Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reflections Of A Capacity Builder: An Autoethnographic Perspective Of Capacity Building Methods With A Youth Livelihoods Organization In Vanuatu, Sandra Moore

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Abstract

This autoethnographic narrative explores the author’s capacity building experiences, observances, insights, and reflections over a two year period working with a youth livelihoods nongovernmental organization in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Autoethnographies explore the author’s own personal insight and reflection of their own experiences, which in turn may encourage readers to reflect on their own beliefs and practices. The author will define autoethnography and capacity building, briefly outline the historical context of Vanuatu, discuss the successes and challenges of facilitating capacity building, and reflect on her own values, assumptions, and learning within the social context of an international …

The Violence Of Representation: The (Un) Narration Of Palestine In Public Discursive Space In Canada, Peige Desjarlais

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The thesis examines representations of Palestine and Palestinians in Canada by drawing on the historical literature, statements from Canadian officials, media items, and through interviews conducted with Palestinian exiles in London and Toronto. Based on this research, I argue that the colonization of Palestine went, and still goes, hand in hand with a particular narrative construction in North America. I propose that the pervasiveness of Zionist discourse in Canada is sustained by drawing on three main ideas or sources: a long colonial and Orientalist tradition (which sees Arabs and Muslims as the uncivilized and inferior others of Europeans), the instrumentalization …

Toward A Postmodern Avant-Garde: Labour, Virtuosity, And Aesthetics In An American New Music Ensemble, John R. Pippen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the aesthetic beliefs and labour practices of the American new music ensemble eighth blackbird (lower-case intentional). Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with the ensemble for the past six years, I show how the ensemble responds to specific cultural pressures endemic to the classical music scene, its new music vanguard, and to the contemporary United States. eighth blackbird, I argue, has created an ensemble identity and performance style designed to satisfy numerous audience positions, from experts well-versed in the intricacies of musical techniques to lay-persons unacquainted with the values and practices of new or classical music. This attempt …

Confronting Colonial Standard Making Practices: Environmental Governance And Invasive Species Management At Walpole Island First Nation, Kristy A. Nicholson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Hegemonic standard making practices in Ontario environmental governance can disregard the interests of First Nations by limiting funding and scope for community environmental management (Dalton, 2009). Invasive species management at Walpole Island First Nation has sought to control aggressive plant species that have infiltrated culturally and economically important ecosystems. Ontario government agencies, Ministry of Environment (MOE), and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), offer funding through sources such as the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund (GLGCF) for community management projects with the intent to encourage collaboration. However, predetermined ‘acceptable’ project designs can override community defined-goals. This was evident during the funding …

"We Don’T Need Another Africville”: Historical Imaginings Of Gentrification And Development In Halifax’S North End, Kelly Baker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

“Renaissance”, “revitalization”, “vibrancy”, and “gentrification” are all terms popularly used to describe the processes currently transforming Halifax’s North End. The longtime neglected, presumed-to-be dangerous, and widely avoided area is now said, by realtors, business owners, and City officials alike, to be a creatively-thriving and socially diverse community, and up-and-coming hotspot for independent business. Home to a large population of Halifax’s “creative class” of artists, musicians, and gays, the historically African Nova Scotian neighbourhood has, over the past decade, undergone a facelift, with some historic homes having been “flipped” three times, and their value sometimes quadrupled. Once-derelict buildings now house luxury …

The Reciprocal Influences Of The Old Order Mennonite Community And Tourism In St. Jacobs, Ontario, Mingyuan Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examines the reciprocal influences of the Old Order Mennonite community and tourism in St. Jacobs, Ontario. It is an ethnographic account of encounters between tourists and the Old Order Mennonite community who have both benefited from and been challenged by tourism development for four decades in the area of St. Jacobs. Cultural generalization and different ways of over-representing and misrepresenting the Old Order Mennonite identity has triggered tourists’ curiosity to seek the nostalgic past and social interactions with the Old Order Mennonite community. Even though tourism in St. Jacobs has been initiated and managed with the purpose of …

The Politics Of Honduran Schoolteachers: State Agents Challenge The State, Jordan D. Levy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the everyday work of schoolteachers in post-coup Honduras from the theoretical perspective that they are individuals with a vested interest in the state, who reflect upon their own experiences when carrying out the vital state service of national public education, and while acting as leaders of the anti-coup National Front of Popular Resistance. This movement emerged in response to the violent overthrow of the country’s democratically-elected president in June 2009 and has since broadened its agenda, calling for the ‘re-foundation’ of the Honduran state by rewriting the constitution.

Yet state formation occurs not only through such formal …

More Than Just Sex: The Social Implications Of Hiv/Aids In Lusaka, Zambia, Mbaka Wadham

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The thesis research examines the implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on people living in Lusaka, Zambia with a particular focus on women. This study incorporates a literature review, qualitative semi-structured interviews and is grounded in anthropological and feminist theories concerning gender. It explores the intersections of the economic situation, cultural norms and education as well as the gendered nature of socialization to provide further insight into the multifaceted and overlapping factors that may influence the propagation of HIV/AIDS within this society. Through ethnographic accounts, individual lived experiences are explored and highlight the variability in women’s conditions in Lusaka, particularly when …

Challenging Essentialized Representations Of Romani Identities In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Roma are one of the world’s most marginalized and exoticized ethnic groups, and they are currently the targets of increasing violence and exclusionary polices in Europe. In Canada, immigration and refugee policies have increasingly dismissed Roma as illegitimate or ‘bogus’ refugee claimants, in large part because they come from ‘safe’ European countries. These policies are reinforced through Canadian media discourse that primarily situates Roma as abusers of the refugee system. This dissertation on Romani identity challenges these demeaning and essentializing representations by focusing on three areas most relevant to Romani identities: first, historical representations; second, the role of media in …

Selwyn Dewdney Fonds, Amanda Jamieson

Western Libraries Publications

Fonds consists of records illustrating the career of Selwyn Dewdney as writer, artist and pioneer in the field of native rock art, and also contains personal materials and records relating to his background and family. Included are printed editions of published articles and books, source materials, manuscript drafts, sketches, drawings, notes, exhibition catalogues and slides, articles about Dewdney’s rock art studies, financial records, correspondence, notebooks and albums, genealogical charts and notes, photographs, family Christmas cards, and newspaper clippings.