The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the literacy practices of marginalized adolescent youth in India and the relationship of those practices to imagination and identity construction. More than just tools for communication, language and literary practices allow individuals to express their selves and identities as they voice…

Anxiety and openness have been understudied in Asian populations, especially Asian Indians, but have been correlated with acculturation and multicultural exposure in university students in the United States. This research furthers the study of the connection between anxiety and biculturalism by exploring this association in Chinese and Indian…

The global 'Education for Sustainable Development' (ESD) agenda enacted through the Sustainable Development Goal 4 seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable education to all by the year 2030. Like many nation-states around the world, India has adapted the global guidelines for inclusion in its latest education policies. Attappady, a 'tribal…

This interpretive study asked the question: "What education and literacy insights can be gained from the studies of the life stories of illiterate Oraon women in Jharkhand, India?" Life history methodology was used to gain insights into the lived experiences of illiterate women. I hoped to provide meaning and give voice to the voiceless.…

Technologies have been and are being designed to address varied human needs. Of these, the need for physical and economic well-being is typically considered to trump the need for culture, leisure, fun, and entertainment. Research initiatives in the field of Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD) have been in motion to…

Increasingly, there are organizations, industries, and cities worldwide where the "first" and "third" worlds meet in terms of culture, commerce, and politics. Although researchers agree there are significant socio-cultural implications associated with living and working in these dynamic spaces, there is considerable debate…

In an in-depth field study of the work practices among the teams engaged in the delivery of outsourced IT services in a large IT services company in India, I discovered the organizational form that I call "Polymorphous Organization". It is the phenomenon where each team was embedded in a unique work context constituted by both the parent…

In this study I examine how women in a north Indian city narratively construct their identities in relation to medium of education (MoE)--English only (EME), Hindi only (HME), and a combination of both. I specifically analyze how the participants discursively articulate empowerment or disempowerment while narrating stories connected to their MoEs.…

This dissertation is an attempt to understand the meta-narratives of justice operating within the "Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha, Sahayak Gana" (TBMSG), a dalit Buddhist social movement active in Maharashtra, India. The movement, a vestige of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's 1956 conversion to Buddhism, is actively fighting for dalits rights by…