This dissertation comprises a musical history and ethnography of musical culture on the island of Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean. It details two interrelated performance traditions, examining the history and practice of European art music on the island in parallel with that of an endemic song-and-dance tradition called séga. Mauritius, once a notorious nest of pirates and privateers, was a famous overseas haven of French culture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Wealth from trade, war, and piracy fueled a rich cultural scene that featured the latest music from Western Europe. Visitors to "The Little Paris of the Indian Ocean" also encountered séga, a percussion-driven music based on improvised songs and dances that developed amongst the island's African and Malagasy slaves. Today, séga is an integral part of the Mauritian tourism industry and is prominently featured in government cultural and educational programs. The general format of the dissertation is a musical history of Mauritius from its first human settlement in 1638 to the present day. It draws extensively on unpublished archival documents and on travelogues, letters, and diaries from visitors to provide specific details about the extent and nature of musical practice in Mauritius. It is also informed by historical newspapers, contemporaneous literature, and by recent discoveries in Mauritian archaeology. The narrative of the past half-century of Mauritian musical and cultural history takes the form of a musical ethnography and draws upon numerous interviews and on field research conducted in Mauritius from 2011-2012. The dissertation also includes a detailed study of music in contemporary Mauritian society, with special reference to the use of séga in nation-building policies, identity politics, the tourism industry, and in public education.

This is a study of the production, content, distribution, and reception of different religious films in Zimbabwe, with an emphasis on the audience’s initial reception of the films. Informants’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of these selected films are analyzed primarily by using qualitative methods to understand better the interplay between film and religion in Zimbabwe. The films studied in this research are The Jesus Film (1979) created by Campus Crusade for Christ and indigenous, short Jesus films created locally in Zimbabwe in 2012. In order to answer the central research questions of this study, two main approaches are employed: the first is a holistic approach to the analysis of these films. The primary question within this approach is: in what ways do the production, content, and distribution of The Jesus Film and indigenous, short Jesus films affect the reception of the films among informants in Zimbabwe today? The second approach specifically addresses the interchange between the audience members’ self-identified religious beliefs and their reception of the films. There are two central research questions within this approach. First, in what ways may pre-existing perceptions of Jesus shape informants’ responses to and interpretations of Jesus as he is portrayed in The Jesus Film and in indigenous, short Jesus films in Zimbabwe today? Secondly, how might the viewing of these films affect those perceptions of Jesus? Based upon the careful analysis of the original data that emerges from the field work of this research, the conclusion provides a series of answers to these questions, revealing new insights into the interplay of film and religion in Zimbabwe.

The thesis addresses controversies within Anglicanism over overlapping identities and whose differences are included or excluded as Anglicans. Overlapping identities have been perceived as challenges to ecclesial identity coherence, but the thesis asks if these might alternatively be viewed as an unrecognized manifestation of postcolonial hybrid ecclesiologies. The thesis engages Stephen Sykes' search for a systematic, ontological question as to the way the Anglican Communion is a "part" of the universal church of Christ. The thesis demonstrates the shift of whole-parts from an ontological foundation in medieval ecclesiology to a manipulation of power in contemporary ecclesiologies to exclude offensive parts and maintain coherence in identity.

Each year, thousands of international students move to the United States to pursue higher education. Over the past few years in particular, the numbers of international students enrolled at U.S.-American universities has been on a constant incline. Two of the biggest changes that international students may experience are the different expectations of classroom etiquette and participation in the U.S.-American classroom setting. Impacted by many years of exposure to West-centric approaches to pedagogical praxis, the U.S.-American classroom has been created as a privileged space in which, more often than not, West-centric epistemologies, approaches to pedagogy, and ways of knowledge production are privileged over others. For international students, the majority of whom do not come from Western cultures, this can be a very tough space to negotiate. In this dissertation, I look at the conceptualizations of voice and silence, in particular, in order to gain a better understanding of how these two concepts are experienced and negotiated by international students within the U.S.-American classroom setting at a medium-sized U.S.-American university located in a small town in the Midwestern region of the country. While many West-centric cultures conceptualize voice and silence as dichotomous, I argue that they form a continuum that is dialogic, communicative, fluid, contextual, and at times paradoxical. Furthermore, I argue that the meanings of silence and voice within the U.S.-American classroom space can have multiple meanings and be understood as different forms of communication and participation. For the purpose of this project, I selected the three meta discourses of postcolonial theory, critical (communication) pedagogy, and international student-centered research to help deconstruct the notion of international students as the “Other,” as well as the misconceptions of silence within the classroom. Postcolonial theory as the main anchor of this research, in particular, allowed me to engage in an in-depth discussion of how we can decolonize West-centric, U.S.-American classrooms and create more dialogic, inclusive, and intercultural spaces in which different epistemologies and ways of knowing and knowledge production can be included. Furthermore, I bring into dialogue the three selected meta discourses in order to create a more nuanced and inclusive conceptualization of voice and silence that moves away from West-centric binaries. I used critical complete-member ethnography (CCME), as developed by Dr. Satoshi Toyosaki (2011), as the main method for critical inquiry. CCME argues for the value that is derived from combining different ethnographic methods in order to create an accurate account of cultural practices, as well as “focus on communicative practices and processes” (p. 66). I incorporated an autoethnographic account that functions to position myself as a researcher as well as autoethnographic narratives and reflections throughout my data analysis. In addition, I extend the notion of membership as it is currently conceptualized within CCME to make the argument for CCME as a method for critical inquiry within intercultural communication, and not just intracultural communication, research. My research findings demonstrate that the West-centric, binaristic conceptualization of voice and silence within the U.S.-American educational system can create unwelcoming learning environments for international students who may feel positioned as the Other who do not fit in, or may feel excluded from dominant discourse by being silenced. The participants’ narratives indicate the meanings of and reasons for international students’ embodiments of silence within classroom settings are as multiple, contextual, and dialogic as the conceptualization of silence itself. The collected data support the argument of the complexity and contextuality of voice and silence, and further call for a reconceptualization of voice and silence as acceptable forms of classroom participation. Furthermore, the international student participants identified several reasons as to why they may choose to perform silence in the classroom. Finally, through the interviews I tried to create a dialogue among international students and instructors in order to address and deconstruct issues pertaining to the struggles of international students caused by U.S.-centric approaches to pedagogy as well as conceptualizations of voice, silence, and classroom participation. My research showed that it is imperative for us to engage in more inclusive, critical, yet compassionate dialogues across our differences in order to create glocalized, intercultural learning communities within U.S.-/Euro-/West-centric educational systems. We must attempt to create intercultural spaces within our classrooms that allow for and cherish diverse narratives, epistemologies, different ways of knowing, and different conceptualizations of voice, silence, and classroom participation within the U.S.-American classroom setting, in particular at a medium-sized U.S.-American university located in a small town in the Midwestern region of the country. This dissertation research privileges such dialogue by centering the narratives of international students, thus, moving them from the periphery to the center and allowing them the agency to address exclusionary pedagogical practices within the U.S.-American educational system that exclude them from dominant discourse.

The ‘Uncreated’ Voice of a Nation: James Joyce and the Twentieth Century Irish Bildungsroman places James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in conversation with numerous later twentieth century Bildungsromane to argue that texts by Edna O’Brien, John McGahern, Roddy Doyle, Patrick McCabe, Jamie O’Neill, Eimear McBride, Seamus Deane, and Bernard MacLaverty examine the tension between liberation and oppression, hope and despair, to explore the complexities of these tensions untapped by Joyce, paradoxically producing darker conclusions in the Free State/Republic than in the North. I suggest that the postcolonial Irish writer feels greater anxieties about allowing the form of the Bildungsroman any sense of resolution than his/her colonial, Northern Irish counterpart. If one views liberation from colonial rule as a future event, that future is “uncreated” in its brightly-colored potential. If one views liberation from colonial rule as a past event, the present is instead an examination of the failures of revolution and the lingering ghosts of colonial rule that often appear in the guise of these very revolutionary failures.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Kay A. Taylor / Angola began as a Portuguese colony in 1655. All of its social structures and associated sectors, including education, were influenced drastically by this initial Portuguese colonization. This research concerns Angolan education from the years 1930-1980. Two distinct periods are addressed: the colonial period from 1930 to 1975 and the post-colonial period from 1975 to 1980. In both periods, education was provided by the state and by different religious denominations. However, the main argument for this research is that a general comprehensive history of education in Angola has not yet been written, in part due to the character of its colonization and decades of social instability related to its War of Independence, 1961-1975, and the Civil War, 1975-2002. In Angola under the Salazar and Caetano regime, provision for education was made according to the Colonial Act of 1930, the new state, and the rule of the Roman Catholic and Protestant missions. Despite the concourse of these institutions staging events that influenced education and the whole culture, few Angolans were allowed to attend school and participate as citizens in society. The post-colonial period from 1975 to 1980 is characterized by the foundation of a socialist educational system. Most of the existing documents concerning Angolan education were written by the colonizers or by those who regard history from a colonial perspective. Therefore the history of education in Angola, as the convergence of colonialism, religion, and decree, needs to be rewritten.

abstract: This project examines different modes of cultural production from the postcolonial Anglophone world to identify how marginal populations have either been subjugated or empowered by various forms of consumerism. Four case studies specifically follow the flow of products, resources, and labor either in the colonies or London. In doing so, these investigations reveal how neocolonial systems both radiate from old imperial centers and occupy postcolonial countries. Using this method corroborates contemporary postcolonial theory positing that modern “Empire” is now amorphous and stateless rather than constrained to the metropole and colony. The temporal progression of each chapter traces how commodification and resource exploitation has evolved from colonial to contemporary periods. Each section of this study consequently considers geography and time to show how consumer culture grew via imperialism, yet also supported and challenged the progression of colonial conquest. Accordingly, as empire and consumerism have transformed alongside each other, so too have the tools that marginal groups use to fight against economic and cultural subjugation. Novels remain as one traditional format – and consumer product – that can resist the effects of colonization. Other contemporary postcolonial artists, however, use different forms of media to subvert or challenge modes of neocolonial oppression. Texts such as screenplays, low-budget films, memoirs, fashion subcultures, music videos, and advertisements illuminate how postcolonial groups represent themselves. Altogether, these various cultural productions illuminate how marginalized populations have used consumer products and practices to disrupt global economies that continue to profit from the commodification, appropriation, or subjugation of minority populations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2018

In A Question of Power, Bessie Head presents the production of the subject by using the postcolonial novel as a form of constructivist action against colonialism. Arguing against the compartmentalization of the postcolonial novel as merely literary aesthetic, Head instead presents the novel as a form of political literature, offering intricate details of the manifestation of subjectivity and representations of the liminal subject in decolonizing states through the replication of formal colonial powers in informal social institutions.

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This research critically unpacks existing international norm diffusion and domestication theories and amends them, focusing on resistance, agency, and the pivotal role of domestic agents. It argues that domestic agency is marginalized by current theories of international norm diffusion and that current models place undue emphasis on the power of ‘critical States’, which are invariably Western. It is implied, though often explicitly stated, that international norms are created in and spread by Western States. This research argues that while this may be the case, the application of the same limited models create such a situation which hinders instead of helps the understanding of norm diffusion. Arguing that domestic agency is marginalized by current theories of international norm diffusion, this study investigated the SRHR norm in the Philippines as a case study to examine the limitations of current models and the benefits of introducing a local agency approach. This research is divided into two sections: the national and the sub-national, to provide a broad-lens perspective on the specific case of Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights (SRHR) in the Philippines using the framework of norm diffusion. Empiric research was conducted on two levels of analysis: first, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the national-level Congressional deliberations and debates on SRHR from the period of the 8th Congress to the 15th Congress; and second, a micro-comparative analysis of three selected municipalities, namely Manila, Cebu, and Davao, involving a case-study based process-tracing methodology of the local diffusion of the SRHR norm(s).The theoretical critique and empirical case study proved that there are indeed limitations present within current diffusion conventions and furthermore, that local agency is a powerful and understudied tool in norm diffusion. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished