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This chapter bridges two theoretical concerns: making sense of emancipatory processes within institutional work on the one hand and providing a more nuanced understanding of actorhood on the other hand. The authors develop the notion of ‘institutional co-appropriation work’ to characterise an emancipatory process whereby an institutionalised actor in a subaltern position manages to emancipate by appropriating some founding features of the elites position. The authors build on a case study focussing on the ‘Everest brawl’, an altercation high up on the mountain that revealed a critical evolution of sherpa actorhood. The authors analyse the struggles in the Nepalese mountaineering industry and show how sherpa actorhood is currently being reconfigured by the action of a few individuals willing to be recognised for their climbing abilities, and not their role as porters. This case epitomises the emergence of two distinct phenomena, explaining the magnitude of the event: the emergence of an empowered ‘new sherpa’ revealing heterogeneity of sherpa actorhood, in contrast to the accepted representations and the institutional work blurring the underlying rules and institutionalised roles of the mountaineering industry in Nepal. The implications for institutional work literature are twofold. First, the study of emancipatory processes benefits from more nuanced cases, where the actor in the subaltern position does not simply try to remove the dominant actor. Second, the notion of ‘actor’ within this stream of literature should not be taken-for-granted as is often the case.

Social inequality is a key recurring theme animating various protest movements over the past decade. Take, for example, the Occupy Wall Street movement conceived by many as a new global movement phenomenon. Others, however, maintain that these demonstrations displayed characteristics typical of “old” social movements. We argue that in order to understand differences between old and new movements, it is necessary to compare Occupy protests with other contemporaneous anti-austerity protests, as demonstrators in both protested against stark inequality following the financial meltdown. To do so, we rely on the Caught in the Act of Protest data where data were collected at actual demonstrations at Occupy protests and anti-austerity protests between 2009 and 2012. We examine sociodemographics (the who of protest), motivational dynamics (the why of protest), and mobilization dynamics (the how of protest). We find that the two types of demonstrations brought different crowds into the streets. Occupy protesters were younger, higher educated, and much less involved in formal organizations compared to anti-austerity demonstrators. Moreover, Occupiers were more dissatisfied with democracy. Finally, we discuss these findings against contemporary anti-inequality mobilization. We argue that political entrepreneurs on the (populist) left and/or the right will politicize current inequality-related grievances and mobilize people in the streets and/or at the voting booth.

The focus of this chapter is drawn from the author’s lived experience and background as a third generation stateless Palestinian refugee who lived in one of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and inherited the refugeeship from her parents and grandparents. Even though the author agrees with Hannah Arendt (1943) that ‘We don’t like to be called refugees’ (p. 264), the process of this research and thoughts behind it are attributed to the author’s personal experiences, as Arendt (1964) confirms in her statement that the process of thought can seldom be possible without being attributed to a personal experience.

Higher education can offer hope and a way forward for vulnerable populations. In particular, access to internationally recognized degrees and credentials has the potential to be a key protection priority for refugee populations, opening alternative solutions to displacement through economic empowerment and increased mobility.

While innovations in online learning have opened new pathways, the delivery of higher education to refugee learners in resource-deprived settings – including camps and urban environments – remains notoriously challenging. Therefore, there is an imperative to draw upon lessons learned from existing programs in order to identify promising practices and emerging innovations.

In this chapter, we draw on our experiences of developing a higher education model for refugee and vulnerable learners to argue that successful delivery of accredited degrees to populations affected by forced displacement relies upon the following three key elements:

• 1)

  Flexible mode of degree delivery and assessment.

• 2)

  Robust blended learning model with in-person academic support.

• 3)

  Provision of adaptive and context-specific interventions and resources.

Flexible mode of degree delivery and assessment.

Robust blended learning model with in-person academic support.

Provision of adaptive and context-specific interventions and resources.

The case study for this chapter is an initiative called the Global Education Movement at Southern New Hampshire University, which delivers accredited degrees to refugee and refugee-hosting populations in five countries. Evidence from the program in Rwanda, operated in partnership with a local partner, Kepler, suggests it is possible for a full degree program to be successful in reaching vulnerable learners, including refugees.

A Novartis social business in India completely separated the activities of its social and business units—the former engaging in raising the health awareness of villagers and encouraging them to visit free health camps, while the latter developed affordable medicine delivered directly to village pharmacies. Connections between these units were made through open and fluid market-type mechanisms, and by appealing to the needs and interests of villagers with incentives. This synchronized business model was developed partly because Novartis believed in villagers' self-initiated behavior for health improvements, which made it not interfere into marginalized institutions, and more significantly because it used its internalized control and coordination systems with clear goals of social contribution in operating the business unit. Consequently, Novartis achieved economies of scale, business sustainability, and social contribution.

This study examined the impact of an early childhood community-outreach summer camp on teaching single adolescent mothers early communication tools and strategies to support interaction with their infants and toddlers who were language delayed or at risk for language delay. Twenty-two mothers and their children were taught communication strategies through the use of baby signs and Hanen techniques for parents. Pre-post knowledge and skills were assessed. Mothers also completed a post-camp satisfaction questionnaire. Overall, mothers learned the information on baby signs and communication strategies. They were positive about the impact of the camp program activities on the social-emotional and communicative relationship between themselves and their child.

This chapter describes an online certificate program offered to refugees who are in refugee camps and other populations living on the margins. The program was created in partnership with diverse stakeholders to reflect the need for pathways to higher education for refugees who have few, if any, opportunities to participate in higher education. The authors briefly discuss the gaps in services in refugee camps that informed and inspired the creation of an online program that focuses on social work skills. Next, the authors provide a background and description of a multi-player partnership that was needed to create the pathway for refugees to attain higher education credentials in an accredited US institution and share findings from instructor and program feedback instruments, as well as focus groups, that speak to elements of the program, both in design and in implementation. The chapter concludes with a recommendation, for what can be implemented in online social work education as to enhance student experience and create possibilities of sharing varied values and respect across differences, as well as common language of social justice and transformation.

This chapter will explore the impact of life in warzones, life in transit, and life in camps on children’s development. It will consider the potential of play-based approaches in supporting children holistically, providing respite, and enabling positive learning experiences.

It draws upon the authors’ experiences of two visits to the Dunkirk Refugee Children’s Centre at La Liniere refugee camp, located in the Grande-Synthe area of Dunkirk. We will discuss the approaches that have proved successful in supporting children’s learning and development, the challenges faced, and the lessons learned. It will consider how these approaches could support successful transition into more formal education. Finally, it will examine the implications for staff training and development.

Most hypotheses proposed to explain human food sharing address motives, yet most tests of these hypotheses have measured only the patterns of food transfer. To choose between these hypotheses we need to measure people’s propensity to share. To do that, I played two games (the Ultimatum and Dictator Games) with Hadza hunter-gatherers. Despite their ubiquitous food sharing, the Hadza are less willing to share in these games than people in complex societies are. They were also less willing to share in smaller camps than larger camps. I evaluate the various food-sharing hypotheses in light of these results.