UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
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Item The Pinkaiti Partnership: A Case Study of Transnational Research and Education in the Brazilian Amazon(2021) Aruch, Matthew; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In 1991, Barbara Zimmerman visited the Mẽbêngôkre-Kayapó community of A’Ukre. A’Ukre and Zimmerman came up with an idea to create the Pinkaiti Ecological Research Station (Pinkaiti) within the federally demarcated Kayapó Indigenous Territories in Brazil’s Pará state. Pinkaiti was conceptualized to: (1) preserve Kayapó forests; (2) strengthen Kayapó culture; (3) create an economic alternative to regional mahogany logging; (4) initiate a tropical ecology research program; and (5) strengthen Kayapó transnational networks. After leaving A’Ukre, Zimmerman recruited Conservation International, an international environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) as an institutional partner. The “Pinkaiti Partnership” has since evolved into a research and education-based multi-stakeholder partnership that includes a transnational network of community, NGO, university, and government actors. Over time, the partnership moved through four eras of activity: initiation (1991-1995); early research (1995-2000); international research (2000-2004); and the field course (2004 – present). Using an embedded comparative case study methodology, this dissertation unpacks the trajectory of stakeholder groups (A’Ukre community, NGOs, universities) as units of analysis to discuss the structure, process, and outcomes of partnership activities across partnership eras. To analyze partnership dynamics, I use Pinkaiti as a boundary object to trace Pinkaiti partner interactions across horizontal, vertical, and transversal axes. As a boundary object, Pinkaiti takes on multiple meanings and forms, depending on its use and context, as it is activated simultaneously or independently by one or more partnership actors. Partnership actors engage one another by navigating cultural, geographic, institution, or knowledge passage points. By tracing each actor group’s trajectory through the lens of Pinkaiti, the study illustrates how boundary objects both permit and restrict transnational collaboration. At the same time, the study reveals both the opportunities and limits of boundary objects as a conceptual tool. Boundary objects can be useful for tracking histories, clarifying the big picture, highlighting feedback loops, and illuminating invisible work. On the other hand, the Pinkaiti study shows that boundary objects can be limited in scope, reflect designer biases, and reinforce unequal power dynamics. Still, the Pinkaiti Partnership suggests important takeaways for actors interested in the design, implementation, or evaluation of education or research-based transnational partnership work.Item Jiao Tong: A Grounded Theory of Chinese International Students' Transition to American Tertiary Education(2016) Kavaliauskas Crain, Lena; Griffin, Kimberly; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)University students are more globally mobile than ever before, increasingly receiving education outside of their home countries. One significant student exchange pattern is between China and the United States; Chinese students are the largest population of international students in the U.S. (Institute of International Education, 2014). Differences between Chinese and American culture in turn influence higher education praxis in both countries, and students are enculturated into the expectations and practices of their home countries. This implies significant changes for students who must navigate cultural differences, academic expectations, and social norms during the process of transition to a system of higher education outside their home country. Despite the trends in students’ global mobility and implications for international students’ transitions, scholarship about international students does not examine students’ experiences with the transition process to a new country and system of higher education. Related models were developed with American organizations and individuals, making it unlikely that they would be culturally transferable to Chinese international students’ transitions. This study used qualitative methods to deepen the understanding of Chinese international students’ transition processes. Grounded theory methods were used to invite the narratives of 18 Chinese international students at a large public American university, analyze the data, and build a theory that reflects Chinese international students’ experiences transitioning to American university life. Findings of the study show that Chinese international students experience a complex process of transition to study in the United States. Students’ pre-departure experiences, including previous exposure to American culture, family expectations, and language preparation, informed their transition. Upon arrival, students navigate resource seeking to fulfill their practical, emotional, social, intellectual, and ideological needs. As students experienced various positive and discouraging events, they developed responses to the pivotal moments. These behaviors formed patterns in which students sought familiarity or challenge subsequent to certain events. The findings and resulting theory provide a framework through which to better understand the experiences of Chinese international students in the context of American higher education.Item Re-imagining secondary education: Voices from South African academic and vocational secondary education programs(2014) Balwanz, David; Klees, Steven; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Global discourse on secondary education and vocational skills development offers a narrative which emphasizes increased use of standardized testing; a focus on science, technology, business knowledge, and vocational skills development; and identifies expansion of access to secondary and tertiary education as a solution to poverty, inequality, and unemployment. In South Africa, academic and vocational secondary education is largely shaped by this discourse, which is grounded in the assumptions of human capital theory and privileges the perpetuation of an elite model of secondary education. Apartheid-era practices of racial segregation and racial capitalism, while legally dismantled, still have a significant influence on the political economy of modern day South Africa. This influence includes the distribution of power, resources, and opportunities articulated through South Africa's public education system. This study draws on critical social theory and political economy to understand existing constructions of academic and vocational secondary education in South Africa, including how these constructions dialectically relate education to work and society. The purpose of this study is to allow grassroots voices, teachers and learners at two schools in marginalized communities in South Africa, to "talk back to discourse" about the purpose of secondary education. How do learners and teachers define purpose? Many see secondary school as a place for students to learn about themselves and education as a means to realizing their dreams, even if their dreams are only, as yet, partially formed. This study offers a humanistic counter-narrative to the dominant discourse by sharing the dreams and holistic development interests of learners and the hopes and frustrations of teachers as they learn and work within an inhumane and narrow construction of education, work, and society.Item Youth Exchange and Peacebuilding Post 9/11: Experiences of Muslim High School Exchange Students(2010) Radomski, Carol; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government initiated a youth exchange program to bring Muslim students to the U.S. for a school year. The Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program was created to help reduce tensions, and foster mutual understanding and respect between people in the U.S. and the Muslim world. It is commonly assumed that exchange programs promote cross-cultural understanding and goodwill, leading to a more peaceful world. Drawing on literature in the fields of peace education, intergroup relations, and international educational exchange, this study explores the connections between youth exchange and peacebuilding in our post 9/11 world. This qualitative, interview-based study examines the experiences of twenty-one Muslim high school exchange students participating in the YES program in the 2007-2008 school year. The study participants were between 16 and 19 years old and came from eight countries in the Middle East and Asia. The study highlights the exchange students' experiences living with American host families and attending American high schools. The study also explores how the exchange students carried out their role as young ambassadors, helping Americans understand their countries, cultures, and religion, as well as how they dealt with sometimes being labeled as terrorists. The experiences of the exchange students in this study provide evidence that youth exchange can foster changes in attitudes, affects, skills, and behaviors that are likely to contribute to a more peaceful world. The program structure and duration facilitate the formation of close personal relationships, as well as tremendous personal growth. The program goals and expectations also contribute to the students' success as young ambassadors. The students were able to correct inaccurate stereotypes and develop skills in cultural mediation. This study also demonstrates that youth exchange incorporates many of the key components of peace education programs. Recommendations for program changes include focusing more directly on peace and peace education, addressing conflict issues, building skills in conflict mediation, developing leaders for peace, and training local coordinators in peace education.