Browsing by Subject "Capabilities approach"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Contradictions of Belonging: The Educational Aspirations and Agency of Youth in the Somali Diaspora
    (2018-06) Tzenis, Joanna
    Many young people turn to education as a way to achieve what they hope their lives will be like in the future. This qualitative longitudinal study drew on the capabilities approach and the concept of habitus to understand the ways in which American youth in the Somali diaspora described their educational aspirations and how they exercised their abilities to achieve them. My findings show that youth in the Somali diaspora had aspirations that were influenced by their parents’ pasts as Somali refugees. Many aspired to be doctors so that they might one day be of service to people living in Somalia and so that they would earn enough to care for family members. Aspirations changed (and became more open-ended) through time among the high school youth as they began to more deeply engage in new social fields, like school. My findings also show that youth enacted agency by navigating contradictions they encountered in different social fields. Being Somali (and Muslim) made them targets for discrimination, but also offered them security and strategies to do well in school. Youth navigated a concomitant sense of belonging and isolation in the diaspora—where their biggest social supports, their parents and other diasporic resources, also prompted them to self-exclude from activities outside of the diaspora.
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    Developing the Good Life by Living It: The Influence of Attending a Norwegian Folk High School on Well-Being
    (2017-07) Erickson, Erik
    This study explored the influence attending a Norwegian folk high school had on the long-term well-being of former students. The Norwegian folk high schools represent a unique form of publicly funded education with an emphasis on learning through shared experience and that by law, the schools cannot issue grades, give formal examinations, or provide a degree that certifies a competency. A qualitative design was used to explore how attending a folk high school influenced the well-being of fifteen former folk high school students. Well-being was operationalized using the capabilities approach. This study found that attending a folk high school contributed to a number of personal, social, and knowledge outcomes and shaped the values and preferences of students by strengthening their existing values and helping them ideate a view of the good life. While attending a folk high school was viewed as one of many influences on well-being later in life, it was found to have an influence via the direct application of learning outcomes, the support and influence of a social network, as an initial spark for one’s career or study path, and as a model of the good life that directed their subsequent choices.
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    Using actor-network theory to enhance the mediating activities of grassroots support organizations
    (2012-12) Dousa, Patrik Michal
    This thesis explores how Actor-Network Theory (ANT) can be used to analyze the activities of Grassroots Support Organizations (GSOs) operating within the sphere of social justice development work. Specifically, the ANT concepts of translation, actor as intermediary vs. mediator, and cartography of controversies are used to delineate the work that GSOs perform. Data from case studies of four active GSOs are used to identify and illustrate three major mediating activities that GSOs perform in connecting top-level funders and grassroots groups. These activities are: cultural liasonship, partner networking, and resource transmission. The research delves specifically into the issues behind the creation and maintenance of development actor-networks consisting of toplevel funders, grassroots organizations, and GSOs in which the GSOs play a connective role. Four primary disparity boundaries between top-level funders and grassroots organizations that GSOs must effectively bridge are identified and investigated. These are compensation, organizational structure, access to technology, and privilege. The influence of the development paradigms of participatory development, the human capabilities approach, human rights framework, and neoliberalism on actor-network negotiations is described. The paper suggests tools developed from ANT analysis that GSOs may use for reflexive analysis to increase internal capability regarding the performance mediating activities. These tools include actor-network mapping, resource flow mapping, and a cartography of controversies.