Introduction

This collection seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions between sexual politics, citizenship and belonging by bringing together a diverse range of critical interventions within sexuality and gender studies. The book is organised around three interlinked thematic areas, focusing on sexual citizenship, nationalism and international borders (section 1); sexuality and ‘race ’ (section 2); and sexuality and religion (section 3). In revisiting notions of sexual citizenship and belonging, contributors engage with topical debates about ‘sexual nationalism’, or the construction of western/European nations as exceptional in terms of attitudes to sexual and gender equality vis-à-vis an uncivilised, racialized ‘Other’. The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the broader geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilised to explore the interplay between sexuality and ‘race’, nation, ethnicity and religious identities, both in individuals’ lived experiences and in activism and forms of collective belonging. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of ‘Europe’ and of European nation-states. They consider, for example, links between former European imperial powers and their former colonies; the construction of a European ‘core’ and its ‘peripheries’ in discourses on sexual and reproductive rights; and forms of belonging shaped by migration from within and outside ‘fortress Europe’

Re-thinking pedagogies: New immigrants in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood settings

This chapter examines the importance of teacher orientations towards immigrant children, families, and teachers in early childhood education settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Informed by a critical literature review and analysis,I highlight the complexity of cultural “otherness”and some tensions, risks, and dangers of superficial, simple interpretations of curriculum aspirations and guidelines. I argue that an orientation towards committed, sensitive, and accepting engagements is required to promote ethical and just practices. Following this, I argue that critical attention must be paid to interpretations of policy documents and guidelines for practice, and that ongoing questioning of possibilities for socially just professional practices are crucial to support diverse immigrants in early childhood settings

The evaluation of effectiveness of school-based small group mentoring system : Discovery Scholars Program at UT Austin

Previous studies have found that students’ college experiences differ vastly depending on their socioeconomic status (SES), not only in their academic achievement (Chen & Carroll, 2005; Harackiewicz et al., 2014), but also in the wholesome process of the college experience, including college preparation and socio-cultural practices while at college (Engle & Tinto, 2008; Merritt, 2008). The present study examines the effectiveness of a small-group mentoring program, Discovery Scholars Program, targeted for students identified as at-risk due to SES and lower entrance scores at the University of Texas at Austin. Through exploring the survey data collected as part of the program, the current study explored the following research questions: 1) Did the students engage in and benefit from DSP events and feel supported by the DSP groups? 2) Did the DSP program help students develop academic skills necessary for college life? 3) Did the DSP program help students feel more comfortable and confident as a part of the UT community? The results showed that, while more long-term goals of the program were difficult to measure, the program succeeded in helping students develop social support groups and academic skills that aided in their adjustment process to college.Educational Psycholog

Narrative and Belonging: The Politics of Ambiguity, The Jewish State, and the Thought of Edward Said and Hannah Arendt

At the core of this thesis, I examine the difficulties of giving an account of oneself in modern associational life. By integrating the theory and political activism of both Edward Said and Hannah Arendt, I follow the Zionist response to European antisemitism and the Palestinian responses to Jewish settler colonialism. Both parties struggle against their ambiguous presence within local and regional hegemonic social taxonomy, and within the world order. Contemporarily, this struggle takes place in the protracted conflict between Israeli and local Arab groups, which has been managed through violence and objectification, as opposed to allowing the dynamism and reconfiguration of political subjectivities. In their later writings, Arendt and Said respond to the violence and resentment that arises from the form of the nation-state by prescribing, and arguably practicing, an understanding of politics where the “other” is constitutive of the “self.” By seeing this relation of alternity as the contemporary heir to diasporic Judaism and Jewish cosmopolitanism, I argue that this project holds the historical traction to reinvigorate the future beyond static and growing violence and dispossession

"Everyone learns and everyone teaches everyone else" : family learning and teaching : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Adult Education), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This thesis explores family learning and teaching by constructing a picture of families as learning communities. Making visible family learning and teaching is necessary as the everyday practices of families are seldom recognized, acknowledged and valued for their role in developing people's ability as learners and teachers. Families and parents are named the 'first educators' of children without significant attention being paid to the nature of family learning and teaching. How family learning and teaching contributes to the growth and development of the adults in the family also receives little attention, possibly because of a focus for adult learning on the gaining of qualifications and credentials for employment. Within Aotearoa/New Zealand the growth and development of citizens is divided into the public domain of institutions, and the private domain of families. Learning and teaching development is assigned to educational institutions and the role of families is considered to be mainly about care and socialization. Study and research of family learning and teaching can compliment the body of work on learning and teaching within Aotearoa/New Zealand which is dominated by interest in formal institutional education. There is a growing emphasis on the need for collaboration between school, family and community to ensure educational achievement. A greater understanding of family learning and teaching capability and potential can enhance the quality of the relationship with families as they come to be seen as more than assistants to schools. Recognizing the uniqueness of families as a place of learning can enable a shift towards a strengths based view of families and valuing their contribution to building our societies ability to progress in a world focused on knowledge and information. Initial information gifted and gathered for the first phase of the research project, Learning and teaching within families with children: conversations with some Playcentre families, is used to make visible family learning and teaching. This information provides evidence of how families describe their engagement in learning and teaching. Identification of families as learning communities is made using Etienne Wenger's work on communities of practice. I show how these families are groups of people who share a passion for learning and teaching. Relationships, interactions and experiences within their families intentionally support their growth as learners and teachers

Remembering and belonging : colonial settlers in New Zealand museums : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University

This study approaches museums as socially constructed signifiers of group identities. Focusing specifically on museological representations of colonial settlers at museums and historical sites in New Zealand, I analyse how this group is constructed in terms of its association with colonialism, empire, and other historical and contemporary groups in New Zealand. In my results chapters, Pride and Shame and Parts of a Whole, I investigate different ways in which colonial settlers are represented in terms of their relationship to Empire, the nation, and other groups within New Zealand. Representations which position settlers within colonial discourses and portray them as heroic pioneers work to justify their presence in New Zealand on the basis that they earned their place through suffering and hard work. This assertion of place and belonging is then questioned by representations which situate colonial settlers within post-colonial discourses that highly criticise the actions of settlers and the institution of colonialism. Representations of colonial settlers can also construct them as related to a cultural group, usually referred to as 'Pakeha', and part of New Zealand's bicultural and multicultural identities. I examine how biculturalism is represented in different ways and use the concepts of separate biculturalism and blended biculturalism to explore these differences. These different political identities reflect a strong sense of ambiguity and ambivalence over New Zealand's political identity, and emphasise how stories from the past can be used in different ways to justify different perspectives of contemporary social and political relationships

Why De Anima Needs III.12-13

The soul is an explanatory principle of Aristotle’s natural science, accounting both for the fact that living things are alive as well as for the diverse natural attributes that belong to them by virtue of being alive. I argue that the explanatory role of the soul in Aristotle’s natural science must be understood in light of his view, stated in a controversial passage from Parts of Animals (645b14–20), that the soul of a living thing is a “complex activity” of its organic body. This paper explores the role of this “complex activity” model of soul in Aristotle’s study of soul in De Anima. I argue, first, that the model has its origins in De Anima II.4, where Aristotle argues that living things do all they do by nature for the sake of a single, teleologically primary end. I argue further that Aristotle uses this model to account for the psychological attributes naturally present in living things, including their capacities for vital activities like nutrition, reproduction, and perception, and that this is the task to which Aristotle devotes the obscure final chapters of De Anima III