Since 1994, Chicana/o artists, musicians, and activists have been in dialogue with the Zapatista indigenous movement of Chiapas, Mexico. Such a transnational bridge has resonated in a new and unique form of Chicana/o cultural politics centered on the Zapatista concept of “autonomy” and “autonomous organizing.” In Los Angeles, California, this brand of “Chicana/o urban Zapatismo,” as I refer to it in the dissertation, is symbolic of recent political and cultural organizing efforts by Chicanos to combat housing gentrification, economic restructuring, racial and ethnic cleansing, environmental pollution in low-income areas, and mass anti-immigrant hysteria. This dissertation contends that Chicana/o urban Zapatismo is a result of various local, statewide, national, and international social justice movements that embrace the global trend in urban and rural areas towards constructing locally rooted participatory and democratic methods of organizing that are “horizontal” and that mobilize against such far-reaching social forces as racism and global capitalism. Using ethnographic data and interviews collected between 2005 to 2007, this dissertation maps the emergence of Chicana/o urban Zapatismo by tracing its historical origins to the changing social, political, and economic conditions of ethnic Mexican communities in Los Angeles, California; capturing the everyday internal and external tensions between one primarily working class Chicano autonomous collective, the Eastside Café ECHOSPACE in El Sereno, California; offering the case study of the South Central Farm, a 14-acre Mexican and Latino immigrant community garden; and charting the trans-border organizing of Chicana/o urban Zapatistas surrounding the most recent Zapatista-initiated project, “the Mexican Other Campaign”. These four distinct case studies converge in Los Angeles in the creation of a unique political process referred to as “urban Zapatismo”. This ethnographic study suggests that by uncovering the everyday relationships and tensions between Chicana/o urban Zapatistas in Los Angeles and the communities they live in, researchers looking at the production of different forms of racisms and structural inequalities in urban areas may derive a greater understanding of social (re)organization and mobilization by a growing, diverse, and historically marginalized group like Chicanos in the United States. / text

Current literature claims that the graduate students’ personal aspects not only influence research training outcomes, but they also serve as a mediator between students’ research activity and research training environment. In previous studies, key predictors of scholarly/research productivity among counseling graduate students have been investigated (Brown, Lent, Ryan, & McPartland, 1996; Kahn, 2001; Kahn & Scott, 1997). However, only 17% of the variance in three factors—research self-efficacy, research interests, and number of years in a program—predicted student research activities directly and research training environment indirectly. Bandura’s social cognitive theory was utilized as the conceptual framework for the study. Data was collected through SurveyMonkey™, an online source that surveyed 292 counseling doctoral students currently enrolled in 90 counseling doctoral programs across the United States. The findings from a factor analysis conducted in the present study indicated, the RIFPQ-R developed by the researcher was a reliable and valid instrument. Additionally, the findings showed that counseling doctoral students’ researcher identity correlated significantly with students’ research activity and research training environment; however, the correlations were weak. Finally, using two multiple regression analyses, students’ research experiences before admission to program, number of credit hours completed in qualitative and quantitative research, number of years enrolled in their program, and weekly hours spent doing research predicted a small portion of variance in students’ reported researcher identity and research activity.

The study explored the learning experiences of first-year resident physicians during the first year of graduate medical education. The experiences of four intern physicians in the first year of residency training at an urban academic health system provided the site for the research. An exploratory case study research design was employed to examine the learning experiences of these new physicians. A qualitative approach was used to analyze data from interviews and ethnographic observations. The findings of this research study provide evidence surrounding how and what these physician trainees learned regarding professionalism during the first year of residency training. The findings indicate these first-year resident physicians experienced significant learning related to professionalism through incidental learning in the clinical environment, particularly from role models and the hidden curriculum. The interns learned both positive and negative professional behaviors from attending physicians. The findings illustrate the increases and decreases of confidence due to the development of clinical skills, increase in responsibilities, and increase in autonomy experienced by all four participants across the first year of residency training. Additionally, the findings highlight the important role of critical incidents, particularly memorable patient encounters, as potentially transformative learning experiences for these interns. Finally, the findings enumerate the pervasive influence of the hidden curriculum of graduate medical education on what these new physicians learned about professionalism, particularly the unprofessional social norms transmitted through attending physicians and others within the context of clinical learning. The findings of the research study support the conclusions that a) incidental learning experiences during the first year of residency education directly influenced how and what these new physicians learned regarding professionalism; b) these intern physicians experienced non-transformative learning during the first year of residency, but critical reflection and critical self-reflection after critical incidents did hold the potential to result in learning that was transformative; and c) the ubiquitous nature of the hidden curriculum significantly impacted what these first-year residents learned about professionalism. These conclusions contribute to the literature related to the development of professionalism in the new physician and the power of the hidden curriculum in medical education to influence professional identity development. Implications for medical educators and recommendations for future research are also identified.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att studera hur bisexuella personer förhåller sig till sin identitet i en binär värld. Fem personer (en med icke-binär könsidentitet, en man, två kvinnor och en queer kvinna) har intervjuats, och intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån tolkande fenomenologisk analys, även kallad IPA. I resultatet framkommer mycket som bekräftar tidigare forskning gällande identitetsutveckling där de genomgår faser av förvirring, behov av stolthet/komma ut, kulturell gemenskap och syntes. Deltagarna upplever också att det ställs vissa särskilda krav på bisexuella personer och har upplevelser av olika former av stigmatisering som riktas mot bisexualitet, såsom hypersexualitet, sexualisering och monosexism. / The aim of this thesis was to study how bisexually-identified people relate to their identity in a binary world. Five persons (one non-binary identified, one male-identified, two female-identified and one queer female-identified) have been interviewed, and the interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, also known as IPA. The results confirm much of earlier research concerning sexual identity development where the participants went through phases of confusion, need of pride/coming out, need of cultural immersion and synthesis. The participants also experienced that there was particular demands on bisexual-identified people and how they experienced attraction, and they had several experiences of different forms of stigmatisation aimed at bisexuality, such as prejudices about hypersexuality, sexualisation and monosexism.

Abstract This research report examines the relationship between legal status and national identity formation. It is based on a qualitative research of former refugees from Mozambique who have lived and settled in the Northern Province of South Africa now called Limpopo province in the border areas with Mozambique for over twenty years. The report compares the narratives of former Mozambican refugees in South Africa who have acquired permanent residence and citizenship with those that are undocumented. The distinction between undocumented and documented former refugees allows me to look at the role of access to services in identity formation, since most government services in South Africa, as elsewhere, are not accessible without legal documentation. Since most services are, however, accessible for both permanent residents and citizens, the distinction between these two statuses allow me to explore whether there is a more symbolic meaning attached to citizenship. Drawing from citizenship theory, variations in the attachment to South Africa or Mozambique that emerged in the research data are analysed in terms of the refugees’ experience of social inclusion or social exclusion norms. The benefits of social inclusion and how it shapes positive attitudes towards attaching to South Africa is discussed.

This study explores and describes the experiences of hearing children growing up in Deaf Parented families in Gauteng. The specific objectives of the study were to explore the delegation of different roles including South African Sign Language interpreting in the family; the influence of having Deaf parents in occupational choices of hearing adult-children of Deaf parents; the availability of support services to CODAs and their perceptions of their parents in terms of disability. A purposive sampling strategy in conjunction with snowball sampling was used to identify and recruit participants. Two males and eight females between the ages of 21 and 40 years, with different occupations were recruited for this study. A qualitative design, embedded within the constructivism and interpretivism framework was used in this study. Data were collected through semi structured; open ended and in-depth interview questions were used to obtain data for the study. A pilot study was conducted prior to commencing with the main study. Thematic content analysis was employed to describe themes qualitatively. The following themes emerged from the study. Participants reported to have developed a bicultural identity; however, they primarily identify themselves as CODAs regardless of their racial identity. Participants expressed frustrations with the interpreter role and female children reported to have interpreted for their parents more than their male counterparts. Seven participants are currently employed as SASL interpreters. The study highlights that there are mixed emotions regarding interactions with the extended family members. The study identifies a strong need for support services for Deaf parented families. Lastly; participants viewed Deafness as a cultural minority, and not a disability. Findings revealed a need for audiologists to clearly define their role in Deaf parented families, and to also adopt emic view of Deafness and family system perspective model.

The research presented in “Creating Identity” investigates Black identity formation within the Steve Biko Cultural Institute (Biko) in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, a pre-vestibular – or college entrance exam preparation course – for Afro-Brazilian high school and aspiring college students. The curriculum, Cidadania e Consciência Negra (Black Consciousness and Citizenship; abbreviated CCN) serves as a vital pillar to the institutional approach to Black identity. In a Eurocentric society like Brazil and a world where Black identity is largely discriminated against including in educational spaces, Biko represents a movement to combat the exclusion of Afro-descendant youth from university, improve self-esteem and perceptions of the value of Black identity, and change who graduates from Bahia state universities. Over the course of nine months, in 2015 and 2016, field data were collected in the city of Salvador, Brazil and at the Biko institute. Since the research was cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, and hosted internationally, I assumed a methodologically narrative approach. The research design incorporated a survey, interviews, observations, and document analysis. Forty-two students completed surveys, twenty-six Biko students, staff and alumni participated in interviews, and well over 400 hours of participatory field observation were completed. Policy, demographic and curricular documents were also analyzed. CCN heavily influenced participants’ identity development through student and teacher discourse. The institution is a center of critical activism in the community. Aside from being a major part of the instructional approach to preparation for the college entrance exam, CCN heavily influenced the relationships between participants and their families and friends over newly affirmed Black identities. Although Biko students and alumni became more socially alert to the racial issues in their communities, they remain at risk of being racially profiled. Additionally, understanding blackness through the eyes of participants required an understanding of class and gender structures in Brazil. One major implication of the research for the participants is: blackness is CCN is Biko. Thereby, knowledge production and interaction with universities by Biko students are heavily influenced by Biko tenets and ideologies discussing race and racism, prejudice, discrimination, women’s rights, and economic development.

<p>In this thesis, I explore if Latvia has experienced, during the last ten years, a change in identity and threat perception that could allow for the building of a “cooperative security community” in Northern Europe. Recent constructivist researches contend that such change is in progress in neighboring Estonia. This research, performed through a discourse analysis of political elite’s speeches, reveals the presence – explained by the concept of interim inconsequentiality - of two opposite identity/security discourses. I link the first, inclusive, discourse to Latvia’s Western socialization, but not to a change in identity, as I contend that both threat images and identity have been instrumentalized for the sake of the accession strategy. As for the second, exclusionary, discourse that shows a persistent distrust of both Russia and the ethnic Russian minorities, and is the more prevalent in terms of political behavior, I link it to Latvia’s identity as a small ethnic nation vulnerable to external pressures - an identity strengthened during the period by Russia’s behavior. I verify this thesis by exposing the exclusionary discourse’s salience on the EU integration issue. I conclude that the period of reference, far from resolving the security dilemma, has, on the contrary, reinforced it.</p>

<p>I have been using qualitative interviews to explore music's influence in school from a learning perspective, community perspective and identity-building perspective. I have visited two classes at two different schools to do these interviews with ten informants, both students and teachers. My interview questions were almost the same for both students and teachers, but differed in wording. My research is based on the informants’ answers and relevant sources such as literary books, curricula and the Internet.</p><p>After fieldwork was completed, I transcribed the interviews to further analyze them according to relevant theories, such as Bergman (2009) and Antal Lundström (1996). I am satisfied with the results of the research and I am glad that the sources I have found verify my own theories about music's understated value in schools and that music is really a necessary tool to help learning, community and identity creation. Regrettably I have not found any theories that take an opposite stance to my views.</p><p>Through my research I have found that music can benefit most students, not all because everyone has different needs - but many, in their learning process. Music, for example, helps with a new means of expression for students. I have also found that music increases the cohesion and creates community in groups where the participants reveals new sides to each other - something that creates a strong and secure group. The music gives students the opportunity to try different roles - it strengthens the students' personalities and helps them in their identity formation.</p>

<p>This thesis deals with the connection between archaeological sites and</p><p>processes of identity formation in Southern Africa, as expressed in relation to the Twyfelfontein rock art site and Great Zimbabwe, and, to some extent, the White Lady site. The aim is to understand in what ways people think of, and identify with, archaeological monuments. The Twyfelfontein rock art site is presented in the form of a case study, based on my own fieldwork of 2004, while the descriptions of the other sites derive from literary sources. The theoretical discussion on identity, and ethnic identity in particular, is central to this thesis. In analysing the conditions of the different archaeological sites, a discursive approach is taken in order to</p><p>highlight the way perceptions of the past, and people’s identities, are dependant upon social and political processes.</p>