During the past two decades, neoliberal economic policies have been enacted in many peripheral regions of the world. Neoliberalism promotes free trade, deregulation, privatization, and welfare reduction; however, it does not call for state rescission of social control and legal coercion. Global capitalism has asserted itself as the dominant force in modernity. It transcends the nation-state system. For example, the United States was the primary hegemon throughout much of the 20th century. Yet since the appearance of global capitalism, transnational corporations now dominate the world-economy. Wealth is heavily concentrated in the hands of an elite capitalist class. The resultant income inequality, coupled with increased state surveillance and formal control, increases structural violence throughout the periphery. The purpose of this article is to examine the structural inequalities in the Americas, while presenting possible solutions to the neoliberal crisis from a social justice perspective.

Despite recent gains in areas such as school attendance and literacy, the struggle for women’s rights and equality in Africa remains constant. Alongside the socio-economic barriers holding down millions of women, is the fight against the gender bias and stereotyping which puts women in the backseat of decision-making, policy-driving, or leadership roles.This dissertation project is a case study of a women’s social justice writing workshop run by the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), a Pan-African grant-making organisation. Convened three times since 2014, it brings together women from across the continent for a residential camp to sharpen participants’ skills in writing and communicating about social justice issues.This research project attempts to examine the workshop in the context of media for development theory and strategies, which see the media (print, electronic and new media) as the fundamental strategies that drive the process of communicating. (Manyozo). It also looks at its relevance in the context of gender inequalities in media representation in Africa in line with Beijing 1995’s global call.Although to a very limited scale, the study suggests that the workshop has played a small, yet significant role in conceptualising and implementation of a communication for development strategy that emphasizes capacity-building.Harnessing the power of storytelling, the five years since the workshop, has seen many of the African women who participated, produce local content, confidently representing and analysing “our own issues for ourselves in our diversities.” Through their writings, radio shows, news stories, blogs and public speaking engagements, they are joining powerful agents of change in bringing transformation to the struggle to combat gender stereotypes and inequality, which is still far from over.

This dissertation explores the University of Cape Town’s Global Citizenship (GC) Programme as a site for teaching citizen leadership. We live in times that are marked by complexity, uncertainty, and a plethora of global challenges, many of which have resulted in injustices in people’s lived experiences. Increasingly ordinary citizens are calling for new ways of leading change which combats social injustices. This form of leadership values social justice, democracy, equity, shared agency, active and engaged citizenship – this is regarded as citizen leadership. Higher education institutions have a role to play in developing student leaders who are equipped with the capacities to confront uncertainty and thrive in a changing world. This study recruited student participants of the GC programme courses. In total, ten students participated in one of four focus group discussions which were guided by semi-structured interviews, and ninety students consented to have their reflective essays on the GC programme courses analysed. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the participants’ experience of the programme, in the focus group discussions and reflective essays, was examined to determine how they understood citizenship, social justice and leadership in relation to the programme’s teachings. The findings revealed that most students regarded the programme as developing their capacities for active and engaged global citizenship. Most students did not view the programme as teaching leadership; however, based on the definition of citizen leadership, I argue that the programme is indeed a site for teaching this form of leadership. It is recommended that the programme staff make the connection between active and engaged citizenship, social justice, and leadership more explicit in their curricula and teaching. It is believed that this change to the programme will enable students to have a clearer understanding of themselves as leaders prepared for the world beyond university and enabled to bring purposeful change to the world.

This dissertation explores the University of Cape Town’s Global Citizenship (GC) Programme as a site for teaching citizen leadership. We live in times that are marked by complexity, uncertainty, and a plethora of global challenges, many of which have resulted in injustices in people’s lived experiences. Increasingly ordinary citizens are calling for new ways of leading change which combats social injustices. This form of leadership values social justice, democracy, equity, shared agency, active and engaged citizenship – this is regarded as citizen leadership. Higher education institutions have a role to play in developing student leaders who are equipped with the capacities to confront uncertainty and thrive in a changing world. This study recruited student participants of the GC programme courses. In total, ten students participated in one of four focus group discussions which were guided by semi-structured interviews, and ninety students consented to have their reflective essays on the GC programme courses analysed. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the participants’ experience of the programme, in the focus group discussions and reflective essays, was examined to determine how they understood citizenship, social justice and leadership in relation to the programme’s teachings. The findings revealed that most students regarded the programme as developing their capacities for active and engaged global citizenship. Most students did not view the programme as teaching leadership; however, based on the definition of citizen leadership, I argue that the programme is indeed a site for teaching this form of leadership. It is recommended that the programme staff make the connection between active and engaged citizenship, social justice, and leadership more explicit in their curricula and teaching. It is believed that this change to the programme will enable students to have a clearer understanding of themselves as leaders prepared for the world beyond university and enabled to bring purposeful change to the world.

Institutions of higher education serve students in more ways than simply fostering academic growth. University and college campuses are often the introduction people have to the societal, interpersonal, and career/field specific expectations they will be guided by after completing their degree. One way for universities to do this is through the cultivation of critical consciousness by way of encouraging engagement in diversity-related activities. This study examined associations between engagement in diversity-related activities and reported levels of critical consciousness, along with differences between students of color and White students in patterns of association. Diversity-related experiences, including extracurricular diversity activities, positive cross-racial interactions, curriculum inclusion, and experiences of microaggressions, strongly correlated to levels of critical consciousness for students of color and White students. These findings add support to previous research that suggests diversity experiences on college campuses positively influence students. However, the findings also suggest differences in the outcomes that these diversity-related experiences links to for students of color versus White students. Community involvement was more strongly correlated to extracurricular diversity activities for White students than students of color. In turn, social justice orientation was more strongly linked to extracurricular diversity activities, positive cross-racial interactions, and experiences of microaggressions for students of color than for White students. Linked between diversity-related experiences and multicultural openness were not moderated by ethnicity. These findings suggest that there may be differences between behaviorally based experiences/outcomes and attitudinally based experiences/outcomes for students of color vs. White students. Overall, engagement in diversity-related activities was strongly correlated with critical consciousness among all students. Findings provide guidance for curriculum development, the development and implementation of diversity-based initiatives on college campuses, and adherence to mission statements to foster more inclusive environments for all students.

A woman’s experience in the workplace is an inductive process into a technological, hierarchical, and often male-dominated system. This study examines how female practitioners in technical and professional communication confront the technological system of the workplace. I trace the forces that contribute to the hierarchy and power struggles women face, I present how they claim authority and agency within such hierarchical and technological systems, and I show how these experiences can lead to activism and advocacy.In addition, my findings suggest that some women leave the workplace altogether in favor of less structured and more innovative ways of communicating about technologies, particularly technologies and processes they find more applicable to their lives as women. The data from 39 interviews with female practitioners reveals that the traditional notion of the workplace is in crisis, and that women are asserting agency in order to disrupt the system and ensure a place for themselves within it.

The underrepresentation of African Americans in the superintendency and lack of equitable access to the superintendency in K-12 public school districts across the United States is a problem of significant concern. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of 17 African American superintendents with the recruitment, selection, and promotion process to the superintendency while examining how the role of race, racism, sexism, and discrimination contribute to the underrepresentation of African American superintendents. The career and employment experiences of African American superintendents via semi-structured interviews is how this study extrapolates data to answer the research question. Thematic analysis based on narrative inquiry is utilized to report the findings of the data. This research study utilizes the frameworks of critical race theory and Asante’s (2009) 5 principles of the Afrocentric method for generating knowledge as a lens for analyzing and making sense of the data. Findings indicate significance with regards to the effects of racism, sexism, prejudice, and discrimination by school boards and search firms with the recruitment, selection, and promotion process for both aspiring and current African American superintendents. Additional findings of significance include the skillful knowledge and use of political acumen, contract negotiations, social justice leadership, mentoring, networking, and spirituality. The findings support the need to educate school boards, search firms, universities, professional educational leadership networking organizations on the local, state, and national level, as well as aspiring and current African American superintendents about how to increase equitable access and longevity both to and within the superintendency.

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