Browsing by Subject "Minority"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Conceiving difference through alternative reading strategies:Deleuze, Deleuze and Guattari, Derrida and Post-Civil Rights US minority texts.
    (2009-07) Park, Susan Shin Hee
    This dissertation aims at engineering a dialogue between Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Jacques Derrida's conceptions of difference and expressions of difference in Post-Civil Rights US minority texts. I assemble these divergent manifestations of difference under the united cause of resisting a "master" discourse of difference which harnesses difference as the rationale of Modern racism. I begin by introducing the problematic of an established narrative that maintains difference in negative relation to "sameness." This narrative subordinates difference vis-à-vis an imagined white universal subjectivity, evacuating the singular, a-relational difference inherent to the particular. The four chapters of my dissertation argue for a reclaiming of positive, non-dialectical difference by proposing alternative reading strategies. I synthesize Deleuze and Guattari's notions of "becoming-minority," "deterritorialization" and "collective enunciation of minor literature," Deleuze's writing on the "suspension of judgment," and a Deleuzian understanding of Spinoza's Ethics with Derrida's conceptions of "becoming friendship," "becoming literary," "différance," "interval of undecidability," and "lovence." The texts used to bear out these articulations of difference include artworks by Kara Walker and Faith Ringgold, the legal storytelling of Derrick Bell, the album liner notes of John Coltrane and the fiction of Maxine Hong Kingston. This dialogue on difference, between philosophy and cultural texts, produces ways of imagining subjectivities that resist the conception of subjectivity associated with such figures as Aristotle, Descartes and Hegel. These figures are among the "masters" whose discourse of difference I challenge through the uprising of Deleuze, Guattari and Derrida in conjunction with differential writing produced by US minorities.
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    Higher Education Participation Inequities For Giay And Hmong Vietnamese Thirty Years After Doi Moi
    (2022-09) Tran, Thuan
    This study investigated Giay and Hmong young adults’ perspectives on Vietnam’s contemporary education policy reforms and the sources of higher education inequities that are negatively impacting their communities. Specifically, this study investigated participants’ schooling experiences from basic education to higher education. The study employed counternarrative inquiry, and methods for data collection included interactions via videoconference, semi-structured interviews, participants’ written reflections on their interviews, and virtual focus groups. Nancy Fraser’s (1998) theory on social justice and the requirements of three dimensions – redistribution (economic), recognition (cultural), and representation (political) – framed this study. Results indicated that the redistributive nature of Vietnam’s education policy reforms are inadequate for advancing higher education equity. Participants experienced various forms of cultural disrespect throughout their schooling. Their narratives also showed that Giay and Hmong people lacked political representation which resulted in education policies that mis-identified sources of higher education inequities. Factors that negatively affect performance included poverty, an issue that influenced every aspect of participants’ education-related decisions and assessments of their schooling experience. One of the significant barriers to education engagement was communities’ perception that investment in education had very low returns. This belief stemmed from observations of post-graduates returning to their home village unemployed. Based on these findings, the following three interventions are recommended to redress higher education inequities; (1) procedural consideration for policy development to include political representation, (2) reforms in pedagogical practices to ensure cultural respect and dignity for all, and (3) socioeconomic interventions that increase employment opportunities for Giay and Hmong post-graduates. These recommendations were formed from participants counter stories and are necessary to advance higher education inequities in Vietnam.
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    Perspectives about Family Meals from Parents in Low-income and Minority Households
    (2015-08) Hanson, Carrie
    Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown that family meals are associated with childhood healthful eating behaviors, family cohesion, and positive development outcomes for children. However, few studies have examined the family meals in low-income and minority families and no studies have qualitatively examined whether there is a difference in the protective influence of family meals between households with overweight/obese children and households with nonoverweight children. The current study aimed to identify family meal-level characteristics of low-income and minority households and to examine whether those meal-level characteristics differ in households with or without an overweight/obese child. The current qualitative study included 118 parents who participated in Family Meals, LIVE!, a mixed-methods, cross sectional study designed to identify key family home environment factors related to eating behaviors that increase or minimize the risk for childhood obesity. Parents (92% female) were racially/ethnically and from low-income homes. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results from the current study suggest that parents from African American, White, and mixed race/other homes as well as parent with and without overweight/obese children have many similar (e.g., why parents have family meals, the use of technology during meals) and some different (e.g. what adults like about family meals, mealtime rules, how culture influences meals) perspectives regarding family meals. Findings from this study highlight the need to further explore the subtle differences within and between families of different ethnic groups and families with and without overweight/obese children to discover what nuanced home environmental factors influence childhood health outcomes.
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    Understand How Participants Become Champions and Succeed in Adopting Healthy Lifestyles: A storytelling of a community health and nutrition program at a land-grant University
    (2016-01) Keo, Phalla
    The purpose of this study was to investigate and understand the experiences of participants who become champions and succeed in adopting healthy lifestyles. The setting was a health and nutrition educational program at University of Minnesota Extension. The main research questions were: How do participants in the Community Health Education Program become champions of the program and succeed in adopting healthy lifestyles? What can we learn about their success? A storytelling, narrative analysis design was conducted, including interviews with program participants in 10-13 person settings. This study is important as the organization strategically supports the outreach mission of the university. Findings included emergent themes which were organized into domains. Personal characteristics included being outgoing and passionate about what they do. The program learner domain describes their participation and engagement. This included learners’ attitudes and facilitators’ mindfulness that changes occur in small steps for learners. The program content domain discusses the content, including its connection to key nutrition messages based on the program implementation guidelines, the need to adapt content to fit culturally diverse learners’ backgrounds, and learners’ immediate needs and interests. The program context domain suggests that context matters, including how low income families face barriers to change that are multi layered. These barriers include but are not limited to financial, health, and social exclusion; this affects the health and well being of participants. Based on these findings, there are practical and theoretical implications for Human Resource Development (HRD). iv