This study focuses on the difficult Sami heritage which is exhibited within local history museums in northern Sweden. The study incorporates theories from cultural science and sociology but it is written within religious history as a philological and text-oriented discipline where discourses and social constructions of the Sami heritage and worldviews are in focus. The overall aim of this study is to increase the understanding of the difficult Sami heritage. This means that the analysis focuses on perspectives and discourses within local museums and Sami organisations.   The first research question revolves around the significances and meanings of the difficult Sami heritage: What phenomena (artefacts) and dimensions (immaterial culture) of the difficult past in Sapmi are highlighted? The second research question revolves around the power to represent the Sami heritage: How is the difficult Sami heritage represented? The third research question revolves around perspectives within museum practices: What approaches are the museum practice based upon?   This study focuses on four museums in northern Sweden; Ajtte museum, Samgården, Norrbottens museums and Hägnan museum. They are all local history museums which exhibit the past within a specific region from a rather broad or holistic historical perspective. The student visited each museum and observed the exhibitions then. She read texts, analysed artefacts and watched movies. Facts and interpretations were documented with a pen and the most important phenomena authenticated with a camera.   The difficult phenomena and dimensions within the museums were structured in three groups: living conditions, dark artefacts and colonization. The group living condition refers to poor people, risks, cold climate, hard work, illnesses and social classes. Dark artefacts refer to very old graves and drums which have been lost to the external society. Colonization refers to representations of Sápmi, uses of lands and resources, wounds, lack of local participation within decision-making processes, conflicts and women´s rights.   The analysis of representations highlights reflections about the meanings of the difficult and how subjective this is. Many dimensions within the Sami culture which have appeared as difficult from a colonialist perspective may be bright from an insider perspective. The museum practices follow discourses but there are few expressions within the museums which are associated with ethnocentrism. The external society is not presented as something higher, better or more valuable, but it is obvious that the government did hurt the region in the past.   The museums which were included in this study, based practices on a local separatist/patriotic approach since the unique Sami culture was in focus. It was portrayed as something which stays in contrast to the overall society. The Sami culture was associated with positive characteristics such as traditional, peaceful, original and authentic. The peace and international understanding approach was also embedded since exhibitions were based on ideas expressed within The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) about the rights indigenous people have. The study also concludes that these museums rather based the practice on patriotic thinking, than a cosmopolitan. The museums made use of a bottom-up approach into a varying extent.  When the local perceptions were in focus are the following phenomena highlighted: the inner compass (director with wisdom), wounds of colonization, local worldviews and interaction with nature and animals.

A tese tem como objetivo compreender o fenômeno da criação de municípios no planalto de São Paulo entre o início da colonização e 1765. Nessa data o Morgado de Mateus, governador da capitania, empreende uma política de defesa e desenvolvimento econômico através da criação de vilas nos sertões. Procuramos analisar como se deu a criação das vilas na ausência de uma política da Coroa ou do donatário e o papel que as elites políticas tiveram no processo. Buscamos também, em uma perspectiva que intenta ultrapassar as fronteiras dos Impérios, compreender as elites políticas locais dentro de um contexto espacial mais alargado. / The aim of this thesis is to understand the phenomenon regarding the foundation of towns in upland São Paulo between the beginning of colonization and 1765. In this year, Morgado de Mateus, governor of the Captaincy, establishes a policy for security and economic development through the foundation of villages in the wilderness of São Paulo. We mean to analyze how the creation of villages took place in the absence of a Crowns Policy or a governors purpose and the role the political elites played in this process. Adopting an approach that intends to surpass the Empires borders, we seek to comprehend the local political elites within a more extended geographical context.

Le Cameroun est une mosaïque de tribus qui s'enchevêtrent par, entre autres, le jeu d'alliances se concrétisant par le souci du "vivre-ensemble". Au regard de la structuration sociétale qui particularise les populations camerounaises, la cohésion sociale constituait et constitue encore de nos jours, le meilleur moyen d'assurer leur sécurité. C'est ainsi que, dans leurs cultures traditionnelles, les Camerounais estimaient que la transaction efface l'infraction plus que le châtiment. Et lorsque les liens sociaux étaient fragilisés par un acte ou un comportement asocial (infraction, délit,…), tous les mécanismes et méthodes de répression devaient avoir pour finalité la réinstauration de la cohésion sociale. Pendant la colonisation, les administrateurs coloniaux avaient mis en place un autre système de sanction qui privilégiait plutôt la rétribution, imposant ainsi aux Camerounais la rupture avec leur conception et leurs méthodes de répression et de la peine. Le Cameroun indépendant hérite cette méthode coloniale de sanction. Les dysfonctionnements qui incarnent et minent l'actuelle institution carcérale camerounaise ne sont que le reflet ou la résultante de son inadaptabilité au contexte socio-culturel camerounais. Il serait donc opportun, sinon primordial, de déplacer la problématique de la réforme du système pénitentiaire camerounais sur un terrain autre que celui de la simple amélioration des conditions de détention au Cameroun. Il est évident que cet aspect ne devrait pas être négligé. Néanmoins, le plus urgent serait de chercher comment faire en sorte que l'institution pénitentiaire soit un instrument de la réinstauration de la cohésion sociale, garante de la sécurité des Camerounais ? Sur cet angle d'approche de réflexion sur la réforme du système pénitentiaire camerounais, plusieurs paramètres entrent en jeu, regroupés en deux axes : celui de la redéfinition de la notion de sécurité en prenant en compte tous les contours du vivre-ensemble au Cameroun ; celui du réaménagement d'un cadre de référence législatif et d'un cadre de référence judiciaire pluraliste, nécessaires au bon fonctionnement de l'institution pénitentiaire camerounaise. / Cameroon is a mosaic of tribes which become muddled or entangled, between others, by the game of alliances being translated by the concern of to “live together”. With regard to the societal structuring which particularizes the Cameroonian populations, the social cohesion had constituted and constitutes even nowadays, the best way to insure their security. It is for it that, in their traditional cultures; the Cameroonians had considered that the transaction erases the breach more than the punishment. So, when the social links were weakened by the effects of an antisocial act or an antisocial behavior (breach, offense), all the mechanisms and the methods of repression had, again, to have for purpose the instauration of the social cohesion. During the colonization, the colonial administrators had set up another system of penalty which privileged rather the exemplary correction, imposing to the Cameroonians of give up their idea and their methods of repression and the punishment. Independent Cameroon inherits this colonial method of punishment. The dysfunctions which embody and undermine the current Cameroonian prison institution are only the reflection or the resultant of its impossible adaptability in the Cameroonian sociocultural context. It would be thus convenient, otherwise essential, of to move the problem of the reform of the Cameroonian prison system on a ground other one than that of the simple improvement of the conditions of detention in Cameroon. It is obvious that this aspect should not be neglected. Nevertheless, the most urgent would be to look how the institution of prison can be an instrument of the instauration of the social cohesion, the guarantor of the security of the Cameroonians. On this angle of approach of reflection on the reform of the Cameroonian prison system, several parameters come into play grouped in two axes : that of the redefining of the notion of security by taking into account all the outlines of to live together, and that of the reorganization of a legislative framework reference, and of a pluralist judicial reference framework necessary at the smooth running of the Cameroonian prison institution.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:49:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JIMMY SUDARIO CABRAL.pdf: 854233 bytes, checksum: cda81ba68449d108ad5e8cbdd70bd874 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-31 / This present research tried to elucidate the hermeneutics locus of bible reading organized by the liberation Latin American biblical movement. It's said that biblical hermeneutics Latin-American of liberation is a reflection of an intense breakage with a biblical hermeneutics of the classic Christian tradition that reproduced systematically a political theocracy and hierarchy frames of power which has its ballast entrenched in a canonic hermeneutics of the Scriptures that legitimated the material and spiritual conquest of the Amerindian civilization of the American continent. Due to the canonic instrumentalization of the Scriptures, which has its roots in a formative hierarchy of Christian bishops who manipulated and equipped the biblical traditions in order to create a certain view of knowledge and power, which was used to raise a political and sacerdotal theocracy, a political theological project was promoted and became the main inspiration to the warlike political and missionary expansionism of western Christianity. This political theological tradition determined the reading of the Bible in Latin America, characterizing itself as a reproduction of mental structures that turned sacred a sacerdotal and religious power which was important in the destruction and demonization of all symbolic structure of the native religion. Used as an instrument of spiritual conquest, the Bible became, often, a "monument of cruelty", read and interpreted based on the power of a Christendom characterized by its systematical attacks in order to "convert" the indians and their religion in the name of the Bible. In reaction to this wrong colonial hermeneutics, the Latin American biblical movement of liberation developed a deep critique of the biblical and ecclesiastic traditions, which, linked to the colonist political power, silenced the oppressed and the poor people who survived in the "oppressed cellars" of a colonial and theological culture. Crying expressions of an anti-conquest, the biblical hermeneutics of liberation argued deeply about the biblical reading based on power, weakening the control over the scriptures by the ecclesiastic dominion, attempting through hard work a historical reconstruction of popular traditions of Jewish-Christian sacred documents, affirming according to a liberation praxis the new ways of biblical hermeneutics which tried to rebuild the experiences of the oppressed in the Bible. , Unbuilding scriptural canons which were transferred by a colonial interpretative tradition promoting an unempowering of the Scriptures from ecclesial dominion, a biblical hermeneutics of liberation reread the bible by its reverse history, elaborating a biblical theology from the groans of resistance of the oppressed memories and excluded from history. / A presente pesquisa procurou elucidar o lócus hermenêutico da leitura bíblica realizada pelo movimento bíblico latino-americano da libertação. Afirma-se que a hermenêutica bíblica latino-americana da libertação é reflexo de uma profunda ruptura com uma hermenêutica bíblica da tradição cristã clássica que reproduziu sistematicamente uma teocracia política e estruturas hierárquicas de poder que tem lastros fincados em uma hermenêutica canônica das escrituras que legitimou a conquista material e espiritual da civilização ameríndia das Américas. A partir de uma instrumentalização canônica das escrituras, que tem suas raízes em uma hierarquia formativa de bispos cristãos que manipularam e instrumentalizaram as tradições bíblicas em vias de elaborar uma certa imagem do saber e do poder, que forneceu as bases de uma teocracia política e sacerdotal, promoveu-se um projeto teológico político que se tornou o núcleo inspirativo do bélico expansionismo político e missionário da cristandade ocidental. Esta tradição teológica política determinou a leitura da Bíblia na América Latina, caracterizando-se como uma reprodução de estruturas mentais que sacramentalizou um poder religioso sacerdotal que foi determinante na destruição e demonização de toda estrutura simbólica da religião nativa. Utilizada como instrumento de conquista espiritual, a Bíblia se tornou, amiúde, um monumento de barbárie , lida e interpretada a partir do poder de uma cristandade que se reproduziu em sistemáticas investidas que buscam converter os indígenas e sua religião em nome da Bíblia. Reagindo a esta hermenêutica colonial equivocada, o movimento bíblico latino-americano da libertação elaborou uma profunda crítica das tradições bíblicas e eclesiásticas, que, vinculadas ao poder político colonizador, impôs um silêncio às camadas pobres e oprimidas que sobreviveram nos porões da opressão de uma cultura teológica colonial. Expressões dos gemidos de uma anti-conquista, a hermenêutica bíblica da libertação promoveu um profundo questionamento de uma leitura bíblica a partir do poder, abrindo brechas do controle das Escrituras pelo poder eclesial, empreendendo uma árdua reconstrução histórica das raízes populares dos documentos sagrados da tradição judaico-cristã, afirmando a partir de uma práxis de libertação os novos caminhos da hermenêutica bíblica que buscou reconstruir as experiências dos oprimidos da Bíblia. Desconstruindo cânones escriturísticos que foram transplantados por uma tradição interpretativa colonial e promovendo um des-empoderamento das Escrituras do poder eclesial, a hermenêutica bíblica da libertação releu a Bíblia pelo reverso da história, elaborando uma teologia bíblica a partir dos gemidos de resistência das memórias oprimidas e apagadas da história.

The thesis examines the response of The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the urbanisation of displacement, focusing on the period 1994 to 2009. It utilises a framework based on international organisations theory, arguing that, contrary to traditional approaches to the study of international organisations, change in policy and practice resulted primarily from pressures within UNHCR. The thesis utilises state-influence and principal-agent theories to understand why UNHCR responded in the ways it did, and explain how change was achieved. It draws on constructivist insight, and the role of leaders, research and evaluation units, and epistemic communities, using the concept of the 'three UNs' as a means of framing the different actors and pressures for change shaping UNHCR's work. The thesis is based on extensive primary documents produced primarily by UNHCR, as well as original interviews, providing new empirical data to further understanding of policymaking within UNHCR, and addressing an empirical gap on the existing literature on urban refugees. By mapping this data to the framework of 'pressure from within', 'pressure from above', and 'pressure from below', the thesis demonstrates the various actors involved in shaping change in policy and practice. It challenges attempts to characterise the 'three UNs' as separate categories, demonstrating their fluidity and frequent overlaps. The empirical analysis contributes to international organisations theory by demonstrating the important role of internal actors in eliciting change in policy and practice, identifying areas of international organisation theory in need of refinement and further exploration. Consideration is given to how positivist and post-positivist understandings can work together, and ways internal actors can shape the direction of their organisations, particularly leaders and research and evaluation units.

During the First World War people from the five continents resided in France and Flanders, mostly in service of of the French and British armies. Besides European settlers, it concerned hundreds of thousands of indigenous inhabitants from many colonies. The two largest subaltern groups who served on the Western Front in British service - each in itself accounting for some 140,000 men - were Asian: from the Indian subcontinent and from China. In my book I investigate not only their motives to join up and the nature of their war service on the Western Front, but above all how these subaltern groups experienced a modern war in Europe and what impact this residence in a Europe-in-war had on their subsequent lives and on the society to which they returned. A central position in my judgment of their war experiences is their meeting with the European 'other', the local populations who hosted these uninvited guests. I investigate how the European population underwent the confrontation with their non-European guests, but especially which impression the Europeans, their society and their culture made upon the Asian rank and file. In- and outside the Army Indians and Chinese were confronted with different degrees of xenophobia, racism and discrimination, while at the same time friendly engagements with Europeans also occurred. All this lead to a strengthened self- and (proto)national consciousness that manifested itself in initiatives in different domains of human activity: politics, culture, education, ... Through the comparative perspective, differences as well as similarities between both Asian groups on the Western Front become clear, and parallels can be drawn in their evolution towards a stronger (self)consciousness and an increasing identification with the (proto)nation through their war experiences in Europe. In this respect, so I argue, the war experiences of Indians and Chinese on the Western front contributed to the increasingly anti-imperialist feelings and attitudes in both countries.

This thesis examines exile in contemporary autobiographical narratives written in French by women from across the Francophone world. The analysis focuses on work by Nina Bouraoui (Algeria), Gisele Pineau (Guadeloupe), Veronique Tadjo (Cote d'Ivoire), and Kim Lefevre (Vietnam), and investigates how the French colonial project has shaped female articulations of mobility and identity in the present. This comparative, cross-cultural, and cross-generational study engages with postcolonial theory, gender theory, and autobiographical theory in order to create a new framework with which to interpret women's experiences and expressions of displacement across the Francosphere. The thesis posits that existing models of exile do not fully explain the complex situations of the four authors, who do not have a well-defined 'home' and 'host' country. Although marginalised by their gender, they are economically privileged and have chosen to live a rootless existence, which nonetheless renders them alienated and 'out of place'. The thesis thus argues that women's narratives of exile challenge and complicate existing paradigms of exile which have a male, patriarchal focus. By turning our attention to these women and their specific postcolonial gendered narratives, a more nuanced understanding of exile emerges: exile is experienced as a sexual, gendered, racial, and/or linguistic otherness.

Academic literature has examined how the transformation of a nation’s state power can give rise to shifts in national identity, and how such shifting identity can be represented in the form of the nation’s changing urban landscape. This thesis investigates that topic in the case of Taiwan, a de facto independent country with almost one hundred years’ experience of ‘colonial’ and then ‘settler’ rule. Both colonial rule and settler rule constitute an outside regime. However, the settler rulers in Taiwan regarded the settled land as their homeland. To secure their supremacy, the settler rulers had to strongly control the political, cultural, and economic interests of the ‘native’ population. Democratisation can be a key factor undermining settler rule. Such a political transition can enable the home population to reclaim state power, symbolising that the nation has entered the post-settler era. This thesis explores how the transition from Japanese colonial rule to Chinese settler rule and then to democratisation gave rise to changes in Taiwanese national identity, and to its reflection in the urban landscape of the capital city, Taipei. The thesis reveals the irony of a transition in which the collapse of settler rule has been unable to drive significant further change in the city’s urban landscape. In other words, the urban landscape of post-settler Taipei City is ‘stuck in transition’. The condition reflects the ambivalence in Taiwanese national identity caused by the unforgettable, yet not really glorious memory of settler rule.

Drawing on empirical data, this thesis investigates the interplay of cultural differences in the ways Persians practice, negotiate, and sustain their partnering relationships across cultural differences; reasons for and implications of failure; and the extents to which Persian intercultural partnering practices could be understood in relation to wider social processes. I grounded this analysis on the Pre-Partnering, Prevailing-Partnering, and Post-Partnering Practices, and argue that Persians in intercultural partnering relationships ‘do partnering’ in relation to Internal, External and Intergenerational social positionings. I suggest that participants’ in-between cultural identities help them to sustain their partnering relationships, with negotiations centring on the interplay of five cultural sources: gender, religiosity, relationality, life course, and language. Failure in partnering relationships are usually attributed to shifting positions on the continuum of cultural identities, due to participants seeking their best ‘me’, which is social, and is defined through personal relationships with wider social connections. Partnering practices in the particular context of this study may not align with the claims of detraditionalization theory. I argue that religion should be considered independent from other forms of traditions to understand the wider social processes relevant to construction of contemporary family lives.

Migration to high income countries (such as the UK) has been found to be associated with declining health. The overall aim of the thesis was to advance our knowledge and understanding about migration, health beliefs and behaviours of Ghanaian migrants living in the UK. The thesis employed two approaches: a systematic review and qualitative methodology utilising interviews with a total of 62 participants. The systematic review explored associations between acculturation and body weight in migrants, examining the role of health behaviours. The two qualitative studies, which yielded two datasets, focused on the experiences of Ghanaian migrants living in the UK and also included Indian migrants and White British and Ghanaian home populations as comparative samples. Findings from the systematic review suggested that migrants may be prone to developing obesity, however factors such as socioeconomic status influences this risk. The review also showed that behaviours and beliefs relating to health may be influenced by culture. From the qualitative studies there were three themes that cut across the findings of this thesis: (i) migrant’s knowledge of their environment and how it affects healthy behaviours, (ii) the lay meaning of health, which is embedded in the migrant’s culture and (iii) social/cultural influences on engagement with healthy behaviours. This thesis provides a starting point in understanding the lay meaning of health that can affect the engagement of healthy behaviours. Different cultures have exhibited different health belief systems and knowledge of these differences is important in the design of effective interventions that will be acceptable to patients of different cultural backgrounds.