This research study provides answers to questions pertaining to current practices in the art museum field regarding socially responsive programming and the motivations for developing and implementing such programs. Socially responsive programming is programming that encourages dialogue and debate about social, economic and political issues in order to promote honesty, fairness, concern for the rights and welfare of others, empathy, and compassion (Desai & Chalmers, 2007). The study engaged a mixed methods approach by utilizing a survey and three case studies. The purpose of the survey was to gauge the position of the field in relation to their values and support of socially responsive programs. Janes’ and Conaty’s (2005) four characteristics of socially responsive museums: seeing social issues and acting to create social change (idealism); building and sustaining strong relationships with the community (intimacy); investing time for reflection and resources to fully understand social issues (depth); and judging the museum’s worth, not based on building size, prestige of collections, or attendance numbers, but on the quality programs a museum provides to the community (interconnectedness) guided the construction of the survey and served as an analytical tool for the case studies. The survey sample resulted from distributing the survey through major museum-themed listservs. The survey also aided in identifying three exemplars of socially responsive museum. These institutions, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, comprised a purposeful sample in order to further investigate museum staff members’ motivations for creating and instituting socially responsive art museum practices. / text

The aim of this research is to examine the role of practice in collaboration between designers and African craft producers in order to develop a different methodology for future exchanges that can be more sustainable and equitable. It looks to determine how craft and design practices can act as tools for communication and exchange, to examine how to foster meaningful collaboration when the relationship of those involved is inequitable and to develop a co-creation methodology for practice, capitalising on the differing skills, experiences and cultures of those involved. The research explores collaboration through making with two Cape Town based, craft businesses - Imiso Ceramics and Kunye - investigating the interactions that occur between the collaborators. A critical contextual review reveals the majority of such partnerships are instigated from the top down with an emphasis on product development. This study proposes that the focus is shifted to one that is human-centred, where the process of collaboration between the people involved is foregrounded. By strengthening the collaborative relationships and giving all participants an equal voice, the process becomes more productive, with product development an inherent result. Using a practice based, participatory design methodology, the work draws on the African notion of ubuntu, which speaks of people's interconnectedness. Applying the cross-disciplinary practices of all three collaborators, products are developed, provoking a dialogue that challenges the designer's role in the developing world. The research culminates in an exhibition of the journey, conversations, issues and outcomes that occurred throughout. The exhibition provides an opportunity to provoke a conversation with the stakeholders, listening to their experiences and gaining their feedback on the work presented. Practical exercises for participatory design in future cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary contexts are presented.

abstract: This dissertation examines the conditions that foster or hinder success of university-based community design centers (CDCs) in the United States. Little is known about the normative underpinnings of CDCs, how successful these centers have been, which factors have contributed to or impeded their success, and how they have responded to the changes in social, political, professional and economic contexts. Adopting Giddens' theory of structuration as a research framework, this study examined CDCs via a mixed-methods sequential research design: a cross-sectional survey of CDCs on current definitions of success and metrics in use; and in-depth interviews to document the centers' histories of change or stasis, and how these changes influenced their successes. The findings of the first phase were utilized to develop a comprehensive success model for current CDCs that comprise measures related to organizational impacts, activities, and capacities. In the multiple case study analysis, four major rationales were identified: universities for public service, pragmatist learning theories, civic professionalism, and social change. These four rationales were evident in all of the studied cases at varying degrees. Using the concept of permeability, the study also exemplified how the processes of CDCs had transformative impacts in institutional, societal, and personal contexts. Multidisciplinarity has also emerged as a theme for the current organizational transformations of CDCs. The main argument that emerged from these findings is that it is not possible to identify a singular model or best practice for CDCs. The strengths and unique potentials of CDCs depend on the alternative rationales, involved agencies, and their social, political and spatial contexts. However, capitalizing on the distinctive attributes of the institutional context (i.e. the university), I consider some possibilities for university-based CDCs with an interdisciplinary structure, pushing the professional, curricular, and institutional boundaries, and striving for systemic change and social justice. In addition to contributing to the theoretical knowledge base, the findings provide useful information to various CDCs across the country, particularly today as they struggle with financial constraints while the community needs they provide are increasingly in demand. Since CDCs have a long history of community service and engagement, the findings can inform other university-community partnerships. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Design and Planning 2011

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify ways in which the University of the Western Cape (UWC) occupational therapy (OT) curriculum could be developed to prepare its graduates to advance occupational justice in community service practice. The background to the study is the development of occupational therapy practice and education within a policy context of health reform that gave momentum to the shift in emphasis from a bio-medical to a more socio-political approach to health in South Africa. Underpinning this study was the assumption that OT education informs professional practice and that uncovering new graduates’ practice experiences can inform the development of the UWC OT curriculum. The aim of the studyn was to examine how UWC OT graduates conceptualised occupational justice and how it manifested in their daily practice of community service in three provinces in South Africa. The study is framed within the theories of occupational justice and critical curriculum theory, in particular, critical pedagogy. A literature review pertaining to the application of occupational justice in OT practice and education is presented. This includes the background values that inform the practice of occupational justice, the application of occupational justice as it relates to OT practice and the relationship between OT education and occupational justice. The research design that was adopted is that of a single, interpretive case study. Through purposive sampling seven occupational therapy graduates from UWC who graduated in 2009, and who practiced in under-resourced, rural community service settings in 2010, were selected to participate in the study. The methods of data collection that were utilised were participant observation, a reflective journal, semi-structured paired or dyadic interviews and document review. The findings revealed that occupational justice held considerable value for the participants. They conceptualised occupational justice as enhanced health and well-being, and broader social change as an outcome of the facilitation of occupational enablement. The nature of their community service practice settings, however, posed several challenges for the participants. From the perspective of the participants, the dominance of the medical model, lack of resources and system of bureaucracy appeared to be the biggest challenges they encountered. While the participants’ education was geared towards equipping them to provide appropriate services as indicated by local needs, the health system was not ready tob accommodate their practice. Consequently, the participants appeared to encounter hegemony in practice. In encountering hegemony, however, they displayed an attitude of defeatism, leaving them with feelings of guilt, despondency and powerlessness. They lacked the skills to respond to power dynamics and to interact with people in positions of power. The main conclusion drawn from the study findings is that for OT graduates to impact the contexts in which they practice in South Africa, OT education must ensure that students develop competence to deal with the complexities of community service practice. This implies that transformational learning as pedagogical practice is of the essence, as it frames student preparation not just as learning but as a process of critical reflexivity that equips them to respond to power dynamics and intervene in matters related to occupational justice as active agents of change. The role and practice of occupational justice are subjects of debate in the context of OT education as they are for the profession broadly. This study contributed to this conversation through its examination of UWC OT graduates’ actual practice and the transmission of occupational justice-promoting practice through UWC OT education. The study highlighted that it is imperative that OT curricula in South Africa provide opportunities for students to engage in critical reflection on ways in which indigenous knowledge and a local understanding of occupational justice, as it relates to collective agency and critical consciousness, can be made more explicit in everyday practices. To this end, recommendations for the development of the UWC OT curriculum are made in respect of curriculum structure, content and approach; interdisciplinary education and practice, support for community service graduates and occupational therapy continued professional development.