Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

I dagens samhälle känner allt fler unga ett utanförskap och hiphopen har blivit ett viktigt medel för att illustrera detta utanförskap. Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa hur en motståndskultur kan komma till uttryck via musik. En textanalys på gangsterrappgruppen Kartellens låttexter har utförts för att klarlägga vilken motståndskultur gruppen uttrycker i texterna, samt vilka centrala aspekter denna kultur innehåller. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har Howard S Beckers teori om avvikande och R W Connells teori om maskulinitet använts. I rapporten har även tidigare forskning kring gatukultur, hiphop och utanförskap behandlats. De centrala aspekterna i resultatet rör gatukultur, maskulinitet, utanförskap och de fiender som gruppen anser sig ha. Det finns påtagliga kopplingar mellan dessa teman och hur de påverkar varandra. Ett av de tydligaste budskapen Kartellen förmedlar i sina texter rör den politik som förs i Sverige och gruppens polisförakt. De har både blivit hyllade och kritiserade i media för sina låttexter som ofta innehåller grova våldsskildringar men som samtidigt belyser segregation och utanförskap.

This study attempts to explore both the pre-street and the current lived experiences ofunaccompanied migrant children on the streets of Accra and the motivations, contributions,perceptions and the challenges these children face at the point of destination. The study furtherexplores street children‟s views on their rights in terms of their schooling, health care andeconomic participation. The overarching perspective of the study is based on the philosophy and tenets of the socialstudies of childhood. A number of concepts and theories which are very prominent in the studyof children and childhood were used as the underpinning framework of the study. These conceptsare; concepts of agency, participation, social structure, street children, working children, andmigration theory. Unaccompanied migrate children become street children as a result ofmigration. The various social structures that confront these children inflame the agency andcompetent spirit which pushes children to engage in economic participation for their existenceand survival in an unknown destination. These concepts and theories will help in making cogentanalysis and also help put my discussions in focus. One major aim of my study was to give children the voice and the platform to air their views inissues that concerns their own lives. In this child focus research, qualitative research approachand specifically the ethnographic method were adopted in the data collection process becausethese approaches give in-depth analysis on social issues. Data collection tools used includesinterviews, participant observation and focus group discussion. My field work was in Accra(Ghana). In all 15 informants made up of both genders were sampled from two research sites, amarket and a lorry station. The analysis of the study revealed that, there exists manifold variety of childhoods. Children‟slived experiences involve work no matter where they are, either with their families or on thestreet as indicated by the study. The results also indicated that, children‟s motives for migratingcan be linked to personal, family and structural conditions which serve as both push and pullfactors, from and to their destination point. Additionally, the results indicated that children‟swork in their destination point is one of the major activities in their daily lives. Again peerrelations on the street are used as a means to support one another in times of need, and play wasidentified to be a part of children‟s street life. Also evidences from the study indicated thatchildren make contributes towards the well being and the development of themselves, theirfamilies and the society as well. Majority of the children living on the street have no classroomeducation, neither do they have access to “proper” medical care. Finally the study revealed that,children face a number of challenges as a part of their lived experiences on the street. Furthermore the following lessons and conclusions from the study are drawn. It was clear thatstreet children need their work in order to survive because children in the Global Southexperience particular structural conditions which necessitate them to work. The universal modelof childhood cannot be applicable to some categories of children, like the informants in mystudy. Aside the adults‟ defined spaces for children, there exist different spaces in the GlobalSouth were children can occupy, such as the street.

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East 12th Street was the heart of the African American community through the 1970s. After that time the African American population became less concentrated along the corridor, leaving a street in disrepair, and with continuous promises for improvements and redevelopment. However, none of the projects envisioned decades ago came to fruition along the East 12th Street corridor, but East 11th Street was able to transform into a bustling center city street. This report will examine the history of the East 12th Street corridor, the multiple efforts made at redevelopment, and what strategies may be useful going forward to encourage investment in the area, after several unsuccessful attempts. / text

One of the most notably successful historic preservation tools is the National Main Street Center’s Four-Point Approach™, which focuses on using design, economic restructuring, promotion, and organization to achieve its goals of preservation-based economic revitalization in cities across America. The Main Street Program’s approach has been broadly designed to accommodate the unique combination of factors that differ from city to city. Three of Texas’s twenty recertified Main Street cities were studied in order to answer the question: In recertified Main Street cities, what are the impacts within a historic downtown district after a community leaves the program and what factors encourage their return? This study examines the effects participation in the program has had on the downtown historic districts of Brenham, Gainesville, and Kilgore. The act of joining, leaving, and rejoining the program provides an opportunity for internal comparisons within these communities over time. Interviews and archival research were used to determine the reasons each selected recertified city left and returned to the program, and identified current problems that could threaten the program’s continued success. Despite some differing circumstances, these case studies suggest that the basic reasons both for leaving the program and later returning were strikingly similar: economic hardships in the cities eliminated support for the projects, causing them to end participation, while continued struggles with downtown vacancy rates and high business turnover sparked interest in rejoining. These communities realized the worth of the Main Street program’s structure and network in the success of revitalizing their downtown historic districts. The flexibility of the program’s framework allows for each participating city to tailor the approach to meet their specific needs and highlight their unique character. While the methods of implementation differ, many of the ongoing problems are the same. Recertified cities represent only a quarter of the cities currently participating in the Texas Main Street Program, but the lessons learned are potentially valuable to all Main Street communities as they face challenges in revitalizing their downtown districts and encourage the longevity of their own programs. / text

The growth of informal employment characterizes the urbanization process in the developing countries in the previous decades. China is in the fast lane of urbanization and there are signs of casual employment in Chinese cities in the recent decade. This study chooses a prevalent phenomenon, i.e., street vending, in Chinese cities to investigate the emergence and growth mechanisms of informal employment in Chinese cities since the economic reform. The city of Guangzhou is chosen for case study. There are two theoretical frameworks in explaining the growth of street vendors in other developing countries. First, they could be interpreted as the mismatch of job opportunities against the capacity in generating employment under specific development strategy (the dualist framework and ISI strategy); or street vending, along with other informal employment opportunities, is the efficient way of doing business (the neoliberal framework). The Chinese case is unique as the country is on the course of marketization while the state remains strong. What is the role of the strong state played in contributing to or refraining from the growth of street vendors; and how the lives of street vendors are in this particular context; are the two questions to be investigated. Empirical finding shows that the revival of street vendors in Chinese cities (the first generation of street vendors since economic reform) is facilitated by a series of reform policies initiated by the state, particularly the introduction and promotion of individual business. Street vendors relieved employment pressure, met the commodity shortages in the cities, and rejuvenated urban economy in China. The returnees and the peasants in the city suburb are two major groups practicing street vending, who made fortune out of it. The current wave of street vendors is resulted from the unexpected consequences of the state’s policies, including the state’s promotion on labor dispatching regulations to lower the labor price, the land centered urbanization pushing up the rent, the persistent rural urban disparity in generating urban-bound migration, the hukou system in inferiorizing the rural migrants to the locals, and the changing labor market as more young rural migrants emerge. Street vendors in the current wave could be differentiated into developmental street vendors, who drop the low-wage income to practice street vending; and survival street vendors, who are rejected by regular job markets but have to turn to street vending. The street vendors in the recent years tend to have higher income than some regular paid jobs. Survey on their operation, commuting and accommodation shows that they could maintain they live in the city and their vibrancy is due to the abundant cheap products, as the country is the world factory; and a large number of low and lower-middle income wage workers being their clients. This study concludes that the state contributes to the growth of street vendors in Chinese cities. The strong growth momentum on the growth of street vendors suggests the current antagonistic policies against street vendors need to be reviewed. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In an attempt to engage the fundamental issues of design that are integral to our understanding of architecture and the built environment, this thesis investigates how spontaneous architecture can transcend political and social boundaries by acting as a catalyst in the urban environment. The act of catalyzing is exemplified in the informal sector through street markets and street vendors. And while the complexity of the current economic reality in the United States has resulted in a fragmented architectural typology, the dynamic articulation of marginalized vacant space in the urban core has become a strong player in a revival of localism. The underpinning goal of this thesis is to develop an understanding of the significance that these catalytic engines play in the reintegration of cities still fighting to overcome the spoils of modernity. Through a revival of localism and a re-appropriation of urban energies, markets exemplify the bottom-up approach of incremental urban design powered by formation of strong micro economies. Market case studies we visited in 6 cities in the United States: St. Louis, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; and New York, New York. The case studies were used as means of deriving at potential insights to the state of the American street market. An examination of prescription of catalytic opportunities – a dynamical system that has a sensitive dependence on the initial conditions of a place – presents a series of guiding principles for successful market design. / text

The focus of this study is to explore what I, a Canadian educator, can learn about development deriving from my relationship with five Burkinabé street youth and from participating in a development project. Furthermore, this thesis explores the following questions: What are the possibilities and challenges associated with Participatory Development according to my experiences during my project? What can be learned from my development experiences? How can my international “development” experience influence my practice in the Canadian classroom? Two conceptual frameworks have guided this thesis: Narrative Inquiry and Participatory Development. The latter was selected for two reasons; firstly, the non-profit development organization I represented and worked with in Kingston, Ontario strongly believe in working with partner organizations in a participatory fashion. Secondly, I was personally interested in exploring whether a participatory approach could be successful in eliminating the power relationships sometimes present in development work. The former was chosen because it offered the most flexibility in terms of writing design and supported the three levels of narrative: experience, telling, and interpreting (Polkinghorne, 1988). As such, this thesis is a self-study narrative that enabled me to present my story as a young teacher, volunteer and researcher. My research has been shaped by (1) my experiences, (2) stories of others, (3) my experiences with individuals who have impacted my journey, (4) my relationships with five Burkinabé street youth, and (5) finally my learning that took place before, during and after my three month volunteer project. ii My experience of volunteering in Burkina Faso has taught me that development is a complex field that should not be as easily accessible to those whom are inexperienced and unprepared to handle the challenges inherent in development work. My self-study cautions new researchers doing fieldwork abroad, volunteers and non-profit organizations of the possible negative effects such as harming the host community/culture, experiencing culture shock or reverse culture shock and practicing volunteer tourism while claiming to do development. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-24 16:49:22.151

This study aims to show how teachers talk about their teaching with regards to gender in relation to literature.We have interviewed four teachers of Swedish for upper secondary school to discover how they feel about, and understand, the fact that gender is a factor in the teaching of literature and that they should present to the students literature written by both male and female authors. To analyze the interviews we use Sannersted's (1991) theory about teachers as street-level-bureaucrats ("närbyråkrater"). He states that teachers are persons who have to follow what politicians have decided but they are fairly free to choose how they do it, but to be able to follow a decision as closely as possible three qualifications have to be met. The teachers have to understand the decision, be able to follow it and want to follow it. We find that the teachers that we have interviewed are aware that they discuss gender issues with their students and they all claim that they present a variation of authors to their students. However, they all express concern that there might be some problems with regards to the material availble, it being very dominated by male authors.