This thesis focuses on the power struggle between Mobutu's administration and the Catholic Church as it played out in the realm of education. In particular, it focuses on how state ideology, meaning authenticity and Mobutism, pervaded education through textbooks and teaching materials in 1970s Zaire and how the Catholic Church attempted to resist state ideology through education as well. Discourse analysis was used to determine how state dogma and Church opposition were disseminated to youth via educational materials. Furthermore, I examine how and why youth responded to this power struggle through the examination of painting, music and literature created by the 1970s cohort as they aged. Again, discourse analysis is used to understand the meanings conveyed through the art. Youth, I argue, have rejected Mobutu and his ideologies and remain uncertain, perhaps even suspicious, of the Catholic Church's role in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

<p>Pastoralists (nomadic herders) live throughout the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya, where they have historically been marginalized, with little development and security. Continuing traditions of cattle rustling and ethnic violence present significant barriers to development, and external peacebuilding efforts achieve limited results in such conflicts. A uniquely pastoralist grassroots peacebuilding process emerged to address pastoralist conflict, which generated sustainable peace in Laikipia yet was never studied. A review of extant literature conducted for this dissertation led to the conclusion that the peacebuilding field does not sufficiently study such grassroots volunteer peacebuilding, and support for such efforts is hampered by Western teleological approaches that have limited capacity to deal with emergence and complexity. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies by enhancing understanding and utilization of emergent peacebuilding in Kenya?s pastoralist cultures. In this study, Kenya Pastoralist Network and Mediators Beyond Borders?Kenya Initiative co-researchers collaboratively developed a participatory action research (PAR) project focused on a 2009 peacebuilding effort known as the Laikipia Peace Caravan (LPC). The dissertation explored how effective and sustainable grassroots peacebuilding emerges in pastoralist cultures. The PAR approach was utilized to support pastoralists in empowering themselves regarding the ways in which their neotraditional peacebuilding works, and how it can become more sustainable. Multi-ethnic co-researchers engaged in study design, data collection, inquiry and qualitative analysis, conducting semistructured multilingual interviews with 49 diverse Laikipia community members, officials and LPC professionals. Archival research was collected from a range of sources. This study found that effective and sustainable pastoralist peacebuilding emerged from expansive utilization of diverse pastoralist social networks, cycles of learning and adaptation, integration of practical wisdom and cultural sensitivities, and systemic transformation of transactional, attitudinal and structural societal domains through dialogue processes, modeling and grassroots self-organization. The dissertation outlines and provides evidence for a novel conceptual framework, emergent peacebuilding design, which involves a multidimensional systemic approach to peacebuilding that emerges from social networks, embraces diversity and complexity, is inclusive of traditional methods, and adapts as necessary to meet changes in context and process.

<p> Despite the multitude of existing studies of leadership and organizational outcome, there are few empirical studies of these phenomena in Africa. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between Nigerian local government administrative leadership and organizational outcome and between perceived leadership effectiveness and transformational leadership factors, based on Bass&rsquo;s full range leadership theory (FRLT). Data were collected through the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaires administered to a randomly selected sample of 240 department heads in 30 local governments in Osun State, Nigeria. Regression result shows a statistically significant correlation between the local public administrators&rsquo; leadership practices and organizational outcome (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), but the model only accounted for 10.5% of variance in organizational outcome, suggesting other influential factors on the local government outcome other than leadership. Regression results also showed a significant relationship between local public administrators&rsquo; leadership effectiveness and transformational leadership factors (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). The model accounted for 28% of the variance in leadership effectiveness, suggesting other factors affecting the public administrators&rsquo; leadership effectiveness. The implications for positive social change include the opportunity to move the Nigerian local administrators&rsquo; leadership practices towards more effective and ethical leadership as explained by the spectrum of FRLT, through training and transformational leadership development programs. In turn, transformational leadership and organizational practices may discourage corruption and help build a sustainable local government institution that is responsive and accountable to the Nigerian public.</p>

<p>This dissertation provides a description of aspects of the phonology, morphology, and morphosyntax of Bangime. Bangime is a language isolate spoken in the Dogon language speaking area of Central Eastern Mali. Although the Bangande, the speakers of Bangime, self-identify with the Dogon, their language bears practically no resemblance to the surrounding Dogon languages. Bangime has limited productive morphological processes whereas Dogon languages are agglutinating, with productive morphemes to indicate inflectional and derivational verbal and nominal processes. </p><p> Bangime has a complex tonal system. General tendencies of the tonal patterns are described, with the many exceptions which frequently occur also outlined. Nominal tonal melodies are apparent in plural forms. Objects in verb phrases receive tonal agreement with tones on the verb in accordance with the subject of the sentence. </p><p> The tense, aspect, and mood system of the language is also complicated. Inflectional marking on the verb, auxiliaries, and the word order all contribute to the indication of the tense, aspect or mood of the sentence. An overview of these multifaceted phonological and morphological processes is provided in this dissertation with hypotheses as to how the language might have evolved. </p>

<p> The Republic of Ghana is the legacy of the colonial amalgam of multiple, and previously distinct, ethnic homelands. The Trans-Volta Togoland became the Volta Region of Ghana following a Plebiscite in 1956. The dominant ethnic group in this region; the Ewe, has long maintained a claim of neglect of the Volta Region and the marginalization of its people in this postcolonial state. Protests in the street and at media houses ensued against the State. This qualitative case study explores the undercurrents of this conflict in the context of the Ewe group&rsquo;s identity and their experiences of neglect and marginalization in the postcolonial state. The main objective of the study was to understand why the Ewe group has not revolted despite the perceptions of deprivation. This study focused on the Ewe group in the Volta Region of Ghana a as sub-colonial construct that has managed its perceptions of deprivation without revolting against the host State.</p>

<p> The Khoisan are the most genetically ancient people on Earth, with a population once numbering 300,000. The Bushmen of Southern Africa are quickly losing their 40,000 years of indigenous knowledge due to colonialism, globalization, modernization, assimilation, land loss, and marginalization. There are now large gaps in generational knowledge, especially as people move into settlements and leave their traditional homelands. The restoration of indigenous knowledge requires the paths of intergenerational cultural transmission to be reestablished (Florey, 2009). This dissertation examines whether indigenous knowledge can be perpetuated intergenerationally with the aid of indigenous-based restorative ecotourism. Indigenous-based <i>restorative</i> ecotourism promotes empowerment and local engagement, is responsive to local value systems, and aims to halt marginalization in communities. Using exploratory research within a qualitative paradigm and ethnographic narrative inquiry and semi-structured interviews, I examine the effect of ecotourism on two communities of Nharo and Ju/'hoansi Bushmen through two questions: 1) How has ecotourism changed these two communities and 2) Can restorative ecotourism support intergenerational knowledge retention? The data show that these Nharo and Ju/'hoansi Bushmen want to keep their culture, that they see value in the intergenerational transmission of indigenous knowledge, and that this is happening in both communities involved in ecotourism ventures. I conclude that this system of ecotourism is culturally restorative, and leads to increased indigenous knowledge retention in these communities without further exploitation.</p><p> <i>Keywords</i> &ndash; San Bushmen, Nharo, Botswana, indigenous knowledge, intergenerational knowledge, restorative ecotourism, cultural tourism </p>

<p> There is an extraordinary group of people, motivated by their Christian faith, starting businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa because they believe that business plays a key role in alleviating poverty. These faith-based social business (FSB) leaders face situations similar to those faced by leaders in other academic and practitioner fields including business as mission, social entrepreneurship, international business, and international development, given their pursuit of multiple-bottom lines, cross-cultural engagement in undeveloped nations, and a focus on integration of faith. The complexities of their contexts create opportunities and challenges in which their strategies and operations require further investigation and analysis. </p><p> This case study of six FSBs explores what this author labels the "domains of influence" of business structure, outcomes, and partnership that shape the thoughts and actions of these business leaders. It found that in the domain of structure, FSBs only allow limited forms of subsidizations based on their desire to steer clear of unhealthy dependency and avoid harm to the local economy. Furthermore, there is an expressed need for creative funding during the pioneering/incubation periods to allow for the pursuit of traditional investment after proof of concept. In the domain of outcomes, FSBs identify various understandings of, and pursue multiple strategies toward, economic, spiritual and social goals. Findings suggest that the primary economic goal of FSBs is sustainability, defined in multiple ways. In the spiritual arena, given the predominantly Christian location in which these FSBs were operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, a contextual understanding of local views of spirituality promotes a reactive form of evangelism. Moreover, FSB leaders view spiritual and social outcomes as inseparable and strategically target not only the product itself towards social impact, but also use the power they have as a business to promote justice. This practice of "justice" is accompanied by a social practice of "tough love" in regards to the employees, since it is believed to be better developmentally in terms of building dignity and hope than nonprofit handout efforts. Finally, in the domain of partnership, the findings show that the FSBs tend to employ a short-term expatriate rotation if U.S. partner exit strategies are not viable, and pay special attention to addressing pre-existing racial hierarchical stereotypes within the partnership.</p>

<p> The current hermeneutic qualitative phenomenological study explored the impact of <i>Harambee</i> tradition of philanthropy on the philanthropic activities of Kenyan immigrants in the Twin Cities. The face to face interviews of 12 Kenyan immigrants yielded six themes which illustrated that <i>harambee;</i> skews towards social needs limited to Kenyans and other similar groups, conform to familiarity and comfort, espouse shared responsibility, enhance community participation and mobilization, maintain continuity of philanthropy and harmonizes altruistic behavior and satisfaction. Two subthemes that emerged indicate that <i>harambee</i> is for common good and is not easy to replicate in other settings. The findings of this study show that first-generation Kenyan immigrants continue to practice <i> harambee</i> years after migration. It is recommended that a Kenyan cultural community center be established in the Twin Cities to preserve the Kenyan history and culture as well as to provide avenues for research on Kenyan immigrant issues and other similar groups in the United States.</p>

<p> From 1914 to 1990, Assemblies of God (AG) church planting efforts in Africa produced approximately ten thousand local churches and two million adherents. Since 1990, African Assemblies of God (AAG) churches emphasized ambitious church planting initiatives resulting in the addition of approximately fifty-four thousand local churches and fourteen million believers. This study examines the narratives of AAG church planters in West Africa to ascertain those factors influencing their church planting perceptions and activities in relation to Pentecostal missiology, the sociocultural context, leadership, and organizational development. </p><p> In order to discover those factors influencing church multiplication and growth, interview narratives of twelve leaders and fifty-one AAG church planters in West Africa were examined, delimited to the Anglophone context of Nigeria and the Francophone context of Togo. Using a qualitative data collection and analysis process known as grounded theory methodology, I discovered those factors that influence the perceptions and activities of church planters in the contexts of the study. </p><p> The findings show that church planters experience transformation in Christ and seek the transformation of their past, represented in the village, by planting new churches of transformed converts. This is a process of "backwarding" the Gospel to the village. These efforts lead to a renewal of the African self in a search for true belonging, enabling redemption of the African past and reclamation of the African future through Christ in Spirit empowerment. Church planting results in the local AAG church being a place of belonging and belonging to a place. This is described as ecclesiastical belonging, dimensionalized accordingly as proximal church planting, accessible church planting, and assimilation church planting. Belonging in these contexts is experiential through Gospel proclamation in Spirit empowerment to meet African aspirations to experience the divine. Additionally, belonging is relational, for the local AAG belongs to a global Pentecostal faith community.</p>

abstract: Children with dis/abilities the world over are widely required to sacrifice their human rights to education, equity, community, and inclusion. Fewer than 10% of children with dis/abilities in developing countries attend school. Namibia, Africa, where this study took place, is no different. Despite Namibia's adoption of international covenants and educational policy initiatives, children with dis/abilities continue to be overwhelmingly excluded from school. The body of literature on exclusion in sub-Saharan Africa is laden with the voices of teachers, principals, government education officials, development organizations, and scholars. This study attempted to foreground the voices of rural Namibian families of children with dis/abilities as they described their lived experiences via phenomenological interviews. Their stories uncovered deeply held assumptions, or cultural models, about dis/abilities. Furthermore, the study examined how policy was appropriated by local actors as mediated by their shared cultural models. Ideas that had been so deeply internalized about dis/abilities emerged from the data that served to illustrate how othering, familial obligation, child protection, supernatural forces, and notions of dis/ability intersect to continue to deny children with dis/abilities full access to educational opportunities. Additionally, the study describes how these cultural models influenced cognition and actions of parents as they appropriated local educational policy vis-à-vis creation and implementation; thereby, leaving authorized education policy for children with dis/abilities essentially obsolete. The top down ways of researching by international organizations and local agencies plus the authorized policy implementation continued to contribute to the perpetuation of exclusion. This study uncovered a need to apply bottom up methods of understanding what parents and children with dis/abilities desire and find reasonable for education, as well as understanding the power parents wield in local policy appropriation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2010