abstract: Although racial minorities are heavily represented in student bodies throughout the United States, school administrators who work with minority children have been overwhelmingly White. Previous research by race scholars has demonstrated that systems of racial dominance in the larger society are often replicated in schools. However, the role of White school administrators in perpetuating or disrupting racism has not been documented. This study examined the racial attitudes and resulting professional practices of White school administrators who worked in a unique environment. These administrators lived and practiced their profession in towns that lay just outside the borders of the Navajo Nation, a large Indian reservation in the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Termed border towns, these communities were populated by a large majority of Native Americans, with a heavy representation of Hispanics. This placed White school administrators in the uncommon position of living and working in a place where they were a numeric minority, while simultaneously representing the majority culture in the United States. Twelve White border town administrators in four different communities agreed to participate in the interview study, conducted over a two-month period in 2010 and 2011. Using a semi-structured interview format, the researcher gathered data on participants' racial attitudes and analyzed responses to find common themes. Common responses among the interviewees indicated that there were clear racial hierarchies within border town schools and that these hierarchies were sometimes atypical of those found in mainstream American society. These racial hierarchies were characterized by a dichotomy of Native American students based on residence in town or on the reservation, as well as deferential treatment of White administrators by Native American constituents. The intersectionality of race and socioeconomic class was a key finding of the study, with implications for school administrators' professional actions. Racial attitudes also impacted White border town administrators' actions and sometimes reinforced institutionally racist practices. Finally, results of the study supported several established models of race relations and White identity formation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2011

Ce travail fait émerger les indices d'urbanité dans une Savoie encore toute rurale, entre 1536 (indépendance de Genève) et septembre 1792 (invasion de la Savoie par les troupes révolutionnaires françaises). Une première partie dégage d'abord un corpus de villes, de villes-bourgs et de simples bourgs, à partir des témoignages contemporains. Elle insiste ensuite sur les conditions du développement urbain. La Savoie urbaine compte de toutes petites villes, dont le ressort s'étend généralement sur un territoire et une population ruraux importants. Au cours de la période, ces cités connaissent une croissance démographique faible, voire négative pour nombre de bourgs. Quelques traits spécifiques à la démographie urbaine caractérisent les villes savoyardes (surmortalité, surféminité, faible part des familles élargies et multiples...). L'examen des fonctions administratives, religieuses et culturelles dévoile une hiérarchie urbaine dominée par Chambéry, et dans une moindre mesure par six capitales de province. La fonction militaire est insignifiante, sauf à Montmélian. Au plan économique, les villes savoyardes, en général bien situées sur un carrefour international, ont manqué leur chance. En l'absence d'une élite entreprenante et suffisamment aisée, du fait de la pauvreté chronique du duché, et en raison de réticences politiques, elles n'ont pas su capter une partie du commerce européen et n'ont pas accompli de démarrage économique. Une deuxième partie s'intéresse à la pratique de la ville. L'étude du cadre urbain dessine des villes marquées par la ruralité et fortement dépendantes des conditions naturelles. Le manque de moyens financiers et diverses pesanteurs ont empêché les tenants de la gouvernance urbaine de sortir les villes de leur carcan médiéval, même si quelques nouveautés urbanistiques apparaissent à la fin de la période. L'usage social de la ville est également envisagé. Il fait apparaître des facteurs de cohésion qui lient la société urbaine, mais aussi des menaces qui pèsent sur l'ordre social, et des rythmes proches de ceux de la campagne. Une troisième partie cherche à évaluer les capacités d'ouverture des villes savoyardes. Elle s'intéresse aux notions de concurrence, de dépendance et de complémentarité, entre les villes et leurs campagnes, entre les cités du duché, et entre ces dernières et les grandes villes voisines, comme Genève, Lyon, Grenoble ou Turin. En outre, de par sa situation géographique, la Savoie offre un chapelet de villes frontières dont les caractéristiques sont exposées. Un tableau du réseau urbain savoyard à l'époque moderne vient conclure cette étude. / With this work, the urbanity rating can emerge in Savoy which was rural between 1536 (Geneva's Independence) and September 1792 (Savoy's invasion by French revolutionary troops). The first part highlights a corpus of towns, market towns and small towns, from the contemporary stories. Secondly, it states the urban development conditions. The urban Savoy has very small towns, the resort of them generally dwells on important rural territory and population. During this time, this cities show a demographic low growth, or even negative for lots of market towns. The towns in Savoy are characterized by some specifics features in the urban demography like more mortality, more femininity, less enlarged and multiple families...).The exam of the administrative, religious and cultural duties reveal an urban hierarchy dominated by Chambéry and to a lesser extent by six provincial town's capitals. The military duty is insignificant, except Montmélian. The towns in Savoy, even if they are locate on an international junction, lack opportunity on economic level. Without enterprising and enough well-off elite, because of duchy’s chronic poverty and politics reticence, they don’t know how to catch a part of European trade and they don’t accomplish economic starting up. The second part talk about the town’s convenient. The study of the urban environment outlines some rural towns and dependent deeply natural conditions. The lack of financial means and other inertia have stop the urban direction ins to send of the towns to the medieval rigidity, even if some new town planner appears at the end of this period. The social custom of the town is also envisaging. It highlights cohesion’s factor which link the urban society, but threats which influence the social order too, and rate close to those of the countryside. The third part tries to assess openness capacity of the town’s in Savoy. It’s interested in competition, dependence and complementary notions, between the towns and the countryside, between cities duchy, and between the last and the big bordering cities, like Geneva, Lyon, Grenoble and Turin. In addition, by his geographic situation, the Savoy presents some border towns which characteristics are state. A board of the urban network in the Savoy in modern era will conclude this study.