The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the practice of performance analysis in football and to explicitly illustrate the way match statistics are socially constructed, how this represents an interpreted form of knowledge, and how performance analysts communicate their insights towards other actors inside the club in which they are working. The aim is to investigate performance analysis as a newly emerged form of professional knowledge, which has an impact on the organisation of sports and the evaluation of players. This research is qualitative by nature and was conducted via the study of the educational literature on performance analysis, participant observations of performance analysts, industry conferences and qualitative interviews. The research conducted in this thesis shows that the match statistics of players are created socially via a process of quantification that adheres to tangible skills; in turn, these are infused into the organizational sphere of a football club by means of the mediation of performance analysts. This is an attempt to illustrate that the creation and interpretation of match statistics is not self evident, but undergoes various stages of production, interpretation and mediation through interaction. This study is mainly concerned as a contribution to the sociology of knowledge, and likewise to the sociology of professions because it explores the underlying system of expert abstract knowledge in use that performance analysts claim to possess. The main findings of this study can be summarized by stating that performance analysts conduct their job with socio-materially produced match statistics, which they partly create themselves and claim to be ‘objective scientific facts’ (Dok4.7). Their interpretative capabilities rest upon distinct sequences of socialization in which they accumulate a certain form of expertise, which allows them to talk meaningfully about football and the required skills. Performance analysts’ work with players is largely aimed at heightening reflexive awareness about the player’s performance in training and during matches.

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Thesis advisor: Zine Magubane / Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / In a series of case studies, I problematize the reification of race in the American Sociology of race from a postcolonial perspective. I argue prominent theories within the American sociology of race tend to essentialize race as a cause of racial inequality in the United States. These theories assume the existence of racial categories and then discuss how other entities become racialized into racialized social systems (Bonilla-Silva 1997), or racial projects (Omi & Winant 1994). These theories emphasize national structures, but occlude empire. I argue the occlusion of empire in the American sociology of race, particularly in theorization of racial categorization, is problematic. Empire is the structure that links race to class inequality, and produces race as a social category of exclusion. Therefore, a sociological theory of American racial inequality, which does not analyze imperialism as a structure that produces race, and rather focuses solely on national-structures, or a definition of capitalism severed from imperialism, cannot provide a thoroughly structural explanation for the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis (PhD) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (2 v. leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 306.42 GRE)

This dissertation examines the influence of Islamic ideology on Iranian Marxists during the 1979 revolution. The purpose of this study is to extricate the influence of Islamic culture, ideology, and terminology on Marxist organizations and on individuals who identified themselves as Marxists in Iran. This is especially of interest since in many ways Marxism and Islam are ideologically in conflict. Were Marxists aware of the influences of Islam in their behavior and ideology? To investigate the irony publications put forth by several Marxist organizations before and after the 1979 revolution were examined. A history of such influence both ideologically and contextually is depicted to demonstrate their political and cultural significance. Through the study of Marxist political organs, theoretical publication and political flyers distributed during and after the revolution, the phenomenon of Marxists converting to an Islamic ideology became clearer. Many Marxist organizations were demonstrably utilizing Islamic political ideology to organize and mobilize masses of Iranians. This study shows a historical precedence of Marxists’ usage of Islam in the political history of Iran dating back to early twentieth-century. Primary and secondary Marxist literature showed that Islam was an inescapable social and political reality for Iranian Marxists. Not only was there a common upbringing but a common enemy fostered provisional collusion between the two. The internalizing the idea of martyrdom—of Shi’a Islam—was a shared belied that united Marxists with Muslins in their attempt to effect sociopolitical change in Iran. Studying Marxist publications shows evidence that many Iranian Marxists were not conscious of using Islamic ethics and terminology since Islamic beliefs are part of the taken-for-granted world of Iranian culture. This contextual belief system, pervasive within the culture and a change of political ideology is what created the conditions for the possibility of Marxists becoming Muslims.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Hargreaves / Music teachers occupy a conflicted and contested position in many secondary schools, and music teacher education programs have been given the task of preparing students to enter this challenging environment. This qualitative dissertation study examined the explicit, implicit, and null curricula of music teacher preparation programs in Massachusetts, the processes involved in determining those curricula and the consequences of selecting certain music education content over others. Degree requirements and course descriptions were analyzed across all undergraduate music teacher preparation programs. In addition, a survey was administered to music and education faculty in all programs and members of five institutions participated in interviews. The explicit curriculum in most music teacher preparation programs emphasized the knowledge and skills of performance, specifically the performance of Western art music, as well as the isolation of music content knowledge from pedagogical knowledge. The implicit message delivered by the explicit curriculum was that advanced musical study was intended for the few, and that popular music, world music, and other genres that deviated from the western art music tradition (i.e. - the null curriculum) were of less value. Using Bernstein's and Young's theories from the sociology of knowledge, Goodson's theory of the status and evolution of school subjects, and Siskin's and Ball and Lacey's work in the culture of secondary school subjects as the theoretical framework, the position of music education was explained as a conflicted content area that demonstrated traits of both high- and low-status subjects. Music education's geographic isolation from general education faculty was magnified by the conflicting views that music educators held when compared with their music performance counterparts. The knowledge boundaries of music content had been defended for centuries, and music education's attempt to redefine what counts as valid music and music education knowledge was met with resistance from those who benefited from the familiarity offered by the conservatory-style model of postsecondary musical study. One outlier was identified, a program whose performance emphasis was not based on western art music. Tradition and reform proved to be challenging dual goals for music educators. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Dans l’espace des savoirs sur l’Iran, les énoncés concernant sa dimension religieuse ne sont pas rares. Au contraire, cet espace déborde de travaux qui ont, soit la religion pour objet principal d’analyse, soit une place primordiale pour la religion en en faisant le facteur par excellence de la compréhension de la société, de la culture et de la politique iraniennes. Reconnu en tant qu’une tradition spirituelle, ésotérique et mystique de l’islam dans la période de l’institutionnalisation des études iraniennes, en France, le chiisme fait objet de controverses intellectuelles après sa mise en action par les révolutionnaires de 1978-1979 et l’instauration de la République islamique d’Iran. Dépassant les cadres interprétatifs sclérosés de la connaissance du chiisme par les philosophes, les spécialistes des sciences religieuses et ceux de la civilisation iranienne, ce sont désormais les praticiens en sciences sociales qui prennent le relais pour la formation des discours scientifiques à ce sujet. Cette bifurcation d’objet, liée autant aux faits qu’aux orientations épistémiques, didactiques et idéologiques, va de pair avec l’agir de la conjoncture sociopolitique sur les conditions de possibilité du savoir pour que la problématisation de la question du chiisme constitue un éventail difficile et imprévisible. En partant d’une approche constructiviste, cette thèse entend donner à voir les composants scientifiques mais aussi extrascientifiques qui orientent la problématisation du chiisme dans l’espace des savoirs sur l’Iran en France de 1947 à 2010. / Since the establishment of renewed Iranian Studies in Post-War period, the academic study of Iran has been growing abundantly in France. In this scientific space of knowledge, the question of “shi’isme” has been evoked prominently through philosophical and spiritual patterns since it became more controversial after the revolution of 1979 and the revival of “shi’isme” as an ideological mean of defying the imperial regime. This led to an epistemological and institutional rupture related to different theoretical and methodological patterns within disciplines and thought systems associated with the construction of “shi’isme” as an object of scientific enquiries. The rise of intellectual controversies between spiritual and historicized frameworks that oriented the production of discourses on “shi’isme” challenges the scientific and epistemological patterns of knowledge construction, as well as ideological and socio-political ones. This study attempts to provide a constructivist approach to the advent and the evolution of scientific discourses on “shi’isme” in France from 1947 to 2010, through a socio-historical viewpoint of the sociology of knowledge. Institutional patterns, epistemological criteria and sociological components will be put together to illustrate a comprehensive mapping of discourse structuration on “shi’isme” in the French space of knowledge on Iran.

This thesis locates itself in wider developments in gender theory and examinations of the state’s production of gender inequality. It responds to two research problems in existing literature. Firstly, scholars have developed increasingly complex theorisations of the social construction of gender and the state’s role in it. This body of research has shown how gender blindness and gender bias in state policies produce inequality and how gender structures priorities, hierarchies and roles within state organisations. Fully operationalising these insights has, however, thus far proved difficult. Secondly, whilst existing research provides a nuanced picture of these multiple dynamics involved in the state’s reproduction of gender inequality, we cannot yet fully account for the processes through which these dynamics are maintained. As a result, our explanations of how change could be achieved are also under-developed. This thesis uses gender mainstreaming (GM) implementation as a model to explore these research problems, examining the processes underlying the ‘disappointing’ policy outcomes which existing analyses of GM implementation have documented (Bretherton 2001, Daly 2005, Mazey 2000). Whilst these existing studies provide an essential starting point, this thesis argues that many have applied an implicitly rigid or rationalistic approach to policy analysis, highlighting the disparity between the intended and actual outcomes of GM. This kind of approach fails to operationalise our understanding of the construction of gender as a process and a constantly renegotiated phenomenon. It also fails to exploit the research opportunities which GM implementation provides. To enable such an analysis, this thesis draws together literatures from policy studies, particularly interpretative policy analysis (Colebatch 2009, Pressman and Wildavsky 1984, Yanow 1993) and science and technology studies/the sociology of knowledge (STS/SK) (Latour and Callon 1981, Law 1986) to apply an understanding of policy implementation as a process of negotiation, where we analyse how policy is interpreted, understood and enacted, on the ground. This perspective emphasises how local responses to strategic policy demands emerge through collective processes of interpretation, which are heavily affected by pre-existing policy assumptions, activities and practices (Wagenaar 2004, Wagenaar et al 2003). These concepts are used to operationalise the concept of gender knowledge (Andresen and Doelling 2002, Caglar 2010, Cavaghan 2010, 2012, Doelling 2005) to investigate how shared (non)perceptions of gender inequality are institutionalised and perpetuated, whilst competing notions are marginalised. Thus developed, the gender knowledge concept enables us to grasp and analyse (non)perceptions of the gender inequality issue; the evidence or ways of thinking which underpin them; and the processes, materials and persons involved in institutionalising them to the exclusion of competing perceptions. This approach therefore operationalises the notion that gender and gendering is a process and connects the ‘genderedness of organisations’ (Benschop and Verloo 2006, Rees 2002) to gendered policy outputs. Examining ‘what is happening’ when GM is implemented in this manner provides an opportunity to identify mechanisms of resistance, i.e. the processes through which the production of gender inequality is maintained. By corollary, examining ‘successful’ incidences of GM implementation provides empirical examples of how change has occurred. The project thus aims to produce theoretical insights which can be extrapolated to a wider understanding of the perpetuation of the state production of gender inequality.

There is a need to explore how Indigenous knowledge(s) relates to Anishinaabe ongoing resilience. I do this by telling the story of my home and privileging Anishinaabe Gikeedaasiwin, which means Anishinaabe knowledge. This study investigates socio-cultural knowledge(s) of the Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior region in Northern Ontario by using storytelling as a culturally specific research method. A multi-layered reflexivity approach combined with grounded theory act as the basis for a discussion of Anishinaabe ontology and epistemology. The sociology of knowledge provides the framework for critiques of modernist hegemonic knowledge. This study offers a nuanced view of Anishinaabe ways of knowing by considering Anishinaabe writers Patrick McGuire Sr. and Norval Morriseau. Arising from these stories are conceptual thematic understandings which included: The land and relationships to the land are foundational. Eshkakimikwe Giikeedaasiwin – Relational understandings and this is land based knowledge; The relationship between land, spirit and the Anishinaabe - Kiimiingona manda Giikeedaasiwin are part of the original instructions given to the Anishinaabe: There are multiple realities which are accessible by physical and spiritual means. Manidoo Waabiwin – seeing in a spirit way and Kiimiingona manda Giikeedaasiwin are part of the original instructions given to the Anishinaabe are evident; There are cycles of life and the land is sustaining to people. Muskiki Aki means medicine land which provides life; Anishinaabe values of responsibility and obligation are recognized. Gnawaaminjigewin is the responsibility to look, to see, to witness; There is a need to maintain and continue relationships in the world. Bzindamowin is learning by listening and the relational practice of a good life, Mino Bimaadiziwin; and Anishinaabe values relating to transformation, renewal, reciprocity and sharing to maintain life. Manitou Minjimendamowin means spirit memory, teachings on how to live life and Bzindamowin, that is learning by listening, is reflected. This study argued that exploring the survival and resurgence of Anishinaabe knowledge(s) can set different directions for the social renewal and transformation of Anishinaabe societies. This is an important understanding in any future development and social change, and especially resource development directly involving the land.

This thesis explores the question of history’s future as a research discipline in the academy and the question of the discipline’s function in ‘pure’ inquiry. Central to the notion of research is the notion of discovery of new knowledge, but what constitutes new historical knowledge rather than simply more historical information is not clear. As the idea of research (which is understood to mean the discovery and creation of new knowledge) is central to the idea of the modern university, the future of history as a research discipline in the research university would seem to depend on the discipline being clear on its research function. Further complicating resolution of this question is the fact that the funding of research is informed by science and technology paradigms where research is defined as ‘pure basic research’, ‘strategic basic research’, ‘applied research’, and ‘experimental development’. / Curiously, what these classifications mean for the humanities generally and history in particular, remains unexamined—despite the fact that professional survival depends on the academic convincing sceptical funders of the relevance of humanist research. Do historians do basic research? If basic research is inquiry at the edge of understanding, how, and by whom, is the edge defined? In the first decades of the University of Berlin—the institution that formed the model for the modern research-university—the edge was defined through philosophy and history. Hegelian systematic philosophy, Fichtean philosophy of the subject, and the philosophical historicism of such thinkers as Ranke, Niebuhr, Ast and Boeckh was concerned with the subject’s knowledge of knowledge: there lay the edge. By the end of the nineteenth century no discipline was foundational. Epistemological ‘advance’ had resulted in not only the split of knowledge into that derived from humanities or ‘spirit’ studies (Geisteswissenschaften) and that from science studies (Naturwissenschaften), but also the proliferation of disciplinary specialization that further entrenched the dichotomy. / In the twenty-first century, inquiry’s edge has moved on. Climate change, environmental degradation and biological and genetic engineering have posed wholly new existential questions. The Archimedean point from where the edge is viewed is no longer anthropocentric. Society and nature are inextricably connected. The physical and the spiritual can no longer be considered separately. When ‘we’ can either be manufactured or artificially enhanced the notion of autonomy and self-fashioning takes on a different hue in postmodernity than in modernity. There is now an increasing but unsatisfied need for more interdisciplinary and holistic knowledge. Unfortunately, no effective models or processes exist to enable this need to be met. This thesis explores ways in which the deficiencies might be overcome and explores academic history’s possible location within a future integrated-knowledge schema.