Participatory photography initiatives promise to 'empower', 'give voice' and 'enable social change' for marginalised communities through photography. This thesis questions this promise, demonstrating participatory photography to be a contested practice defined as much by inherent tension, ethical complexity and its limitations as by its potential. Caught up in governmental practices and instrumental discourses, 'NGO-ised' participatory photography has lost its purpose and politics. Using multiple case-studies and presenting empirical research on TAFOS, a pioneering Peruvian participatory photography project, this thesis explores under examined areas of participatory photography practice, including its governmentality, spectatorship and long term impact on participants. It establishes the effectiveness of photography as a tool for fomenting an enduring critical consciousness (Freire 1970, 1973) while questioning the romantic narrative of participatory photography's inherently empowering qualities and capacity to enable change. Pluralism is used as a theoretical and conceptual framework for re-framing the promise of participatory photography. It is argued that a pluralized notion of participatory photography highlights the paradoxical, uncertain and negotiated character of the practice. It re-conceptualises the method as a mode of mediation that enables a plurality of seeing, that supports emerging and unrecognized claims and that cultivates a critical engagement with difference; qualities that are vital to democratic pluralism. The notion of a 'Photography of Becoming' re-imagines the critical and political character of participatory photography and the complex and vulnerable politics of voice in which it is immersed.

Western society highly values work, and is structured in such a way that people have to be involved in the paid labour force to live. Forms of work that are unpaid are often not recognized as “real” or “meaningful”. Consequently, populations that are not involved in the paid labour force can often be conceptualized as unproductive, which is often the case when discussing retired seniors in Canada. Despite the wide-spread social expectations that older people should be retired and the public programs that enable their retirement, ideals about the makeup of meaningful social roles have not changed very much, and so are applied to this population in a similar manner as to their younger counterparts. In other words, people are not generally seen as socially productive or as having meaningful social roles if they are not active in the paid labour force. For this reason, many sociologists have come to characterize older people as being a “roleless” population. If not characterized as roleless, “retired” in itself has also been classified as a role for elderly people, but the social function of a retired person has not been clearly defined either. Because of this, this Master’s thesis endeavoured to learn more about the work-related roles and identities of retired seniors. Through discussions with seniors about the different work activities they have been involved in throughout their lives, the social expectations projected onto them, and how they conceive their own roles and identities, this study unravels classic definitions of work, leisure, and retirement.

Esta dissertação de mestrado trata a respeito da organização no local de trabalho, por meio de um estudo do caso da Comissão de Fábrica dos Trabalhadores na planta da Ford de São Bernardo do Campo. Com base em entrevistas com dirigentes e ex-dirigentes da Comissão e em documentos produzidos pelo sindicato da categoria e a própria representação no local de trabalho, procura-se recuperar as transformações institucionais e no padrão de ação dessa instância representativa desde a sua fundação. Levando-se em conta as mudanças no mundo do trabalho nas últimas décadas, a discussão se encaminha para as estratégias laborais para lidar com os novos desafios impostos pela globalização. Ao final, discorre-se a respeito da nova lei trabalhista, que obriga a criação de comissões de empresa em todos os locais de trabalho com mais de 200 funcionários. Conclui-se que a nova lei, por alijar os sindicatos do processo eleitoral dessas novas comissões, representa uma derrota para as pretensões de alastramento do modelo construído no ABC, podendo levar a um modelo paternalista de representação dos trabalhadores. / This masters theses delas with the organization in the workplace, through a case study of the Works Council at the Fords factory in São Bernardo do Campo. Based on interviews with unionists and former unionists as well as on documents produced by the Metalworkers Union and the Works Council itself, the aim is to deal with institutional transformations and the pattern of action of this representative body since its foundation. Taking into account the changes in the world of work in the last decades, it is discussed the labour strategies to deal with the new challenges imposed by globalization. At the end, the new labour law, which requires the creation of Works Councils in all workplaces with more than 200 employees, is discussed. It is concluded that the new law, by eliminating the unions from the electoral process of these new councils, represents a defeat for the pretensions of spreading the model built in the ABC, and can lead to a paternalistic model of workers representation.

Esta dissertação de mestrado trata a respeito da organização no local de trabalho, por meio de um estudo do caso da Comissão de Fábrica dos Trabalhadores na planta da Ford de São Bernardo do Campo. Com base em entrevistas com dirigentes e ex-dirigentes da Comissão e em documentos produzidos pelo sindicato da categoria e a própria representação no local de trabalho, procura-se recuperar as transformações institucionais e no padrão de ação dessa instância representativa desde a sua fundação. Levando-se em conta as mudanças no mundo do trabalho nas últimas décadas, a discussão se encaminha para as estratégias laborais para lidar com os novos desafios impostos pela globalização. Ao final, discorre-se a respeito da nova lei trabalhista, que obriga a criação de comissões de empresa em todos os locais de trabalho com mais de 200 funcionários. Conclui-se que a nova lei, por alijar os sindicatos do processo eleitoral dessas novas comissões, representa uma derrota para as pretensões de alastramento do modelo construído no ABC, podendo levar a um modelo paternalista de representação dos trabalhadores. / This masters theses delas with the organization in the workplace, through a case study of the Works Council at the Fords factory in São Bernardo do Campo. Based on interviews with unionists and former unionists as well as on documents produced by the Metalworkers Union and the Works Council itself, the aim is to deal with institutional transformations and the pattern of action of this representative body since its foundation. Taking into account the changes in the world of work in the last decades, it is discussed the labour strategies to deal with the new challenges imposed by globalization. At the end, the new labour law, which requires the creation of Works Councils in all workplaces with more than 200 employees, is discussed. It is concluded that the new law, by eliminating the unions from the electoral process of these new councils, represents a defeat for the pretensions of spreading the model built in the ABC, and can lead to a paternalistic model of workers representation.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Social Inquiry, 2004. / "January 2004" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 252-273).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Theological Seminary, 1992. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-209).

<p> Schools of social work are facing a challenge of a lack of social workers with a doctorate to fill faculty positions expected to open due to faculty retiring. There is also a need for more ethnic diversity among social work faculty and schools are struggling to recruit and retain more faculty. This qualitative study used phenomenological methods to explore the factors that 20 Black women attribute to earning their doctorate degree in social work. It used Tinto&rsquo;s theory of graduate persistence, critical race theory, and Black feminist thought to contextualize the findings.</p><p> All of the participants were first generational doctoral students. Two factors motivated them to earn their doctorates (1) influence of family, friends and mentors and (2) their desire to help others. Findings also revealed that participants encountered a number of internal and external obstacles during their studies. While these obstacles delayed many of the women, they did not stop them. The women perceived these obstacles to be connected to their race, gender, and class. All of the women prevailed against the obstacles they encountered utilizing internal supports such as their faith and determination. They also relied on external supports from those with whom they had interpersonal relationships, including family, friends, and their institutions. These findings suggest that having support from their institution and encouragement from their family and friends served as a protective factor to the obstacles they encountered. These findings also outline the dichotomy of finances in this study. Overall 90% of participants received some type of funding for their, however all of accumulated financial debt in pursuit of their doctorate. Based on the findings of this study the following suggestions are made for schools of social work. A) Address issues of institutional racism by providing mentorship training courses for faculty. B) Conduct research to test the effectiveness of recommendations outlined in this study. C) Provide more training and resources to prepare Black women who aspire to pursue their Ph.D. in social work.</p><p>

How to assist the child survivors of war is a problem. One of the most traumatic injuries a child can suffer is the loss or displacement of their care-givers. The practical details of what constitutes a helpful intervention are unknown. Beginning in 1975, a group from S.E. Asia, some children of war, traveled to the United States as unaccompanied refugee minors. One purpose of this study is to discover what inner strengths and external resources enabled these young people to create a viable life for themselves in a strange new culture. Another purpose of the study is to explore ways in which therapeutic approaches to working with dislocated children of war can be strengthened and informed. A sub-group of the unaccompanied minors is the Vietnamese Amerasians. Between 25 and 40,000 Vietnamese Amerasians were born to Vietnamese women and American servicemen between 1962 and 1975. An in depth, phenomenological interview was used to record the migration stories of these 11 children. The literature and the interviews supported the conclusion that a major predictor of positive adjustment was length of time the child had spent in the care of parents or parental substitutes before migration and the amount of stable foster care the child received after migration. Additionally, the child's relationship to institutions and case workers as adjunctive caretakers was also found to be a significant factor in adjustment. Finally, the methods employed in the case work required were divergent from the typical child welfare practice due to the importance of paying particular attention to culture and the meaning of “helping relationships” in the original culture.

The aim of this study is to analyse the process of teaching on line amongst Swedish high school teachers. The empirical material for the study is based on four one-hour qualitative interviews with high school teachers who taught a range of subjects between them. The teachers interviewed all worked in the same high school in Mid Sweden and they were compelled to teach online as part of a series of measures deployed by the Swedish Government in response to the COVID19 global pandemic. The interview data were analysed with the help of Anselm Strauss’ pragmatist-interactionist notion of work and articulation work, and with the help of the concept of tacit knowledge. The study shows the range and nature of the extra work tasks engaged in by the teachers when teaching online. It also highlights the difficulties teachers had in communicating with students in an online setting, where they were unable to put their tacit classroom skills to use. Teachers felt that their professional practice depended on creative and spontaneous classroom communication, and that such classroom interaction was necessary for successful pupil outcomes. The study highlights that the online environment did not allow for this creative and spontaneous classroom practice. In the online environment teachers could not pick up cues from learners. Teachers’ ability to perform professionally was thereby compromised by the online environment. Further research into teachers’ methods for online teaching is required.

Modern work has been proven to compartmentalize the life of the individual. One must look no further than semantics to realize the discontinuity between "work" and "home," for the segmented nature of these two states of being becomes apparent the moment that they are juxtaposed.  Historically, it has been argued that the tension between industrial/post-industrial labor and some kind of natural state of existence in which an individual can pursue her own destiny is both deeply rooted in the flowering of modernity and seems to be accepted as unavoidable. In this thesis, I present a case study where this tension is almost entirely put aside. In my analysis of Twin Oaks Community, an intentional community located in central Virginia, I show how modern labor organization can be deliberately cultivated to reconsider the relationship between a laborer and her work, and that a work/life balance is not necessary when all forms of work are valued. Results of a participant observation study performed at Twin Oaks, as well as reliance on theory and sociological studies indicate the ways in which Twin Oaks marries life and work in the pursuit of building community. This study will prove that Twin Oaks Community\'s labor organization, valuing of labor from all epochs (pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial), and overarching communitarian goals help to reunite the laborer with her natural life-activity. / Master of Public and International Affairs