregation, Swedish cities have adopted policies to promote social mix, which is generally considered positive due to its effect on spatial justice and social cohesion. However, institutional changes have negatively impacted the possibilities of fulfilling this policy objective. Moreover, there is a suggested discrepancy between objective and outcome. This paper is a comparative study on the operationalisation and outcomes of social mix policies in Sweden, focusing on two large-scale urban development projects; Stockholm Royal Seaport and RiverCity Gothenburg. Qualitative content analysis of planning documents and interviews with key actors have been conducted and the results demonstrate that in both cases, social mix has been promoted to some extent by planning for a diverse housing structure. In Gothenburg, additional measures have been taken in order to safeguard affordability. However, the absence of such measures in the case of Stockholm has resulted in the exclusion of low-income households. I argue that while there is a perceived inability among the planners of Stockholm to influence housing costs, the planners of Gothenburg have found ways of utilising the current institutional setting in favor of social mix. By applying a social justice perspective, I conclude that a policy approach safeguarding the affordability of housing is critical for combating residential segregation and spatial injustice.