This study is dedicated to examine the concept of borders, geographical and otherwise, as instruments that are socially produced. It utilizes Gloria Anzaldua's theoretical framework of Borderlands theory as a set of processes that seek to attain the de-colonization of the inner self. The historical and spatial dynamics of the geographical border between Mexico and United States, largely shaped by the U.S. expansionist agenda, resulted in the Mexican lost of more than half of its territory and the subsequent stigmatization of Mexican-Americans/Chicanos as "foreign others," since they did not share with predominant Anglo-Saxons the same values, culture, religion, traditions and skin color. I argue that the later exploitation, exclusion, marginalization, and racism against Mexican-Americans/Chicanos informed Anzaldua's development of her Borderlands theory that seeks to attain liberation for any colonized identity. However, it is also my argument that the borderlands theory fails to account for meaningful political freedom since the processes that compose the theory are principally worked at the inner level, restricting the possibilities for a direct confrontation in the public sphere. / Master of Arts

The main aim of this thesis is to explore ways in which the discourse of the Russian government legitimises its war in Ukraine. The following Research Question is put forward: What role does the discourse of the Russian government play in their legitimisation of the war in Ukraine? It is done within context of the last four years (2021-2024) with the focus on Vladimir Putin as the embodiment of what the Russian government is. The thesis is placed within the context of postcolonial theory, with focus on the post-Soviet world and application of this theory within it. I have chosen thematic analysis as the method of analysis for this thesis. Doing so allows for extraction of four main themes around which the legitimisation of war revolves. The four main themes being: Ukraine and Russia are brotherly nations; Ukraine is ruled by an illegitimate government; Ukraine is an artificial nation within the ‘historic lands’ of Russia; Ukraine under neo-Nazi leadership is seeking to destroy Russia. Additionally two smaller themes were discovered which further augment the discourse coming from the Russian government. The findings of analysis indicate versatility and contradictions of discourse coming from the Russian government based on differences between found themes, but also its preference for negative approach to legitimisation. Here referring to underlining negative traits or presenting a pejorative image of Ukraine.

This thesis analyses the feminist foreign policies of Canada (2017), Spain (2021), and Germany (2023) through a post-colonial feminist perspective, and applying Carol Bacchi’s WPR approach as method of analysis. It aims to deconstruct the representations of gender inequality as a policy “problem” within these policies, identify the underlying assumptions, and silences of these representations. The thesis reveals that while these policies promote rhetoric of intersectional, inclusive, and transformative approaches, they often perpetuate tokenistic, top-down solutions to gender inequality.

This text is an Anzaldúan autohistoria-teoría, a genre that blends the autoethnographic with poetry, fiction, visuals, and theories rooted in narrative identity. Specifically, this dissertation is modeled after Anzaldúa’s own incomplete doctoral dissertation, Luz en el oscuro/Light in the Dark. In Anzaldúa’s final text, she continues her exploration of the new mestiza, but she tempers it with nuanced views on the particulars of identity, alongside deeply personal explorations of her understanding of herself as a chicana, an academic, and a person in an aging body. As with much of her work, she blends creative elements with her theory, including poetry, memoir, and drawings she made to illustrate her theoretical concepts (the autohistoria-teoría). In addition to this, I use Cherrie Moraga’s theory-in-the-flesh (a concept wherein theory is built on particular experience) to provide theoretical justification. I also borrow from Jaques Derrida, Edward Said, Gayarti Spivak, and Roland BarthesBy using Moraga’s and Anzaldúa’s ideas as a roadmap for my own writing, I place myself firmly within a feminist and queer framework, with a focus on decolonial and disability rhetorics. For this dissertation, I use autohistoria-teoría to explore historical traumas through a personal lens, as well as personal trauma through a historical lens. I propose four concepts in narrative identity in order to explore these ideas: los zorros (decolonial metis), pishtaco/Inkarri (decolonial hauntology), el tumi (disability metis), and el retablo (pedagogical concerns). / English

Transexotic.  "Come as you are as you were as I want you to be"   Menu Starter: Nachos with Mexican sauce.   Main course: Chilli con carne in Santa María taco shells, Fish in pasilla chilli and Rajas con crema y queso.   Dessert: seasonal delicacies.   Hostess: Rosinha Transexotic, a familiar figure to everyone from Evert Taubes The Girl from Havana and Lill Lindfors Teresa .   "The project Transexotic by the artist Carolina Nylund addresses international stereotypes, specifically the idea of " the other " as it may be projected or manifested through one's own personality. To what extent do we allow and accept that our personalities, our identities are formed in part by the limited two-dimensional caricatures invented and maintained by forces and phenomena external to us? Nationalism, patriotism, politics, ethnicity, subcultural affiliation, gender, sexuality, career, family: there are countless factors that may play a role in shaping an identity and which can also affect how we are perceived by others. And when we feel that gaze, how does that affect us? " - Finbar Krook Rosato, Curator, Atelier 123.

Churches are confronted with the reality of younger, mobile generations challenging existing understandings of church and witness. They seem to live according to a different (postcolonial) script. This study probes the question as to how these churches are to understand and respond meaningfully, but also missiologically, to these transformations. Coming as a missiologist from a particular ecclesiological, theological, cultural background, I had two rationales for this study, namely to review the current theories we have about church and mission, i.e., missiological ecclesiology, and in order to do this, we need to craft a sensitive and creative dialogue, in the form of a missiological methodology with younger people. I address these rationales, guided by a research question: How can I design a creative dialogue with younger generations, to pick up the impulses, in order to discern a Southern African missional ecclesiology. Working with the metaphor of ―remixing‖, this discernment process started off where I engaged my own embeddedness. These were the older ―samples‖ to work with, in order to produce something new and in tune with the sensibilities, the ―soul‖ of newer communities. I then attempt to understand the current social transformations that younger generations are responding to. Through this, I want to design a methodology for a creative dialogue with these youth movements on the basis of an intersubjective epistemology. Using this methodology, I could develop a thick description from the dialogue with the two uniting youth movements. Lastly, I present the engagement (remixing) between these rich new impulses with the old (the existing), in carving out an appropriate missional ecclesiology for the audiences I‘ve been with. Starting with an outdated and colonial gereformeerde missionary ecclesiology, but then also the anti-colonial ecclesiologies and a postmodern (predominantly Western) emerging missionary ecclesiology, I discern a particular postcolonial African ecclesiology, which I call a Southern African missional ecclesiology. Instead of exclusion, I propose remixing church in terms of five dimensions as social network, spiritual home, mobile community, movement in the Holy Spirit and as story. These can serve as a map to guide Southern African congregations in their dialogue with younger generations. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The thesis aims to address criticisms of cosmopolitanism that characterise it as an elite discourse, by exploring the role that it might play in Third World resistance movements. In doing so, it complicates the landscape of international normative theory, which has traditionally been mapped as a debate between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism. Part I of the thesis argues that cosmopolitanism and communitarianism can function as languages in which First and Third World states respectively justify exercises of power that impede the self-determination of Third World societies. These discourses of power frame the condition of postcoloniality, which might be understood – borrowing the terminology of International Society theorists – as an entrapment of Third World societies between 'coercive solidarism' and 'authoritarian pluralism'. A normative worldview committed to enhancing the scope for self-determination of such societies must be critical of the production of both external and internal environments that are hostile to the enjoyment of self-determination by Third World peoples. Part II of the thesis explores the political challenges of sustaining such a critique by studying four theorists of resistance who perceive themselves as manoeuvring between hostile external and internal environments. It analyses the political thought of Rabindranath Tagore and Edward Said, who were both leading figures of anti-colonial nationalist movements but also fierce critics of nationalism. It also studies the activism of two leaders in the field of 'anti-globalisation' protest – Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas in Mexico and Professor Nanjundaswamy of the Karnataka State Farmers' Association in India – who struggle against both national elites and global capital. Part II concludes that if resistance in the condition of postcoloniality must grapple simultaneously with both a hostile 'outside' and 'inside', it must speak in mixed registers of universalism and particularity. Cumulatively, the thesis demonstrates that the language of common humanity operates in ways that are both oppressive and emancipatory, just as the language of community is a source of both repression and refuge. Normative theory that does not seek to hold both in tension fails the needs of our non-ideal world.

Cette recherche sociologique propose une étude compréhensive de l’Université des Montagnes, une initiative de la société civile issue de la crise de l’enseignement supérieur au Cameroun dans les années 1990. L’enquête de terrain réalisée au sein de l’institution a permis de collecter des données quantitatives et qualitatives à partir desquelles nous avons produit une théorie ancrée (Glaser et A. Strauss) mettant en évidence les spécificités de cette institution alternative et unique en son genre au Cameroun. Une observation participante de longue durée a permis une investigation approfondie. La première ligne de rupture qui se dégage de notre analyse est que l’Université des Montagnes est entièrement conçue, pensée et mise en œuvre par un groupe de citoyens déterminé à briser le monopole de l’État sur le développement de l’enseignement supérieur au Cameroun. Pour ce faire, les promoteurs ont dans une démarche réflexive et critique par rapport au modèle existant, élaboré une philosophie éducative et pédagogique innovante qui concilie les sciences fondamentales, appliquées et professionnalisantes, ainsi qu’une pédagogie ancrée dans les cultures africaines. En somme, nos enquêtes révèlent l’émergence d’une université générale, professionnelle et citoyenne. Le projet tente ainsi d’opérer une synthèse méthodique et adaptative des modèles universitaires de référence ayant structuré l’enseignement supérieur dans le monde. Nonobstant les difficultés d’appropriation collective, cette expérience citoyenne apparait, après quinze années d’existence, comme un analyseur et un catalyseur d’innovation sociale, tant son impact est perceptible sur le paysage de l’enseignement supérieur au Cameroun. / This sociological study offers a comprehensive study of the Université des Montagnes, a civil society initiative in response to the crisis in higher education in Cameroon in the 1990’s. A field study undertaken within the institution, using a participatory approach, enabled us to collect quantitative and qualitative data which was used to produce a grounded theory (Glaser and A. Strauss) approach that highlights the specific features of this alternative institution which is unique in Cameroon. The first break shown by our analysis is that the Université des Montagnes was entirely conceived, imagined, and established by a group of citizens determined to relieve the State of its monopoly on the development of higher education in Cameroon. To accomplish this, the founders, through a method that was reflective and critical in relation to the existing model, developed an innovative philosophy of education and pedagogy that reconciles the applied and professional sciences, and pedagogy founded on African culture. In short, our study shows the emergence of a general, professional, and people’s university. The project seeks to furnish a systematic and adaptive synthesis of reference university models that have structured higher education across the world. Notwithstanding the difficulties involved in collective adoption of the project, after fifteen years of existence, this people’s experiment appears to have been an analyser and catalyst for social innovation, considering its impact in the area of higher education in Cameroon.

Churches are confronted with the reality of younger, mobile generations challenging existing understandings of church and witness. They seem to live according to a different (postcolonial) script. This study probes the question as to how these churches are to understand and respond meaningfully, but also missiologically, to these transformations. Coming as a missiologist from a particular ecclesiological, theological, cultural background, I had two rationales for this study, namely to review the current theories we have about church and mission, i.e., missiological ecclesiology, and in order to do this, we need to craft a sensitive and creative dialogue, in the form of a missiological methodology with younger people. I address these rationales, guided by a research question: How can I design a creative dialogue with younger generations, to pick up the impulses, in order to discern a Southern African missional ecclesiology. Working with the metaphor of ―remixing‖, this discernment process started off where I engaged my own embeddedness. These were the older ―samples‖ to work with, in order to produce something new and in tune with the sensibilities, the ―soul‖ of newer communities. I then attempt to understand the current social transformations that younger generations are responding to. Through this, I want to design a methodology for a creative dialogue with these youth movements on the basis of an intersubjective epistemology. Using this methodology, I could develop a thick description from the dialogue with the two uniting youth movements. Lastly, I present the engagement (remixing) between these rich new impulses with the old (the existing), in carving out an appropriate missional ecclesiology for the audiences I‘ve been with. Starting with an outdated and colonial gereformeerde missionary ecclesiology, but then also the anti-colonial ecclesiologies and a postmodern (predominantly Western) emerging missionary ecclesiology, I discern a particular postcolonial African ecclesiology, which I call a Southern African missional ecclesiology. Instead of exclusion, I propose remixing church in terms of five dimensions as social network, spiritual home, mobile community, movement in the Holy Spirit and as story. These can serve as a map to guide Southern African congregations in their dialogue with younger generations. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

L'écho parvenant d'Afrique au monde, ou du monde aux Africains, diffracte en une variation de nuances un thème répétitif : l'Afrique irait mal, surtout l'Afrique politique. Parmi ceux qui accourent à son secours, l’Église catholique tient un rôle vital. Mais que fait l’Église en Afrique, que peut-elle lui faire en tant qu’Église ? Peut-on aider l'Afrique à se moderniser en occultant le fait que pour elle, la modernité a été synonyme d'oppression coloniale ? Il y a là une affirmation, une action et une question. On se proposera, prenant l'exemple du Togo, de questionner la pertinence de l'affirmation, d'élaborer une réponse à la question, pour espérer (ré)orienter sinon l'action, du moins sa lecture. On s'inspirera des études post-coloniales et du mouvement théologique Radical Orthodoxy, notamment des travaux de Milbank et Cavanaugh. / Echoes from Africa to the world and from the world to Africa seem to tell a single story: Africa fails.Especially political Africa. Among those dashing to help, the commitment of the Church catholic is to be praised but also critically engaged. Can anyone help Africa to modernize by ignoring that in Africa, modernity meant colonization? Then, a question: what is the Church doing, and what can it do qua Church, for Africa? This confronts us with a situation, an action and a critical question. This work, focusing on Togo taken as mirror to the continent, aims at challenging the way the situation is described, at elaborating an answer to the question in hoping to shed a light on the way the action is understood and undertaken. For such an end, it draws on post-colonial studies and on the Cambridge theological movement called Radical Orthodoxy, through the works of J. Milbank and W. Cavanaugh.