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There are many parallels between living in outer space and living in underprivileged regions here on earth. Both have limited supply of water and food, among other resources – both are resource-poor systems. Can we then apply the billion dollar studies made for living in outer space, to improve the life of a billion people here on earth?

This thesis is motivated by my felt connection with the unnecessarily hungry peasants of the Majority World. The odyssey that results is portrayed as one of epistemic learning in which the meaning of participation is central. The first part (Chapters 1-4) introduces the philosophical understandings gained at the end of the research in order to assist the reader’s orientation at the beginning of the thesis. This explanation depends upon understanding the paradigmatic implications of Classical and Quantum Physics along with an autooethnographic approach. Using these concepts, I portray my experiences in agricultural development with peasants in the Solomon Islands and Mozambique as naïve systemic practice. This practice arises in response to the continual failure of contemporary development which I refer to as expat-centric development. I systemically reframe the categories of “expert” and “blueprint project” which become “expert and project with peasant.” The development that results I find to be easy and successful, yet it is ignored and undermined. This leads me to a watershed experience, which becomes Part 2 (Chapter 5) of the thesis.Within Part 3 I see the role of society’s institutions to replicate the mechanistic paradigm. Thus, in order to avoid the institutional entrapment that results from this, I see the need post-thesis, to participate in evolving new social structures that can replicate the paradigm of systemic participation. This will largely depend upon the willingness of society to engage with a cosmology of connectedness. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis is motivated by my felt connection with the unnecessarily hungry peasants of the Majority World. The odyssey that results is portrayed as one of epistemic learning in which the meaning of participation is central. The first part (Chapters 1-4) introduces the philosophical understandings gained at the end of the research in order to assist the reader’s orientation at the beginning of the thesis. This explanation depends upon understanding the paradigmatic implications of Classical and Quantum Physics along with an autooethnographic approach. Using these concepts, I portray my experiences in agricultural development with peasants in the Solomon Islands and Mozambique as naïve systemic practice. This practice arises in response to the continual failure of contemporary development which I refer to as expat-centric development. I systemically reframe the categories of “expert” and “blueprint project” which become “expert and project with peasant.” The development that results I find to be easy and successful, yet it is ignored and undermined. This leads me to a watershed experience, which becomes Part 2 (Chapter 5) of the thesis.Within Part 3 I see the role of society’s institutions to replicate the mechanistic paradigm. Thus, in order to avoid the institutional entrapment that results from this, I see the need post-thesis, to participate in evolving new social structures that can replicate the paradigm of systemic participation. This will largely depend upon the willingness of society to engage with a cosmology of connectedness. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural approach, this qualitative research project aimed to: (a) understand the responses to current body norms and expectations tied to health and physical appearances amongst underprivileged young women; and; (b) understand to what extent the dominant obesity discourse is inscribed in these women’s bodily habits. Results highlight that participants were aware of the dominant obesity discourse through their perceptions, sentiments, and dispositions towards bodily norms and expectations. Despite their awareness, underprivileged living conditions generated other sets of priorities, such as motherhood, achieving economic stability, completing education, and gaining physical independence which were far greater preoccupations. Underprivileged young women’s ‘choice of the necessary’ is based on optimizing resources and prioritizing needs and responsibilities. Findings support the use of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts which consider the effects of various aspects of underprivileged living conditions on lifestyles.

Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural approach, this qualitative research project aimed to: (a) understand the responses to current body norms and expectations tied to health and physical appearances amongst underprivileged young women; and; (b) understand to what extent the dominant obesity discourse is inscribed in these women’s bodily habits. Results highlight that participants were aware of the dominant obesity discourse through their perceptions, sentiments, and dispositions towards bodily norms and expectations. Despite their awareness, underprivileged living conditions generated other sets of priorities, such as motherhood, achieving economic stability, completing education, and gaining physical independence which were far greater preoccupations. Underprivileged young women’s ‘choice of the necessary’ is based on optimizing resources and prioritizing needs and responsibilities. Findings support the use of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts which consider the effects of various aspects of underprivileged living conditions on lifestyles.

This study investigated the relationship between digital literacy and academic performance in the context of an online learning high school program aimed at students from underprivileged groups. The study proposed that digital literacy should be understood as a construct of several variables that create a progression from basic--though indispensable--physical conditions of access to technology, to complex skills and attitudes that permit a student to succeed in an online learning situation. Using path analysis as a methodological tool, the study tested a three-stage model that measured the chain of effects of the variables that integrate the digital literacy construct both among them, and on academic performance as the overall dependent variable of the study. The model organized the variables in three stages: conditions of access to technology; general digital skills (that included motivation, knowledge and skills to use digital technology, as well as frequency and diversity of usage practices of technology); and context-specific skills required to successfully use technology in a particular domain (in this particular case, online distance learning). The study found that in the particular online learning context of this investigation, better conditions of access to technology had a mediated and strong positive effect on academic performance by increasing the use of Internet for social and entertainment purposes, which in turn led to a higher use of the learning platform software and to better digital and academic skills. These skills had a positive effect on academic performance through independent learning as a mediating variable. A second finding--that runs in part in an opposite direction--was that better conditions of access increased the use of social networks, which had both a positive effect on independent learning in terms of increasing familiarity with the Internet and computer resources, and a negative effect, perhaps simply because the time one spends with social media may diminish the time one has available for learning. / text

Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural approach, this qualitative research project aimed to: (a) understand the responses to current body norms and expectations tied to health and physical appearances amongst underprivileged young women; and; (b) understand to what extent the dominant obesity discourse is inscribed in these women’s bodily habits. Results highlight that participants were aware of the dominant obesity discourse through their perceptions, sentiments, and dispositions towards bodily norms and expectations. Despite their awareness, underprivileged living conditions generated other sets of priorities, such as motherhood, achieving economic stability, completing education, and gaining physical independence which were far greater preoccupations. Underprivileged young women’s ‘choice of the necessary’ is based on optimizing resources and prioritizing needs and responsibilities. Findings support the use of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts which consider the effects of various aspects of underprivileged living conditions on lifestyles.

Drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural approach, this qualitative research project aimed to: (a) understand the responses to current body norms and expectations tied to health and physical appearances amongst underprivileged young women; and; (b) understand to what extent the dominant obesity discourse is inscribed in these women’s bodily habits. Results highlight that participants were aware of the dominant obesity discourse through their perceptions, sentiments, and dispositions towards bodily norms and expectations. Despite their awareness, underprivileged living conditions generated other sets of priorities, such as motherhood, achieving economic stability, completing education, and gaining physical independence which were far greater preoccupations. Underprivileged young women’s ‘choice of the necessary’ is based on optimizing resources and prioritizing needs and responsibilities. Findings support the use of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts which consider the effects of various aspects of underprivileged living conditions on lifestyles.

It has been criticized that the present economic state of Black Americans is a reflection of their history stemming from slavery. Diana Pearce's Feminization of Poverty Theory discusses the idea that the ever-rising number of underprivileged Black Americans is due to the fact that there exists a rise in female headed households. The researcher constructed and analyzed several concepts that fall under the Feminization of Poverty Theory: education, employment, family, and social class. For the analysis the study used the documentary Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton. Results show that each of the categories are approximately equal in proportion under the Feminization of Poverty Theory and that they also affect the impact that capital, government programs, economy, and investments have on underprivileged Black Americans.