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This thesis on 'Man United In Pidgin's (MUIP's) Twitter account discusses how the glocalisation of Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) made possible via that account assists the construction of a postcolonial West African masculine online identity or fandom. MUIP is an unofficial MUFC's social media fan account created by a Nigerian fan of MUFC that provides readers with the team's news updates in Pidgin English, a lingua franca spoken in many West African countries. In this thesis, the concept of West Africa mainly refers to West African countries where West African Pidgin English is spoken (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea). Thus, this study addresses two questions: which discursive features do MUIP's tweets employ? In what ways do these features help create a West African online identity among MUIP's followers? A discourse analysis of 107 MUIP's tweets and readers' replies to these tweets is used as the principal method to investigate these questions. An interview with the founder of MUIP and an online survey assessing MUIP's followers on Twitter also provide some preliminary production and consumption contexts to this discourse analysis. This research predominantly addresses the relation between media or cultural texts and identity construction, looking at how West African MUFC's consumers, through the MUIP community, resist to and rework Western media coverage of MUFC and Premier League Football to produce new forms of meanings. It examines what is produced by the MUIP community, how it is produced, what it means, which groups of people it represents, and how MUIP's audience interpret MUIP's texts. Through a discourse analysis of the MUIP community's tweets, this thesis engages with some West African systems of knowledge and unpacks their meanings' construction. The discourse analysis indicates that MUIP's content creator, and to an extent MUIP's audience, mainly give meanings to their utterances via personal pronouns ('we/us' or 'una') and figures of speech (humour, metaphors, and rhetorical questions). MUIP's followers build twenty-seven semantic networks in response to the main MUIP's tweets analysed. The reality constructed by MUIP's tweets for the readers are mainly those of information and entertainment. This thesis concludes that this account enables its founder to create a sense of belonging to a Nigerian and West African imagined cyber community within his online community and an environment similar to Football Viewing Centres, thereby creating virtual stadiums that entertain, inform, and foster socialisation. This thesis' findings contribute to discovering how football is covered and followed on social-networking sites in Nigeria and West Africa. New insights are provided by investigating how the participatory culture enabled by this account via the involvement of its readers in content creation is producing, shaping, and exposing a West African masculine online identity. The account's author and readers perform identities which are decentred, multiple, and sometimes fragmented between numerous shades of local cultural characteristics and various global cultural ones. This thesis builds on McLuhan's (1962, 1964) concept of 'global village' and argues that while the global media reach of the English Premier League and MUFC has created a global village, that village consists of a series of 'glocal villages' with unique and specific (cultural) characteristics - MUIP is an example of such villages. This thesis also builds on Igwe et al. (2021) idea that the glocalisation of European Football Leagues in Nigeria creates a sense of communal belonging for those watching these leagues' matches at Football Viewing Centres by highlighting the discursive practices creating that sense of belonging to a common cultural identity. Besides, while Igwe et al. conducted an offline investigation of such glocalisation, this thesis investigates the glocalisation of MUFC fandom within a West African online community thereby addressing the concern raised by Onyebueke (2018) that the study of online football fandom in West Africa is significantly overlooked. Ultimately, this thesis builds on postcolonial theorists' contentions that there is a profound global inequity in how frameworks of knowledge and understanding are defined (Young, 2020). Academic research often prioritises the experiences of Western Europeans and North Americans, and their views of the rest of the world. This research is an investigation by a West African of an online community that matters to West Africans. It investigates this global football industry transformed within a West African context and invested with new meanings that re-assert a distinctive West African identity.

This study employed Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) to explore South-Asian-Muslim women's talk about Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in the context of their socio-cultural environment. A critical review of the literature demonstrated the problematization of ARTs and women in the context of their socio-cultural and bio-medical environments, in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Six South-Asian-Muslim women who underwent NHS ARTs in the UK were interviewed. Collected data were analysed using FDA and with a social constructionist positioning. After available discursive constructions of ARTs were mapped out, their impact on subjectivity, technologies of self and practice were addressed, along with the role of National Health Service fertility clinics and social environment on these constructions. The analysis identified that participants construct their understanding of ARTs in relation to: (1) biomedical and sociocultural hegemony; (2) being a woman's problem and (3) being a liberating event. They all presented dualities and contradictions resulting from the subject positions made available. For all three sites, participants alternated between the subject positions of 'eligible patient', 'respectable woman' and 'responsible woman', with a pattern of being silenced. This study has demonstrated that the way South-Asian-Muslim women talk about ART is complex, problematising and marginalising through dominant biomedical and sociocultural discourses. Participants in this research used silencing as well as their talk to resist dominant discourses. This research recommends that the humanistic approach of CoP could potentially encourage awareness about issues regarding ART and how it is perceived/framed within the South-Asian-Muslim minority and later, via pluralism and interculturalism, support the formation of new, perhaps more positive discourses.

This study explores the nature and scope of headteacher agency for social justice within a neo-liberal political landscape and market-driven education system. It sets out to both expand and disrupt ways in which the possibilities and limits of school leadership agency are understood by examining how headteachers discursively construct social justice and how this influences the way social justice is understood and enacted within two English secondary schools. The findings of the study are based on qualitative research, using data collected from interviews with seven headteachers and an ethnographic study of two secondary schools. Using a post-structuralist lens and drawing on Foucauldian understandings of power, notably theories of 'dispositif' and heterotopia, the thesis interrogates how agonistic professional agency operates within a multi-paradigmatic organisational space of contradictory, nuanced and intertwined axiological discourses. While the interviews with headteachers illustrated tensions between neo-liberal and communitarian visions of school effectiveness, the thesis argues that headteacher agency for social justice cannot be understood as a simple binary between neo-liberal work and social justice work. The ethnographic studies demonstrated how, within the neo-liberal 'regimes of truth' that governed the parameters of their agency, headteachers' personal cultures of social justice had legitimacy and discursive power in shaping distinctive, heterotopic, educational spaces that re-ordered 'the local' and 'the global'. Within these spaces, headteachers preserved, protected, nourished and cultivated a range of social justice practices that contributed to both the affirmative and transformative forms of agency proposed in Fraser's paradigm of social justice (1997). Most notably, in questioning the extent to which the agency of headteachers reproduced or challenged structural inequities within education and wider society, my findings suggest that affective social justice is a pivotal discourse in refusing the dominance of market-oriented subjectification. I hope the study will inform new conversations about headteachers' role as civic and educational leaders who are producers as well as receivers of national education discourse; structural reformers as well as system leaders.

The mole concept like mathematics has both an abstract and a concrete element, but unfortunately the abstract element pre-dominates the teaching and learning, which poses difficulties to both learners and instructors. These difficulties disproportionately affect learners from low socio-economic backgrounds. The aim of this study is to investigate the mole concept from a sociological standpoint, by exploring the teaching and learning experiences of science students and lecturers, in the context of social justice. The study views the mole as a socially constructed science currency, and thus involved the deconstruction of all its aspects, in order to uncover inequalities embedded within its instruction methods including assessment. Twenty-five science students and three lecturers from London Metropolitan University responded to the questionnaire, which was also used as a recruitment tool. Nine students (5 in a focus group & 4 in a one-to-one) and three lecturers took part in narrative interviews designed to capture their experiences. The students ranged from foundation/access course, BSc to PhD, in subjects such as chemistry, biomedical, forensics, sports therapy, biology, human nutrition, cancer immunotherapy & pharmaceutical sciences. The three lecturers were all academic doctors with varying mole concept lecturing experiences, including post-doctoral work at Manchester, Oxford and Open Universities respectively. Narrative interviews transcripts were analysed through Bourdieuran prism, using an experienced based thematic approach. Four themes were identified: First degree socialisation (primary habitus), Second degree socialisation (secondary habitus), Field operators (actors' input) & Mole conceptual and procedural experiences. The findings indicate that, students from lower-class background find the difficulties pose by the mole concept, much more challenging than the higher-class students. The higher-class learners are better equipped to deal with mole related difficulties because of their superior social context, which also includes the fact that, they had experienced the mole far earlier in their academic carriers, than lower-class students. This study recommends the conceptual teaching and learning of the mole in schools (primary, KS2 or 2nd grade), in tandem with the teaching of the other SI units of measurement (Meter (m) for length, kilogram (kg) for mass, second (s) for time). This will increase mole prior knowledge of all the learners, which is crucial for a broad and balanced science curriculum.

Background: People who are attracted to more than one gender are often grouped together in research under the bisexual umbrella (Flanders, 2017). This has been valuable when investigating issues potentially faced by these groups, such as erasure and poor health outcomes, as well as in the context of bisexual activism. However, grouping people under the bisexual umbrella may carry the risk of overlooking individual differences and findings suggest differences between bisexual and pansexual participants, suggesting a need for further knowledge about pansexuality. Aims: This study aimed to gain a rich understanding of the ways in which pansexual people experience pansexuality. It also sought to contribute to the health professions by offering some insights into what may possibly be experienced by pansexual people. Methodology: Semi structured interviews were completed with six pansexual people. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Findings: Three superordinate themes (The pansexual label as an anchor; feeling 'boxed in'; and a label that defies labels) and ten subthemes emerged. Conclusion: The findings indicated the concept of feeling 'boxed in' as central to all of the superordinate themes in the study. A societal lack of awareness of both pansexual as an emerging, less 'mainstream' sexuality, and of gender identity outside the binary led to the strategic use of the bisexual label in order to manage stigma and invalidation. However, participants felt that the bisexual label was incongruent with their felt sense of identity because they favoured a label that explicitly acknowledged gender diversity. This led to a feeling of being erased. The current study provides a foundational knowledge of the under researched area of pansexuality. Future research could aim to further explore the impact of intersectionality, and experiences of healthcare settings for pansexual people.

Research indicates the trans population experiences significantly higher levels of mental health difficulties and suicidal ideation compared with the rest of the population. Existing literature relating specifically to psychological therapists is explored and four main gaps identified. These gaps surround lack of support for the trans community, long waiting times, the urgency of need often leading to self-prescription of hormones, and the compromising gate-keeping roles of professionals working with this population. Seven participants, who had all made the decision to take hormones, were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews addressed their help seeking behaviour and decision making process to take hormones, as well as their experiences of the system and the professionals in it. Fewer participants than desired were recruited, and the abbreviated version of grounded theory was therefore implemented. The decision-making behind that and its potential consequences are discussed. Using grounded theory, a stage model of the decision-making process to take hormones was drawn, and four categories and 14 subcategories identified. The categories were "identity frustration", "meeting the gatekept world", "survival mechanisms", and "escalating identity crisis". In discussing these results, the main problems indicated by the results of these findings regarded the mismatch between the urgent need for treatment trans people have, systemic issues of long waiting times, and a general sense of a gap between trans people and the professionals working with them, enforcing gatekeeper roles and feelings of being misunderstood and unsupported. Implications for counselling psychology practice and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Anti-Muslim prejudice (AMP) practices since 9/11, have cemented its place in history of becoming commonplace and show no signs of abating (Hankir, Ali, Siddique, Carrick & Zaman, 2019). Research since then has focussed on factors that influence and exacerbate AMP practices such as the media (Kurebwa & Muchakabarwa, 2019) and the consequences of AMP practices on the wellbeing of those directly and indirectly affected (Abu-Ras, Suárez & Abu-Bader, 2018). Research has begun to focus on how to combat AMP practice using the profession of counselling psychology in the USA (Bhattacharyya, Ashby & Goodman, 2014); which has spurred research in the UK on advocating for social justice within the profession of counselling psychology (Rhodes, 2016). However, research has recently begun to go beyond the negative outcomes of AMP practices and towards illuminating strategies to overcome AMP practices (Tahseen, Ahmed & Ahmed, 2019), yet, there seems to lack an in-depth exploration of the intricacies of these strategies and the potential outcomes of enlisting such strategies. There is also a lack of understanding in how counselling psychologists experience and manage AMP practices which could illuminate potential strategies for members of society to enlist that are of greater benefit to one's wellbeing. The central aim of this study was to explore accounts of counselling psychologists experience of AMP practices including how and in what forms AMP practices find them and how they process, manage and approach AMP practices. The second aim was to co-construct an explanatory grounded theory of this process. Adopting a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006), this study employed purposeful sampling to recruit eight counselling psychologists and one clinical psychologist as part of theoretical sampling to refine and develop the grounded theory using semi-structured interviews. Developed from the psychological processes that were co-constructed from the data indicated that three factors were influencing AMP practices finding participants which together increased sensitisation to experiencing AMP resulting in the experience of AMP as costing the self in two distinct ways, psycho-emotionally and systemically. The outcome of which was processed through two separate means, either through acknowledging or disconnecting from the experience of AMP. The consequences of processing AMP through those two means influenced the pathways towards managing one's experience of AMP, either through reflecting which was experienced to have benefits or deflecting pathway which was experienced to have costs. Participants outlined how a reflective pathway is built over time and with experience and due to its benefits, participants felt they underwent a positive change in their relationship to AMP practices. This stands apart from a deflecting pathway that is found to negatively re-affect participants when exposed to AMP practices. Participants, therefore, appeared to go through a myriad of complex processes in how they experience and manage AMP practices over their lifespan both psychologically concerning their sense of self and belonging in a society that accepts and rejects them. The findings from this study provide important insights into how counselling psychologists experience AMP practices, the changes they undergo in how they try and manage such experiences, including the rupture in relationships between colleagues, friends, family and towards their sense of self. Furthermore, the findings outline recommendations from participants and research which has shown that AMP practices cannot continue to be ignored and the need to move towards preventative and proactive measures in line with social justice work to help reduce such negative experiences from repeating for current and future generations of Muslims.

Approaches to voice hearing have primarily and historically been driven by a medical model of psychiatry. Recognition of the limitations of this approach has led to increasing awareness and development of new approaches to understanding voice hearing that Counselling Psychology (CoP) is well placed to address. The study addressed the lack of research exploring the subjective experience of voice hearing from the voice hearer's perspective, particularly of positive voice hearing experiences. Five participants, all of whom had positive voice hearing experiences were recruited from hearing voices groups across England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore how individuals make sense of their positive voice hearing experiences. There were three superordinate themes identified from the IPA: "Engaging in a complicated world: The voice in repetition or reparation of relational trauma", "Response-ability, in interpretation and action" and "Fracturing identities: The self and society's acceptance of voice hearing". Three main findings were identified from the analysis: 1) Participants experience a relationship with their voices, which could both compensate for and repeat, experiences of relational difficulties, 2) finding meaning in the voice hearing experience is of fundamental importance for the participants and 3) there is a complex interplay between society and the individual in the acceptance and understanding of voice hearing experiences. The study supports the argument for a paradigm shift away from the médicalisation of distress towards a focus on the meaning and understanding of human experience from an individual and interpersonal context.

In the 21st century, we use the Internet to communicate at a level unprecedented in human history. As a result, parallel to worldwide growth in Internet use, there are emerging concerns of its impact on our lives, with much research highlighting social implications. There is controversy within the relevant research literature, as to whether Internet use decreases or increases social connection and as to its psychological benefits or limitations. This paper presents a phenomenological study exploring the lived experience of interpersonal communication within the context of problematic Internet use (PIU). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six adults who self-identified with PIU and the resultant transcripts served as data for an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three super-ordinate themes emerged: 1) 'Meeting interpersonal needs' 2) 'Interplay between two worlds: the virtual and the physical' 3) 'Online armour: the Internet as a form of protection.' Participants relate the profound impact that the Internet has had and continues to have on their interpersonal lives and relationships. Whilst there are prominent threads of conflict, difficulty and distress, benefits, opportunities and enhanced social networks are also highlighted. The findings both support and contribute new aspects to the knowledge of PIU, and significantly, provide qualitative insight, which has been somewhat neglected in this field to date. The findings are examined in light of phenomenological ideas and their value in the understanding of PIU and interpersonal communication in the digital age, within the realm of Counselling Psychology and other related fields.

Background/Aim: Preserving cultural lineage is paramount within the Indian culture, and extant literature has highlighted the challenges second-generation, Indian women endure, particularly in the context of romantic relationships, where cultural values differ between the second-generation and their parents. Consequently, engaging in a cross-cultural, romantic relationship (CCRR) may be perceived to threaten cultural continuity and such decisions can have an impact on the women’s psychological wellbeing, their romantic relationship and their relationship with their families. However, although existing literature has focused on Indian culture, little is known specifically about the Indian, Hindu (IH) community where traditions around marriage have derived. Given the prevalence of these challenges and the limited research within the field of Counselling Psychology (CP), this study aims to explore the experiences of second-generation, IH women living in the United Kingdom (UK) who are in a heterosexual CCRR, to elicit an in-depth understanding of their experiences. Design/ Method: Participants were seven, second-generation, IH women aged between 24 and 40 who have been in a CCRR for a minimum of three months. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: From the analysis, three superordinate themes emerged: ‘Predetermined Identity’(which explores how the women experience their identity, and is the basis of the challenges encountered from engaging in a CCRR), ‘The two worlds don’t meet’ (which explores the decisions the participants make and must consider due to their contrasting cultural value systems), and ‘Enduring challenges’ (which explores how the women navigate the challenges they face and the subsequent impact on their relationship and personally). Conclusion: The findings highlight the challenges second-generation, IH women who are in a CCRR may endure, particularly within their familial, societal and romantic relationships. These findings hope to support existing research in CP and within cultural and relationship research. The research discusses implications of the findings for clinical practice.

Young people who are ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)’ have been an ongoing concern for successive UK governments; policies abound, but the number remains stubbornly high. Some studies indicate that young NEET people form a marginalised group with diverse issues. Hence, there is the need to understand the complexity of their situations. Therefore, this qualitative, in-depth study goes beyond the statistics and advances the knowledge about some of the varied factors that contribute to young people becoming NEET. The participants were 18 young NEET people, aged 18-24. They were all living with their families except for one who had left home, aged 24. This study was located in London and therefore reveals the challenges the young people faced despite it being the capital city, with all the opportunities London is perceived to offer. At the time of the study, the participants were all NEET and were attending a self-development course offered by Possible, a charity working with NEET young people; four of its staff members who work with young people who are NEET were also interviewed. This qualitative study examines the issue of becoming NEET from the perspectives of an immensely diverse group of young NEET people (including new arrivals to the UK), thereby prioritising the voices and experiences of those within this NEET group. Bourdieu’s concepts consisting of capital, field and habitus formed the theoretical framework. The findings indicate that, for this diverse NEET group, ‘family’ and ‘school’ were major influences and, for some of them, ‘family’ referred to their wider, extended family. The study reveals how much family, school and social class intersect, leading to the conclusion that the common thread running through these factors is ‘class’. Therefore, social class is a major determinant in young people’s trajectories and explains why some of the young people are positioned unfavourably with regard to their life chances. Significantly, all of the participants had been continuously NEET since the age of 18, with 12 of them NEET since the age of 16, and with none of them having been in employment since the age of 16. This, therefore, depicts the continued long reach of family and school influences, mediated by social class: the enduring shadow cast into adulthood and on young people’s life chances. However, this study also signifies hope: it reveals that young people can be encouraged to move out of the NEET category when they engage with staff that they feel care for them and can be trusted. Despite being in the 18-24 age range, the key issues raised by the participants were related to school. Focusing solely on their concerns, they imply that well-resourced strategies are needed to help pupils of all abilities. In view of schools’ limited resources, forming external partnerships seem relevant, as illustrated by the participants’ praise for Possible’s initiatives. Hence, some examples of potential partnerships for schools are noted in the concluding chapter. Overall, this in-depth study will add to the knowledge about 18-24 year old young NEET people. This knowledge is intended to contribute to the current debates on education, training and employment and help with informing the interested parties: policymakers, schools, training providers and also charitable organisations working to meet the needs of young people classified as NEET.

Background: A significant change in family structure in the United Kingdom (UK) has been the increase in lone parent families. It is strongly predicted that the population of lone fatherheaded families will continue to grow in the UK. Of all dependent children living in lone parent families in Britain, 8% currently live in a lone father household. However, research on lone fathers remains scarce. Indeed, there is limited research that recognises the wide diversity of fatherhood, including the specific needs different fathers might have. Research findings suggest that lone fathers often face difficulties that are linked to structural and personal factors. They also emphasise how gender stereotypes further influence their experiences. Nonetheless, research has shown that lone fathers are able to plan a healthy developmental and functional environment for themselves and their children. This challenges the notion that men are emotionally detached and the exclusive importance of mothers as salient carers for children, a concept that is deeply embedded within psychoanalytic theory. Rationale and aims: There is very little known about the psychological well-being of lone fathers in the UK. Yet, studies have found higher rates of distress in lone fathers as a result of separation or divorce when compared with married fathers, widowers and the general population. Studies have suggested that lone father families as a result of separation or divorce are not a homogeneous group. For instance, those fathers who insisted on or fought for the custody of their children must be distinguished from those who, differently, had no adjustment period in taking over the care of children. Indeed, it has been argued that a parent's initial attitude and feelings about his child might be influenced by whether or not he wanted sole responsibility. Earlier research findings have suggested that lone fathers feel unhappy and depressed at the point of separation and are of vulnerable mind and susceptible to forms of depressive mental illnesses, enough to impede their ability to acknowledge that they need help, to know where to ask for it, and then, to ask for help . Although there is a very small body of research exploring lone fatherhood after separation or divorce in the UK, this is not necessarily a disadvantage as it may place the field of counselling psychology in a more qualified and unique position to explore the experiences of lone fathers from a fresh perspective. The current study, therefore, focuses specifically at men raising children alone after divorce or separation in a UK context. The study aims to elicit a better understanding of this specific group of fathers. This study aims to explore how men understand their experience of becoming lone fathers after separation or divorce, the challenges that they might face and how they might work through them. The current study also intends to address how they understand the relationship with their children. Method: This current enquiry is a qualitative study and uses a constructivist grounded theory method to generate data examining social psychological processes involved. Results: The results highlight that the transition to lone fatherhood occurs from a variety of positions and in different ways that seem to influence the emotional, practical and social experiences of participants. Nonetheless, the men in this study demonstrate a propensity to self-realise and self- transform. Discussion: The participants of this study understand their experiences as a lone father in terms of; first, the complexities that they faced; second, how they managed their lone fatherhood experience; and last, through re-inscribing fatherhood, whilst simultaneously reflecting on gender and masculinities, all of which were influenced by the situational context that preceded lone fatherhood, as well as the relationship with their children. Findings are discussed in relation to these influential contexts, with an exploration of what they mean in light of existing theory and research. The men in this study not only appear to be changing traditional social and cultural norms for fathers but, they further challenge the prevalence of the heterosexual matrix that characterises the oedipal triad. The implications for theory and practice are outlined, emphasising how counselling psychologists could make a difference.

This investigation concerns the analytical challenge of understanding settlement upgrading in South Africa. Drawing upon evidence from a case study, Duncan Village Redevelopment Initiative, and two reference studies, Zanemvula and Sakhasonke, it builds an account of events, as experienced at street level and in the policy-driven domain of practice, on the basis of two key themes: the process of upgrading and the problem of placemaking. Political and housing history contextualise the current 'captured' state of affairs, establishing ground for a conceptual framework that navigates sometimes contradictory registers of engagement in development. The focus of the argument is on understanding the enduring South African context of "unfreedom" and constant change. Motivated by the widely-acknowledged need to know why so much public money and political energy goes to waste on upgrading projects that fail to deliver, the research aims to articulate between the nuanced realities of intervention projects - the activities of ordinary people and their efforts to make meaningful places - and the dynamic landscape of policy and development data. Driven by a desire to account for the situation as it is on the ground, the layered methodological approach to what I call 'intervention forensics' culminates in a process of infiltration, and prioritises the problem of understanding: the challenge of framing analysis in a way that is faithful to overarching cycles of past and present history, of philosophical aspirations embedded within it, and of the context for professional practice and political action. The characters of Duncan, Wilson and Fanon are introduced to contextualise historical, political, ethnographic, on-the-ground aspects of the South African story, and giving a voice to native South Africans at a time of change and confusion about how best to co-exist. Policy is only as strong as the people and institutions implementing it. Literature concerning intervention projects has long emphasised the need to cast partnership nets wide if delivery is to succeed. In South Africa, policy operates in a context where formal systems are often exchanged for or supplanted by informal means of delivery - means that are often hidden or unacknowledged. In an environment of political flux, neither literature nor policy guides actors on how this should be done. This research targets this gap. Treating practice as a springboard, the approach uses place and processes to track the efforts of the state to intervene in informal settlements, formulated here as 'shack urbanity'. A purpose-designed representational tool - the Shack Urbanity Intervention Tool (SUIT) - has been developed to draw together data from polar arrival points into a simultaneous dimension of reference for navigating between the concrete and abstract phenomena of an urban environment in the throes of change. The SUIT provides a structure within which the 'agents of change', their roles and relationships, and the 'horizons of involvement' are represented, and conflicts and reciprocities during the construction process made visible. It enables comparative analysis of projects to pinpoint common problems and identify strategies that might succeed in future upgrading projects. The SUIT identifies typical trajectories in incremental upgrading intervention projects in order to visualise development facilitators and inhibitors. The thesis comes to rest on four key findings: First, tenure security and ownership of place built through participatory processes are significant positive forces. Second, the interrelation between urbs and civitas must ground the institutional appreciation of incremental upgrading and therefore inform policy. Third, 'arrival cities' are not necessarily transient (either temporally or in their internal dynamics of mobility). And finally, informality and agency are not necessarily in opposition. Sometimes, informality is a choice. The 'formal' city is typically perceived as host, having parasitic connection with shack urbanity, but in many development environments the relationship is mutualistic, an interdependence between formality and informality that supports a metabolism that allows places to regenerate. Formality and informality should be gauged according to the progress of development. All built or made environments - both those developed from the bottom up and those planned and implemented from the top down - depend upon reciprocity between the concrete and abstract phenomena that constitute meaningful places.

On 16th June 2014, legislation came into force in the UK criminalising the practice of forced marriage. This signified a growing concern regarding this practice involving British citizens. In its policy document for front-line services entitled 'Multi-agency Statutory Guidelines: Handling cases of forced marriage' (2009 & 2014), the government indicated that schools should play a role in the detection and prevention of forced marriage. This study investigates the perceptions and experiences of teachers based in a South London secondary school on addressing in the classroom the topic of FM. The study focuses on qualitative research involving a sample of eight semi-structured interviews with teachers, five semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, and six classroom observations. This study is conceptualised and theorised within a feminist post-structural framework. The study draws upon intersectionality to capture how teachers negotiate their professional and personal identities that they constructed as gendered, racial, religious and cultural subjectivities. A Foucauldian approach to thematic and identity analysis is employed to explore the perception of dominant discourses surrounding FM through its construction as a South Asian, Muslim problem. The key findings were threefold: firstly, teachers constructed FM as a racial and gendered issue; secondly, teachers constructed their identities as professional and personal, with the aim of becoming the 'good teacher' which they associated with professionalism; and thirdly, some teachers revealed that their personal and professional identities were challenged when implementing FM policy. This study unpacks how teachers resist and reproduce gendered and racial discourses to construct FM. These findings support the literature reviewed, in that teachers perform multiple identities which are shaped by three discourses; neutrality, professionalism and political correctness, which are underpinned by emotions. Some teachers suppressed their personal identities to allow their professional identities to prevail. All participants agreed that FM should appear on the national curriculum and, preferably, should be delivered by an external expert, such as the FMU. This study contributes to existing literature surrounding teachers' identities and emotions. The study highlights how FM should be defined through policy as a human rights abuse and exposes inadequate FM training for qualified teachers.

Despite the convergence of international development actors around cultural and creative industries as agents of dynamic change, a tool for innovation, wealth creation, and poverty alleviation, few studies have investigated the role of social enterprises in developing tourism. Social enterprises are relatively new actors in the tourism sector, developing innovative models using market-based approaches to address social issues. Consequently, there are few studies that have investigated the underlying processes of social enterprises in developing tourism models, which includes the role of social enterprises and actors from their enabling environment in developing tourism and their impact on development. This thesis aims to address these gaps by providing an understanding of the processes, that is, the actors, resources, convergence of interests, and impact of a tourism-based livelihood development model in West Bengal, India, which provides an alternative focus on understanding social enterprises as change agents. To understand how a model, a road map for community-led cultural tourism, was co-created, it is important to trace the preproduction (community capacity building) and post-production (marketing and promotion) activities. By following the actors and resources that were brought together, how these emerging inputs were configured, how stability was maintained through material inscriptions, and how the outcomes of each action steered the future actions, this actororiented ethnographic analysis reveals the underlying framework of social enterprises innovation. A key result of this study is that being positioned in between local and global networks means that social enterprises are well positioned to act as social change agents; however, co-created models reinforce top-down development structures rather than challenging them. The findings from this study make several contributions to the current literature. First, the studyshed new light on the role of social enterprises as change agents in the tourism sector and their impacts on local and global networks. The insights gained enhance our understanding of what impacts social enterprises and their networks have in implementing and scaling community-based festivals. Not only does the analysis of a tourism-based livelihood development model demonstrate that social enterprises transform destinations through creating value, but it also reinforces top-down development structures rather than challenging them.

This thesis presents an investigation of a bilingual Turkish/English after school club in a UK secondary school. It investigates and analyses bilingual/multilingual students' naturally occurring language use during classroom activities and explores students' strategies while tackling mathematical tasks. It examines how learners construct a collaborative bilingual learning environment and form a community of practice. The study is set in a large mixed comprehensive school in North London where approximately 30% of students are from Turkish speaking backgrounds. Turkish speakers form one of the four largest cthno-linguistic groups in England. The following major strategies emerged from my analysis: translanguaging, activating prior knowledge, employing play frames and learning in a social context. I discovered that translanguaging allowed students to access their own cultural and linguistic repertoire. They worked through mathematical tasks by activating prior knowledge, often using playful language. Through collaborative learning in a social context, they formed a bilingual community of practice. As a result of employing these strategies, mathematical understanding was enhanced, students performed better with improved self-confidence and mathematical problem solving was aided.

This research, conducted against the backdrop of neoliberal NHS austerity cuts and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 accelerating privatisation and outsourcing of NHS services, investigates the political differences and similarities of two forms of Black and minority ethnic self-organisation challenging racism in the NHS workplace. Based on case studies of two organisations – a local NHS BME Network and a local UNISON Black Self-Organised Group – the research explores the hypothesis that BME Diversity Networks may be seen as more effective ‘collective voices’ than trade union Black Self-Organised Groups for promoting race equality in the NHS workplace. The research documents the local NHS BME Network’s affiliation to the independent NHS BME Network, capturing a moment in time - 2012 -2018 - when the activism and lobbying of NHS Black workers led to the implementation in 2015 of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard. As an empirical qualitative study of a relatively under-researched group of BME NHS support workers and Allied Health Professionals, along with BME nurses, the thesis makes a contribution to knowledge by foregrounding the voices, agency, and everyday lived experience of BME workers challenging racism in the NHS workplace. The research uses a Black Radical Tradition theoretical framework drawing on scholars applying Marxism to conceptualise modes of ‘resistance and accommodation’ in anti-racist Black politics. The concept ‘racial capitalism’ is also linked to race and class theories of Black self-organised resistance to racism in the UK context. The research makes a theoretical contribution by applying the concept of ‘common sense neoliberalism’ alongside the concept of ‘racial capitalism’ to consider the implications of forms of race equality which, in aligning with neoliberal corporate diversity management agendas, operate to privilege Black professional middle class identities whilst marginalising Black working class perspectives.

This research takes the form of ten journal articles and book chapters that were published between June 2008 and February 2018. This body of work encompasses outputs that are focused on community development, community arts, youth work and social movement praxis. These fields of praxis are understood as constituting a vital part of a variegated and differentiated Irish civil society and, while acknowledging their specificities, the body of work situates them together within the contested terrain of collective action. The Covering Document elucidates how, across the ten outputs, collective action is theorised: as the site of and target for complex and dynamic power relationships; as imbricated with various governmental projects through which multiple societal actors seek to mobilise citizens; as a potential site of and resource for resistance to particular expressions of government, ideology and power; and as developing alternative social relationships, organisational forms and modes of communication. The boundaries between the state and civil society are imprecise and fluid: civil society and state actors seek to induce desired forms of conduct and relationships from each other. This research exposes and critically interrogates associated power dynamics, overlaps, and contestations, and how they in turn shape expectations of collective action. Drawing together findings from youth work, community development, social movement, and community arts praxis, the research illuminates; how and by whom collective action is rationalised and (de)legitimised; the changing role of the state in governing civil society; and the potential for collective action to prefigure alternative forms of relationships and to resist particular forms of government. Therefore, the body of work analyses how the meanings, forms and purposes of collective action are constantly reworked, just as they give expression to important societal struggles. The Covering Document details the theory, methodology and methods that have underpinned the research. It offers an integrated thematic overview of the ten research outputs, highlighting their coherence, originality, and relevance for a critical analysis of the dynamics of collective action in contemporary Ireland. The research analyses the discourses of collective action as they have been expressed in key policy documents, in newspapers such as the Irish Independent and in the documents of protest of social movement organisations. It highlights and interrogates the political, economic and cultural context for collective action in 21st Century Ireland, paying particular attention to the ways though which the recent regime of austerity has impacted on civil society, the state and on relations between these spheres. The research is critical in orientation, but it draws upon and articulates diverse critical traditions as it analyses the power dynamics associated with collective action. Gramscian style, cultural materialist and Foucauldian governmentality perspectives are variously adopted and adapted within specific outputs. The Covering Document also outlines how and why the body of work troubles the boundaries between community development, community arts, youth work and social movement research and praxis. It calls for an articulated and dialogical theory and practice that challenge the assumed estrangement of these fields. As the Covering Document outlines, the research records how state policy now seeks to govern youth work, community development and community arts organisations through an increasingly intrusive and prescriptive set of policy ordinances, self-reporting techniques, and accountability measures. Against that, it also points to the potential for collective action to re-politicise issues otherwise framed as non-political by policy-makers and media, to build and be based upon reflexive forms of solidarity, and to reclaim the arts and tactics of protest.

At the heart of this thesis is an investigation of the reciprocal relationship between the city of Luanda and one of its central informal neighbourhoods, Chicala. The study situates Chicala among conflicts that have arisen in the urban densification process and their socio-political management, and in the context of a long history of natural formation. The particular geographical location of Chicala, along with its integrity and specific development, made the neighbourhood vulnerable to colonial invasions, and more recently to aggressive urbanism and large-scale masterplans. In the context of Luanda’s current neoliberal trajectory of urban regeneration following a protracted civil war (1975-2002), Chicala is undergoing a process of demolition and replacement by high-standard real estate developments. The research began shortly before plans for the complete erasure of the neighbourhood were implemented and local authorities and private investors forcefully displaced its inhabitants to remote settlements with unsuitable living conditions. The thesis aims to write Luanda’s urban history afresh by forging a place for the neighbourhood of Chicala and its wider context in the city’s urban order. Documentation of the characteristics of a neighbourhood on the brink of disappearing required a collaborative methodological approach, and a reflection of how architects can operate in such complex urban settings. The thesis aims to go beyond a mere exploration of informal architectural order; rather, it is a contribution to understanding Luanda, and to understanding postcolonial cities in general in their depth. Analysis of a set of relationships between the neighbourhood and the city is presented in a chronology of six chapters. Each chapter emphasises the ‘hybrid’ nature of Chicala as part of a larger context, both in urban terms (autoconstruction, monuments and neoliberal form-fantasies are addressed as part of an urban continuum) and historically (precolonial, colonial and postcolonial periods are presented as part of an interconnected process). The thesis concludes with remarks on the collaborative dimension of the research and the practices of ‘blurring’ it enabled. It is complemented by four Appendices, presenting a portfolio which complements the methodological approach: fieldwork reports, institutional documents based on the collaboration with Agostinho Neto University, and an extensive visual archive produced over the course of the research.

This thesis explores how effectively equality and diversity legislation in the UK offers recognition and protection to trans* and sexgender nonconforming people by engaging with their contemporary experiences. In order to explore these dynamics I give a genealogical and multidisciplinary context to my work. More specifically, I trace the ways in which the development of trans* and sexgender nonconforming discourses impacts on the evolving self-understanding of my research subjects. Finally, I also analyse the implications of my findings for particular forms of legally focused activism. The thesis makes a critical examination of the much commented-on increase in trans* and sexgender nonconforming people’s visibility and social inclusion in the 21st century. In order to undertake such critique I theorize the impact of structural socioeconomic and cultural changes that have taken place in the context of neoliberal governmentality, including the developments in information technologies. I focus on important issues of materiality and political economy to analyse how the neoliberal logic of inclusion of previously discriminated against populations according to their socio-economic fungibility – i.e. their ability to participate in the market – necessarily creates new forms of exclusion and marginalization. This thesis produced a critical examination of the nature of diversity itself in a neoliberal age, focusing in particular on how the valorization of a particular form of empty diversity – i.e. a depoliticized, instrumental and commodified recognition of difference - is emblematic of the delimitations of the effects of the neoliberal project. I contend that the forms of protection grounded in neoliberal understandings of ‘equality’ work to mask the structurally unequal and iniquitous effects of legislation, even if they represent an improvement in relation to the previous lack of recognition. In particular the Equality Act 2010 can be seen as entrenching inequality and discrimination, rather than promoting genuine social and economic equality, by only protecting more ‘legible’, ‘fungible’ and normative experiences of trans* expression.

This study explores the concept of sexual citizenship as it applies to the lives of gay men living in nonmetropolitan areas of Britain, and Ireland. Both countries have undergone dramatic social, legal and cultural changes over recent decades, and have witnessed profound and progressive shifts in public attitudes towards lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Given historical tendencies towards a metrocentric bias in researching gay lives, this study takes place outside the large metropolitan centres of population. It travels to a world of smaller towns, villages and farms. In making this journey, the research aims to understand the life world and experiences of gay men living within these locales. It seeks to explore the dynamics created by the intersection of sexuality and the space of the rural. Crucially it strives to develop an understanding of the nature, depth, and scope, of the men’s sexual citizenship, as it applies within their geographic context. Forty-four men were interviewed: twenty-two in England and twenty-two in Ireland. The study finds that rural men in both countries share similar experiences, concerns and worries. All of the men recall an awakening in childhood and adolescence that they were different from other male age mates, followed by a slow realisation (often resisted) that they could be gay. The study finds that profound social, and cultural changes have been of critical importance to the men, in encouraging many of them (though not all) to begin, the uneven, and continuous, process of coming out, embracing a sexual minority identity, and in doing so, becoming sexual citizens. The study finds clear consensus that the nonmetropolitan context is relevant to the men, especially in how they negotiate their sexual identity. While life outside the cities can bring a number of distinct advantages, such as tranquillity, and a more relaxed pace of life, the men also report numerous challenges which include social isolation, powerful hegemonic narratives around rural masculinity, and a pervasive heteronormative culture. As such, the rural space can be an alienating environment. Nonetheless, these men continue to live in the rural, and by their presence and increasing disclosure, they are changing the cultural narrative of what it means to be gay in the space of the rural, creating rural gay (male) identities, which can appear different from metropolitan gay (male) identities. In many ways, their rural environment creates similar identity characteristics, and limitations, despite their residency in different countries. In assessing the men as sexual citizens, the study takes the opportunity to interrogate the model of sexual citizenship. To this end, it finds the citizenship model of rights and obligations to be seductive and appealing to many of the gay men. However, the study also highlights its exclusionary tendencies, and as its propensity to promote a de-sexualised, de-politicised, and de-radicalised gay identity; tendencies which are exacerbated by the context of the nonmetropolitan, small town, and rural spaces. This research concludes that, while the men may be considered, constitutional sexual citizens, which is an enormous advance from the dark times of the past, there remains a legacy of stigmatization, which helps ensure compromised citizenship on a number of levels. As such, the journey has not yet ended.

The disengagement of young people from community participation is a debate that pervades the literature and is a concern for UK policing whose strategic aim is to secure the efficient and effective engagement of young people in an operational landscape that is shaped by austerity. Digital and Social Media is seen as offering immense potential to deliver enhanced participation at a fraction of the cost of traditional engagement, but there is a distinct lack of empirical research associated with the police use of digital and social media to engage young people. The aim of this research is to allow young people to shape the way Nottinghamshire Police engage with them via digital and social media. To this end, a 40-point engagement framework based on the principles of ‘Quid Pro Quo’ reciprocal engagement is offered as the product of this youthful insight. The theoretical positioning of the research is within the Interpretivist paradigm and social control theory and procedural justice theory justify why engaging young people is so important to the survival of the British style of policing. A qualitative methodology frames the research design, which includes the use of the semi-structured interview and four focus groups involving young people. The thesis suggests that young people are not disinterested, lackadaisical or apathetic when it comes to police engagement, they are simply disconnected from the police engagement framework, which appears to have failed historically to understand how and why young people wish to participate in policing. Whilst participants felt that Nottinghamshire Police’s digital offer is suitable for young people, it is concluded that digital and social media is not the ‘Holy Grail’ or indeed the panacea for police engagement and therefore young people may not yet be ready to accept such technology and swap physical visibility and accessibility for their virtual counterparts.

Technological amplification has expended the involvement of information and communication technology in public sectors and enhanced governmental dependence on information systems which restrains the management attention towards improving the effectiveness of e-government services. Based on the analytical review of literature, it was found that most of the e-government evaluation models address the e-service dimensions that assess the quality of e-government websites. This gives a very constrict perspective to e-government and ignores the key dimensions. It becomes important to understand how citizens perceive and evaluate e-government services. This involves defining what e-government service is, identifying its underlying dimensions, and determining how it can be measured. Therefore, periodical evaluation of the effectiveness of e-government services becomes essential. Foregoing discussion clearly indicates the necessity of developing a well founded e-government e-service effectiveness evaluation framework which not only evaluates the e-government service effectiveness but also evaluates the e-government service quality criteria and the citizens‟ perception in the form of citizens‟ trust in offered e-services. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a framework (E-GEEF) "e-government service effectiveness evaluation framework" that assesses e-government service effectiveness from the citizens‟ (G2C) perspective. A systematic study of the existing e-government service assessment frameworks has been carried out to establish the basis for conceptualizing a theoretical framework called e-government service effectiveness evaluation framework (E-GEEF). In this research, the author attempts to explore the underlying dimensions and factors of e-government services, and has proposed an effectiveness evaluation framework (E-GEEF). Present empirical research adapted DeLone and McLean, (2003) IS success model as base model which is upgradable and extendable, hence additional dimensions were incorporated to develop a novel framework (E-GEEF) for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government service. The suggested framework has identified number of measuring dimensions and associated items within each dimension for (E-GEEF). System quality, information quality, and service quality dimensions were adopted from DeLone and McLean (2003) IS success model and “intention to use and user satisfaction” dimensions were re-specified in proposed framework (E-GEEF) as “citizens‟ use / usefulness” and “citizens‟ satisfaction”. Further, "citizens" trust, perceived e-government service quality, and perceived effectiveness” were incorporated as new dimensions in the proposed framework (E-GEEF). Three new dimensions were identified and two existing dimensions were re-specified for evaluating the effectiveness of e-government service. Sixteen hypotheses were formulated from literature on existing e-government assessment frameworks to test the proposed framework (E-GEEF). In order to test the proposed framework and their associated dimensions, Indian e-tax service was considered, because e-tax service of Indian e-government is utilized by several Indian citizens for filing their taxes. Preliminary qualitative study was carried out carefully to ensure whether all important dimensions and measurement items were included in the proposed framework E-GEEF in the right research context or not. Empirical research has used quantitative analysis for validating the proposed framework (E-GEEF). Data collection was done using survey which was conducted among citizens of India who have been utilizing e-tax service as users. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed to ensure the data normality by using SPSS 20. Structural equation modeling statistical technique was applied using AMOS 21 on the collected data for testing the hypotheses. The empirical research findings have confirmed most of the hypothesized relationships within the validated framework (E-GEEF). Consequently, in terms of the theoretical implications, this study emphasizes the significance of such hypothesized relationships when performing empirical research in e-government context. Key findings demonstrated the strong relationships of perceived e-government service quality with system quality, information quality, service quality, and citizens‟ satisfaction. Further, citizens‟ trust exhibited direct relationships with perceived e-government service quality and perceived effectiveness of e-government service. Thus, as a major contribution to the proposed research, the identified new dimensions “perceived e-government service quality, citizens‟ trust, perceived effectiveness” and re-specified dimensions “citizens‟ use/usefulness and citizens‟ satisfaction” have shown great significance in evaluating effectiveness of e-government e-tax service in Indian G2C context. The developed and validated framework (E-GEEF) provides government agencies with an appropriate approach and dimensions in order to evaluate the effectiveness of e-government services.

The behaviour analysis of individual and group dynamics in closed spaces is a subject of extensive research in both academia and industry. However, despite recent technological advancements the problem of implementing the existing methods for visual behaviour data analysis in production systems remains difficult and the applications are available only in special cases in which the resourcing is not a problem. Most of the approaches concentrate on direct extraction and classification of the visual features from the video footage for recognising the dynamic behaviour directly from the source. The adoption of such an approach allows recognising directly the elementary actions of moving objects, which is a difficult task on its own. The major factor that impacts the performance of the methods for video analytics is the necessity to combine processing of enormous volume of video data with complex analysis of this data using and computationally resourcedemanding analytical algorithms. This is not feasible for many applications, which must work in real time. In this research, an alternative simulation-based approach for behaviour analysis has been adopted. It can potentially reduce the requirements for extracting information from real video footage for the purpose of the analysis of the dynamic behaviour. This can be achieved by combining only limited data extracted from the original video footage with a symbolic data about the events registered on the scene, which is generated by 3D simulation synchronized with the original footage. Additionally, through incorporating some physical laws and the logics of dynamic behaviour directly in the 3D model of the visual scene, this framework allows to capture the behavioural patterns using simple syntactic pattern recognition methods. The extensive experiments with the prototype implementation prove in a convincing manner that the 3D simulation generates sufficiently rich data to allow analysing the dynamic behaviour in real-time with sufficient adequacy without the need to use precise physical data, using only a limited data about the objects on the scene, their location and dynamic characteristics. This research can have a wide applicability in different areas where the video analytics is necessary, ranging from public safety and video surveillance to marketing research to computer games and animation. Its limitations are linked to the dependence on some preliminary processing of the video footage which is still less detailed and computationally demanding than the methods which use directly the video frames of the original footage.

Prison education has the potential to transforms offenders. It forms part of prison regimes for female offenders. At the beginning of the 21st century prison education and basic skills development are at the centre of rehabilitation debates. Computer technology has transformed human communication and interactions rendering digital literacy a basic skill in the 21st century and part of the rehabilitation agenda. However, prison education is not just entangled within rehabilitation debates. It is also an economic and prison security debate. Computer technology is already in use to manage offenders in local institutions and within wider prison and probation networks. Its application in prison education has been slow due to security imperatives of prisons. However, it has great potential to, on one hand, enhance learning opportunities for prisoners and, on the other, create inclusive prison classrooms that account for the diversity of its learners. The focus of this thesis is the application of computer technology in prison education for women. It, however, extends its view outside of ICT prison classrooms to account for the actors involved in shaping local classroom contexts. The thesis is not concerned with teaching techniques nor does it attempt to provide teaching guidelines. Using an actor-network approach, it, however, analysis how groups such as the female offender are stabilised to inform local procedures. It understands prison induction as start points of (in)dividual prison learner journeys. It examines closely the technologies and procedures that create educational data fragments - 'virtual' educational risk and needs potentialities - used to allocate learner in classes, but, more importantly, to create tightly managed, pre-formatted learning spaces. It, further, analyses how tutors and women appropriate those pre-designed spaces and provides detailed recommendations for the implementation of computer technology in prison classrooms for women.

This Covering Document offers a narrative addressing the contributory contexts, thematic coherences, and original contribution to knowledge made by the body of work presented for this award. It discusses the place and importance of critical enquiry concerning childhood and children’s lives in the curricula of Education Studies and cognate disciplinary fields. The body of work comprises eight formal outputs from nearly a decade of writing and publication that, in turn, draw on a longer career as teacher and academic. Its trajectory leads to the proposition that the declaration of The Anthropocene encourages us to reconsider and recast Enlightenment modernity and particularly those constructions of human nature and the natural world that inform commonplace thinking about children and their childhoods which, in turn, justify many of the practices, language and time-space organisation structuring educational institutions. The Anthropocene offers a framework within which to understand the historical provenance of the ideological condition identified as ‘Modern childhood’ and to reflect on its emerging implications for children’s lives in times of technological change, intercultural encounter, globalization and climate change. The Covering Document identifies recurrent topical themes in the body of work and offers a rationale for the historical, spatial, and social modes of analysis that are threaded through it. It also offers reflections on the way that the published material addresses its audience as pedagogically mediated content knowledge. The Covering Document asserts that The Anthropocenic proposition revitalises the place of the New Social Studies of Childhood within Education Studies, thereby offering a coherent and relevant direction for further growth that encourages us all to ‘take a wider look around’.

In London, Paris and Madrid the reliance on migrant and minority ethnic workers for older-age care is related to patterns of inequality at the intersection of gender, employment, migration and care regimes. Building upon the possibilities opened up by the cross-national dimension of this research, the thesis presents a gendered political economy analysis of care assistants' work and life experiences in the context of for-profit and not-for-profit private care provision. Inspired by institutional ethnography (Smith, 2005), the analysis draws upon 82 semi-structured interviews with migrant and minority ethnic care workers. The overarching theoretical framework of the thesis is embedded in a transnational political economy of care (Williams, 2011a) and brings into the analysis the perspective of feminist moral philosophy (Tronto, 2013; Molinier, 2013). First, the social implications of labour market segmentation are scrutinized in a comparative perspective through the study of care workers' routes into the care sector, the role of intermediaries, the profile of the workforce and respondents' trajectories and aspirations within the sector. Second, a political economy analysis of workers' employment terms and working conditions is conducted by revisiting the concepts of precarious employment and precarious work from a feminist perspective. This leads to an analysis of emotional labour from the standpoint of migrant and minority ethnic workers. Finally, lived experiences of racism and discrimination come to the fore in respondents' narratives and these are also examined from a political economy perspective. The thesis contributes to the existing literature on migrant and minority ethnic workers' collective role and individual experiences in the context of labour shortages and marginalisation of paid care in European capitals. The cross-national design of this research allows for a differentiated analysis of the role of migration, employment and care regimes in three sites where similar challenges are observed but where policies diverge. The thesis brings into dialogue two fields of literature - the feminist ethics of care and the political economy of gendered and racialised labour in care - that have remained separated for decades until more recent developments initiated a conversation (Mahon and Robinson, 2011) to which this thesis contributes.

This study examines the transitions to adulthood of a group of 19 young women of mixed age, social class and ethnic backgrounds, from two adjacent ‘outer-urban’ neighbourhoods in the post-industrial city of Birmingham, UK. It focuses on three distinct, and inter-related, spheres of transition: education and training, employment and independent household formation, including family of origin, housing, couple relationships, marriage and motherhood. Using the concepts of reflexivity, the appearance of choice and intersectionality, the study aims to shed light on the role of individual agency and structural inequalities in shaping the research participants’ (RPs’) life chances. It examines how RPs interpreted their available 'choices', the structural constraints - related to gender, social class and ethnicity - they encountered, and the strategies they employed during their transitions. An intersectional approach illuminates the multiple, co-constituted, ways in which gender, social class and ethnicity operated in RPs’ lives. Using a critical ethnographic research methodology, data was gathered through participation observation at a local youth centre and repeated semi-structured interviews with RPs, over a 20-month period. Additionally, several one-off interviews were conducted with practitioners to build a picture of the context in which RPs lived their lives. The findings indicate that while RPs frequently articulated notions of choice, their actual options were often heavily bounded. Structural constraints related to gender, social class and ethnicity shaped many aspects of their experiences of compulsory and post-compulsory education, the labour market, and transitions from familial dependence to independent households. Despite this, RPs consistently strove to make the ‘right’ choices to achieve positive life outcomes. Although this included remaining flexible in the face of uncertain futures, diverse opportunities, constraints and subsequent strategies were observed along social class and ethnic lines. This study is relevant to sociologists, journalists, policy makers and others interested in the experiences of young women growing up in materially disadvantaged areas, in the context of widening inequality. The findings illustrate that an intersectional approach enables a more nuanced understanding of young women’s transitions to adulthood in the post-industrial city. This makes a compelling case to incorporate intersectional approaches into the study of youth transitions more widely.

As women’s roles in society have changed and they have had more freedom to pursue other life-goals, decisions about having children are frequently delayed. Consequently, some women find themselves in their late thirties and undecided about motherhood in the face of the relentless ticking of the biological clock. This research explores women’s experiences of being undecided about motherhood between the ages of 35 and 40 when fertility levels begin to decline sharply. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse semi-structured interviews with five participants. Three major findings were identified. The first was that being at an age where fertility is decreasing and finding oneself undecided about the pursuit of motherhood resulted in feelings of panic and fears regarding the future for some participants. This was influenced by the second major finding – that of societal discourses impacting on the participant’s experience. The third finding was the changing sense of identity and emotional impact experienced by participants in the face of their uncertainty. This suggests a multi-faceted experience which encompasses the intertwining of biological, social and psychological factors. These findings are discussed alongside existing literature in the field to suggest how Counselling Psychologists may support and empower women who are experiencing this stage of their lives as a challenging time.

This thesis explores the social construction of classed, ‘raced’ and gendered identities of Bengali female learners of ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages) from a post-structuralist feminist position. My research is conducted within the post-compulsory educational context, exploring how Bengali women construct identities in relation to educational experiences of learning English as a second language, and considering how Bengali women are positioned, in turn, by contemporary popular, academic and political discourses. This study is intended to contribute to creating ‘a third space’, within which shifts in cultural meanings that occur through colonialisation and diaspora, offer possibilities for reworking and resisting notions of passivity, inactivity and docility assigned to women within popular and some white academic discourses (Hall, 1992; Khan, 1998; Gilroy, 1992; Spivak, 1999). To open up spaces for non-hegemonic readings of Bengali femininities I identified discursive strategies actively employed by Bengali women to trouble/unsettle dominant discourses that reduce Bengali women to ‘docile bodies’ (Foucault, 1979). Applying a feminist post-structuralist framework has illuminated differences and similarities between, and within, Bengali women’s accounts of ESOL education, to substantiate the view that there is no one truth and no unitary subject. I also draw upon post-colonial, black feminist perspectives to argue that the voices from the margins that have traditionally been excluded from the knowledge making processes can bring into dispute the current discourses about ’race’, class, gender, culture, religion, patriarchy and femininity. The research was undertaken at two educational sites in East and central London over five years. In total, 20 Bengali female learners of ESOL participated in life history interviews over the period of 2 years. The sample was diverse in terms of age, class, education, employment, marital and maternal status. In addition, I also conducted one-to-one interviews with two members of teaching staff per institution. I do not present my interpretations of Bengali female accounts of employment and education as ‘truth’ since post-structuralist approaches challenge the notion of singular truth for all South Asian women. Rather I present these accounts as alternative truths which expand and challenge deep-seated inequalities that position South Asian women as passive victims within existing, dominant oppressive discourses.

In the past two decades sexualisation has ascended as a focus for academic, social policy and public debate: central to these debates is concern for children and young people and the significance of sexualised cultural landscapes to feminist politics and women’s social positions. A striking feature of these discussions however, is a lack of empirical, as well as theoretical, considerations of men and masculinities. Men’s accounts, perspectives and experiences of sexualisation have largely been omitted or obscured from contemporary discussions. This thesis widens the parameters of debate to include and to position men as critical agents and stakeholders in the issue. The thesis presents analysis of 154 men’s experiences of, and perspectives on sexualisation, yielded from an online survey and in depth interview process. Of these 154 men, three took part in interviews, eight in both the survey and interviews and 143 the online survey only. The study was guided by two interconnected aims: to explore how men make sense of, and experience sexualisation; and how sexualisation may intersect with ways of being a man. These aims presented two central challenges - researching men, and masculinities and researching sexualisation - both are theoretically, conceptually and practically opaque subjects of study. A woman researching men also presented interesting tangles for research design, specifically for feminist methodologies. As the study advanced the gendered dynamics of the research context emerged as a salient site for exploring forms and flows of (some) men’s oppressive practices, and how men articulate privilege and sustain relations of inequality.

This ethnographic study explored how Black Ugandan British parents support their children’s learning in England. It is important to study this group because the parents in this study are Black migrants from Uganda and have an asylum seeking background, thus adding to our knowledge of asylum seeking and education. Moreover, little attention has been paid to this particular group before. The study comprises ten Black Ugandan British families with refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds in two London boroughs. Adopting an ethnographic and an interpretive approach allowed me to explore how Black Ugandan British parents supported their children’s education over time through data collected via long-term interactions, observations and semi-structured interviews with the ten families in their natural home environment settings. I adopted Yosso’s concept of community cultural wealth to analyse data from my study and the data was theorised using Critical Race Theory. Through this theoretical framework, I challenge the traditional interpretations of cultural capital, particularly in relation to educational support or provision, by highlighting various and different forms of capital Black Ugandan British parents use to support their children’s learning, which are unknown. This thesis contributes to knowledge by highlighting the different nature of parental educational support, educational strategies and the underlying factors that inform Black Ugandan British parents’ nature of parental educational support and educational strategies. I argue that Black Ugandan British parents’ culturalistic approach towards their children’s education within their homes and communities and additionally, the contribution they make towards their children’s learning are unrecognised in English schools and English education policy. Further, this thesis highlights class complexities and contributes to debates on class. The study found that Black Ugandan British parents with middle class backgrounds from Uganda, but positioned as working class parents in the UK, bring their Ugandan middle class backgrounds to supporting their children’s education in the UK, which calls for the need to understand Black Ugandan British parents’ middle class backgrounds and the influence they have on their ways of supporting their children’s education. My study shows that Black Ugandan British parents’ cultural, employment, educational and class backgrounds have a huge influence on how they support their children’s education. My study illuminates how class, ethnicity and culture shape Black British Ugandan children’s learning, and makes an original and important contribution to knowledge in this field.

This thesis presents an empirical analysis of a unique data set of 427 men and women who have been charged with criminal offences as a result of suspected involvement in dissident republican activity in Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2014. The charges result from involvement in the four main dissident groups currently active in armed struggle in Ireland namely Continuity IRA (CIRA), Real IRA (RIRA), Oglaigh Na h’Eireann (ONH) and most recently the New IRA (NIRA). Both official Government publications and open source dissident news material was used to create a violent dissident republican personnel database. This database was then used to compare the dissidents with the Old IRA of the Irish Revolution between the years 1916-1923. This study is primarily comparing and contrasting the IRA and how it has changed in 100 years. Conclusions are made on gender and religion, age and marriage and status and class. It contains policy implications for both practitioners and academics on how to counter the contemporary violence of dissidents in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The submission, comprising nine outputs, ranges from journal articles and a book to a podcast and a radio programme. The accompanying commentary aims to contextualise the submitted work, demonstrate that it constitutes a coherent whole and that it makes a significant, original contribution to the field of cultural studies. The submission and commentary contest the idea that the voice has become less important than text and image in an era that has come to be known as one of 'secondary orality'. The outputs set out to demonstrate that, although metaphorical and narrative meanings of 'voice' have come to displace a sense of the audible voice in popular discourse as well as in many scholarly texts, it remains a prime and powerful modality in both human communication and new technologies. Applying the approach of psycho-social studies to the voice in a novel and original way, the outputs draw on semi-structured interviews, archive research and cultural analysis to argue that, despite the discursive absence of the audible voice, a study of vocality can enrich our understanding of both face-to-face and electronically-mediated communication. The commentary describes the phenomenological orientation of the outputs. Using the interdisciplinary approach of psycho-social studies to explore aspects of the cultural sphere, the submission is thus situated in the emerging strand of psycho-cultural studies: the commentary argues that, despite the methodological problems this throws up, it constitutes a valuable and apt addition to the study of voice. It suggests that gendered ideas of the voice may lead to an essentialism that can be countered by understanding the voice as a medium for the performativity of gender. Challenging the common polarisation of eye and ear and the idealisation of the voice, it traces some ways in which the voice is culturally-constituted, especially the radio and cinematic voice. The appendix documents not only the outputs' origins but also their wide impact.

This research explores the interactions of people across cultures. It looks into how cultural distinctiveness and cultural characteristics may serve as a strategic resource for organisations. The research investigates whether the sustained success of South East Asian Airlines in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is influenced by the application of distinctive cultural traditions and values in the delivery of customer service. Given that this service is delivered by a predominantly female workforce, the research explores cabin crew behaviours and values in relation to assumptions about gender roles that are found within the airline industry generally and South-East Asian cultures specifically. The research is based on a case study of one company, Thai Airways. A triangulated methodology was applied, using a mixture of company documentation, observations and semi-structured interviews. The research aims to inform our understanding of the service interface in a cross-cultural airline environment. Of particular emphasis in this study is the connection between spiritual, cultural values and traditional gender roles within Thai society, which has an impact on the relationship between passengers and cabin crew. The thesis illustrates how the understanding of the relationship between national cultures and individual characteristics can be refined through the use of a conceptual framework. The findings imply that traditional Thai cultural values underpinned by Buddhist spirituality play a part in shaping the way cabin crew think about their work. These influences help them to respond positively to company policy, which in turn can help to achieve Thai Airways’ corporate goals. This synergy between company policy, national culture and spirituality may shape the quality of the service and help to create customer satisfaction. The findings demonstrate that there is a relationship between the satisfaction of basic Thai female needs and work-life balance. Thai cabin crews who work in a female environment tend to balance their career, finances and family so that these needs are met.

Background/Aims: According to the United Kingdom (UK) census statistics (ONS, 2011), Islam represents the second largest religion after Christianity, and the largest group of Muslims in the UK has a Pakistani heritage. Analysis of the existing research suggests that Pakistani Muslim men with psychological difficulties under-utilise mental health services in the UK. Several studies (mainly quantitative in nature) have reported that CBT can be an appropriate treatment for Pakistani Muslims, but some authors argue that there are fundamental philosophical conflicts between Islam and CBT. However, there has been no research to date on how CBT is actually experienced by Pakistani Muslim men, and the needs of this under-represented group remain unexplored. In response to this dearth of research, particularly in Counselling Psychology, this study investigated the experiences of Pakistani men who had completed CBT treatment within the last 18 months. Design/Method: Verbatim accounts of semi-structured interviews were analysed employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants were six Second-Generation Pakistani Muslim men (SGPMM) aged between 20 and 43 who had received individual CBT. Findings: In the process of analysis three superordinate themes were generated: ‘Pre-CBT difficulties’ (which refers to the thoughts, feelings and challenges that the participants had encountered prior to CBT), ‘the process of CBT for Muslim men’ (which discusses what CBT means and how helpful and/or unhelpful the participants found CBT), ‘the interaction between CBT and Islam (which explores the significance of religion, and how CBT and Islam complement and/or clash with each other). Conclusions: The participants emphasised the difficulties and concerns that SGPMM can encounter in therapy as a result of religious and cultural pressures: namely in adhering to collectivist and individualist values, in meeting family and community expectations, and in reconciling differing aspects of Islam and CBT. It is therefore suggested that training programmes and practitioners should consider developing more targeted interventions to better address this group of clients’ religious and cultural needs.

This study examines issues pertaining to the socio-economic integration of immigrants in Greece. Its focus is on two localities of the greater Athens area, Piraeus and Korydallos, and on three immigrant communities: Albanians, East Europeans and Asians. The research is set within the context of debates about immigration and integration, and more specifically within the economic, social and ethno-cultural context of Greece. This approach, which primarily recognises the specific significance of the host country’s structures, perceives immigrants as dynamic actors that develop competition strategies in the context of their own cultural references and sense-making. Through this perspective, it is argued that immigrants develop autonomous individual and/or collective integration strategies, which are largely a result of the bottom-up interaction of immigrants with both the native population and the sociopolitical institutions of the host country, at the local level. This thesis is the outcome of fieldwork research that involved probability quota sampling of 270 immigrants from Albania, Asia and Eastern Europe, interviewed in person using a structured questionnaire, with some room for collecting qualitative data. It examines the level of socio-economic integration of immigrants by applying quantitative methods (construction of the integration index, the use of one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test and multiple linear regression analysis), and descriptive analysis. The integration indicators include: employment, housing, use of the Greek language, social interaction, social and political participation, self-evaluation of integration, and racism and discrimination. The findings provide an empirical account of the level of integration of immigrants, revealing a significant degree of heterogeneity among communities, a factor that has unavoidably conditioned integration patterns. East Europeans display the highest level of partial integration in comparison to the other immigrant groups. Albanians appear relatively stable at the level of partial integration, while the Asians display a marginal integration pattern. The integration index of socio-economic integration stands at the level of partial integration. The multiple linear regression analysis shows that citizenship, years of residence and educational are significant predictors of integration levels. The empirical findings corroborate the hypothesis of differentiated exclusion in the integration process of immigrants, with the relevant policies leaving room for partial integration only. Furthermore, the study suggests that the limited range of the state’s institutional intervention appears to offer increased space for local and individual micro-processes, confirming that micro-level practices and strategies of the immigrants themselves are the most effective channels in shaping the phenomenon of socio-economic integration.

This covering statement introduces the nine published outputs in this submission, and explains their genesis. It considers the implications of the growing visibility of the sexual orientation strand for individuals and organisations operating in the UK context before and after the introduction of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 (hereafter the Regulations). The PhD advanced knowledge and understanding of the following: the rationale for and drivers of sexual orientation equality work in UK trade union, public, private and voluntary sector organisations over the last two decades; the equality/diversity structures, policies and practices introduced by organisations in order to become more inclusive of lesbian gay and bisexual (LGB) people; LGB people’s perceptions and experiences of these sexual orientation equality and diversity policies and practices; LGB people’s voice, activism and agency in influencing the changes which have been taking place. The covering document provides details of the research projects and the interpretivist case study methodology on which the published outputs draw. It summarises and links the aims and principal findings of each output demonstrating that they form a coherent body of work. It concludes that although the introduction of the Regulations has been a positive trigger to sexual orientation equality work in the UK, progress remains uneven within and across organisations. Thus, it identifies voice mechanisms such as LGBT trade union and company network groups as key tools for inclusion. The conclusion locates the PhD as an original contribution to the advancement of sexual orientation organisation equality/diversity research. It does so by discussing its empirical and theoretical contributions to a sexual orientation research agenda which has been developing in waves subject to social, political and legal change and mobilisation in LGBT communities in different parts of the world.

To date nothing is known about the attitudes of South Asian men in the UK toward women and domestic violence. Issues related to South Asian men and communities have remained largely under the surface due to religious and cultural sensitivity. The aim of the research is to examine the attitudes of South Asian men in London and the South East of England toward women and their understanding and justification of domestic violence. More specifically, the research explores a range of cultural and religious actions and behaviours in relation to women and domestic violence that have specific reference and are pertinent to South Asian communities. This includes a focus on: educational and employment attainment; domestic labour/household duties; type of and freedom to choose clothes worn; living away from home; relationships before marriage; marriage; divorce; and domestic violence. The research applies an intersectional gender perspective as the key analytical concept to undertake the first dedicated multi-methodological study to explore South Asian men’s attitudes across a range of cultural and religious issues. It provides a baseline for understanding South Asian men’s perspectives, enabling policy and practice to tailor interventions to better assist South Asian women and engage in prevention. The first stage of the research consisted of piloting and constructing a new survey instrument; the South Asian Attitudes Toward Women and Domestic Violence Scale (SAATWDVS). South Asian men were approached in a range of locations to obtain diversity across socio-demographics such as age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and country of birth or migration, and asked to complete the SAATWDVS survey instrument. The sample is 190 South Asian men. The second stage comprised nine in-depth face-to-face interviews with South Asian men to explore the issues in more depth. Concepts such as masculinity, tradition, culture, religion, and honour were explored. The findings show that whilst the majority of men held liberal attitudes, they were still setting the parameters of appropriate female behaviour. There appeared to be a difference, albeit small, between the public and private sphere. Where behaviour was deemed to be unacceptable this was often framed within concerns for the protection and well-being of women. Gender and gender relations are not static but evolving and becoming more progressive within the UK’s South Asian community. Men’s attitudes are understood as located in a complex interplay of factors: gender socialisation; religion; ethnic origin and country of birth; traditions; cultures; family/upbringing; the role of female family members; education; and interactions with female peers.

This thesis investigated communicational processes of text interaction between the so called novela das oito (lit. eight o’clock soap opera) or the prime-time Brazilian soap opera – also known as telenovela or simply novela – and different groups of viewers, for the purposes of informing communication theory, on the one hand, and critical literacy practices, on the other. The investigated groups of viewers continually consumed this highly popular genre of serialised fiction, whilst also participating in online communities about novelas from a pioneering social network service called Orkut. Selected social theories of language and communication were used to investigate the primary text genre (i.e. the prime-time Brazilian telenovela) and the context where it originates, in relation the secondary communicational genres (i.e. selected Orkut communities about telenovelas) and the respective context where they emerged out of these intertextual interactions. To conduct this investigation, specific notions of text and genre were established in terms of their affordances and limitations, as discussed in Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001) and in Kress (2003, 2010) with respect to textual modes of representation, and as developed in English (2011) with respect to genre itself. As such, novelas and online discussions about novelas were analysed here in terms of the specific ways in which genre afforded as well as it limited not only the design, the production and the distribution of both primary and secondary texts, but also their reception (i.e. consumption). For this, an adapted version of English’s analytical framework (ibid.) was developed and employed, with these multimodal texts and genres found to be oriented in specific terms with regard to their social aspects (contextually and discursively), on the one hand, and their material aspects (thematically and semiotically), on the other hand. As a result, a detailed understanding was provided, not only in terms of the specific ways in which these popular texts and genres oriented interactions, but also in terms of the specific ways in which these interactions oriented these texts and genres in turn. As these crucial points were carefully laid out, this research was able to suggest that the secondary texts and genres arising in the form of spontaneous interactions with widely popular television programmes, such as novelas, appeared to demonstrate, in practical terms, their potential to foster critical literacy practices – defined here as the progressive ability to interact with and make sense of different texts and contexts, discourses and genres, and their representational modes used through the means of different media. The research is therefore original at two levels. Firstly, by providing a detailed exploration of the prime-time Brazilian telenovela in relation to some dimensions of its reception – at the same time also seen as dimensions of (re)design and (re)production of secondary texts and genres from a multimodal social semiotic perspective – it offers a multidisciplinary approach through an attempt at combining Media and Communications with Applied Language Studies. It is in this sense that the extension and subsequent employment of a multimodal analytical framework inform and contribute to communication theory. Secondly, by considering the implications of this empirical study in terms of how we learn and improve our abilities to communicate more effectively for a multitude of purposes, this research promotes a wider notion of literacy in practical terms. This is also seen as representing an original contribution towards critical approaches to pedagogy in specific terms.

This thesis examines dominant feminist discourses emerging from liberal media, the academy, and activist networks in contemporary Britain. In particular, it traces stories and representations of feminism’s recent past (from the 1960s onwards) which are constructed and reproduced through these sites, analysing where and how issues related to race and racism are located within - and outside of - such narratives. It is based on empirical research analysing popular, academic, and activist books, newspaper articles in The Guardian and The Observer, as well as interviews with feminist activists and students of women’s and gender studies courses. Given that there is an extensive history of women of colour-led organising in post-war Britain, including an autonomous black women’s movement in the 1970s and ’80s, and the growth at this time of black British feminism both within and outside of the academy, the thesis interrogates dominant narratives which continue to construct British feminism as a story belonging to white women. Drawing on black and postcolonial feminist theory, it analyses the articulations of feminist politics emerging from these sites through an anti-racist lens. It demonstrates that the way the historical narratives are constructed and gain currency has a significant influence on contemporary feminist theory and politics, with whiteness reproduced as the hegemonic lens through which British feminism is understood. The thesis argues that white feminist racism haunts the dominant narrative of British feminism – as something which is repeatedly erased or evaded each time it is brought to view – and it calls for white feminist academics and activists to reckon with the long history of racism and imperialism which has been integral to the British feminist project since its inception.

Research in the field of HIV acknowledges the existence of social constructs, including the incongruity between HIV, motherhood and sexuality, which may add to the psychosocial burden of an HIV diagnosis (Blystad and Moland, 2009; Long, 2006; Stinon & Myer, 2012). However the research is fragmented, and addresses the concepts of motherhood and sexuality in the presence of HIV independently. There has been little consideration of how the opposing constructs may be simultaneously experienced and negotiated by positive woman. Additionally existing research focuses on pregnant women or mothers, it does not explore the impact of an HIV diagnosis before entering into motherhood. Despite adopting a philosophy of holism and valuing the creation of environments that sustain mental well-being, Counselling Psychology literature is relatively silent on women’s adaptation to HIV. This qualitative study explores how European, childless women who have been historically underrepresented in the literature experience sexuality, and feelings of motherhood following an HIV-diagnosis. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of five women’s experiences produced superordinate themes of, ‘The even worse than undateable woman’, ‘Nothing can spark my sexuality’ and ‘You have to adapt…I owe it something’. The women speak of experiencing a continued psychological impact of an HIV-diagnosis, despite the advances in medication, which precipitates multiple psychosocial crises related to sexuality, identity, femininity and concepts of motherhood. There is a dominant experience of distress, confirming previous research on HIV-trauma. However there are also experiences of resistance, successful negotiation, and personal growth. Clinical implications are discussed in light of counselling psychology’s multidisciplinary approach, including therapeutic recommendations to explore and challenge women’s definitions of sexuality, femininity and motherhood.

This qualitative case study explores the language learning experiences of a sample of Gujarati women in London and uses tools of qualitative inquiry including 20 semi-structured interviews, two focus groups, observation and document analysis. The process of learning English as a second language is explored through an intersectional lens that takes account of gender, race and class and the corresponding identity constructions of Gujarati women. An inability to speak English for these women is further complicated by inequities brought about by classed structures, private/public patriarchy and processes of ‘othering’ for migrant women. This study is situated during a period of both rising nationalistic ideas in the UK, and during a precise moment of cultural nationalism in South Asia which is framed by concerns with race, ethnicity, class and gender which informs the formation of British-Asian femininities. This research supports other work that conceptualises identity as being in a constant state of flux, which is made explicitly visible within language learning processes that highlight identity as socially constructed, contradictory, and fluid. The poststructuralist conception of social identity as multiple, as a site of struggle, and subject to change is forms the basis of the theoretical framework. The concept of ‘investment' is employed to describe immigrant women’s involvement in language learning processes. The findings suggest implications for immigrant language training policies and further research. While the women interviewed in this research experience ‘race’ and patriarchy along class lines, they also face a dilemma of balancing their personal lives and protecting themselves from the ‘corrupting Western’ culture through imposed cultural definitions which might result in them taking up an ‘oppressed’ South Asian femininity. However, with time and age, the women’s subjectivities are reworked through acts of resistance, and examples of subtle manipulation which manifest as expressions of opposition as they perform an appreciation of ‘their own culture’ while simultaneously appropriating white spaces. Here, through this appropriation, the respondents construct ‘resistant identities’ and define a new ‘third space’. The dichotomies between East and West and tradition and modernity dissipate as the women’s agency allows them the actual construction of their identities as they go on learning English and changing their lives. These women’s oral histories speak of the gendered and sexualized discourses of assimilation, racism, and ‘otherness’, as well as other multiple points in which they break down. The conceptual insights gained from studying these Gujarati women are plentiful.

This thesis focuses upon the under-researched history of the Ladies' Orange Association of Scotland from 1909-2013. Challenging prevalent assumptions that Orangewomen are overwhelmingly working-class, it demonstrates a small - yet significant - core of female luminaries to be occupationally middle-class. The desire to articulate dual Scottish and British patriotic - rather than diasporic Irish Protestant - identities is also acknowledged as an emergent subjective shift in women's motivations for joining. The sisters' apparent complicity with their unequal institutional standing is accounted for chiefly in terms of their desire to promote a unified public image of Orangeism as a 'family' institution. Orangewomen however, also actively resisted gendered 'equal but different' organisational discourses by using familial networks to sway male voting, appropriation of charitable work to showcase their abilities, subversive contributions to organisational literature and mobilisation of national press to lobby for the reversal of their subordinate status. This thesis represents a rare academic exploration of gendered Orange ritual symbolism, interpreting female rites as both spiritual legitimation of patriarchal subordination and, conversely, as a celebration of sisterly love. Additionally, this study exposes the one-dimensionality of media representations of Orangewomen which obscure, rather than divulge, individual subjectivities. It is argued that Orangewomen adaptively prioritised their class, gender, and ethno-religious identities, according to the differing contexts in which they operated, to support a disparate profile of benevolent causes and political campaigns. Appropriating oral history testimony and archival sources, this work not only updates findings of existing research, but also engages unexplored aspects of female Orangeism to illustrate Orangewomen's considerable diversity.

In this thesis, the claim that a flourishing family life should be characterised as a social practice, according to Alasdair MacIntyre’s definition of a practice, is defended. Furthermore, it is argued that the social practice of making and sustaining family life pursues certain goods, the achievement of which are constitutive of the family’s flourishing. The argument proceeds through the following stages. In the first part I focus on the Aristotelian premises of the argument and set out MacIntyre’s theoretical framework. I then apply this framework of the relationship between practices and institutions and internal and external goods to the family. In the second part I explore three important contemporary moral theories and how they address what a flourishing family life involves. In doing so, I look at how the Aristotelian approach adopted in this thesis compares to these approaches. The three approaches explored are contemporary liberalism (in particular liberal perfectionism), liberal feminism and feminist care ethics. At the end of this part of the thesis I argue that a synthesis of the Aristotelian framework and the particular insights of care ethics will provide a richer view of what a flourishing family life involves. In the final part of the thesis I provide an outline of some of the goods internal to the practice of life and the different activities and relationships which are constitutive of these goods. I then go on to suggest how families often fail to flourish as a result of the pursuit of external goods as ends in themselves or due to a lack of external goods. The conclusion of this thesis and its original contribution to knowledge is twofold: firstly, that MacIntyre’s contemporary Aristotelianism in combination with the insights of care ethics provides the tools with which we can identify the goods that contribute to and constitute familial flourishing. Secondly, that in order to identify the barriers to flourishing that families encounter, we must first understand what the goods internal and external to the practice are. We must then ensure that the institutions designed to sustain the family subordinate the goods external to family life to the internal goods, which only family members themselves can achieve through co-operative activity with each other.

This dissertation explores the reciprocity between technology rendered as industrial production and ethical civic culture in the contemporary urban condition, where the meaning of cities becomes predominantly oriented towards utility and efficiency. The research takes as its main case study Shipai township in Dongguan, the latter being one of the most famous stories of rural industrialization in China. The process of rural industrialization radically transformed coastal China in a mere thirty years and created an endemic topography with mixed horizons of reference and commitment, ranging from traditional to techno-capitalist registers. This fractured and fragmented condition represents a rich reference to explore one of the fundamental problems of contemporary city - how to reconcile a split between technology - its capacity for civic commitment - and the ethics of urban culture. The two main questions the dissertation sets to address are as follows. What are the limits and capacity of technology rendered as industry to support an alternative more ethical civic order? What is the capacity of an industrial civic order to accommodate sustainable change and transformation of a territory for different participants? The dissertation compares the most current incarnation of industrial city in China with historical precedents such as Detroit, Silicon Valley and Third Italy that reveal a cyclical rise and decline. Comparison is crucial in order to speculate on possible futures of industrial city as such, and to consider the unique capacities of industrial city in the Pearl River Delta - its local self-governance based on traditional rites and norms and split between grassroots and central governance. This dissertation's contribution to knowledge is tri-partite. Firstly, it offers a new understanding of the composite topographic order in Shipai, where references orbit around techno-capitalist and traditional topics at the same time. Secondly, it uses speculations on Ship ai's future, based on the comparative case studies, to clarify the historical nature ofa civic industrial order. The results of this, thirdly, allow us to offer a hypothesis regarding a set of conditions which support a civic industrial order capable of gradual transformation and sustainable change.

Although the prevalent attitude towards infidelity in British society is that it is wrong, 50-65% of couples enter therapy due to problems with infidelity. Past research studies tend to focus on predictors of infidelity to help identify the offending partner’s risk factors. Despite the prevalence of infidelity, and a vast amount of popular literature on the subject, there is a dearth of quantitative research exploring consequences of infidelity for the injured partner. There is only one qualitative study exploring the injured partners’ emotional process following disclosure of infidelity, which is focused predominately on women. In this study, semi-structured interviews were employed to explore the experience of six heterosexual men who were the injured partner in the context of committed relationships. The researcher was particularly interested in the ways these men experienced their partner’s infidelity and the ways they coped with the disclosure of infidelity. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method was employed in order to analyse the participants’ responses. Based on the analysis of the participants’ account three superordinate themes were identified: The Trauma of Disclosure; Trying to Cope; and Moving Forward. The findings revealed immediate consequences of infidelity for the injured partners such as the emotional impact of the disclosure and insight into the injured partners’ coping behaviours. The study further revealed long-term consequences of infidelity for the injured partners and their future relationships. All participants expressed stigma and feelings of shame associated with seeking professional help. The implications for counselling psychologists’ practice are discussed and suggestions for improving access to psychological therapies. Implications for further research are also discussed.

This thesis looks at a selection of novels by diasporic writers which engage significantly with the domestic sphere and its associated practices in their narratives of migration to Britain from postcolonial spaces. Employing a feminist postcolonial approach to works by Buchi Emecheta, Monica Ali, Andrea Levy, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Leila Aboulela, this thesis challenges dominant readings of migration fiction that have been shaped by postmodern and diasporic frameworks of displacement and rupture, emphasising instead placement, dwelling and (re)rooting as important features of the migratory process. It also aims to re-centre the domestic, private and ‘everyday’ in conceptions of home in current debates about migration, while also generating a productive theorisation of 'home' which synthesises its feminist and postcolonial critiques. My approach is about reading more than the allegorical into literary representations of home-spaces, as I trace the interdependence of public and private, domestic and political, across both form and content in the novels covered. Through my analysis of individual texts, I show how writers draw on the colonial and postcolonial politics of home and domesticity as discursive resources in their narratives of cross-cultural encounter, challenging the devaluation of the private sphere as a static, unproductive and uncreative space. I unpack how these texts engage with the domestic as a material space of inspiration, but also as a political space constructed by histories of colonialism and immigration, as well as by policy and academic scholarship, showing how they respond to and subvert these discourses. Through their engagement with familiar tropes of house and home, many of these works challenge representations of migrant women as passive recipients and reproducers of an externally defined ‘culture’. Instead, I argue, they offer alternative interior geographies which re-map both the British domestic space and that of the home-culture, reframing the home as an important carrier of meaning but one that is constantly in flux, remaking itself according to the needs and desires of those who dwell within its walls.

Family therapy is not well utilised outside Western culture. The lack of literature exploring fathers' experience of family therapy is an issue that crosses many Eastern cultures. Literature has illustrated the importance of fathers in family therapy, but does not address cultural difference. As an Indian therapist, in an Indian family, with an Indian father the researcher investigated this issue from an Indian perspective. Consequently providing insight into Indian fathers' experiences of family therapy and advancing existing literature, helping counselling psychologists working with this client group to better understand and engage them, therefore helping the process of family therapy and development of services. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to explore Indian fathers' subjective reports of meaning in relation to family therapy. Four Indian fathers, aged 38-64 years old, who had completed family therapy, were recruited from an organisation working with Indian families from a city in England. Four super-ordinate themes emerged: "Indian fathers and their family", "east versus west", "the therapist" and "what is therapy?" Two findings emerged from the analysis; Indian fathers found family therapy to be a foreign notion, which proved to be a valuable experience and they found it useful to be matched to their therapist. The study highlights the need for counselling psychology training to allocate more sessions on working cross culturally, which needs to be mirrored in CPD. Understanding Indian fathers' experience can help improve services and increase their engagement, and a community psychology approach is proposed to address this wider issue within the Indian community. The findings from this study help build the foundations for future qualitative research exploring Indian families and family therapy, such as investigating Indian fathers’ experience of family therapy with a non-Indian therapist, which would help provide insight on whether the therapists’ ethnicity has an impact on experience.

This thesis examines how middle class Pakistani young people construct contemporary international conflicts. Little previous research has been conducted in this area, and none in Pakistan. This investigation is of interest because young people like the ones who participated in my research may become future leaders. Therefore, their perceptions and understanding of these issues may influence the way these are addressed in the future. This thesis draws on literature about the just war tradition – what are the just causes of war or jus ad bellum and how ethical warfare must be conducted or jus in bello. The theoretical framework used is that of social constructionism, especially drawing on the ideas of Jonathan Potter, Margaret Wetherell, Kenneth Gergen and Michel Foucault. The research involved six focus groups with Pakistani young people aged 17-18 years. The study found that the participants talked enthusiastically about issues related to international conflicts. They drew on a range of discourses and evidence to construct their arguments, some of which were grounded in not very reliable evidence. They argued that terrorism, whether perpetrated by state or non-state actors, was wrong, and they were highly critical of US policies and actions in the wider world. These findings are important because Pakistani society faces a serious challenge from militancy and terrorism. The thesis suggests that changes to the content and delivery of school curricula can help young people to develop a more informed and morally active sense of citizenship and world affairs.