<p>This dissertation investigates colonial and postcolonial practices of cultural representations in Namibia. The state sponsored Annual National Culture Festival in Namibia was studied with a specific focus on the Kavango Region in northeastern Namibia. I was particularly interested in how cultural representations are produced by the nation-state and local people in a post-colonial African context of nation-building and national reconciliation, by bringing visions of cosmopolitanism and modernity into critical dialogue with its colonial past. During the apartheid era, the South African administration encouraged the inhabitants of its &bdquo / Native Homelands‟ to engage in &bdquo / cultural‟ activities aimed at preserving their traditional cultures and fostering a sense of distinct cultural identity among each of Namibia‟s officially recognized &bdquo / ethnic groups‟. This policy was in line with the logic of South African colonial apartheid rule of Namibia, which relied upon the&nbsp / emphasis of ethnic differences, in order to support the idea that the territory was inhabited by a collection of &bdquo / tribes‟ requiring a central white government to oversee their development. The colonial administration resorted to concepts of &bdquo / tradition‟ and &bdquo / cultural heritage‟ in order to construct Africans as members of distinct, bounded communities (&bdquo / tribes‟) attached to specific&nbsp / localities or &bdquo / homelands‟. My central argument is that since Namibian independence in 1990, the postcolonial nation-state has placed emphasis on cultural pride in new ways, and on&nbsp / identifying characteristics of &bdquo / Namibian-ness‟. This has led to the institution of cultural festivals, which have since 1995 held all over the country with an expressed emphasis on the notion of &bdquo / Unity in&nbsp / Diversity‟. These cultural festivals are largely performances and cultural competitions that range from lang-arm dance, and &bdquo / traditional‟ dances, displays of &bdquo / traditional‟ foodstuffs and dramatized representations. The ethnographic study shows that while the performers represent diversity through dance and other forms of cultural exhibition, the importance of belonging to the nation and a&nbsp / larger constituency is simultaneously highlighted. However, as the study demonstrates, the festivals are also spaces where local populations engage in negotiations with the nation-state and contest regional forms of belonging. The study shows how a practice which was considered to be a &bdquo / colonial representation‟ of the &bdquo / other‟ has been reinvented with new meanings in postcolonial Namibia. The study demonstrates through an analysis of cultural representations such as song, dances and drama that the festival creates a space in which &bdquo / social interaction‟ takes place between participants, spectators and officials who organize the event as social capital of associational life.</p>

<p>This dissertation investigates colonial and postcolonial practices of cultural representations in Namibia. The state sponsored Annual National Culture Festival in Namibia was studied with a specific focus on the Kavango Region in northeastern Namibia. I was particularly interested in how cultural representations are produced by the nation-state and local people in a post-colonial African context of nation-building and national reconciliation, by bringing visions of cosmopolitanism and modernity into critical dialogue with its colonial past. During the apartheid era, the South African administration encouraged the inhabitants of its &bdquo / Native Homelands‟ to engage in &bdquo / cultural‟ activities aimed at preserving their traditional cultures and fostering a sense of distinct cultural identity among each of Namibia‟s officially recognized &bdquo / ethnic groups‟. This policy was in line with the logic of South African colonial apartheid rule of Namibia, which relied upon the&nbsp / emphasis of ethnic differences, in order to support the idea that the territory was inhabited by a collection of &bdquo / tribes‟ requiring a central white government to oversee their development. The colonial administration resorted to concepts of &bdquo / tradition‟ and &bdquo / cultural heritage‟ in order to construct Africans as members of distinct, bounded communities (&bdquo / tribes‟) attached to specific&nbsp / localities or &bdquo / homelands‟. My central argument is that since Namibian independence in 1990, the postcolonial nation-state has placed emphasis on cultural pride in new ways, and on&nbsp / identifying characteristics of &bdquo / Namibian-ness‟. This has led to the institution of cultural festivals, which have since 1995 held all over the country with an expressed emphasis on the notion of &bdquo / Unity in&nbsp / Diversity‟. These cultural festivals are largely performances and cultural competitions that range from lang-arm dance, and &bdquo / traditional‟ dances, displays of &bdquo / traditional‟ foodstuffs and dramatized representations. The ethnographic study shows that while the performers represent diversity through dance and other forms of cultural exhibition, the importance of belonging to the nation and a&nbsp / larger constituency is simultaneously highlighted. However, as the study demonstrates, the festivals are also spaces where local populations engage in negotiations with the nation-state and contest regional forms of belonging. The study shows how a practice which was considered to be a &bdquo / colonial representation‟ of the &bdquo / other‟ has been reinvented with new meanings in postcolonial Namibia. The study demonstrates through an analysis of cultural representations such as song, dances and drama that the festival creates a space in which &bdquo / social interaction‟ takes place between participants, spectators and officials who organize the event as social capital of associational life.</p>

The World Health Organisation/ UNAIDS and the UK's HIV-related public health policies are premised on universal access to information, treatment and care. With a focus on wider determinants of health, such rights-based approaches and their associated commitment to consistent HIV prevention messages and effective care include also a requirement to be respectful of and sensitive to religio-cultural beliefs and practices. There is evidence that access to HIV information and care can be restricted by the moral codes, beliefs and teachings which determine some religious responses to HIV, those, for example, which address issues of sexuality and gender, identity and belonging, authority and power. With a particular interest in a UK context of religio-cultural diversity, this study asks whether existing strategic public health responses to HIV prevention and care are adequate to the multiplicity of psychosocial realities and needs of a diverse community. The study follows comparative interpretative approaches and draws on a range of theoretical perspectives, primarily those of sociology, anthropology and psychology. It identifies the potential for dialogical compatabilities between public health practice and practical theology. Gathering and analysing data and discourse this interdisciplinary, qualitative investigation examines religion-informed responses to HIV prevention and care. With a small-scale localised study positioning the content and authority of religious belief on responses to HIV prevention and care in a UK Midlands city of high religio- cultural diversity, the primary and secondary data are 'grounded' in the experience of a local community. In its tracing of the multiple realities of HIV in contexts of global and local religio - cultural diversity, the study finds that global dimensions of HIV touch the local in unavoidable and diverse ways Religion-defined identity and belonging are valued by people affected by HIV and the communities of which they are part, but the stigmatizing impact of HIV, often reinforced by religious beliefs and teachings, generates anxieties about the disclosure of a diagnosis, the initiation of open discussion and access to HIV information and care. Constraints on the access of sexual minorities, young people and women can raise particular concern. In situations of diverse need and contested reality quests for coherent meaning, identity and belonging confront a public health preference for consistent HIV health messages and for accessible and effective programmes of HIV information, support and care. The study evidences diverse and often competing perspectives on HIV and highlights the need for health and social care services and religious groups to have greater awareness of the extensive complexities which the realities of diversity bring to HIV prevention policy design and service delivery. Complexity theory and practical theology inform a new and integrative model for theological, epidemiological and public health partnering through which the inadequacies in both religion-informed responses to HIV and public health HIV prevention and care policy and service delivery can be addressed.

This essay is a qualitative interview study of how six upper secondary school history teachers view and work with students’ diversity of identities in teaching. The questions that the study sought to answer were how history teachers viewed and worked with students’ diversity of identities, as exemplified by specific assignments, along with their selection of teaching materials, and the impact of their own identity on their teaching. These questions were analysed using Manuel Castells’ three aspects of legitimate identity, resistance identity, and project identity, complemented by Carsten Ljunggren’s reasoning concerning a national identity, as the main theoretical framework. In doing so, the study concluded that the teachers viewed working with identity in the history subject as a luxury, dependent on factors such as lesson time, adaption to students, citizen education, and the room for a norm-critical approach. Due to these factors, it was concluded that the history subject unintentionally and mainly conveyed a legitimate identity to the students.  From their exemplified assignments, the study found that student-centred assignments more often enabled the inclusion of resistance identities as well as project identities. The teachers claimed that teaching materials such as textbooks were Eurocentric and needed to be complemented by other material to include other perspectives. It was also concluded that teachers’ gender, social class, and ethnicity had an impact on their teaching. The study found that a new national identity in the history subject, as illustrated by the inclusion of project identities, was linked to the use of intercultural pedagogy and student-centred assignments.