Thesis advisor: Micah Lott / It has been commonly agreed by people that happiness is the ultimate end of human life and it is the only thing we pursue for the sake of itself. Yet, the path towards which we could attain real happiness has been under constant dispute. Some philosophers like Aristotle think the answer lies in contemplative activities while others like the stoics believe in the activities in accordance with virtue. This thesis aims to demonstrate that love is the path that could lead us to attain real happiness. By first exploring what love, specifically interpersonal love, is, the thesis will examine a loving stoic and how the stoic ideals of love are incompatible with real love, which involves taking on a shared identity with the beloved ones. Lastly, it will show that through loving selflessly and wholeheartedly, one could eventually attain true happiness. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy. / Discipline: Departmental Honors.

There is a common assertion and consensus among scholars that Malcolm X was the voice of Black Americans during the 1960s and a key leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Not as much scholarly attention has been paid to other components of his World view such as: 1) his goal of uniting all people of African descent using Pan Africanism as the guiding tool; 2) the shared political identity of Black Americans and Africans; and 3) the political, economic, and social potential for Black Nationalism in both the United States and Africa. In particular, very little research has been conducted on the significance of Malcolm X's perspectives in these three areas for present-day college students. The purpose of this research is therefore to examine the magnitude of Malcolm X's impact on present-day college students' political awareness about, and related perceptions of: Pan-Africanism; shared Black and African political identities; and Black Nationalism. It can be argued that surely a man playing such a key leadership role has affected subsequent generations - either directly or indirectly. For this investigation, focus groups based on a convenience sample of college students, age 18 to 27, were conducted. Using a pre-test/post-test experimental and control group design, students were exposed to the speeches and beliefs of Malcolm X. Changes in students' knowledge and perceptions about the three topics listed above were assessed. From these analyses, the actual and potential influence of Malcolm X on today's college students can American society and attempting to place his contributions in context, this research on the effects of his ideas on college students can be instrumental and informative. be better understood. For scholars continuing to examine the impact of Malcolm X on American society and attempting to place his contributions in context, this research on the effects of his ideas on college students can be instrumental and informative.

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement brought with it a great deal of attention and initiatives to construct and increase intergroup contact and shared spaces in an effort to reconcile divided nationalist/Catholic and unionist/Protestant communities. In the time following this peace agreement, the Belfast Giants ice hockey team was established, and in their 16 years as a team they have become one of the most attended spectator activities in Belfast, trending away from the tribalism, single-space, single-class, and single-gender dynamics of modern sport in Northern Ireland. This thesis research followed the supporters of the Belfast Giants throughout the 2015-2016 ice hockey season to better understand the encounters across historical divisions that are occurring in the Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) Arena. The research of this PhD thesis is directed by the concepts of social capital, intergroup contact, and civility. These concepts, when placed within the context of divided society, contribute to the thesis' guiding analytical framework, which offers thematic guideposts in areas of prejudice and anxiety, tolerance and trust, space and identity. Influenced by in-depth qualitative research that seeks to access local voices, this research takes the conceptual and analytical guidance into the stands of the SSE Arena. In this way, the unique 'side-by-side' methodology, which involved conducting interviews with the person in the seat to my left or right at Belfast Giants ice hockey games while immersing myself in the supporter community, emerged as not only a contribution to unearthing new voices in this oft-studied region, but also as an innovative contribution to qualitative methodological literatures. Beyond the methodological contribution, this thesis makes two further contributions to existing academic literatures on post-peace agreement relationships. The first of these is through the clear relationship between identity and space that are evident in its findings. Between the poles of conflict and reconciliation are the complex and simple interactions, which when placed in the SSE Arena at a Belfast Giants game illustrate the multi-layered and fluid nature of identity. The thesis finds the hockey arena is a space where a shared identity, 'the hockey family', materialises and includes nationalist and unionist populations. This shared identity is deeply connected to a physical place and activity that are situated outside the all-encompassing nature of division in present-day Belfast. However, within the unusual setting of an ice hockey arena in Northern Ireland there emerges ordinariness in encounter across historical cleavage, and from these mundane interactions comes the final contribution 'side-by-sidedness'. Influenced by supporters' willingness to sit side-by-side those on the opposite side of a historical division who they may not be willing to live beside, this theme is framed as a lightened encounter that challenges assumptions inherent in post-peace agreement settings. The research findings frame the SSE Arena as a site of sanctuary from polarised sectarian identities and activities, as well as a site of resistance from overarching peace agendas that push shared space and seek reconciliation. Side-by-sidedness exists in the everyday between these two poles. In highlighting this space between, this theme challenges the assumptions of 'face-to-faceness' that are inherent across the three concepts informing this thesis and through utilising notions of everyday peace and everyday division to include the relational, the spatial and the metaphorical, this thesis' meta-theme frames a new way of 'getting on with it' in the shadows of conflict.

Cette thèse vise à analyser l’identité professionnelle des enseignants d’espagnol langue étrangère (ELE) dans deux pays de l’Union européenne, la France et l’Espagne. Nous estimons que malgré le développement de l’anglais, qui est devenue la langue la plus étudiée au monde, l’espagnol connait une grande expansion au niveau international. Néanmoins, bien que les enseignants soient l’élément le plus important de l’enseignement de langues, les recherches ne semblent s’intéresser à l’analyse de leurs circonstances professionnelles et socioéconomiques, ni à leur rapport au travail. En effet, les enseignants d’ELE sont confrontés à des enjeux particuliers, non seulement en France où l’espagnol est toujours en concurrence avec l’anglais, mais aussi en Espagne, où l’enseignement de la langue espagnole est devenu une source de revenus. On peut donc se demander : comment peut-on offrir un enseignement d’ELE de qualité lorsque le cœur même de l’enseignement demeure obscur ? Cette thèse donne des éléments de réponse à travers l’analyse de 76 entretiens à des enseignants d’ELE et de 329 réponses à un questionnaire en ligne. / The objective of this thesis is to analyse the professional identity of teachers of Spanish as a foreign language in two European countries: France and Spain. In spite of the development of English, the most studied language in the world, Spanish is growing at a rapid pace. However, although teachers are the most important element in language teaching, research does not seem to be interested in the analysis of their professional and socioeconomic circumstances and the role of emotions in the workplace. Indeed, the teachers of Spanish face multiple challenges, not only in France where Spanish competes with English, but also in Spain, where the national language has become a new source of income. How is it possible then, to offer a quality teaching when the heart of teaching remains unclear? This thesis offers the analysis of 76 interviews to teachers of Spanish and 329 responses of an online questionnaire. / El objetivo de esta tesis es el análisis de la identidad profesional de los profesores de español lengua extranjera (ELE) en dos países europeos: Francia y España. A pesar del gran desarrollo del inglés, que se ha convertido en la lengua más estudiada del mundo, el español está creciendo en todo el mundo. Sin embargo, aunque que los profesores son el elemento principal en la enseñanza de idiomas, las investigaciones parecen no interesarse en sus condiciones socio-económicas ni en su relación emocional con el trabajo. Ciertamente, los profesores de ELE están expuestos a múltiples desafíos, no sólo en Francia, donde la lengua española compite en la escuela con el inglés, sino también en España, donde la lengua nacional se ha convertido en una fuente de ingresos. Con base a estos datos, nos preguntamos: ¿cómo es posible ofrecer una enseñanza de ELE de calidad, cuando no se conoce el “corazón” de la enseñanza? Esta tesis ofrece el análisis de las entrevistas realizadas a 76 profesores de ELE, así como de las 329 respuestas obtenidas a un cuestionario en línea.

This research is an attempt to understand the living experiences of young adult Muslim SGIs, in Britain. This research advocates to understand their living experiences from the perspective of social identity approach which discusses multiple dimensions of identity, unlike acculturation theory which focuses on a mono dimension of identity. This research introduced a multiple social identity model for Muslim SGIs. Contrary to the previous literature, the first study, the interview study, revealed that they explained their conflicts with their non-Muslim British peers and with their parents on the basis of non-shared identity. With their non-Muslim British peers they shared cultural (national) identity, therefore, they explained their conflicts in terms of different religious values (practices); with their parents they shared religious identity, therefore they explained their conflicts in terms of different cultural (ethnic) values and practices. They argued that their parents practise various cultural practices in the name of Islam, and Muslim SGIs distinguished Islam from their parents' culture, and identified with the former, not the latter, and attributed their conflicts to their parents' cultural values. In addition, they explained that their religious identity enables them to deal with conflicts with peers and parents. The second study, the focus group, successfully validated the findings of the first study, and it broadened the understanding of the fact that SGIs and their parents both explained their religion in their own cultural context. Their religious (Muslim) identity also promotes their relationships with their non-Muslim British peers and parents, which contributes positively towards their British identity, and more specifically they define themselves as British Muslims. In the third study, the survey study, the hypotheses were developed on the bases of the qualitative studies. It was expected and found that British and Muslim identities were positively correlated; they had non-significant identity differences with the Muslim identity and significant identity difference with British and ethnic identities from their parents. Ethnic identity difference from their parents was the only found predictor of their attribution of their conflicts to their parents' cultural values.