In early 2022, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth evaluation report on the state of the global climate crisis. For the first time in thirty years global exploitation and colonial dominance was mentioned not only as a "driver of the climate crisis", but also as an ongoing element that exacerbates societies vulnerability to it. However, existing literature that specifically addresses the relationship between colonialism, climate change and women's vulnerability is relatively small and scattered. For these reasons, a multidisciplinary research review (scoping review) was conducted, in order to map the extent of "colonialism" as a contributing factor to women's increased vulnerability in relation to climate change and climate-related disasters. This study brings together literature from different research disciplines to examine how and under what circumstances colonialism is highlighted as an explanatory factor for women's increased vulnerability, as well as in Global North and Global South. The results shows that although the legacy of colonialism is manifested in different ways in different contexts, women's increased vulnerability may be linked to the reproduction of racism and hegemonic social structures with roots in colonial dominance. Finally, it is emphasized that this research overview should be seen as a complement to future studies, with the aim of minimizing women's vulnerability to climate induced disasters in the long term. Future attempts to address individuals' vulnerability should therefore apply a postcolonial lens to understand the specific societal dynamics in a particular context which may worsen the ability of certain groups to deal with the negative consequences of climate change.

No description available.

No description available.

Recent Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) reforms promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) carried out by the Sierra Leonean government has attracted foreign investors into its extractive industry. Access to natural minerals in the country has been ensured through land leases, and the government of Sierra Leone has obtained the opportunity to accumulate revenues through participation on the global market. However, despite increasing state revenues the country remains underdeveloped and unindustrialized, and faces great challenges in promoting public development within state borders. This study aims at illuminating structures of the global economic system and domestic social fabric which may hinder public development in Sierra Leone. Such structures have be illuminated through the application of a qualitative approach including field work, participating observations and open-ended interviews in Kalansogoia chiefdom during May and June 2013. The findings of this study suggest that the international structure of dependency, and domestic formal; informal; informal institutions; and social networks structures hinder public development within Sierra Leone.

Like elsewhere in Europe, the tides of nationalist right-wing rhetoric in Sweden have become instrumental in generating a wave of anti-liberal and anti-immigration sentiments in politics and media. In particular, one branch of right-wing alternative media has become a breeding ground for normalizing such rhetoric. Does the anti-immigration stance in such media disguise racist inclinations? In this thesis we examine the discourse of three right-wing alternative media sites in Sweden to explore the possible employment of different types of racism in their articles. By taking the constructivist viewpoint and adopting the post-colonial conceptions of the 'Self' and the 'Other', racist discourse was analyzed and characterized as either biological or cultural. From these two theories, we derived concepts concerning descriptions of contemporary and ideal Swedish society that will be used as further indicators of racist discourses. In this single case study, 94 articles from Fria Tider, Nya Tider, and Samhällsnytt were analyzed on the topics of immigration, integration and crime through a qualitative content analysis. The results show that most of the articles contain cultural racist discourse.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to elucidate the tension between feminism and nationalism in Israel and to investigate the ways by which such discursive currents mark the identities of Israeli women. The specific field of investigation is Israeli theatre, and the identities examined are dramatic characters created by the Israeli playwright Miriam Kainy. Also examined is the character of the playwright herself. Theatre is being observed as a specific field of society in which the position of women can be clarified. What kind of women characters the Israeli theatre produces is therefore a leading question for this study.</p><p>Feminist theories, focusing on gender aspects of power relations, together with the postcolonial perspective, which considers power relations by focusing on ethnicity and geopolitical aspects, provide the theoretical tools. The social constructionist viewpoint is used since it provides an appropriate understanding of important notions for the thesis, such as <i>nation</i> and <i>identity</i>, considering them as constructions created by discourse. The discourses focused upon are the national v. the feminist discourse and theatre is viewed as a discourse mediator, which is why the dramatic text is the object of the analysis. The specific method of analysis is inspired by Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis.</p><p>The main part of the thesis consists of a discursive analysis of five women characters, constructed within a period of about five decades, namely between the 1950s and 1990s. Each one of these characters consists of an articulation which is considered representative of a specific time-relevant discursive struggle between the two discourses in question. One of the central assumptions of the thesis is that the Israeli national identity is thoroughly masculine. The identity problems it has been causing Israeli women since the time of the pioneers until today are clearly illuminated throughout the analysis. The conclusion emphasises that the subjectpositions being introduced by Israeli national discourse, namely the ways of being a <i>New Jew</i>, an Israeli, collide with those introduced by feminist discourse, i.e. ways of being an independent woman subject. Nevertheless, each and every character demonstrates creative ways of transforming the discourses by aiming at a hybrid formation.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to elucidate the tension between feminism and nationalism in Israel and to investigate the ways by which such discursive currents mark the identities of Israeli women. The specific field of investigation is Israeli theatre, and the identities examined are dramatic characters created by the Israeli playwright Miriam Kainy. Also examined is the character of the playwright herself. Theatre is being observed as a specific field of society in which the position of women can be clarified. What kind of women characters the Israeli theatre produces is therefore a leading question for this study. Feminist theories, focusing on gender aspects of power relations, together with the postcolonial perspective, which considers power relations by focusing on ethnicity and geopolitical aspects, provide the theoretical tools. The social constructionist viewpoint is used since it provides an appropriate understanding of important notions for the thesis, such as nation and identity, considering them as constructions created by discourse. The discourses focused upon are the national v. the feminist discourse and theatre is viewed as a discourse mediator, which is why the dramatic text is the object of the analysis. The specific method of analysis is inspired by Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. The main part of the thesis consists of a discursive analysis of five women characters, constructed within a period of about five decades, namely between the 1950s and 1990s. Each one of these characters consists of an articulation which is considered representative of a specific time-relevant discursive struggle between the two discourses in question. One of the central assumptions of the thesis is that the Israeli national identity is thoroughly masculine. The identity problems it has been causing Israeli women since the time of the pioneers until today are clearly illuminated throughout the analysis. The conclusion emphasises that the subjectpositions being introduced by Israeli national discourse, namely the ways of being a New Jew, an Israeli, collide with those introduced by feminist discourse, i.e. ways of being an independent woman subject. Nevertheless, each and every character demonstrates creative ways of transforming the discourses by aiming at a hybrid formation.

Berlin is heralded worldwide as being a city that is open, innovative and diverse: a true multicultural metropolis. Music plays a central role in the city’s claim to this title. Go to any one of Berlin’s many notorious alternative nightclubs and you will hear techno, house and electronic dance music blasting out to hoards of enthusiastic partygoers. Many of these clubs and their participants claim that these parties represent diversity, acceptance, equality and tolerance: Spaces within which social divisions are suspended, difference is overcome and people are united. This ubiquitous discursive assertion is referred to in this thesis as a “diversity discourse”. This “diversity discourse” will be deconstructed and situated within a wider political context, with a specific focus on perceptions of race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender. Engaging with theories of intersectionality, post-colonial theory (looking specifically at Jasbir Puar’s important work on homonationalism) and employing qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and autoethnographic inquiry, it will be argued that the “diversity discourse” works as a mask to conceal a reality of social segregation. Far from being sites of equality and diversity, it will be suggested that access to these nightclubs is premised on the possession of societal privilege. That being said, it will also be argued that research into EDM nightclub participation refrain from viewing these clubs within a binary framework of “good” or “bad”; Rather, they should be seen as complex sites of ambivalence, within which multiple identities are acted out and explored. The project contributes to the current body of work within the (post-) discipline of intersectional gender studies, arguing for the need for theorisations in the field to encompass notions of intersecting privilege and disadvantage.

Masters of Art / In my thesis entitled ‘African Tradition and Modernity in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness’, I analyze the way Western modernity and African traditions interact in Mda’s novel. I suggest that both modernity and tradition interact to produce a hybrid culture. This will become apparent in my analysis of the way Mda depicts the cattlekilling episode and the effects of Nongqawuse’s prophecy, and also in the novel’s contemporary characters. Mda shows the development of an African modernity through the semi-autobiographical figure of Camagu who is not slavishly indebted to Western ideas of progress, but is a hybrid of African values and a modern identity. In my thesis I will look at the way Mda also addresses the issue of the oppression of the Xhosa in colonial history, and the way he demonstrates that the divisions of the past deeply influence post-apartheid South Africa. In this regard, I will show how The Heart of Redness is a critique not only of colonial oppression, but also of the newer injustices plaguing the post-apartheid South African society. The focus of Mda’s critique in this regard is the proposed casino that stands as a model of environmentally destructive, unsustainable and capitalist development. Instead, Mda’s novel shows an alternative modernization of rural South African society, one which is based on community upliftment and environmentally friendly development. Through an exploration of the above aspects of the novel, my thesis shows that Mda’s writing exemplifies a hybrid African modernity, one that incorporates Western ideas as well as African values.

This essay examines the relationship between language, identity, power and visibility in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019). This is achieved by applying post-colonial theories regarding double consciousness, and the construction of an Other. Theories put forward by Spivak and Fanon are also discussed in relation to this. By looking at how language is used, both by characters and author, we can see what an immense role language playes in the construction of identity and in the establishing of power.