This thesis is about a specific locality- the Central Methodist Church- and it details the lives and experiences of a large group of migrants who lived within this locality. The study also examines the activities of a wide range of humanitarian organisations that instituted interventions at the church and analyses how individuals’ suffering is dealt with by humanitarian organizations. The individuals who inhabited the church were a product of large-scale structural factors- political conflict, economic decline and fragmentation and social despair. These individuals were however following traditional mobile livelihoods routes that have been part and parcel of the Southern African labour migration history. The central questions that this study examines are how and in what ways experiential suffering is dealt with and how the different ways and technologies of managing suffering, impinge upon individual and collective subjectivities in the specific locality of the church. In addition the study examines the categorizations and representations of indigent Zimbabwean migrants within South Africa and how these representations have been constructed and transformed over time. The findings made in the study are drawn from a year of ethnographic fieldwork, which combined a number of different methods. These included archival research, participant observation, in-depth interviews and narratives with individual migrants, state officials and officials from humanitarian organizations. The study also made use of diaries in order to detail the everyday lives of individual migrants and capture the texture of everyday life at the church. The findings indicate that the migrants emplaced within the Central Methodist Church were not only victims of structural, political and socio-economic factors as has been the common refrain in recent literature but were also victims of the ‘invisible’, silenced, unrecognized and unacknowledged violence and exclusionary nation-building mechanisms and processes in post-independence Zimbabwe and post-apartheid South Africa. The study finds that the ways through which organizations deal with suffering is mediated by numerous factors and humanitarian interventions interact and articulate with the aspirations of individuals in complex and unpredictable ways often with perverse outcomes. One of the key findings that emerges from the study carried out within a specific locality challenges the notion of places such as refugee camps and asylum holding centres as being ‘exceptional spaces’ where individuals are bereft of rights and even their sense of individuality and worth. Rather such places ought to be understood in terms of contextual, material and historical realities. These places ought also to be understood in terms of the meanings that are attached to them by those who inhabit them. In this regard the study shows the Central Methodist church building to be a material and political resource used by the inhabitants and it’s also an economic and political resource utilized by NGOs and other actors. The thesis shows that the ways through which humanitarian interventions are deployed leads to the creation of categories of victimhood and oftentimes these categories are negotiated and constantly reconfigured at times without necessarily interacting with the realities of the beneficiaries in the manner intended. The thesis shows that the everyday lives of indigent individuals are characterized not only by hardships but the manner in which these individuals attempt to assist each are processes fraught with tension and ambiguity. By so doing, the study challenges the romanticization of the lives of the poor which is often depicted as resilient and where the poor assist each other. The thesis makes a contribution to the anthropology of humanitarianism. In addition, the thesis contributes to broader debates on the intersections between migration, indigence, victimhood and the logics and practices of humanitarian institutions.

La recherche questionne le faire stratégique au sein d’une organisation pluraliste de type universitaire. En tant qu’organisations spécifiques, mêlant divers principes guidant l’action et qui développent leur capacité de pilotage stratégique, notamment en réponse à un environnement complexe et mouvant les universités relèvent de caractéristiques pluralistes (Denis et al., 2001) et de foyers stratégiques contradictoires (Jarzabkowski, 2006). Nous étudions comment le management stratégique sous l’angle des pratiques et des acteurs impliqués selon l’approche conceptuelle « strategy as practice ». La démarche empirique relève d’une étude de cas unique, longitudinale, menée dans une université française, fusionnée, de grande taille (80 entretiens semi-directifs). Les résultats s’articulent selon quatre axes : un processus articulant une initiative politique sur un territoire dans un contexte institutionnel favorable, comme un élément qui participe à l’influence d’une stratégie formalisée au sein de l’organisation. Le déploiement délibéré d'une stratégie résulte d’un ensemble de pratiques organisationnelles généralisées dans l’organisation. L’analyse montre que la stratégie s’opère au regard de trois sphères d’actions et d’interventions ne résultant pas d’une approche hiérarchique, du fait de la présence d’acteurs hétérogènes en leur sein. Ceci implique l’imbrication de pratiques qui sont la résultante d’activités épisodiques, rationnelles et discursives en vue de la coordination d’actions délibérées au sein des sphères d’action. La stratégie s'apprécie au regard d’actions managériales multiples et combinées par des outils et d’artefacts mobilisés par différents groupes d’acteurs / The objective of the research is to put into question the notion of strategizing amongst an academic pluralistic organization. Academic organizations are specific and combining diverse principles to guide an action which develops its strategic monitoring capacity; especially due to a complex and moving environment, answering to different features, those organizations are filled with contradictory strategic positions that constitutes a number of challenges to the development of their strategic management. The conceptual approach strategy as practice permits to study the notion of strategizing of those organizations. The empirical approach of the dissertation was conducted as part of a single longitudinal case study amongst a french merged university of great proportion. According to a qualitative methodology, various sources were requested: 80 semi-directed interviews; observations, logbooks. The assessment shows that the willingly expansion of the strategy results in a series of functional practices widespread in the organization. Those practices not only enable to translate the orientations but to justify changing and finally permit to involve the stakeholders in executing the strategy. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the notion of strategizing occurs in regards to three spheres of actions and the intervention of stakeholders which does not result in a hierarchic approach due to the presence of “interdependent” stakeholders in the three spheres. Strategizing also implies the embedding of strategic practices which results from episodic, rational and discursive activities and requires the coordination of deliberated actions within the three spheres of action

L’objectif de ce travail consiste à décrire les textes en ligne de présentation d’universités francophones en Europe en vue d’expliciter la façon dont ils font sens, intégrés dans les stratégies de communication web des universités contemporaines en Europe. Il s’agira de considérer ces textes, rassemblés en corpus, comme le produit tangible et matériel d’une pratique sémiotique en contexte en mettant l’accent sur les régularités discursives qu’ils rendent manifestes. Tenant compte de la façon dont nous aurons défini la nature de toute pratique discursive ,nous prêterons donc attention 1) aux « régularités génériques » (c’est-à-dire les régularités propres au genre de discours) qu’un ensemble de textes, produits dans des situations de communication que l’on juge similaires, ne manquent pas de générer, et 2) aux « régularités interdiscursives » (c’est-à-dire propre à l’interdiscours) qu’une confrontation de cet ensemble de textes à d’autres ensembles textuels, émanant d’autres situations de communication, permet également de détecter. La question de recherche envisagée prend donc la forme suivante :quelles régularités discursives est-il possible de déceler dans les textes de présentation d’universités? De cet objectif découlent deux hypothèses de recherche, qu’il s’agira d’infirmer – ou confirmer – à partir de l’analyse du corpus. Premièrement, nos textes en ligne de présentation d’universités présentent des régularités génériques dans leur façon de « dire » la promotion d’une institution académique (H1). Cette première hypothèse concerne les textes en tant qu’ils sont liés à un contexte de production. Deuxièmement, les textes en ligne de présentation d’universités présentent des régularités interdiscursives liées à la formation discursive propre à l’enseignement supérieur européen (H2). Cette seconde hypothèse concerne les textes en tant qu’ils sont liés à un (des) cotexte(s) particulier(s). À travers ce travail, nous proposons de montrer en quoi la pratique discursive consistant à promouvoir en ligne une université produit des textes numériques génériquement stéréotypés qui témoignent de la présence d’un ordre du discours relatif aux processus de marchandisation et de néolibéralisation de l’enseignement supérieur en Europe. Ces textes portent les traces discursives de ces processus, traces dont l’étude permet de porter un éclairage original sur la façon dont les institutions universitaires envisagent et promeuvent le type d’enseignement supérieur et de recherche qu’elles se proposent de servir. / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) witnessed the prominence of the voluntary sector through the active involvement of existing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the emergence of new ones as service providers in response to the social, educational and other community needs left unattended to by the public sector. This thesis takes a comparative look at the objectives and practices of faith-based NGOs, or FBOs, currently active in Lebanon, both local and international. It considers the role of the sectarian context, and the influence – if any - of religious identity and values on the founding and mission of an FBO, and the identity of the communities where it chose to operate. It also seeks to explore the relationship between an FBO’s religious identity, the community(ies) it serves, and the expression of its faith in that particular community. The research involved qualitative interviews of a cross-section of FBOs in Lebanon representing different faiths, together with a textual analysis of the communication used by these organizations in addressing their stakeholders. The research shed light on the motivations and the historical events that led to the founding of the sample population. Also, the variance between the mandates of the different faith-based organizations, each according to its religious values, and how that is reflected in determining their programme direction, and hence, the mode of operation in the community. In the process, the interviews highlighted other factors that can equally impact the image of an organization in any particular community; as well as the position of the same-faith communities vis-à-vis the mandate of their same-faith FBO. The textual analysis of the sample population’s communication tools was equally insightful as it drew attention to factors that affect the discourse used in presenting who they are, as well as their vision and mission. Other insights gleaned from this research include the organizations’ view point and/or position with respect to the sectarian context that empowers them as religiously based organizations; an aspect that gives some thought as to the potential role for FBOs as agents of change in such a complex context. The source of the knowledge arrived at through this research is based on input received from the organizations themselves, either through the interviews with their leaders, or through their communication tools. It would be equally insightful, in another research, to consider the view point of the community, also that of secular and other faith-based organizations, of the role of religiously-based development organizations in the community as they compare with their desired role.

The central aim of the thesis is to define the approach of EU development policy towards Africa since the end of the Cold War. It focuses on the unexplored areas of the available literature on the subject, specifically the impact of EU development policy on the domain of international development and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor. The thesis relies on Martha Finnemore’s Social Constructivist research. It concentrates on the dynamics maintained by the EU with the normative basis that characterises the structure and agents of international development, and assesses how it affected EU behaviour, as expressed through its development policy towards Africa in the considered timeframe.1 By doing so, the thesis exposes both the marked effect of EU development policy in the domain of international development, and the form of ‘paradise’ (model of development) the EU promoted in Africa. The empirical support in the thesis is comprised of archived data, official documents, press releases, published reports, speeches, and personally conducted interviews. Following the method of research, the thesis focuses on tracing the norms that characterise EU development policy towards Africa over time. Therein, the thesis largely confirms the identified agents as the source of the norms that define the structure of international development, and the EU as its derivative. It argues that EU development policy is currently a general projection of the normative structure of international development, specifically regarding the policy orientation of its identified agents. As a result, it contends that the EU fell short of its efforts to export its form of ‘paradise’ to Africa in the proposed timeframe as a corollary of its limitations to stand as a distinct and leading actor in the domain of international development. Thus, the thesis makes a fresh contribution to the understanding of EU development policy towards Africa and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor in the twenty-first century.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / In a country like South Africa, with a history of racial discrimination and man-made social inequalities, many NGOs and FBOs play a crucial and important role in socio-economic development and in narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots. As one of the nongovernmental organisations, The South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF) development projects/programmes have played an important role in the areas of poverty alleviation, skills development, education and disaster relief. In line with the participatory/people-centred theory of community development and conceptual arguments, this study was used to examine the nature of participatory community development at the South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF) in Cape Town, South Africa. Qualitative research methodology was applied and measurement of the level of community participation was done using a variety of instruments. This study is focused on the SANZAF's community development project in the Manenberg area in the Cape Flats. The analysis involved examining the nature and level of community participation in the project needs, planning, implementation and decision-making phases. Thereafter, the results of the research prompted general observation and provided some recommendations to SANZAF and other FBOs involved. The research findings show that the SANZAF's development projects/programmes have played an important role in terms of community development. They have been developed in response to the needs of local communities and are implemented to mobilise local resources to support the poor and needy. The study also indicated that SANZAF enjoys a strong linkage with local mosques and other development actors at the community level. However, the results of the study also indicated that the level of community participation in planning, decision making and implementation is low in the case study area. Meanwhile, the beneficiaries did not show a clear understanding of aspects such as participation, empowerment and ownership. Finally, a recommendation is made for genuine community participation at the grassroots level as this will contribute to beneficiary's empowerment, capacity building and the core ingredients for selfreliance and project sustainability in community development activities.

No description available.

Pour répondre à un marché de plus en plus concurrentiel, les organisations tendent aujourd'hui à se regrouper sous la forme d'organisations virtuelles (OV). Concevoir le système d'information (SI) d'une OV sur la base des SI des organisations participantes pose des problèmes méthodologiques et techniques. En particulier, l'identification et l'expression des besoins, déjà difficile lors du développement d'un SI « classique », représente un enjeu important. Le SI de l'OV jouant un rôle prépondérant pour la collaboration et la coopération des organisations participantes et l'atteinte de l'objectif commun. Nous proposons des critères permettant d'identifier et de classifier précisément et à un niveau intentionnel, les différentes informations nécessaires à la conception du SI de l'OV ainsi que des modèles graphiques et textuels simples. Notre travail comprend une transformation partielle à partir des modèles intentionnels jusqu'aux modèles de processus métier de base au niveau organisationnel. / Nowadays, organizations which aim to be competitive in a more concurrent market, tend to group together into virtual organizations (VO). Designing the information system (IS) of such a VO on the basis of the IS of those participating arises methodological and technical problems. Particularly, the formal identification and representation of requirements which has been researched to a large extent for a single organization, is not adequate for a VO. Indeed, the IS of a VO plays an important role in the collaboration and the cooperation of the participants organizations to achieve a common goal. We propose at an intentional level, criteria allowing virtual organizations to be identified and classified, as well as simple graphical and textual models to design the virtual organization's IS. Our work includes a partial transformation proposal from the intentional models to basic business process models at the organizational level.

Cette thèse s'intéresse aux luttes d'influence entre deux groupes élitaires au Libéria post-conflit (2003-2018): les Warlords, dont le pouvoir repose sur la mobilisation d'acteurs violents et les technopols, dont l'infuence repose sur leur possession de diplômes reconnus internationalement et leurs contacts avec certains acteurs internationaux (FMI, BM, USAID, la Citi bank,etc.). Nous soutiendrons dans cette thèse que les technopols libériens ont réussi à exclure les warlords des institutions étatiques en se réappropriant les moyens et les discours de certains acteurs internationaux, mais ont continué à collaborer avec certains warlords pour exercer un contrôle relatif sur des régions en marge de l’influence de l’État.