This thesis analyses the themes of history, memory, and authorship in the works of four women playwrights from the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. In doing so, it aims to reveal the three levels of marginalization to which Caribbean women theatre practitioners are subjected: being a woman, being a French Caribbean woman, and being a French Caribbean woman who writes theatre. The thesis seeks to contribute to the expansion of the field of French Caribbean literary and drama studies, endeavours to redress the gender balance in studies on French Caribbean literature, and aspires to add to the existing body of work on French Caribbean women's writing. Therefore, the thesis aims to reveal and to analyse the world of French Caribbean women's theatre and to study how the playwrights address socio-political issues that affect their communities and influence their own writings and careers. The corpus consists of plays by Gerty Dambury, Ina Césaire, Maryse Condé, and Suzanne Dracius from the 1980s to the early 2000s. While focussing on a different theme, each chapter rests its analysis on theatrical works of a similar genre. The analysis of the plays deploys theories of the theatre pertaining to postcolonial drama and gender. The first chapter serves as an introduction to a group of female French Caribbean writers and their predecessors. The second chapter is a study of two historical plays, focussing on the collective experience of historical events and the role played by women in those events. The third chapter analyses plays that problematize the relationship between the collective and the individual. The fourth chapter looks at the image of the French Caribbean female artist and the multiple barriers she encounters in achieving creative independence.

<p> This thesis explores the ways in which Caucasian theatre makers can become more effective educators and directors in diverse student populations. By drawing attention to their &ldquo;whiteness&rdquo; and overcoming the fear of being implicated in the subjugation of these student populations, Caucasian theatre makers can instead embrace this implication and thereby transform classrooms and theatrical spaces from static appreciations of sovereignty and beauty, into platforms for resistance and revolt. In this thesis, I interrogate my own process in the direction of my multi-actor, undergraduate student production that was borne of the journey of the creation of my solo play entitled <i> ANTIMAN</i>. In this play, I implicate my family and our own racism and naivet&eacute; and the many challenges I faced in telling a story that explores such controversial subject matters as racism, antiblackness, colonialism, colonization, and settler-indigenous relations from my own white, male, heterosexual orientation. It is my hope that through this examination of both my failures and successes in this process of creating and directing <i> ANTIMAN</i>, in concert with the history of St. Croix, that I will articulate the present-day predicament of St. Croix in a manner that creates a space for discourse, resistance, and change.</p><p>

Research to date has emphasized the importance of school leadership in improving outcomes for schools with diverse populations (NASSP & NAESP, 2013; Ruairc et al., 2013; Lambert et al., 2002; Heller& Firestone, 1995; Booth and Ainscow, 2011; Leithwood et, al., 2012). Head Teachers are expected to create the conditions for a positive learning environment, academic rigor, and set the standard for inclusive education. Although successful school leadership is a high priority for education in the Caribbean (Miller, 2013), there appear to be tensions in relation to inclusion. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) largely supports The Dakar Framework for Action of Education for All (UNESCO, 2009), and their openness to the UNESCO Salamanca Statement for Action in 1994 is widely acknowledged. There have been reports indicating steady progression in educational leadership and inclusive practices within the last decade. However, no planned, long-term innovations have emerged (Commonwealth, Secretariat, 2012 & UNESCO, 2015; Riser, 2012). The aim of the study was to explore school leadership and Inclusive education in the Caribbean from the point of view and lived experience of a group of Head Teachers. A qualitative study was conducted with sixteen participants selected from among secondary schools across Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach- IPA was used (Smith, J. A.; Flowers, P. & Larkin, M. 2009), which explored how Head Teachers ascribe meaning to their unique, lived experiences and how this affects their role in facilitating inclusive education. This study has identified major misalignments between the requirements of the United Nations conventions regarding inclusion and the current focus of the Caribbean system of Education. In their efforts to maintain a student centred approach in leading their schools, the Head Teachers have been instrumental and innovative under uniquely challenging school circumstances. There is potential for the Caribbean schools' context to be seen as a place for the development of leadership that supports the process of inclusive education. However, the impression was that it would take major realignment of leadership perspectives, alongside trained, skilled expertise to be able to deliver meaningful support for inclusion.

<p> As the teaching profession becomes increasingly challenging and teachers leave the profession at an alarming rate, school leaders need to understand the factors that influence teacher resiliency and longevity. A teacher&rsquo;s self-efficacy beliefs have been found to affect teacher&rsquo;s emotional and physiological well being (Bandura &amp; Locke, 2003), job satisfaction (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steck, &amp; Malone, 2006, Hoigaard, Giske, &amp; Sundsli, 2012), and stress management (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy also impacts effort and performance (Tschannen-Moran &amp; Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), professional commitment (Coladarci, 1992; Ware &amp; Kitsantas, 2007, 2011; Klassen et al., 2013), and longevity in the profession (Wentzel &amp; Wigfield, 2009). In consideration of the value of teacher self-efficacy, there is a lack of qualitative research explaining how self-efficacy develops in teachers. </p><p> The present study used a qualitative phenomenology methodology to explore beliefs, factors, and experiences that influence the development and strengthening of self-efficacy in teachers. The choice of a phenomenological study reflected my belief that the best way to grasp the very essence of individual teacher beliefs was to dialogue with teachers about their lived experiences in the context of a particular situation (Moustakas, 1994; Creswell, 2013). The present study utilized focus groups and individual conversations with teachers in a K-12 international school in the Dominican Republic. This study also embedded a quantitative teacher self-efficacy survey instrument to select participants and to describe their perceived self-efficacy levels. </p><p> The results indicated emerging themes of Connection, Support, Knowledge and Growth, Balance, and Gratification as factors shaping self-efficacy beliefs. This study contributes to our understanding of how self-efficacy develops by illuminating a self-efficacy growth cycle with eight stages: The Gold Standard, Teaching Challenges, Dissonance, Perspective, Teacher Behavior Change, Intentional Practice, Equilibrium, and Self-Efficacy Growth. The study also revealed cognitive processes of self-reflection, self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, growth mindset, intentional positivity, reminding oneself of calling/commitment and mental models of prior success and growth as catalysts to develop, change, and strengthen self-efficacy. </p><p> In conclusion, the results from this study may inform administrators, teachers, mentors, instructional coaches and university programs about intentional, proactive ways to guide teacher self-efficacy growth.</p><p>

When contemporary Caribbean-Canadian writer Dionne Brand encounters home, she is confronted by social norms - domestic and national - that may exclude her based on race, gender, sexuality and birthplace, or that may include her on the conditional denial of any one of these identifications. Reading her memoir and three novels, this study examines Brand's conceptualization of home and her attempts to uncover its failings, dismantle its borders, and ultimately refigure the concept of home as what I term Brand's uneasy homespaces - sites where provisional reterritorializations sign and enable agency, open the possibility of connection through negotiation, and retain uneasiness as a reminder of necessary provisionality. Through prolonged attention to the difference between the theoretically empowering and the materially destructive, Brand resists utopian fantasies of cosmopolitan global citizenship and the metaphorization of homelessness, while also countering, in her later work, easy dismissals of the nation-state by presenting a community that gains agency through identification with the city and nation even as it actively critiques the state.

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of academic advising at a tertiary institution in Jamaica and how it has influenced teacher-efficacy and instructional attentiveness among student teachers. The participants included twelve student teachers and four lecturers who have been intimately involved in academic advising. The student teachers selected have been engaged in academic advising for two to four years while the lecturers have been advising for ten to sixteen years. </p><p> This qualitative study explored how academic advising is related to teacher efficacy and instructional attentiveness among a set of second to fourth year student teachers at a teacher training college in Jamaica. All participants were actively receiving and giving academic advising in a government-owned teacher training institution. The primary source of data was unstructured interviews with student teachers and lecturers. Data were acquired over a two-month period by means of unstructured interviews and field notes. These tools afforded the opportunity to extend the conversations and generate meaning from the responses thereby providing rich descriptive notes of the phenomenon. Data were prepared using triangulation matrices, data coding and the Constant Comparison Approach to generate categories showing patterns and relationships of meaning. </p><p> The findings on the perspectives of the study participants indicate academic advising has significantly influenced teacher-efficacy among the student teachers as their level of confidence increased, appreciation of teamwork blossomed, instructional competency broadened and misbehaviors controlled. Additionally, their valuing of self and acceptance of other personalities grew immensely which positively affected their relationship with various tiers of staff in the learning environment. The interview data garnered from student teachers indicate that instructional attentiveness improved through the use of multiple teaching methods which included authentic assessment, field experience and student-centered learning. Other factors that boosted instructional attentiveness were good relationships with advisors who were understanding of their differences and commended simple efforts. As a result of the academic advising received, there are several implications for practice and policy which need to be addressed in order to help student teachers to identify their strengths and weaknesses, remain on task, avoid drop out and maintain equilibrium between academic and social experiences as they navigate their way through college.</p><p>

<p> Developing online trust is crucial for e-commerce vendors in order to attract new consumers and develop long-term relationships with existing ones. We intended to investigate if consumers from different generational cohorts differ on how they develop online trust when utilizing e-commerce websites. Through the analysis of empirical data collected from 138 users of e-commerce, we examined four drivers of online trust between three generational cohorts in Puerto Rico. We reviewed relevant research related to the effects of security, privacy, navigational elements, feedback mechanisms on online trust and generational cohort theory. Partial least square and structural equation modeling was use for analysis. Results suggest that online trust is developed in dissimilar fashions across generations and differ in what drivers they find important. Our research could hold practical and scholarly significance since its findings can help e-commerce and online service providers in determining the important factors they need to have present in their websites in order to address online trust for their target audience. By investigating the differences in the drivers of online trust across three generational cohorts, this study builds upon previous literature that only compared Millennials against Baby Boomers.</p><p>

My work presents a place-specific analysis of how gender paradigms interact across and within spatial scales: the global, the regional, the national and the personal. It briefly outlines the concepts and measures defining the international gender paradigm, and explores the filtration of this paradigm into assessments and understandings of gender and gender dynamics by and within Barbados. It does this by analyzing the contents of reports of the Barbados government to international bodies assessing the country’s performance in the area of gender equality, and by analyzing gender-comparative content of local print news media over the decade of the 1990s, and the first decade of the 2000s. It contextualizes the discussion within the realm of social and economic development. The work shows how the almost singular focus on “women” in the international gender paradigm may depreciate valid gender concerns of men and thus hinder the overall goal of achieving gender equality, that is, achieving just, inclusive societies.

This thesis studied African-American and Caribbean fiction using models of African diasporization, creolization and womanism to discover how those theoretics affected understandings of black subjectivities. The diverse theoretics above-mentioned were examined to discover how their intersections enabled productive cross-fertilizations, notwithstanding differences. Black women's literary texts crossing diverse locations and experiences were examined. It was shown that their metadiscursivity enabled creative theorizations of creolization and African diasporization around the repeating text formulation. Their Eyes Were Watching God was analyzed as a prototypical womanist diasporic text, whose attributes were repeated and re-elaborated across various boundaries in Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home and No Telephone to Heaven. This study found that African diaspora womanist texts and theoretics, unbounded by location, engaged each other in conversations and contestations, affirmed kinship beyond differences and challenged various hegemonies. It concluded that the repeating text expanded parameters of black literary criticism and theory.

The Caribbean genus Pseudophoenix (Arecaceae) has its center of taxonomic diversity in Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Three species (P. ekmanii, P. lediniana, and P. vinifera) are restricted to this island. In this thesis I investigated the population genetic diversity and structure of Pseudophoenix using ten microsatellite loci. Results showed homozygote excess and high inbreeding coefficients in all populations across all polymorphic loci. Overall, there was high differentiation among populations. Results from the Bayesian and Neighbor Joining cluster analyses identified groups that were consistence with currently accepted species delimitation. We included the only known population of an undescribed morph from the Dominican Republic that has been suggested to represent a new species. Results from the cluster analyses suggested that this putative species is closely related to P. sargentii from Turk and Caicos. Our study provided insights pertinent to the conservation genetics and management of this genus in Hispaniola.