Identity have come to fore in daily life, political life and social sciences in recent years. Debates on the ways how identity can be studied and conceptualized have been varying. There needs to make critical studies on multicultural Mardin using current theoretical possibilities. The reason of why Mardin is selected as the case of this study is that the significant role of identity in people living in Mardin as a multi-religious and multi-ethnic site. However, because of that &quot / difference&quot / which is expressed in the &quot / cultural diversity&quot / is understood with only ethnic and religious belongings, social class and gender are generally neglected. In this thesis, identity is studied as intersectionality of ethnicity, social class, and gender differences. It is focused on where, how and how certain identity expressions are selected. Accordingly, it is tried to be revealed that identity is not fixed and essentialist, rather is historical, contextual and contingent in the case of Mardinian Arabs. The most suitable data generation method for this research question is interviewing and participant observation as a part of living experience in the researching site.

In this thesis I have done a discourse analysis of the documentary movie A Jihad for Love. A Jihad for Love came out 2007 and is directed by Parvez Sharma. The documentary movie is about homosexual Muslims and their jihad, struggle, for love and to be accepted in a world where they are barely recognized as a group. My aim of the thesis was to see how the movie portrays the persons who are in the film and their relationship to Islam and who gets access to the religion. I have also analyzed if Islam can be used to strengthen the sexual identity or if it works in the opposite way. I have used the theoretical instrument of intersectionality and religious proximity with a gender perspective with focus on sexuality and religion to analyze my material. My conclusions of the thesis are that the men in the movie are often more portrayed as active subjects that can use the religion as a tool to strengthen the sexuality. The women are more portrayed as inactive objects that cannot use the religion to strengthen their sexual identity because of different power axes, like gender and sexuality, which collide and with each other. Another conclusion is that men have a higher grade of religious proximity which makes them closer to God, whereas the women traditionally don’t have the same closeness to God and cannot therefore have the same power in the religious hierarchy.

<p>This dissertation examines the topic of social perceptions regarding political candidates at the intersection of race and gender. Within this project I analyze 1) the degree to which stereotypes are held at different points of this intersection; 2) the degree to which these stereotypes can be influenced by way of priming via common news reporting messages; and 3) the ways in which these stereotypes and perceptions influence evaluations of Black female political candidates and their electoral prospects. In order to examine these issues, I utilize data from two surveys I have designed: the 2011 Social Cognition and Evaluation Survey and the 2012 Political Candidate Evaluation and Social Beliefs Survey. The former gathers information regarding social and personal perceptions of "average" and "elite" Black women, White women, Black men, and White men, and the ways in which negative intersectional priming messages can influence the evaluation of each of these groups. The latter survey includes an embedded experiment in which respondents participate in two mock elections and candidate evaluations. One mock election includes a Black female with a relatively dark complexion as the fixed candidate and the other includes a Black female with a relatively light complexion as the fixed candidate, with each competing against either a White male, White female, or Black male opponent. Based on the data from the aforementioned surveys, I find that people engage in stereotyping in an intersectional, rather than a one-dimensional, manner. Consequently, Black women at different social status levels and with differing skin tones are subject to distinct intensities of the attribution of racialized, gendered, and intersectional stereotypes. In turn, the ways in which the voting public evaluates them as political candidates are influenced by these stereotypes.</p> / Dissertation

Background: Pregnancy has been described as a period when women experience heightened behavioural surveillance. Young single women have commonly been described as a population who engage in high risk behaviours during pregnancy (e.g. smoking), yet they are also a population who often has access to fewer resources to make expected behaviour changes during pregnancy. Purpose: To explore the experiences of young single pregnant and parenting women regarding behavioural expectations and behaviour change during pregnancy. Research Questions: (1) What are the perceived behavioural expectations for young single women during pregnancy? (2) Who or what reinforces the perceived behavioural expectations? (3) To which behavioural expectations do young single women conform (or resist) and why? Methods: Nine single pregnant or parenting women between the ages of 15 and 24 were recruited from two urban community health settings between November 2011 and January 2012. Data was collected through individual semi-structured photo-elicitation interviews and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The main findings of the study include: (1) young single pregnant women are subject to a multitude of health and social behavioural expectations, (2) young single women experience internal and external behavioural surveillance during pregnancy, and (3) young single pregnant women experience these behavioural expectations as a tension between the potential for opportunity and oppression. Implications for Practice: By understanding young single pregnant women’s perceptions of how they are expected to behave, who and what reinforces such expectations, and how young women conform to or resist such expectations, the results of this project will inform the development of effective individual, community, and systemic level interventions and better inform interactions with young pregnant women.

There has been an influx in the number of African people entering North America since the 1960's. Despite the fact that women who emigrate from Africa tend to be more highly educated compared to the rest of Canada's population, they are far more likely to be unemployed and low-income (Statistics Canada, 2007: 7). Economic security is linked to decision-making power in many aspects of a woman’s life, including personal safety and freedom of choice. The original research question investigated in this study was how do female African immigrants in the Region of Waterloo access the services they require to gain economic security? The intent of the study was to explore how the services in the Region of Waterloo are accessed by African immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, during the interview process the information collected extended beyond the initial research question. The analysis of the research answers three important questions. What are the various types of resources that women need to access in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency? How do they find out what these resources are? How can they acquire them? The qualitative research used in-depth interviews that were conducted with fifteen African women living in the Region of Waterloo. The analysis of the thesis emerged from the lived experiences of the participants following a feminist ethnographic approach. Women were given the opportunity to discuss their personal backgrounds and their reasons for leaving their countries of origin from their perspectives. The barriers to economic security after arriving in the region were analyzed with special attention to the unique barriers women face because of care-taking responsibilities. The impact of the loss of social support networks was explained. The use of government support services was discussed, leading into an analysis of the lack of information regarding support services. Participants identified that there is collective action of African immigrant women in non-profit organizations operating to fill the information gap. There are a number of important conclusions that can be drawn from this research. First, the women interviewed argued that they felt that it was the government’s responsibility to provide economic support services to new African immigrant families in order to help them become established. Second, although the government does have a number of programs designed to economically assist immigrants, they are not accessible nor do they reflect the needs of African immigrant women. Third, non-profit women’s organizations in the region are effective in providing information about available resources, and do take the needs of African women into consideration. Fourth, non-profit organizations in the region empower African women locally and help them to integrate into the community. Finally, participants asserted that non-profit organizations should be funded by the government in order to be able to provide sufficient economic support to community members. This research adds to the actions of local non-profit agencies and builds a needed step in bridging that gap between government and non-profit organizations by acknowledging the contribution of non-profit organizations.

This study examines how Asian Americans articulate their marginalization and identity, as well as other issues related to race, through the use of blogs. Specifically, I look at discourse surrounding the Deadly Viper Character Assassins publication controversy on three different blogs. I draw upon critical discourse analysis (CDA) to compile patterns, themes, and anomalies from the online discussions. This paper highlights key findings, given the scarceness of Asian American voices in public culture, that prompt ongoing discussions about identity and the use of blogs as a platform to speak and conceptualize Asian American identity.

There has been an influx in the number of African people entering North America since the 1960's. Despite the fact that women who emigrate from Africa tend to be more highly educated compared to the rest of Canada's population, they are far more likely to be unemployed and low-income (Statistics Canada, 2007: 7). Economic security is linked to decision-making power in many aspects of a woman’s life, including personal safety and freedom of choice. The original research question investigated in this study was how do female African immigrants in the Region of Waterloo access the services they require to gain economic security? The intent of the study was to explore how the services in the Region of Waterloo are accessed by African immigrants with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, during the interview process the information collected extended beyond the initial research question. The analysis of the research answers three important questions. What are the various types of resources that women need to access in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency? How do they find out what these resources are? How can they acquire them? The qualitative research used in-depth interviews that were conducted with fifteen African women living in the Region of Waterloo. The analysis of the thesis emerged from the lived experiences of the participants following a feminist ethnographic approach. Women were given the opportunity to discuss their personal backgrounds and their reasons for leaving their countries of origin from their perspectives. The barriers to economic security after arriving in the region were analyzed with special attention to the unique barriers women face because of care-taking responsibilities. The impact of the loss of social support networks was explained. The use of government support services was discussed, leading into an analysis of the lack of information regarding support services. Participants identified that there is collective action of African immigrant women in non-profit organizations operating to fill the information gap. There are a number of important conclusions that can be drawn from this research. First, the women interviewed argued that they felt that it was the government’s responsibility to provide economic support services to new African immigrant families in order to help them become established. Second, although the government does have a number of programs designed to economically assist immigrants, they are not accessible nor do they reflect the needs of African immigrant women. Third, non-profit women’s organizations in the region are effective in providing information about available resources, and do take the needs of African women into consideration. Fourth, non-profit organizations in the region empower African women locally and help them to integrate into the community. Finally, participants asserted that non-profit organizations should be funded by the government in order to be able to provide sufficient economic support to community members. This research adds to the actions of local non-profit agencies and builds a needed step in bridging that gap between government and non-profit organizations by acknowledging the contribution of non-profit organizations.

<p>Same, Same, but Different</p><p>-a Minor Field Study of the Future Red Cross Women’s Project,</p><p>Malindi Branch, Kenya.</p><p>In May 2005, we received a scholarship from the Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA, to conduct a Minor Field Study about the future women’s project at the Malindi Red Cross branch, Kenya. The branch has since May 2002 been involved in a Twinning cooperation with the Swedish Red Cross Southeast Region.</p><p>The aim of this thesis is by using the Logical Framework Approach and the Intersectional perspective, to examine the situation for women in Malindi and the work of the Red Cross branch, in order to propose guidelines for the future Red Cross women’s project. The questions asked were: How can the guidelines for the women’s project be formulated in order for the vision of the Red Cross to be reached? What changes within the individual, societal and political sphere have to be accomplished in order to meet the needs and interests of different women in Malindi?</p><p>The work of the Red Cross is in a political science perspective interesting as it through its role of a humanitarian organisation and NGO, plays an important role in the Kenyan civil society, performing activities and providing services that originally should be supplied by the government.</p><p>We have found that it is not possible to talk about the woman in Malindi, due to the fact that women’s backgrounds, problems, needs and interests are different. Therefore it is of great importance that the Red Cross in order to accomplish its vision, i.e. to reach the most vulnerable, includes a gender and an intersectional approach into its activities and outreaches. There is a desire in Kenya to politicize the gender issue, however the future will show the will to actually implement these laws and reforms needed for the empowerment of the women. Moreover, different gender structures can only be achieved through the questioning of the traditional gender roles from both men and women and in this process we have recognised the Red Cross as an important moulder of public opinion. Finally we also want to suggest an inclusion of the gender- and the intersectional perspective into the method of LFA, since the traditional model is not sufficient in considering the different needs of different people.</p>

This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political party Feminist Initiative (Feministiskt initiativ) during 2014 national parliamentary election campaign. The analysis is carried out on two levels: the construction of the hegemonic project of feminist politics and the construction of an antagonist.      Deploying the discourse-theoretical approach by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as well as the theories of radical democracy and intersectionality, it is shown how a new, broad collective feminist identity is produced by deconstructing womanhood as an identifiable and unproblematic category as well as expanding the signifying chain of feminism by including new social struggles into it. As a result, the feminist subject is conceptualized in radical-democratic terms as a citizen with equal rights, rather than an essentialized female subject. Two nodal points that fix the meaning of the hegemonic project of feminist politics are identified: one is human rights, which enables the expansion of the chain of equivalence, and the other is experience of oppression, which acknowledges differences existing within the movement and prevents it from muting marginalized voices. Discrimination, being the constitutive outside, both threatens and produces the subject: on the one hand, it violates human rights that underlie feminist politics; on the other hand, it produces the experience of oppression that gives a unique feminist perspective to each member of the collective identity. The hegemonic project thus emerges as dependent on the oppressive power of discrimination. The study suggests a critical discussion on how the constitutive outside – discrimination – empties the concept of feminism by a radical expansion of its meaning.    The research furthermore explores the construction of the antagonist of the hegemonic project. Utilizing analytical concepts from the writings of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, it is demonstrated how social structures and norms acquire agency and become the significant Other for the feminist identity. The thesis is concluded by a critical discussion on the fundamental impossibility of identification based on opposing oneself to something that can only be expressed with a signifier that ultimately lacks any signified.

This study took place in the city of Rasht, which is the capital of Gilan Province, situated in North-Western Iran. The aim has been to investigate how a group of young Rashti women constitute their identities through their talk-in-interaction, and how they relate to the concept of Rashti, be it the dialect, people living in a geographical area, or a notion of collective characteristics. The participants constitute their identities by using different social categories to position and categorise themselves and contrast themselves with others. In positioning and categorising they use various discursive means, such as code-switching, active voicing, and extreme-case formulations. Moreover, the social categories also overlap and work together when the participants negotiate and re-negotiate their identities, making an intersectional approach highly relevant. The methods used in this study are of a qualitative nature and belong in the third wave of sociolinguistics (Eckert 2012). The analysed data consists primarily of staged conversations, whereas participant observation, field notes, and natural conversations have been used to help the researcher in understanding the field. The study adopts an emic or participants’ perspective through the use of membership categorisation analysis and conversation analysis, but also within a theoretical intersectionality framework. In many of the conversations, the culture of Rasht and Gilan is a re-emerging theme, and it is contrasted with that of the rest of the country. Gender norms and gender roles are very central to the study, as these young women describe themselves as much freer and less controlled than women in other parts of the country. Gender is made relevant when the participants discuss how the local traditions surpass both national (religious) laws and social codes in other places. The Rashti and Gilaki language varieties also play a role in the constructing of the Rashti identity of the participants. There is, however, a discrepancy between the participants’ values vis-à-vis Rashti and Gilaki as a dialect or a language, and how they value being a Rashti as well as the Rashti and Gilaki culture. In the majority of conversations the participants express a highly positive opinion regarding their Rashti identity, while at the same time the Rashti and Gilaki language varieties are mostly valued in very negative ways.