abstract: This dissertation focuses on traditional arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) as a form of place-based education by asking the question, what is the role of traditional arts at IAIA? Through a qualitative study students, faculty, staff, and alumni were interviewed to gain their perspectives on education, traditional arts, and the role of traditional arts at IAIA. Through analysis of these interviews, it was found that participants viewed traditional arts as a form of place-based education and that these practices should play an important role at IAIA. This study also looks at critical geography and place-based practice as a form of anti-colonial praxis and an exercise of tribal sovereignty. Colonization restructures and transforms relationships with place. Neo-colonialism actively seeks to disconnect people from their relationship with the environment in which they live. A decline in relationship with places represents a direct threat to tribal sovereignty. This study calls on Indigenous people, and especially those who are Pueblo people, to actively reestablish relationships with their places so that inherent sovereignty can be preserved for future generations. This study also looks at the academic organization of IAIA and proposes a restructuring of the Academic Dean and Chief Academic Officer (AD&CAO) position to address issues of transition, efficiency, and innovation. The extensive responsibilities of this position cause several serious concerns. The policy paper proposes that the academic programs be divided thematically into 2 schools that will allow greater flexibility and adaptive practices to emerge out of the academic division at IAIA. The combination of restructuring the academic division at IAIA, my theoretical argument promoting place-based praxis as anti-colonial practice, and my research into the application of place-based programming at IAIA all support my overall goal of supporting Pueblo communities through my own work. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2018

La navigation est une fonction clé de l’évolution. Chez l’Humain, comme chez le Rat, elle repose sur au moins deux structures cérébrales : l’hippocampe et le striatum. Chacune de ces structures prend en charge un mode de navigation qui lui est propre, et qui dépend du degré de connaissance de l’environnement et de la monotonie de la tâche. A l’heure actuelle, on ne comprend pas bien comment l’hippocampe et le striatum interagissent lors du rappel d’une information spatiale. L’objectif de cette thèse a été de mieux caractériser ce dialogue hippocampo-striatal. A travers des inactivations temporaires, couplées à un entraînement progressif dans un test comportemental, j’ai pu montrer une interdépendance de ces deux structures lors du rappel d’une information spatiale après 6 jours d’entrainement. Cette relation évolue après 14 jours d’entrainement, où l’intégrité des deux structures n’est plus requise pour le rappel d’une stratégie allocentrée. / Spatial navigation is a key function of the evolution. In Human, as in Rat, it is based on at least two brain structures: the hippocampus and the striatum. Each of these structures supports a navigation mode of its own, which depends on the level of knowledge of the space environment and the monotony of the task. Currently, we don’t really understand how these two structures interact during retrieval of a spatial information. The aim of this thesis was to better characterize hippocampo-striatal dialogue during the implementation of a routine in the rat. Through muscimol inactivation, coupled to progressive period training in a behavioral test, I was able to show the interdependence of these two structures in the development of a relevant navigation strategy during retrieval after 6 training days. This relationship evolves after 14 days of training, where, hippocampus does not seem to depend on the integrity of dorsal striatum anymore to provide an allocentric strategy.

This thesis examines how traditional medicine workshops offered by an Aboriginal health centre contribute to capacity re-building through self-care in two local communities in Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Health disparities that exist between Aboriginal people and the rest of the population have prompted a need to better understand health determinants that are of relevance in these communities including the importance of culture, tradition, and self-determination. A variety of qualitative methods were employed in this work including in-depth interviews, focus groups and “art voice.” The use of art voice on Manitoulin Island advances decolonizing methodologies by emphasizing how the incorporation of locally and culturally relevant methods or “methods-in-place,” is an effective way to engage communities in the research process. Results show the need to approach traditional teachings, health programs, and research from an Aboriginal worldview and indicate that more frequent workshops are required to empower youth and adults to practice and share traditional knowledge. Furthermore, a continuum exists in which the interest in language, culture, and tradition increases with age. Capacity can therefore be re-built over time within communities promoting autonomy and self-determination through self-care. Findings can be expected to further inform the traditional programming in participating communities, enhance existing Aboriginal determinants of health models by including traditional medicine as an element of self-care, and can act as a springboard for the inclusion of unique place-based methods into community-based research projects in the future.

This qualitative inquiry explored how art educators might broaden their views of place through critical encounters with art, local visual culture, and working with older artists. I combined place-based (PB) education and intergenerational (IG) learning as the focus of an art education curriculum writing initiative with in-service art educators within a museum setting to produce PBIG art education. This study engaged art educators in cooperative action research using a multi-modal approach, including identifying and interviewing local artists to construct new understandings about local place and art to share with students and community. I used critical reflection in our cooperative action research by troubling paradoxes in local visual culture, which formed views of place including Indigenous cultures. Using Deleuze's Logic of Sense (LOS) theories of sense and event, enabled concept development through embracing the paradoxes of this research as sense producing. LOS theory of duration complements IG learning by clarifying the contributions of place and time to memory and experience. Duration suggests that place locates the virtual past, which is actualized through memories--one of the shared experiences of IG learning. Rethinking IG relationships as a sharing of experience and memory while positioning place as a commonality, dismantles ageist notions by offering alternatives to binary thinking about old and young. By triangulating participant data based on the extended epistemology of cooperative action research and Deleuze's pure event, I assess the credibility of participant learning. Critical reflection in cooperative action research combined with LOS theory is significant because the reflective aspect of action research aligns with Deleuze's pure event. Vital curricula and teacher praxes resulted when participants integrated localized experiences of place through older artists' memories and art.

The world is becoming progressively interconnected through technology, politics, culture, economics, and education. As educators we strive to provide instruction that prepares students to become active members of both their local and global communities. This dissertation presents one possible avenue for engaging students with art and multifaceted ideas about culture, community, and politics as it explores the possibilities for creating a community-based, art education curriculum that seeks a merger of global and local, or "glocal" thinking. Through curriculum action research, I explored the process of writing site-specific curriculum that focuses on publicly available, local works of art and encourages a connection between global experiences and local application. I have completed this research for two communities, one in Ohio and one in Texas, and investigated the similarities and differences that exist in the process and resulting curriculum for each location. Through textual analysis, interviews, curriculum writing, and personal reflections, I identified five essential components of a community-based, glocal art education curriculum: flexibility, authenticity, connectedness, glocal understandings, and publicly available art. Additionally, I developed a template for writing glocally focused, community-based art education curriculum and produced completed curricular units for each of the communities. Finally, I have made suggestions for the future study and development of glocally focused, art education curriculum.

This dissertation deals with the concept of territorial cohesion and place-based approaches that are understood as a tool to achieve territorial cohesion. Specific attention is paid to Territorial Impact Assessment, which is most frequently designed as a method for adjustment of place-based approaches in order to reflect specific needs of particular types of regions. The theoretical part discusses interpretations associated with territorial cohesion in academic literature. It also analyses arguments of proponents and opponents of place-based approaches as a tool for considering territorial specificities in sectoral policies. Further, the dissertation focuses on the evolution of the Territorial Impact Assessment at the European level and its position within other impact assessment tools. The main aim of the empirical part is, first, to identify ways in which EU member states interpret and fulfil the EU goal leading to territorial cohesion and, second, to define how EU member states use place-based approaches to achieve territorial cohesion. Specific attention is given to Czechia, its understanding of territorial cohesion, and its experience with the implementation of place-based approaches. Research shows that EU member states do not deal with territorial cohesion uniformly; instead, they project...

How does it feel to be creative? Such a question, when approached from a phenomenological perspective, reveals new understandings about the embodied experience of creativity, and how it feels as it is being lived. This investigation begins with a provocative contrast of two environments where creativity is thought to manifest itself: school art classrooms, where creativity is often legislated from an authority figure, and New Orleans Second Line parades, where creativity is organically and kinetically expressed. A thorough review of the literature on creativity focuses on education, arts education, creative economies, psychology, and critical theorists, collectively revealing a cognitive bias and striking lack of consideration for community, freedom, and the lived experience of being creative. Further discussions in the literature also neglect sites of creativity, and the impact that place (such as a school classroom) can have upon creativity. The phenomenological perspectives of Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Bachelard, and Trigg support a methodological lens to grasp embodied knowledge, perceptions of placedness on creativity, and the interdependent frictions between freedom, authenticity, movement and belonging. The research method includes investigations in New Orleans in archives, examination of visual and material culture, participation in cultural practice, and formal and informal interviews. Further, the phenomena of walking and wandering became a methodology for embodied data collection that clarified the emerging rich experiences and descriptions of how it feels to be creative, especially how it feels to be creative in a creative place. What is also revealed are intense frictions, such as the tension between perceptions of personal freedom and a high demand for authenticity in terms of New Orleans traditions, that opens the space and fuels the inspiration for the abundance of creativity found in New Orleans culture.

I skolorna talas det alltmer om utomhuspedagogik som arbetssätt och dess inflytande på elevers inlärning. Det finns forskning som behandlar huruvida arbetssättet påverkar elevers förståelse och kunskapslagring, men desto mindre kring hur arbetssättet bedrivs i praktiken. Frågor som kan ställas är om det även kan finnas faktorer som har inflytande på användandet av arbetssättet, och varför. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att bidra med kunskap om hur lärare i Stockholms innerstad kontra förorter, använder historiska platser i form av besök i samband med sin historieundervisning. Sju legitimerade grundskolelärare i årskurs 4–6 som arbetar på olika skolor runt om i Stockholm har deltagit i studien. Metoden som använts är kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med en abduktiv ansats. Intervjufrågorna som har ställts är öppna för att respondenterna ska få utrymme till mer utförliga svar med eventuella följdfrågor. Den övergripande teorin för studien är Learning by doing av John Dewey med särskilt fokus på begreppen utomhuspedagogik, platsbaserad undervisning och upplevelsebaserat lärande. Dessa är förankrade med undersökningens innehåll, och därav baseras arbetet utifrån dessa teorier gällande lärande. Resultatet av studien visade att geografiska förutsättningar ökar användningen av arbetssättet i samband med historieundervisningen, då det oftast används i innerstaden med närhet till många av Stockholms kulturhistoriska platser. / In schools you often hear about outdoor education as a way of teaching and its influence of the students learning. There is research that shows whether outdoor education has an impact on the student’s understanding and memorization, however it is hard to find research that describes how it is actually used and practiced. Questions that should be considered is whether factors that affect the use of outdoor education, and why that is. The aim of the study is to contribute with knowledge about how teachers in Stockholm’s inner city versus the suburbs, tend to use historical places in terms of visits in connection with their history teaching. The respondents who participated in the research are seven licensed primary school teachers who teach the history subject in grades 4–6 and work at different schools in Stockholm. The method that is used is qualitative and semi structured interviews with an aduktiv approach. The interview questions that have been asked are opened with the possibility to give the respondent space for a more free answer and also the possibility to ask supplementary questions. The overall theory for the study is learning by doing by John Dewey, with a particular focus on concept outdoor education, place-based education, and experience-based learning. These are strongly anchored with the consent of the research, and therefore the research is based upon these theories about learning. The result shows that the geographic closeness increase the use of the working method in connection with history education, as it is most often used in the inner city with closeness to many of Stockholm's cultural-historical places.

As we come to the end of the decade declared as United Nations Decade for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the impact humans are having our planet is clear. The current primary school children are the future decision makers, consumers and electors; therefore, they must be exposed to approaches that can assist development that is sustainable and that will prevent further degradation of our planet. A key way to achieve this is to transform the education current and future generations of children will receive. Education must address sustainable development to support the formation of responsible citizens, eager to actively engage in decision-making processes, environmental issues and societal matters. This can be assisted through a focus on a specific approach to Education for Sustainable Development, Biodiversity Education. To add to current research about this approach to ESD, I investigated the effect biodiversity education had on the sustainability consciousness of primary school children. I chose a qualitative method of data collection and analysis through focus group, semi-structured interviews with 5th class students. The results showed that the participants' sustainability awareness, regarding two of the three dimensions of sustainable development, was highly developed; the environmental dimension and the social dimension. There was less evidence of a consciousness for the economic dimension of SD. Therefore, biodiversity education had a positive influence on the participants' sustainability consciousness, making them more aware of sustainability issues and action-oriented to address these issues. However, they lacked one dimension of sustainability; therefore, their sustainability consciousness was not fully developed. Further research is needed to analysis and interpret the rationale as to why the economic dimension was less developed in these participants who attended a school that promotes biodiversity education.

Outdoor education is believed to be a new teaching approach and method in the education framework which relates to learning through natural places using direct experience. However, the teaching approach that is mostly used in the Gambian schools is based on the traditional approach of teachings as well as many African countries. As a relatively new teaching technique, outdoor education is gaining recognition from many researchers who are developing a keen interest in it. Thus, the aim of the current thesis is to investigate the perceptions of Gambian Basic and Secondary school teachers about outdoor education. in that regard, six (6) Gambian teachers from different teaching subjects, grades, and regions reported their views about outdoor education. A qualitative approach methodology with the use of semi-structured interview was employed to get teachers perceptions. After the data collection, thematic analysis was used for analyzing the collected data from which three (3) themes emerged to report the participants’ opinions. The participants revealed their basic knowledge and perceptions about outdoor education and presented some characteristics and examples of how the practice outdoor education. They emphasized that they view outdoor education as a teaching approach with the use of outdoors. However, according to them, any teaching activity that involves using the outside the four corners of the classroom or the school premises, is considered outdoor education. They noted that outdoor education can take place in the form of excursions, fieldtrips, classes outside the class under a tree or within the school premises. Besides, although the teachers indicated that the main teaching approach, they use is still the traditional teaching and learning approach, they showed willingness to enrich their classes with use of outdoor education. They further revealed that the main places they conduct outdoor education is the school yard, under a tree, a visit to places of interest, excursions to various historical places or museums and the like. The Gambian teachers acknowledged many potentials of outdoor education to the students including stimulation of multi-senses, increased understanding, improved social relation and cooperation, boosting of their health and wellbeing, developing curiosity, and giving students a sense of freedom and happiness. However, participants also revealed several barriers that suppress them from doing outdoor education effectively. Among the barriers mentioned includes, inadequate funding, lack of support from parents and school administrators, lack of pedagogical training, tight schedule, and limited time. Thus, further research is needed to help testifying the results of the current study and give more insight into the field of outdoor education in the Gambia and Africa at large