Television drama is a crucial site where notions of gender, as well as other cultural issues, are formed. Since 2010, the Chinese television industry has shown a growing interest in representing feminism-inflected content, most evident in cashing in on serials centering on a strong female character. These women-centric dramas mark a departure from previous constructions of gender, women, and feminism due to their narrative centrality of women, portrayal of strong female leads, expansion of women’s spheres of action, and endorsement of female power and independence. This dissertation explores the phenomenon, examining what feminist discourses are being represented by juxtaposing them with the social context of gender in China and interrogating how they are shaped by industrial practices. The factors at play in the serial production that have surfaced in this study mainly include female television professionals, textual and narrative conventions, considerations of audience profile, and party-state cultural leadership. Based on textual analysis and interviews with professionals associated with several representative women-centric television dramas, this dissertation found that these social and industrial forces collaboratively shaped the feminist discourses into various forms including the post-feminist and neoliberal feminist tendency, a common-ground form of feminism shared by various sections of society, and a vision of gender that combines traditional feminine roles and a powerful presence in the public sphere. The research raises issues about the role of the television industry in cultivating public understandings of feminism and the relationship between televisual forms of feminism and feminist politics.

This dissertation explores the impact of HOPE VI (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere), a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program, on Tampa's Greenwood neighborhood. The program represents a policy shift away from traditional public housing toward a "mixed income" model that has effectively privatized public housing. Through a HOPE VI program implemented in Tampa in 2000, two public housing complexes were demolished and redeveloped in this way. While some former residents of public housing relocated to other public housing complexes, many moved to apartments and houses in the private rental market with Section 8 subsidized housing vouchers-many to Tampa's Greenwood neighborhood. In the dissertation, I examine how these policy changes affect both those relocated to the neighborhood and those already living in the neighborhood. The dissertation also examines the social dynamics of Greenwood in order to understand an actual mixed income neighborhood. In addition, the dissertation is concerned with the intersection of HOPE VI with other neoliberal trends in Greenwood-such as models for social order and particular discourses.

The study is an informative presentation of both qualitative and quantitative values observable in Japan today. By utilizing two uniquely distinct fields of study, I hope to gain greater context of Japan’s economy and its contemporary challenges. With close focus on ethnographical studies, I hope to derive potential relationships and develop further context for quantitative results highlighted in previously published economic studies. Ethnography provides an intimate look into specific groups, culture or subcultures in Japan. With emphasis on close observations, interviews, and field notes, empirical studies like that of many ethnography papers provides an intimate scope into the lives of Japanese people. Detailed publications of Japanese people and their daily lives should be valued with equal relevance to that of quantitative results. Moreover, in response to the stagnancy and demographic challenges highlighted by policy makers and political parties, I believe the value of ethnographical publications will continue to grow. Japan struggled to develop effective policies to combat issues of falling birthrates, an aging population and shortages in labor.

This thesis explores the day-to-day realities for public high school counselors inside their schools. The national average student-to-counselor ratio in public high schools in the U.S. is 482:1. This is almost double the recommended counselor caseload by the American School Counselor Association, which recommends 250 students per counselor. However, counselors’ inflated caseloads are not the only reason why counselors are overworked. Using a year’s worth of ethnographic research, I analyze the bureaucratic and care labor practices of counselors and the ways in which their labor exploitation reflects years of neoliberal discourse influencing the functioning of public education. This neoliberalization of public education not only intensifies the bureaucratic labor that counselors must do on a daily basis, but also makes counselors perceive their frequent care labor as “unproductive.” Schools exploit counselors’ labor by depending on their care labor, while also relying on the pressure that counselors put on themselves to continue completing the bureaucratic labor demanded of them.

Les marchés fonctionnent-ils indépendamment du pouvoir politique ? Cette étude comparée des politiques publiques dans six marchés créés durant les années 1980 au Chili analyse le rôle fondamental qu’ont les politiques publiques dans la construction des marchés. Pour rendre compte de la diversité de ces opérations, j’élabore un cadre conceptuel original, en définissant quatre « variétés du néolibéralisme ». A partir d’une étude de l’histoire de ce concept et de ses usages contemporains, je distingue les néolibéralismes orthodoxes, régulés, émulateurs et mixtes. Chaque néolibéralisme correspond à des réponses différentes de l’Etat face aux défaillances du marché. Dans le néolibéralisme orthodoxe, les organismes publics restreignent leur intervention. Dans le néolibéralisme régulé, les organismes publics interviennent pour promouvoir la concurrence et établir des obligations quant au produit lui-même. Dans le néolibéralisme émulateur, un organisme public organise la concurrence non pas dans le marché, mais pour le marché. Enfin, dans le néolibéralisme mixte, une ou des entreprises publiques entrent en concurrence avec les acteurs privés. Chaque variété fait l’objet de politiques publiques spécifiques, en particulier en termes d’instruments mobilisés. J’applique ce cadre théorique des variétés du néolibéralisme pour classer et analyser six politiques sectorielles : l’assurance-maladie, les retraites, les universités, la production d’électricité, la téléphonie et les transports publics à Santiago. Les six trajectoires sectorielles établies mettent en évidence l’existence d’un sentier néolibéral chilien. / Do markets operate independently of political power? This comparative study of policies in six markets created during the 1980s in Chile analyzes the fundamental part that public policies play in the construction of markets. To account for the diversity of these operations, I develop an original conceptual framework, defining four "varieties of neoliberalism." Building on a study of the history of this concept and its contemporary use, I distinguish orthodox, regulated, emulator and mixed neoliberalisms. Each neoliberalism is based on a different form of State answer to address market failures. In orthodox neoliberalism, public agencies restrict their intervention. In regulated neoliberalism, public agencies get involved in promoting competition and establish requirements on the product itself. In emulating neoliberalism, public agencies organize competition not in the market, but for the market. Finally, in mixed neoliberalism, one or more public companies compete with private players. Each variety is characterized by specific public policies, especially in terms of instruments. I apply this theoretical framework of varieties of neoliberalism to classify and analyze six sectoral policies: health insurance, pensions, universities, electricity production, telephone industry and public transport in Santiago. The six sectoral trajectories established highlight the existence of a Chilean neoliberal path.

Creative Alternatives examines the intersections between cultural politics, experimental art, and the public sphere in late twentieth century Berlin. The work identifies how artists used interactive visual displays to engage with West Berlin publics, develop democratic subjectivities under state socialism in East Berlin, and reject the city’s neoliberal turn after German unification. The work also traces the role of the arts as an economic motor in late twentieth century Berlin, as city leaders responded to the pressures of globalization and interurban competition. This study of divided and unified Berlin transcends the political ruptures and geographical divisions that structure our understanding of modern Germany and hinder integrated histories of the two German states, even as it addresses issues common to major cities worldwide.

Perhaps more than any other major American city in the 1970s, New York represented the decline of an urban existence. Job loss from factors related to deindustrialization and intense crime occupied local and national news, reflecting the increasing anxiety of America's future. New York City was positioned at the center of this frightening chaos. Films made during this period, known by film scholars and journalists as the "New Hollywood" captured the collective temperament of the people and the physical space they inhabit during its disintegration. The depiction of New York during the 1970s has been widely discussed in the writing on two key New York City directors, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. Scholars like Ellis Cashmore and Charles Silet have argued about Allen and Scorsese's depiction of New York respectively, however, they have not adequately offered a fully comprehensive study of their works collected together in order to uncover New York's decline. Specifically, this Thesis, examines the films made by Allen and Scorsese during the 1970s, specifically, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Mean Streets, and Taxi Driver. I explore the disparities and philosophies that both auteurs express in their depiction of the same urban space. Although the films are not documentaries, they do however; offer a faithful portrayal of a city in transition. By closely examining their works together, I offer a new perspective of New York's culturally diverse population transforming from a working class industrial landscape to one influenced by the principles of Neoliberalism.

Esta tese é resultado do desdobramento de reflexões iniciadas em trabalho anterior, quando se buscou compreender o conceito de financeirização e discutir algumas das questões que ele envolve. Dada a importância desse fenômeno para a compreensão do capitalismo contemporâneo, bem como da necessidade de se levarem em conta as especificidades de países e regiões, trata-se agora de compreender como se deu a evolução desse processo no Brasil recente, mais precisamente durante o período de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva na Presidência da República (2003-2010), por três motivos principais. Primeiro, a década de 1990 momento de penetração do neoliberalismo no país e de integração deste à mundialização financeira já foi devidamente estudada. Segundo, a importância de se investigarem os desdobramentos do capitalismo brasileiro no pós-liberalização sob a égide das finanças. Terceiro, o interesse em compreender as contradições que perpassavam, nesse contexto, um governo do campo da esquerda, bem como as consequências que elas tiveram. Assim, visando contribuir para o debate sobre os governos Lula, um dos objetivos centrais desta pesquisa é fornecer um panorama mais integrado de diferentes elementos do processo de financeirização no Brasil e de seus impactos, já que a maior parte dos trabalhos sobre o assunto foca-se em um ou outro aspecto. Busca-se, a partir disso, dialogar com diferentes análises sobre o período. Outro objetivo central é realizar uma reflexão que se beneficie da distância dos anos e do conhecimento dos desdobramentos posteriores a 2010 a fim de (re)interpretar alguns aspectos do período Lula e avançar alguns comentários sobre o governo Dilma. A principal conclusão é a de que, apesar de o receituário neoliberal stricto sensu ter sido revertido em alguns pontos, o processo de financeirização continuou avançando e se aprofundando no Brasil, tanto em razão de medidas implementadas pelo governo quanto por fatores para além delas. Os bancos continuaram dominantes no país e, apesar da melhora da situação de outros setores econômicos, pode-se dizer que a fração bancário-financeira da grande burguesia (incluindo o capital de aplicação financeira internacional) conservou sua hegemonia. As consequências políticas dessa situação foram sentidas mais tarde, quando o fim do bom momento econômico que permitia a conciliação de objetivos e o enfrentamento mais direto dos interesses financeiros por parte do governo contribuíram para a crise política que levou à remoção de Dilma Rousseff da Presidência. / This thesis is a development of the reflection, made in previous work, on the concept of \"financialization\" and some of the issues it involves. Given the importance of this phenomenon to the understanding of contemporary capitalism, as well as the need to take into account the specificities of countries and regions, it is now a question of understanding how the evolution of this process occurred in recent Brazil, more precisely during the period of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Presidency of the Republic (2003-2010), for three main reasons. First, the 1990s the moment of the penetration of neoliberalism in the country, and the integration of the latter into financial globalization has already been duly studied. Second, the importance itself of investigating how the Brazilian capitalism unfold in \"post-liberalization\" under the aegis of finance. Thirdly, the interest in understanding the contradictions that permeated, in this context, a left-wing government, as well as the consequences they had. Thus, in order to contribute to the debate on the Lula governments, one of the main objectives of this research is to provide a more integrated picture of the financialization process in Brazil and its impacts, since most of the work on the subject focuses in one aspect or another. Based on this, we seek to dialogue with different analyzes about the period. Another important objective is to carry out a reflection that benefits from the distance of the years and from the knowledge of the developments after 2010 in order to (re)interpret some aspects of Lulas period and to make some comments about Dilmas government. The main conclusion is that, although the neoliberal \"recipe\" stricto sensu was reversed in some points, the process of financialization continued to evolve and deepen in Brazil, both due to measures implemented by the government and by factors beyond them. Banks kept their dominance over the country and, despite the improvement in the situation of other economic sectors, it can be said that the banking-financial fraction of the big bourgeoisie (including international financial capital) retained its hegemony. The political consequences of this situation came to light later, when the end of the good economic moment which allowed the reconciliation of objectives and the more direct confrontation of financial interests by the government contributed to the political crisis which led to the removal of Dilma Rousseff from Presidency.

Since 1989, the co-riparian States of Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been locked in an overt and institutionalized conflict to secure access to the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin. In 1997, in an effort to end this interstate conflict which had earned the reputation as the longest water conflict in U.S. history, public officials at the federal and state scales agreed to suspend all pending litigation against one another and concurrently deployed a dispute resolution mechanism, known as `compact negotiations,' in the hope of equitably allocating the waters of the ACF Basin. Despite proclamations by public officials, exclaiming their commitment to the process of compact negotiations and their desire to see an end to the lingering conflict, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the bitter conflict over the ACF waters and a sustainable resolution has not yet been achieved. Against this background, this study provides an in-depth empirical explanation for why multiple efforts to resolve the ACF conflict have been unsuccessful and largely counterproductive. Using data collected from in-depth interviews with elite stakeholders and archival data parsed from executive agencies, bureaucratic reports and media sources, this study demonstrates that Georgia's strategic efforts to (a) rescale water management authority in the basin along neoliberal lines and (b) spatiotemporally displace demand- and supply-side management policies, have allowed Georgia and metropolitan Atlanta to achieve water security through a process of accumulation by dispossession. Finally, this study shows that Georgia and Atlanta's water security has compromised the authority of federal agencies to manage interstate waters, exposed the inability of the three riparian states to reach equitable compromise, and demonstrated the Court's express complicity in (re)producing uneven development in the American South.

Uppsatsen är en fallstudie som berör ett förflyttningsprojekt av invånare i informella bosättningar, allmänt känt som slumområden, i Sri Lankas kommersiella huvudstad Colombo. FN:s hållbarhetsmål för Agenda 2030 belyser utvecklingen av den informella bostadssektorn som ett problem i flera utvecklingsländer, däribland Sri Lanka. Utvecklingen som ofta är ett resultat av urbaniseringsprocesser tenderar att skapa ett ökat tryck på mark och kan därmed begränsa de fattigas förmåga att äga mark och bostäder. Modernisering av städer tenderar att förändra stadens rumsliga struktur och gå i linje med marknadsdriven markanvändning och kommersialisering som är tänkt att främja den ekonomiska tillväxten. Marknaden och kommersiell utveckling som ställer stor efterfrågan på central och attraktiv mark i Colombo ockuperas till stor del av informella bosättningar. Marknaden, en statlig agenda för utveckling och modernisering kan vara pådrivande faktorer till att grupper i befolkningen blir förflyttade och tvingade till att påbörja nya liv i en ny livsmiljö. Som ett svar på liknande omständigheter initierades ett omfattande förflyttningsprojekt i Colombo år 2011. Projektet vid namn Urban Regeneration Project grundades med visionen att förflytta 68.000 familjer från informella boendeformer till nybyggda höghuskomplex, och därmed uppgradera invånares levnadsstandard, samt nyttomaximera markanvändningen i staden. Förvisso kan ett projekt av denna sort i flera avseenden ses som någonting positivt, där många människor får en förbättrad boendesituation. Däremot, när omstruktureringar av staden sker tenderar inte bara den fysiska miljön att moderniseras, utan även invånarnas vardagsliv. Människor och grupper i alla dess konstellationer av nätverk och relationer kan ses som väsentliga för en levande och fungerande stad. Invånare investerar år av sina liv för att bygga upp relationer till sitt grannskap och medmänniskor vilka inte enkelt är utbytbara. Dessa relationer och nätverk bringar en känsla av tillhörighet men också tillit till sin omgivning som främjar stabilitet och trygghet. / The study concerns a relocation project of residents in informal settlements, commonly known as slums, in Sri Lanka's commercial capital Colombo. The UN's Sustainability Goal for Agenda 2030 highlights the development of the informal housing sector as an issue in several developing countries, including Sri Lanka. The development that is often a result of urbanization processes tends to create increased pressure on land and can thus limit the poor's ability to own land and housing. Modernization of cities tends to change the spatial structure of the city and align with market-driven land use and commercialization that are intended to promote economic growth. The market and commercial development stand great demand on central and attractive land in Colombo are largely occupied by informal settlements. The market, a state agenda for development and modernization can be driving factors why groups of the population are being displaced and forced to start new lives in a new living environment. In response to similar circumstances, an extensive relocation project was initiated in Colombo in 2011. The project called the Urban Regeneration Project was founded with the vision to move 68,000 families from informal housing to newly built high- rise complexes, thereby upgrading the living standards of residents, and maximizing land use benefits in the city. Indeed, a project of this kind can in many respects be seen as something positive, where several inhabitants get an improved housing situation. On the other hand, when restructuring of the city takes place, not only the physical environment tends to be modernized, but also the everyday lives of the inhabitants. People and groups in all its constellations of networks and relationships are essential for a living and functioning city. Residents invest years of their lives to build relationships with their neighborhood and fellow human beings that are not easily interchangeable. These relationships and networks bring a sense of belonging but also trust in their surroundings that promotes stability and security.