The aim of this thesis is to study social responsibility and find out what responsibilities the graphic designer may have and what they can do using their skill set as a designer to contribute in helping to better their community. Social responsibility needs to be addressed more within the design field. It needs to be introduced and taught to students at an early stage of their education, so as they fully understand the power and influence that their creations will have over society, and the role this plays in materialism, overconsumption and our modern day consumer-culture. Change needs to be made within graphic design and the urgency for this grows more and more for each day that passes. The graphic designer needs to critically reflect over the purpose of their work and answer the question of whom it stands to serve: their audience or consumer-culture. They need to move away from the creation of artificial needs and the promotion of unnecessary products, and move towards the creation of more useful and lasting communication that contributes to society.

This research is aimed at discussing the impact of participatory communication on empowering, increasing agency, and mobilizing citizenship that fosters social change. I conducted my fieldwork with a group of 21 youth (seven women and 14 men), with ages ranging from 15 to 30 years, who reside in Ataúro, Timor-Leste. This group participates in a community wall-newspaper founded in 2008. The methodologies applied were participant observation and qualitative interviews. The text is divided into three chapters; the first explores the societal structure and the constructing of youth, and the process of resignification of youth roles and identities from the work of young people in the community newspaper. In the following chapter, the internal dynamic of the newspaper group is analysed through the participatory communication framework, elaborating on empowerment processes and showing how this promotes changes and continuities in traditional structures. Finally, the last chapter looks at interactions of the group with their community and the way the negotiation between new and traditional practices develops. Youth are more empowered and the changes occurring throughout the participatory process suggest that ruptures and continuities between conserving and changing traditional practices, and the perception of ‘youth’ in the community, are occurring.

In the context of significant numbers of Muslim newcomers immigrating to Europe andperceptions of failed integration in Sweden, and in light of the urban conflict andincreasing debates about integration as a one-way or two-way street, this paper sets out a“communication for development”-informed theoretical framework that focuses on thestruggle for social cohesion and immigrant integration in Malmö, Sweden. The paperuses triangulation to view this challenging situation from various perspectives. Not onlydoes this reveal that unemployment and lack of power have taken their toll on agencyamong migrants—particularly Iraqi men—but also that the strongest stories showingimmigration as an asset—particularly Iraqi women—are not being told in the media.Through the use of empirical material from Malmö, this paper contends that participatorycommunication in Malmö is less than participatory, and that integration in Sweden, in itsexpectations, leans uncomfortably close to assimilation. The paper gives examples ofseveral development communication initiatives for integration that have had positiveresults, with strong evidence that community media, as just one example, has proveneffective at improving immigrant integration. The paper concludes that developmentcommunication initiatives show promise for improving social cohesion in Malmö, andthat these can be effective only if the choice to participate, and the choices of initiative,medium and content are made by the migrants themselves.

Map Kibera project and it’s Voice of Kibera reporting initiative present an example of new media applying the principle of crowd sourcing to foster social change and provide voice to community of Kibera, Kenya. The aim of this study was to analyses, firstly, how the concept of participatory communication has been applied during the implementation of the project. As a basis for this approach an Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change was applied during the analysis of articles being produced on two project blogs to identify what steps have been implemented and what new aspects could be brought. Secondly, it was important to understand what social change the implementation of such project could bring to community it serves for. Finally, in order to develop a strategy for sustainability possible barriers/limitations of citizen/actor engagement were identified. Research tools used for this analysis were qualitative semi-structured interviews with project team members as well as participants/non participants of the project combined together with quantitative content analysis applied on articles produced on Map Kibera and Voice of Kibera blogs.Most important findings indicate that the application of IMCFSC took place almost fully but was applied on a particular community – project team. At the same time the use of crowd sourcing platform and reporting gave citizens of Kibera an opportunity to create their own agenda and provide a real picture of the area thus gaining a “voice” and possibility to speak out loud to broader communities. Nevertheless it is important to mention that the access to information created during the project was possible mostly in the offline form (printed materials, maps) and via mobile phones thus indicating to such barriers as the lack of such ICT tools as computers and also to the need to co-operate more closely to broader community of Kibera to avoid possible misconception of the work of the project. These findings are important to consider when planning implementation of similar projects in other communities located in different geographical, political and social settings.

<p><em>This thesis applies a Bourdieuian analysis to a qualitative study of volunteerism that focuses on the question of how ‘doing good’ relates to social change overall? - in particular, the ways that social class influences the volunteer experience and the overall culture of volunteerism. I argue that the leading theoretical research models of volunteerism need to recognize the evolving nature of the activity and theorize the influences that are structuring the culture of volunteerism. What emerges is a model of volunteering where motivation is understood as a complex set of factors that are structured by social class identities and volunteering is understood as a form of distinction that can be used to acquire cultural capital. Social class-based ideas, in particular, the values related to the middle class, have become a part of the culture of volunteerism and, in part, create and reproduce the social change/volunteerism paradox. The volunteerism/social change paradox is the idea that volunteerism is often perceived as a social change activity when in many cases it reproduced the status quo. Without a strong activism component to the volunteerism, it is not an inequality challenging activity. </em></p> <p><em>This thesis presents interview and observation data collected with Habitat for Humanity Canada in their two largest programs – the National program (domestic) and the Global Village program (international). By utilizing ideas of class, class distinction and social and cultural capital from Bourdieu’s work, the role of class, the culture of benevolence (or volunteerism) can be explored in a new way. What emerges is a culture of volunteerism that is deeply influenced by middle class values where social change ideas are common but structural change is not – resulting in the volunteer/social change paradox.</em></p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This study explores the development of francophone women's movements In Quebec, 1960-1980, In the light of a theoretical framework derived from hegemony theory and feminist theory. In particular, It is concerned to discover how the ideologies of women and the politics of feminism are related to the consolidatlon of ruling and opposition blocs in three periods, which have been characterised as liberal-modernisatlon (1960- 1976), a crisis of hegemony (1970-1976) and progressive national (1976-1980). The thesis argues that women's movements are not merely constituted by the social and political conditions in which they develop, but are also constitutive of more general allilances on a political field structured by class, national and gender struggles. Liberal, social Catholic, revolutionary, radical and trade union women's movements are studied.</p> <p>The study argues that the development of feminist politics was not, as has been thought, simply backard. Instead, IiberaI feminist politicaI organizations developed In advance of similar organizations in the rest of Canada. They did so by appropriating elements of the legitimatlng Iiberal modernisation ideology and adapting them to support their programmes for improvement In women's status and for the representation of women in the state, through an advisory ConseiI du Statut de la femme. The study also argues that feminist and nationalist aspirations were not merely opposed to one another, as is commonly argued, but that in the long run, the mobilised political field which grew out of national and trade union struggles, permitted rapid and innovative reform in state policy. Finally, the study points to the ways in which a feminist gender politics, particularly as influenced by trade union feminism, was central to the consolidatlon of the progressive-nationalist bloc, led by the Partl québécols.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>While neoliberalism has increasingly been entrenched in the province of Ontario, it has also encountered resistance. A primary goal of this dissertation is to provide a vivid historical account of women’s organizing and feminist resistance that emerged during the Harris years (1995-2001). Drawing on the narratives of thirty three feminist activists and leaders working within three different organizational settings, namely organized labour, anti-racist, and anti-violence organizations, this research project aims to capture an important moment in time when women and feminists were speaking out against some of the most pressing issues of the day including gender (in)equality, poverty, violence, sexism, racism and discrimination. Thematically, this research highlights the numerous challenges, strategies and successes experienced by a variety of differently located feminists and women’s groups. By theoretically and analytically situating these women’s narrative accounts within a qualitative, intersectional feminist framework, this collection of stories not only allow us to (re)examine theoretical and practical issues related to intersectionality and pose questions for the present state of feminist organizations, but also contributes to our understanding of feminist organizational resistance in the future, the long-term impact of said resistance and how we might go about addressing the challenges that lie ahead.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Role of Film as Persuasive Tool of Social Change: Since the introduction of cinema, both non-fiction and fictional films have been used by film makers, artists, and interest groups to change minds and mold opinions. Documentary films in particular, have a history of being used in a variety of ways to further political causes, raise social or patriotic awareness, or as a call to personal activism. In this project, the use of well designed, aesthetically pleasing documentaries have been advocated for potential use in the field of sport psychology to create awareness of the work of practitioners in order to promote healthy behaviors. Filmmaking can serve the field in a number of creative ways. A recent film is submitted as a demonstration of how a well crafted film can be utilized within the field as both a advocacy piece and an educational resource. There has been a long, historical relationship between sports and film. Throughout cinematic history there have been numerous films, both narrative and documentaries, both about sports or subjects that included sports in their story. Sports lend themselves to narrative and documentary storytelling. As a filmmaker, I was drawn to a story about a non-profit organization, "Gearing Up," which uses a bicycle exercise program to help women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. The film explores the effectiveness of a therapeutic model developed by "Gearing Up" founder, Kristin Gavin. The production of the film, and my involvement as the producer and director, inspired me to explore the further use of documentary film as both a classroom teaching tool and a vehicle that can inspire behavioral change. / Kinesiology / Accompanied by one .mp4 file: Braking Cycles.

The ongoing digital transformation of our societies impacts all aspects of our lives aswell as the international development and the design for social change. Having said that,in this paper I studied whether the design of participatory ICT4Ds can engage the localend-users/beneficiaries in the processes of knowledge and identity creation, and thus,achieve their self-representation in order to break the colonial-based stereotypes. Moreover, I examined whether the locals’ participation can emancipate design, development,and ICT4Ds from their colonial heritage and the related universalisms, and thus, achievethe construction of a postcolonial pluriversal world.To examine all of the above, I combined the approach of comparative case studies with aseries of interviews. As my research context I investigated the participatory dimensions oftwo ICT4D initiatives, namely UNICEF’s U-Report Yunitok Kenya and Map Kibera, thatoperate also in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Because of this area’s colonial historyand influence I used postcolonialism as my theoretical framework.The results of this study suggest that the design of participatory ICT4Ds can be influentialin the knowledge and identity creation of the Global South and this has the dynamics tocreate a postcolonial pluriversal world. Similarly, locals’ participation seems to have thepotential to emancipate design, development, and ICT4Ds from their colonial heritage.Nevertheless, this study advocates that the postcolonial rejection of universalisms mightbe problematic as it seems that the concept is not inherently negative but it rather hasstrong connotations due to its connection with the colonial history.

In the late 1800’s, Sweden was undergoing a population growth and had experienced several crop failures. With the majority of the population being farmers, the migration to North America gave Swedish emigrants an economic opportunity that wasn’t available in the homeland. This resulted in a mass exodus. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, around 1.25 million Swedes left their home country in search for a better life in the United States of America. In the year of 1890, around 478,000 Swedes had moved across the sea in search for better yields and economic prosperity.There is no exact number of how many Swedish-language newspapers that were published in North America to cater to the large number of Swedish immigrants, but an estimate says that between 600 and 1,000 Swedish language newspapers were published in the United States. The aim with this thesis is to analyze the representation of Sweden to Swedes who emigrated to look for a better life in the USA. The purpose of the study was to research how Swedish poverty was represented in the news. The research questions focus on how Sweden is represented in the Swedish American Post in 1887; how Swedish poverty is described and represented in the news and what representations of poverty can be seen in the material. The study was conducted through a qualitative text and thematic analysis of 48 newspapers from the Swedish emergency year of 1887, when the emigration hit its peak. The analysis of the data draws on theories of representation and social change, and the theoretical concepts of how the media can influence people’s lives and perceptions. The study found that the newspaper presents a somewhat simplified picture of poverty that rarely goes into underlying factors or societal structures but represents poverty mainly through personal stories of private individuals. The thesis also reveals that the image of Sweden is based on nostalgic, often fictional features of the homeland and news that often focused on accidents and deaths. This is interpreted as that the newspaper, on the one hand, gave the readers a relaxing read which spoke to their possible homesickness, and also contributed to confirm the decision to emigrate to the USA as something positive.