BREAKING THE STAINED GLASS CEILING: INTERSECTIONALITY AND THE FEMALE ORDINATION MOVEMENT IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

This thesis examines the female ordination movement within the Catholic Church as a feminist social justice collective seeking to overturn gender based oppression within this religious institution. Through a study of three communities, Mary Mother of Jesus, Good Shepherd, and Mary Magdalene Apostolic Catholic Community, this thesis explores the emancipatory strategies utilized by the female ordination movement to instil equality within the Church and within society. Each community’s commitment to gender inclusivity intersects with additional areas of structural reform, including LGBTIQ equality, racial justice, social welfare provision for the poor and the elimination of power and hierarchy within organized religion. This study is thus motivated by the question of how the female ordination movement is incorporating intersectional considerations within its fight of oppression in the Roman Catholic Church. Informed by a feminist epistemology, this thesis integrates the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality and kyriarchy to explore the positioning of the female ordination movement around multiple axes of domination within the Catholic Church, including sexism, racism, homophobia and classism. The methodology is triangulated. Firstly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of this movement and were evaluated through narrative analysis. Second, participation observation of the communities’ liturgies was evaluated through ritual analysis. This dual methodological approach addresses both the core beliefs and communal acts of these communities and understands their activism as both ideological and performative in nature. Given that women have been noticeably absent from the androcentric history of the Roman Catholic Church, and given also that there have been few fieldwork-based studies to date of feminist Catholic communities, the inclusion of these women’s voices and experiences represents an important contribution to scholarly inquiries investigating sexism and feminist activism within religious structures. This thesis draws upon their voices and their communal activities to fill a lacuna in research surrounding the tensions between feminism and patriarchy, and the ways in which intersectional feminism is transforming the structures and nature of Catholicism

An evaluation of the impact of school food standards in England on children's diets

PhD ThesisMany children do not eat a healthy diet. In 2005, the nutritional content of school lunches in England received wide criticism. In 2006, a major policy change led to legislation specifying what food and drink could, and could not, be served in schools. This thesis considers the impact of the implementation of food and nutrient-based standards on children’s dietary intake at lunchtime and in their total diet, if the impact was equitable across the socio-economic spectrum, and if school lunch take-up changed. Methods Data collected pre and post-policy implementation in children aged 4-7y and 11- 12y were analysed. In the 4-7y olds, dietary data were collected on four consecutive days using an observational method in 12 primary schools, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (n=385 in 2003-4; n=632 in 2008-9). In 11-12y olds, dietary data were collected from two consecutive 3-day food diaries followed by a researcher-led interview in six middle schools, in Northumberland, UK (n=298 in 1999-2000; n=215 in 2009-10). Linear mixed effect models were used to analyse the effects of year (pre and post-policy), lunch type (school or homepacked lunch), level of socio-economic deprivation, and the interaction(s) between these factors on children’s total dietary intake. Logistic regression was used to examine the change in school lunch take-up by year and level of deprivation. Results At lunchtime, children who ate a school lunch post-policy implementation consumed a lower per cent energy from fat, saturated fat and absolute amounts of sodium. In the 4-7y olds, mean calcium (mg), vitamin C (mg) and iron (mg) intakes increased; in 11-12y olds, non-starch polysaccharides (g) and iron (mg) decreased. A child’s lunch type was associated with change in the total dietary intake in 4-7y olds; post-policy implementation children eating a school lunch had a healthier total diet compared with children eating a home-packed lunch. In 11-12y olds, there was limited evidence found that lunch type was associated with change in total diet. In both age groups children’s total dietary intake from ii | per cent energy saturated fat and non-milk extrinsic sugars remained above the recommended guidelines. There was some evidence that post-policy implementation, lunch type and level of deprivation were associated with differences in per cent energy from non-milk extrinsic sugars and vitamin C (mg) intake in the total diet of 4-7y olds; there was no such evidence found in 11-12y olds. Post-policy implementation, school lunch take-up decreased in both age groups. Conclusions The implementation of school food and nutrient-based standards in England has been associated with positive changes in children’s dietary intake at lunchtime. These changes were reflected in the total diets of the 4-7y olds but evidence was more limited in 11-12y olds. A key strength of this study is the unique evaluation of national policy enabled by the availability of preimplementation data. A key limitation is the use of repeat cross-sectional surveys; this limits the extent to which change in children’s diets can be attributed to the policy. Future regulation of school lunches should be evaluated prospectively. To improve children’s diets in all their complexity, future interventions also need to consider the social, environmental and behavioural contexts in which food choices are made or directed, both in and outside of the school environment.All Saints Educational Trus

How Faculty Perceive Their Role in Student Learning Assessment and Program Improvement

Student success is inextricably linked with the assessment of student learning, and the literature cites the need for faculty engagement in the assessment process. However, many issues related to the assessment process may be considered demotivators by faculty. The purpose of this study is to examine whether faculty motivation to participate in student assessment was influenced by the accreditation status of the faculty member’s academic field. Data collection for this qualitative case study included individual interviews with participants and a review of documents related to the assessment process

How Faculty Perceive Their Role in Student Learning Assessment and Program Improvement

Student success is inextricably linked with the assessment of student learning, and the literature cites the need for faculty engagement in the assessment process. However, many issues related to the assessment process may be considered demotivators by faculty. The purpose of this study is to examine whether faculty motivation to participate in student assessment was influenced by the accreditation status of the faculty member’s academic field. Data collection for this qualitative case study included individual interviews with participants and a review of documents related to the assessment process

From Place to Space: A Heideggerian Analysis

In this paper, we pay attention to the impact on staff of what was a new place, Ko Awatea, within a large New Zealand hospital. The place became a space from within which a particular mood arose. This paper seeks to capture that mood and its impact. Using a Heideggerian hermeneutic approach, the study reported on drew on data from interviews with 20 staff. Philosophical notions about the nature and mood of place/space are explored. As staff claimed this space, the mood that emerged was of liveliness, buzz and comfort. It became a space where people wanted to be, where they met others, where  conversations unfolded, where thinking happened in new ways. Staff places tend to be sacrificed or poorly resourced in resource-tight environments. We argue that creating a space that feels home-like, where staff come, linger and engage in community is a priority for generating the mood and thinking of an organization. Such spaces do not happen by chance; it takes forethought and intentionality. The gift of such space is the thinking that is sparked and grown

Environmental justice in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and its post-oil reality

2013 Summer.Text in Spanish; title page and abstract in Spanish and English.Includes bibliographical references.After gaining its independence from Spain in 1968 and the subsequent discovery of some of the largest offshore oil reserves in Africa in 1995, the socioeconomic reality of Equatorial Guinea has transformed dramatically in the past decades. Once considered an economically stagnant and politically corrupt country, today the Equatoguinean economy is categorized as one of the fastest growing in the world. Yet in spite of all these changes —that initially seem positive— the current political powers have perpetuated a state structure that hinders the great majority of the country’s population, creating a state of environmental injustice in which the Equatoguinean people suffer the consequences of the exploitation of their natural resources without the opportunity to benefit from the positive development that the hydrocarbon industry brings to the nation’s economy. The present investigation focuses on the factors that have contributed to this imbalance between social and economic sectors in Equatorial Guinea, and also how this “negative development” has affected the reality and identity of the nation’s people in modern times. This work will also highlight the evolution of the servile relationship between the Equatoguinean government, other international political entities, and the transnational oil corporations that have established themselves in the region, with special attention to the indifference that they have shown for the overall welfare of the Equatoguinean people. To conclude, I will consider the country’s possible future socioeconomic trajectory in light of all of this information, focusing primarily on its overall relevance in the field of Environmental Justice

The digital workplace and its dark side: An integrative review

An intensification of digital working driven by Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus both the beneficial nature of digital workplace technologies and their potential dark side. Research has burgeoned in this area in recent years, but an integrated view across fields, technologies, dark side effects and outcomes is lacking. There are potential insights to be gained from compiling and comparing results and theoretical approaches. Following integrative review procedures, 194 studies were analysed to understand unintended negative consequences of a range of workplace technologies across disciplines and methodologies. The results demonstrate that considerable insight has been uncovered regarding certain dark side effects, stress in particular, in relation to e-mail and smartphones. However, a broader view of how they might manifest in relation to employees’ holistic digital experience of work beyond certain information and communication technologies (ICTs) is lacking, including a clear picture of objective demands of the technology with which these effects are associated. Much remains to be understood across the full range of dark side effects in relation to the digital workplace including the associations between them and how they relate to cognitive and affective outcomes. The importance of both theoretical rigour and diversity is highlighted

White matter changes and confrontation naming in retired aging national football league athletes

Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we assessed the relationship of white matter integrity and performance on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) in a group of retired professional football players and a control group. We examined correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) with BNT T-scores in an unbiased voxelwise analysis processed with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). We also analyzed the DTI data by grouping voxels together as white matter tracts and testing each tract's association with BNT T-scores. Significant voxelwise correlations between FA and BNT performance were only seen in the retired football players (p < 0.02). Two tracts had mean FA values that significantly correlated with BNT performance: forceps minor and forceps major. White matter integrity is important for distributed cognitive processes, and disruption correlates with diminished performance in athletes exposed to concussive and subconcussive brain injuries, but not in controls without such exposure

Divided We Fall: The Story of Separate and Unequal Suburban Schools 60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education

This report is a clarion call for those paying attention to the changing racial and ethnic demographics of this country and its suburbs in particular. It is the in-depth story of one suburban county and its public schools as the demographics of who lives in the suburbs versus the cities in the 21st century is shifting quickly, as the affluent and the poor, the black and the white are trading places across urban-suburban boundary lines. The same story could be told about hundreds of suburban counties across the country that are facing similar pressures and approaching similar breaking points. In the statistical data we analyzed and in the voices of the 800 people we interviewed and surveyed in Nassau County, Long Island - the home of Levittown, the first post-WWII archetypal suburb -- there is mounting anxiety about the future of American suburbs and their public schools. We found much frustration about how the economy, housing market, lack of infrastructure and public policies negatively affect these communities. In this report, we convert this angst into a reality check for anyone who may think that racially and ethnically diverse suburbs are easily accomplished or that they do not face serious obstacles. These obstacles include racially and ethnically segregated housing patterns amid fragmented and divided municipalities and school districts and the brain drain of more affluent and educated residents who grew up in the suburbs but now prefer city life. Meanwhile, these suburbs are tubs on their own bottoms, heavily reliant on local sources of funding, namely property taxes, to pay for public schools and municipal services. This means that public school resources and reputations are spread unevenly across separate and unequal suburban school districts