2,160 research outputs found

    Handbook Transdisciplinary Learning

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    What is transdisciplinarity - and what are its methods? How does a living lab work? What is the purpose of citizen science, student-organized teaching and cooperative education? This handbook unpacks key terms and concepts to describe the range of transdisciplinary learning in the context of academic education. Transdisciplinary learning turns out to be a comprehensive innovation process in response to the major global challenges such as climate change, urbanization or migration. A reference work for students, lecturers, scientists, and anyone wanting to understand the profound changes in higher education

    Sandurot festival as \u3ci\u3emugna\u3c/i\u3e : exploring modernity and belonging through the civic festival

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    Focusing on the Sandurot Festival organized by the City of Dumaguete in the Philippines, my study explores the process of embodying local identity as site to actualize modernity. To highlight this collaborative, creative, and often contentious process, I put forward the concept of mugna (a Cebuano word which means to create) to examine how social actors (such as festival organizers, cultural workers, and artists) configure nodes of belonging to the time and space of the city by engaging with notions of tradition, authenticity, progress, and development. As Cultural Studies stresses the significance of radical contextuality, I examine in this project the problem-spaces of modernity and belonging to investigate how they constitute the conjuncture wherein the performance practice of the civic festival emerges as mugna. In this light, I adapt Diana Taylor’s performance paradigm to approach the festival as a scenario in interrogating how and why local identity is performed. With this approach, I historicize the festival by examining its situatedness within nation-building and city-making policies and institutional directions (discussed mainly in Chapters One and Two). I further probe its embodied practice by analyzing the repeated but reconfigured corporeal forms and exploring the involvement of social actors in the corporeal practices of festivity (examined closely in Chapters Three, Four, and Five). Borrowing from the insights of performance studies and critical ethnography, I aim to show that through this process of mugna, the festival unfolds in a scenario of rediscovery where social actors playfully embody and reinvent the ‘folk’ and the past through networks of creative collaboration to transmit knowledge about Dumaguete. Thus, the festival as mugna, is produced by and produces attachment to the locality through various social actors’ embodiment of their ‘modern desire’ for the city life, in the process that invokes their local identity and associated civic claims to urban space. I conclude that the festival as mugna enhances our understanding on the configurations of modernity, with how social actors fulfill their individual and collective aspirations for the city and their practices of belonging in it, by determining how the city is remembered, lived, and aspired through the Sandurot Festival

    On Rules, Values, and the True Self: The Organizational Prevention and Permission of Authenticity in Highly Regulated Environments

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    Thesis advisor: Judith A. ClairThe concept of authenticity, or being true to the self, has received sustained interest and inquiry for centuries with a particular swell in recent years, as values-driven notions of sincerity, genuineness, and truth abound. Extant definitions of authenticity abound, although the idea that authenticity denotes alignment between one’s individual prioritization and outward enactment of specific values—particularly when held values may contradict organizational regulations—remains overlooked. In an ethnographic study of a highly regulated service environment, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, I find that employees embedded in service roles experience values tensions of various types (service, humanity) which challenge their ability to adhere to personal and organizational values and expectations. These tensions are manifest during episodic work tasks, wherein the prioritization of particular forms of values (dignity versus efficiency) results in markedly different approaches for completing said tasks. Further, the tension that individuals may experience between their ability to enact individually prioritized values may result in transgressing regulations in favor of satisfying personal values, even to their detriment. This study offers several contributions to literature on authenticity and values, suggesting that various manifestations of the authentic self are possible in regulated environments which depend on the degree to which individuals experience tension between personal and perceived organizational values. Further, I suggest that, due to these possible (mis)alignments, organizations may either constrain or enable the enactment of an individual’s authentic self.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management.Discipline: Management and Organization

    The Caring Class:Precarization of paid care workers in long-term care and its relation to health, an intersectional perspective

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    The health of paid care workers in long-term care is under pressure, but not for all care workers alike (chapter 1 and 2). Therefore, this thesis addresses health inequities among paid care workers. This thesis presents several participatory studies which were conducted by the author, together with paid care workers and a professional photographer. These studies unravel the health strategies of women (chapter 3) and men (chapter 4) working in long-term care and the health issues of self-employed care workers (chapter 5) before and during (chapter 6) the COVID-19 pandemic. All studies were done from a critical gender, diversity-sensitive and intersectional perspective. They present insights for care workers, occupational health professionals, HRM professionals and policy makers in long-term care. This thesis is also relevant for Participatory Health Researchers (PHR) who aim to make their research more critical and diversity-sensitive, as it explores the relevance of intersectionality for PHR (chapter 7 and 8). A series of portraits ‘What You Don’t See’, made by photographer Janine Schrijver in co-creation with care workers and the author, is part of the research presented in this thesis (chapter 9). These portraits address urgent health issues that often remain invisible, including racism and poverty, which squeezes paid care workers out of the organizations into self-employment. Concerns about the health of paid care workers are a persistent societal issue in the Netherlands. They have become increasingly pressing as more and more paid care workers find themselves in precarious positions, no longer able to sustain their own health or support themselves financially. Therefore, this thesis explores the economic, societal and political forces that contribute to the precarization of paid care workers in the Netherlands (chapter 10). Protecting, maintaining and repairing the health of paid care workers is not just an issue of care workers or employers. It is a societal issue and shaped by political choices

    Community Radio Broadcasting and Local Governance Participation in Ghana: A Study of Simli Radio in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region.

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    This research explores the nexus between community radio and local community participation in decentralized local governance in the Ghanaian context. It is based on a case study of the Kumbungu District in the Northern region. Ghana has implemented a local government programme under its decentralised reforms since 1988, and this was primarily aimed at stimulating the active participation of ordinary citizens in the affairs of governance and in development intervention at the local community level, yet the available evidence highlights poor community participation in district level government business. Community radio has long been established as a communication tool that amplifies marginalised voices in democratic societies that are relative to identity formation and community development. However, there are very few academic discussions that explore the contribution of community radio in addressing the concerns relating to poor local community participation in decentralized local governance in Ghana. Employing qualitative research approaches for the data collection, a key question that this research addresses is how, and why, poor local community participation and weaknesses in local accountability in the country’s decentralised reforms are linked to an inadequate flow of communication and the lack of legitimate mechanisms with which to amplify the voices of ordinary members of the community. Additionally, this research explores the question of how CR is addressing the failure of existing communication systems in the local government structures to facilitate active citizengovernment dialogue and a synergy that strengthens the articulation of community voices and enhances the responsiveness of local government policies and initiatives. The study found that the poor community participation in local governance is due to the failure of the local assembly to incorporate into their mobilisation strategies and administrative structures effective, credible and trustworthy communication systems that guarantee the best interests of the local people. The research established that the concerns relating to low community participation in local government activities in Ghana is linked to the lack of access to local government information, as the civic education campaigns of district assemblies fail to address key factors that undermine local community participation in local governance. In the particular case of Simli Radio, the research found that the station encourages creative expressions and contributes to democratic processes at the local level through participatory programming, open access to its facilities and the stimulation of the local community’s sense of identity and ownership of the station, thus enabling the local community to contribute to issues that affect their daily political and socioeconomic lives. Simli Radio’s open access allows local people to focus on local issues, giving voice to groups and individuals who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to express their views, to hold local authority leaders accountable and to act in the best interests of the local community

    Participation to Partnerships: An Exploration of Reconciliation, Co-management and their Interconnection in the South Australian Context

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    Contemporary ecological and political crises – ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to conflicts over territory and sovereignty – pose considerable challenges to human and more-than-human coexistence. These crises continue despite growing efforts to manage them, which is partially due to the fact that the former are deeply interconnected and the latter are not. This study explores the importance of integrating these efforts in the South Australian context. Specifically, it investigates (i) the contribution of the state’s reconciliation initiatives to human coexistence, (ii) the contribution of the state’s co-management program to human and more-than-human coexistence as well as (iii) the implications of their existing and potential interconnection. A theoretical framework that integrates elements of Indigenous methodologies and post-structuralism and an embedded case study design were employed for this investigation, with reconciliation and co-management representing the two subunits of analysis. On this basis, collaborations were established with groups and individuals involved in these fields, and data was collected using in-depth interviews, the observation of co-management meetings and the selection of relevant documents. Parallel thematic analyses were conducted to produce initial findings, which were further refined through feedback meetings with the groups and individuals involved in this study. These processes were guided by the principles of ethical and culturally safe research in Indigenous contexts and Lincoln and Guba’s criteria for qualitative research integrity. Regarding reconciliation, findings reveal a comparatively high dissatisfaction with official reconciliation initiatives among Aboriginal people, which is connected to a lack of genuine opportunities to shape their design and implementation. However, they also reveal that the unique circumstances and aspirations of different Aboriginal groups and individuals mean that some choose to make the most of imperfect initiatives, while others choose to reject them. In recognition of this complexity, this study recommends the redistribution of direct and discursive control over reconciliation initiatives to the right people in each context and outlines initial steps towards it. Regarding co-management, findings reveal that co-management strengthens the management that occurs on the ground, but cannot fully make up for resource restrictions and external pressures. They further reveal that collaboration is restricted to park management matters and does not extend to decisions about the terms and conditions of this collaboration, which affects the realisation and realisability of Aboriginal people’s aspirations disproportionately. Moving forward, this study recommends a transition from co-management of protected areas to co-design and co-administration of the broader framework under which it occurs. Regarding the interconnection of reconciliation and co-management, findings reveal instances of mutual reinforcement, where progress in the space of reconciliation has benefitted co-management and vice versa, but also missed opportunities. They further illustrate that integrating the two fields can not only help avoid mutual harm and maximise mutual reinforcement, but also drive their transformations by rendering existing limitations more visible. This study concludes that interconnected crises require equally interconnected solutions and clarifies that these must take the form of holistic situated solutions rather than one universal solution. To let them emerge, it calls for transitions from participation to partnerships on all scales.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 202

    Refugees’ Online Learning Engagement in Higher Education:A Capabilitarian Analysis

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    There are almost 90 million forced migrants globally, many of whom could benefit from online higher education; yet evidence suggests extremely low retention rates of displaced people in online learning. Since retention is often seen as being linked to engagement, this study aimed to understand the nature of student engagement by displaced learners in online higher education (HE) and to identify practical ways in which higher education institutions (HEIs) can support displaced learners to engage in online learning. The methodology included both empirical and theoretical components. The empirical study focused on a qualitative analysis of the lived experiences of ten online Sanctuary Scholars enrolled on an online master’s degree with a UK university. The theoretical analysis involved integrating concepts related to online engagement from the HE literature with those from the Capability Approach. A thematic analysis of the empirical data found that, while conversion factors such as trauma and “lifeload” presented obstacles for all the Sanctuary Scholars, some graduated, whereas others withdrew from the programme without completing it. The findings point to a nuanced web of interactions between resources, enablers and constraints (positive and negative conversion factors), capabilities, engagement and personal agency for each research participant. The original contribution of this thesis is that it proposes a Capabilitarian Online Engagement Model, which shows how engagement along four dimensions is underpinned by specific capabilities; it also illustrates how engagement fuels the capability for further engagement and highlights the role of student agency. The study contributes to theoretical understanding of displaced learners’ engagement in online learning, while practically, it offers insights to HEIs for fostering online engagement. Socially, the thesis adds to the growing body of open research in the social sciences

    Does Entrepreneurship Pay for Women? A social positioning investigation of entrepreneurial rewards.

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    Although entrepreneurship is widely promoted as a means of fulfilling personal and economic aspirations and avoiding gendered labour market discrimination, the nature and extent of entrepreneurial rewards for women, and whether all women benefit, are seldom empirically researched. In particular, very little is known about women’s entrepreneurial incomes, or how, why, and in what contexts they are subjectively evaluated as satisfactory. To address this issue, the thesis investigates the relationship between women entrepreneur’s social position and subjectively beneficial outcomes emerging from venture creation. Informed by critical, feminist and Bourdieusian perspectives, it employs an abductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 52 women entrepreneurs purposefully selected to reflect different intersections of class, race and life course. Through an intersectional social positioning framework, it investigates the following question: “How do women from diverse social backgrounds experience entrepreneurship and its outcomes?” More specifically, it seeks understanding of how classed, gendered and racialised experiences of social position make entrepreneurship “worth it”. The ensuing abductive analysis provides comprehensive and nuanced insight on women’s entrepreneurial outcomes, including incomes, and a detailed analysis of women’s feelings about those outcomes in relation to social position. In contrast to much of the extant literature, the study finds that most women entrepreneurs have very strong pecuniary motivations. Non-monetary rewards do not fully compensate for poor remuneration and the main reason respondents give up their business is due to inadequate financial returns. Breadwinning and securing transgenerational benefits are key and low remuneration entrepreneurship is subsidised by a much wider range of household income streams than the current literature suggests. The study introduces novel concepts that extend theoretical understanding of women’s differentiated experiences of entrepreneurship including the malcontented female entrepreneur, narrative demonetisation, cognitive bookkeeping and new classifications of non-pecuniary rewards and social positioning goals. In showing how both outcomes and their subjective evaluation are socially embedded this thesis contributes to critical entrepreneurship scholarship and lays the groundwork for a future social theory of entrepreneurial satisfaction
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