This dissertation is the first step in a larger research project aimed at bridging the gap between Western philosophy and Indigenous thought. Here, I identify a methodological approach to the social contract by analyzing the tradition under an historical lens. I highlight that, along with the justificatory capacities of the social contract, comes a great deal of modelling involved in different versions of the social contract. This modelling comes in the form of four pre-contractual elements that different authors model in different ways. I show how different authors choose different structural problems or injustices that such theories want to address, as well as normative commitments that their theories are committed to, a standard of considerability of interests that identifies whose interests matter for those deliberating the terms of the contract, and a contractual device. I then go on to develop a framework for the development of a theory of global justice. I focus on the first three pre-contractual elements. For the sake of a global theory of justice, I identify four circumstances that need to be the focus of our concerns about global justice: Serious existential uncertainty due to climate change and massive animal extinction; the existence of a shared global institutional framework that forces us to think in terms beyond the state; the disproportionate distribution of the planet’s scarce resources; and the pervasive racial, gender and disabled-bodied-targeted inequalities that are characteristic of today’s world. I then move on to identify the “dignity of being” as a non-anthropocentric, core normative commitment that can be used as the basis for a theory of global justice. I conclude by developing a standard of considerability of interests that can adequately incorporate the interests of diverse beings into the social contract deliberations. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation is the first step in a larger research project aimed at bridging the gap between Western philosophy and Indigenous thought. Here, I identify a useful methodological approach to the social contract by analyzing the tradition under an historical lens. I highlight that, along with the justificatory capacities of the social contract, comes a great deal of modelling involved in different versions of the social contract. This modelling comes in the form of four pre-contractual elements that different authors model in different ways. I show how different authors choose different structural problems or injustices that such theories want to address, as well as normative commitments that their theories are committed to, a standard of considerability of interests that identifies whose interests matter for those deliberating the terms of the contract, and a contractual device. Once that has been established, I am able to provide some foundational elements for establishing a framework for the development of a theory of global justice. I focus on the first three pre-contractual elements.

Humorous and sarcastic on every page, the historical novel Los perros del paraíso (1983) by Abel Posse, presents itself as an iconoclast and subversive response to the historical account of the so-called discovery of the New World and the role played in it by Christopher Columbus. In this post-Boom narrative, linear time collapses and events conflate to depict a fantastic world where anachronism makes almost anything possible. Comic and grotesque in their attributes, characters appear performing a colonial play in which the absurd is apparently the sole stable rule. However, underneath this joyful surface, a colonial reason flows to confirm European Self and Indigenous Other in their classical division of ideological labor: master and slave, superior and inferior. A mystic Columbus, convinced he has finally found the Earthly Paradise and naïve Caribbeans, who believe conquerors are their returned gods reshape the myths of Latin American history not only as a total non-sense, but even worse, as an eternal condemnation of continuing its present condition of subordination. This process of mythification of history implies what I call its dehistorization, which means its epistemological cancellation as an explanatory discourse of human events. The ontological degradation of Columbus to an ape self-exiled from social life, and of indigenous as both cannibals and the perros del paraíso deprived from having a voice and having the will to rebell is the most eloquent proof that debasement of history is a consequence of the survival of a colonial point of view, which structures this novel as a whole.

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My thesis is a novel about a Dutch environmentalist who, disenchanted with the environmental movement in The Netherlands, expatriates to a peninsula in Turkey, which he hopes to save from development. He is a missionary, environmentalism is his religion. He carries an inheritance of colonialism and doesn’t understand (nor feel he needs to) the local culture. After several missteps, he is murdered. His story is told retrospectively through the eyes of an American biologist who befriended him.

The following research is a qualitative theory consuming study which investigates China's actions in Kenya regarding the postcolonialism and colonialism theory. The purpose of the essay is to understand how the theory can be used in the actions between China and Kenya by answering the following questions: How has Kenya been influenced by China's development efforts from a colonial perspective, as well as in terms of political, economic, and cultural dimensions?  In what ways has China been crucial in the development work that has impacted Kenya's political, economic, and cultural dimensions, and how can the postcolonial perspective be applied to this development work? The research established the theory where postcolonialism and colonialism is described, with a following analysis where eight people living in Kenya got interviewed to be able to understand the problem and the actions from China. The research is separated into the following perspecitves, politics, economics and culture. The study concludes with a result that proves that both theories of postcolonialism and colonialism are difficult to apply to China's actions in Kenya today due to their ongoing nature.

The Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) has generally not been talked about in France despite having around 2 million Algerians living in France. The memory of the war has been a contested issue in France between the French state's official memory and the Algerian memory. As the topic has been mainly discussed by historians and state officials, this study looks at how the young Algerians living in France obtain and deal with the memory of the Algerian War, by exploring the reinforcement of memories from the past to the present. Issues of remembering, commemorating, and reconciling are examined among the young Algerians in France who did not experience the war directly but feel strongly connected to it in the present day. ​​Placed at the intersection of Peace and Conflict Studies and Memory Studies fields, this qualitative study is based on six interviews and employs thematic analysis of the interview material. The analysis reveals the intergenerational shaping of collective memories and highlights the importance of considering both state-level policies and individual perceptions for achieving reconciliation. The study shows that research on collective memory can contribute to a deeper understanding of the ongoing struggles for recognition and acknowledgement.

Consuming the U.S. Virgin Islands: Conservation and Education in America’s Paradise examines the relationship between conservation and public education on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands where there exists no public high school. By interrogating Euroamerican conservation ideologies and policies, this project identifies the ways an expansive, continuous and layered American project of empire fosters the physical and intellectual displacement of the native people of St. John. The U.S. Virgin Islands’ status as an unincorporated territory of the United States provides for a catastrophic convergence of imperialism, environmental racism and consumptive tourism on the 19 square miles of St. John where more than two-thirds of the island belongs to the U.S. National Park Service. Territoriality frames the conflict around public education on St. John by revealing the ways in which federal institutions, such as the Department of Interior (responsible for administering the National Park Service and U.S. territories), exerting disproportionate measures of power operate to meet the demands of white colonial stakeholders rather than those of the local Black island constituency. The “hidden” nature of American colonial possessions as “U.S. territories” coupled with an exploitative Caribbean tourism industry help to permanently fix islands like St. John as remote objects of consumption and desire for primarily white, non-native travelers. This reality produces what I call "the crisis of Paradise." For the U.S. Virgin Islands, patterns of leisure, extraction, and exotification that characterize the Caribbean as a whole destructively entangle with the territory’s moniker “America’s Paradise.” Through the interdisciplinary use of critical Black feminist ethnography, archival records and oral histories, this work explains how native Black people’s mobilization for a public high school for St. John attempts to resist the colonial effort to reduce the land and its people to mere entities of play, respite, and relaxation and, thereby, render them unfit for comprehensive, quality public education. This project enhances understandings of “American” public education and illuminates the ways social and political self-determination have always been at the center of Black people’s struggles in the West. / 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z

The Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group in Kenya, resisted colonial authority, which culminated into what became known as Mau Mau, led by the Kenya Land Freedom Army. During this time, the British colonial government imposed laws limiting their access to land, politics, and independence. The turbulent 1950s in Kenyan history should be considered a revolution because of its violent nature, the high level of participation, and overall social change that resulted from the war. I compared many theories of revolution to the events of the Mau Mau movement. Then, I explained the contention for land in the revolution, the role of women, and the place of Mau Mau in modern historiography. I concluded that Mau Mau should be considered a revolution even though its representation during the war and misunderstandings after independence did not classify it as such.

This thesis studies spatial visibility of Greenlanders in Aalborg by particularly looking and examining three most notable places associated with the Greenlandic community in the city as an indicator into socio-economic conditions of Greenlanders. To meet the aim, ten interviews with the Greenlandic representatives in Aalborg were carried out to find out their feelings and experiences towards these places. This thesis looks at spatial visibility in cities as an indicator into broader socio-economic issues. The results demonstrate how different groups of Greenlanders in Aalborg use urban space to uphold and practice activities that are characteristic to them. Finally, the results indicate that Greenlanders in Aalborg are still heavily subjected to stereotyping and racism which brings attention to the need of Danish government to redesign  their integration policies.

This thesis examines the relationship between art and fashion in order to first, justify fashion as an art form, and second, demonstrate the applicability of critical theory to the study of fashion through an examination of Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2006 menswear collection, titled “Killa,” presented in Milan, Italy, in 2005. “Killa,” loosely based on William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies and its 1963 film adaptation, opens with crisp, white, tailored suits worn by neatly groomed models. Steadily throughout the collection, these tailored suits are exchanged for wide-legged, cropped shorts, and tanks in browns and beiges. By the end, models appear on the runway with painted faces, wild hair, and highly patterned, dark-colored body suits and billowing capes. While “Killa” appears to demonstrate the narrative regression from civilized to savage demonstrated in Golding's novel, this thesis argues that McQueen's collection actually strives to promote a more positive ennobling of the Other. A careful study of his life and career suggests that McQueen perceived himself as the Other within the community in which he worked and lived. Frustrated by frequent misinterpretations of his work and false accusations of his character, “Killa” becomes McQueen's ultimate confrontation with Otherness. Positioning the Other at the climax of an elite fashion show, represented by Mesoamerican designs depicted through the highest quality tailoring, McQueen's Other is respected and revered, rather than looked down upon. In this way, McQueen challenges the perception of his own character within the fashion community. Ultimately this thesis seeks to demonstrate the necessity of the application of critical theory to objects of fashion. As demonstrated through the case study of McQueen's 2006 menswear collection, this academic consideration has the potential to reveal important overlooked meanings within the art of fashion. This suggests that McQueen's work, as well as the work of other contemporary fashion designers, merits more thoughtful and careful interpretation in the study of postmodern art history.