The permanent coresidence of males within a troop is unusual but occurs in vervet monkeys. Several hypotheses have been projected to explain the coexistence of male vervets (predation risk, breeding season length) but these hypotheses fall short in explaining the multimale nature of vervet monkeys. In order to determine the explanation for coresiding males, I collected male behavioural data from two troops over the course of nine months. My dataset was divided into two categories, male-male interactions and female-male interactions. The male-male data indicate that breeding season is the most active time for migration, aggressions and wounds. Coalitions were described for the first time, and affiliative interactions between males highlighted coping tactics of males in regards to their coexistence. The female-male data indicate there was little indication for distinct male or female choice for mating. Specifically, olfactory information appears to lower successful copulations of males, and female resistance also decreased successful copulations. Grooming was not a commodity traded for mating access. Male dominance was not correlated with mating success, and females seem to express their preference for sexual partners. The large cohort of males of my troops appears to alter behaviours observed at other sites. The maintenance of male-female associations after breeding season suggests that males may be preparing for next breeding season, and males may co-reside for breeding purposes. / xiii, 123 leaves : ill. maps ; 29 cm

Macrobrachium australiense is a common freshwater prawn found throughout most of eastern and inland Australia. Debate has been ongoing on the systematics of this species due to high morphological variation: past studies have relied on external morphology assessments to describe genetic relationships between populations. An individual's morphological phenotype results however, from an interplay of genetic factors, environmental, and interactions between genes and the environment. The current study examined the strength of genetic constraint on morphological traits in this species. Examination of over 1000 M. australiense museum specimens collected from across the species' extensive natural range, documented high phenotypic variation with no regional pattern of variation. Within regions, 88% of variation in morphological traits in mature males and juveniles was present between local rivers. Therefore, morphological variation is not structured at the regional level. If there is a strong genetic base to morphological variation then populations in a single river system must be evolving essentially in isolation. More intensive sampling within a single river system demonstrated high morphological variation in 600 M. australiense individuals from 18 populations within a geographically connected system. Populations separated by as little as 1km showed significant morphological differences in 50% of mature male traits. If morphological variation is primarily genetically based, then populations within a river system were evolving independently at a very fine spatial scale. This hypothesis was tested by breeding morphologically divergent populations of M. australiense in a controlled environment to isolate genetic influences on morphological variation. Low heritability for morphological traits in five divergent populations raised under identical environments established that there is no strict genetic control on morphological variation in these M. australiense populations. Morphologically homogenous offspring resulted from wild parents that had exhibited significant differences at 73% of traits examined. Therefore, the fundamental assumption that morphological variation in M. australiense is dictated by strict genetic control is not supported in these representative populations. Moreover, significant variation in 41% of morphological traits was produced by raising a single population at different environmental temperatures (28oC and 22 oC). A single homogenous stock of M. australiense should not produce morphologically divergent offspring if genetic factors are the major influence of phenotypic expression. Crossing of pure line divergent stocks resulted in hybrid offspring with significant differences in 50% of female morphological traits, whereas male offspring varied for only 31% of morphological traits. This result suggests that female morphological expression is affected more strongly by genetic factors than male offspring in this trial. The growth and maturation of external morphological traits during development in M. australiense is under limited genetic constraint, especially in the later phases of growth. Only 17% of traits varied between juvenile stocks in the last three months of development when individuals were exposed to identical environmental conditions. Maturation size was homogenous, except for females in the absence of maturing males in divergent stocks exposed to identical environmental conditions. Females were much larger in size and shape of morphological traits in the absence of mature males in the population. Thus environmental factors strongly influence phenotypic expression of external morphology in M. australiense. Past problems with the taxonomy of this species are therefore understandable as many important traits used in systematics appear to be under limited genetic control. Past evolutionary studies based on morphological diversity in this species therefore may be unreliable as the traits used to identify divergent forms may not provide a true reflection of genetic divergence.

Face aux mutations contemporaines des mondes ruraux, la compréhension de la capacité des sociétés rurales à se reproduire et à organiser leurs territoires est un enjeu crucial. Cette thèse d’ethnologie est intégrée aux travaux de recherche pluridisciplinaires d’un laboratoire d’écologie du paysage. Elle vise à mieux comprendre les dynamiques conjointes des sociétés et des territoires dans le Bas-Comminges, en Haute-Garonne. Les sociétés bas-commingeoises présentent des capacités à assimiler le changement et sont marquées par un système social spécifique, dit « à maison », qui a la particularité d’entraîner une stabilité des patrimoines fonciers. L’étude ethnographique de la transmission, des limites et de la composition des patrimoines depuis le début du 19ème siècle et l’intégration des données collectées dans un Système d’Information Géographique vont révéler le lien entre une organisation sociale et son territoire. Les résultats s’articulent en trois points. (1) Les patrimoines sont effectivement stables au cours des deux derniers siècles. La société étudiée présente une forte hiérarchie sociale. Le statut social est fondé sur la richesse foncière et le maintien de son patrimoine de génération en génération. (2) On constate que, pour les Bas-Commingeois, il est nécessaire de détenir mais aussi de cultiver la terre pour faire se perpétuer son statut. Leur objectif est de respecter un principe d’autonomie des propriétés et une diversité des pratiques et de l’occupation du sol. (3) Le maintien de sa place au sein de la hiérarchie passe aussi par une implication des acteurs locaux au sein des institutions du village. Le respect de ces principes a entraîné une permanence de l’organisation du territoire et une adaptation du système aux mutations du monde rural. Cette étude répond à des questions posées sur les dynamiques des espaces agricoles et forestiers et apporte une contribution dans la compréhension des capacités des mondes ruraux à se perpétuer. / Facing the contemporary changes of the rural worlds, the comprehension of the ability of the rural societies to reproduce and organize their territories is a crucial stake. This PhD in Ethnology is integrated into the pluri-disciplinary researches of a landscape ecology laboratory. The aims of the study are to understand the dynamics between societies and territories in rural societies of the Bas-Comminges, in Haute-Garonne (France). Those societies have the capacities to assimilate changes and are marked by the presence of a specific social system, known as “the house-centered system”, which characteristic is to involve the stability of the real estate. The ethnographic study of the inheritance, the limits and the composition of the real estate since the beginning of the 19th century and the integration of the data collected in a Geographical Information System will reveal the bond between a social organization and its territory. The results are articulated in three points. (1) The real estates are stable during the last 2 centuries. The studied society presents a strong social hierarchy. The social status is based on the land richness and its maintenance from generation to generation. (2) It is noted that it is necessary for the Bas-Commingeois to hold but also to cultivate the land to remain its statute. The objective of the owners is to respect a principle of autonomy of the properties and a diversity of the practices and cover of the land. (3) The maintenance of the status within the hierarchy also passes by an involvement of the Bas-Commingeois within the village’s institutions. The respect of these principles induces the permanence of the territory and an adaptation of the system to the changes of the rural world. This study answers questions about the dynamics of agricultural and forest spaces and contributes to a better understanding of the capacities of the rural worlds to survive.

This bachelor’s thesis is an effort to understand how black women in Sweden experience 'race' and racism in everyday life. The theoretical framework includes a postcolonial theory from Sara Ahmed, with the concept of 'race' as a key element. Additional to that, Judith Butler’s gender performativity theory contributes to a broader understanding of the informants’ situation. The material consisting of interviews with four young black women implies that everyday racism is present in Swedish society to that extent that 'race' is a major aspect of these women’s life. In everyday encounters with the white majority of the society, they often feel different, marginalized, objectified and exotified. Furthermore, the informants experience that their skin color and phenotypic markers are a magnet for white people’s fetish and fantasies, but also an obstacle to obtain legitimacy in interactions with them. To those reasons, the informants are considering migrating to a country where black people are forming a larger minority in society than it is the case in Sweden. That opens up the possibility to interact with more black people who have similar experiences of being exposed to everyday racism.

In this study the experiences, perceptions and challenges of being in a mixed-race relationship (M-R) were explored against the backdrop of previous South African pieces of legislation meant to keep the various race groups apart. The study was located within a conceptual framework predominantly informed by a constructivist approach, as well as some tenets from the social constructionist approach. This study focused only on M-R relationships consisting of black and white partners. The couples were recruited through the use of a snowball sampling method. In-depth interviews were used as the primary tool for collecting data. All participants were interviewed by the researcher either at their own homes or in the researcher's office. The collected information was later transcribed and qualitatively analysed. The results of the study indicate that individuals found their involvement in M-R relationships to be a positive experience, and thus resulting in a positive attitude change and a sense of personal growth. M-R couples and their extended families experienced cognitive dissonance which required them to discard their previously internalised racial stereotypes, using strategies such as cognitive differentiation, re-categorization and de-categorization, allowing shifts toward non-racial socially constructed categories. Most of the challenges of being in M-R relationships were experienced on interpersonal and inter-group levels. The losses, disadvantages, challenges, concerns and pains experienced by M-R couples were mainly related to family and social disapproval of the relationship as well as efforts to discourage race mixing. The study concludes that the non-conformist nature of M-R relationships requires from the participants a high level of self-differentiation and individuation that challenges racial norms and cultural collectivism. Albeit being a personal or private matter, a M-R relationship carries the burden of easily being the subject of public discourse. It is in this sense that M-R relationships cannot be understood without taking the socio-political context within which they occur into consideration. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Psychology)

L’objectif de ce mémoire est d’examiner l’accès à l’eau d’un point de vue non pas technologique mais social. Toute société humaine a eu à régler la question de l’accès à l’eau. C’est particulièrement le cas des populations vivant sous un climat aride comme au Sahel, où cette ressource est rare. Le village d’étude est situé au nord du Burkina Faso, dans la région du Yatenga. J’examinerai d’abord la répartition temporelle et spatiale des groupes et des puits sur le territoire, puis la question de la régulation de l’accès à l’eau en tant qu’enjeu politique au sein des structures traditionnelles. Je montrerai qu’il permet tantôt de renforcer les hiérarchies sociales existantes, et tantôt de les dépasser. J’examinerai enfin l’accès à l’eau de différents groupes d’usagers : femmes, hommes, jeunes, vieux, agriculteurs, éleveurs. Je montrerai que leur condition d’accès est implicitement régulée, et limite les possibilités d’expansion économique de certains d’entre eux. Dans cette société en mutation, les usagers désavantagés peuvent développer des tactiques leur permettant de contourner ces contraintes. L’accès à l’eau est alors pris dans un jeu de stratégies antagonistes, celle de la reproduction sociale et celle du changement. / The purpose of this report is to examine access to water, not from a technological but from a social point of view. Any human society has had to cope with the issue of access to water. This is especially true for the people living under arid climates such as in Sahel, where water is a limiting resource. The village under study is located in the Yatenga region, north of Burkina Faso. I will first examine the space and time distribution of wells and of human groups in this territory, then I will question the regulation of access to water as a political issue within traditional structures. I will show that it contributes to sometimes strengthen and sometimes circumvent patterns of social hierarchy. Then I will study access to water in different social groups: women, men, younger and older people, elders, farmers, herders. I will show that their access to water is implicitly checked, thus limiting opportunities of economical improvement for some of them. In this developing society, disadvantaged users may develop tactics to circumvent these constraints. Thus access to water is taken between conflicting strategies, pertaining to social reproduction as opposed to social change.

In this study the experiences, perceptions and challenges of being in a mixed-race relationship (M-R) were explored against the backdrop of previous South African pieces of legislation meant to keep the various race groups apart. The study was located within a conceptual framework predominantly informed by a constructivist approach, as well as some tenets from the social constructionist approach. This study focused only on M-R relationships consisting of black and white partners. The couples were recruited through the use of a snowball sampling method. In-depth interviews were used as the primary tool for collecting data. All participants were interviewed by the researcher either at their own homes or in the researcher's office. The collected information was later transcribed and qualitatively analysed. The results of the study indicate that individuals found their involvement in M-R relationships to be a positive experience, and thus resulting in a positive attitude change and a sense of personal growth. M-R couples and their extended families experienced cognitive dissonance which required them to discard their previously internalised racial stereotypes, using strategies such as cognitive differentiation, re-categorization and de-categorization, allowing shifts toward non-racial socially constructed categories. Most of the challenges of being in M-R relationships were experienced on interpersonal and inter-group levels. The losses, disadvantages, challenges, concerns and pains experienced by M-R couples were mainly related to family and social disapproval of the relationship as well as efforts to discourage race mixing. The study concludes that the non-conformist nature of M-R relationships requires from the participants a high level of self-differentiation and individuation that challenges racial norms and cultural collectivism. Albeit being a personal or private matter, a M-R relationship carries the burden of easily being the subject of public discourse. It is in this sense that M-R relationships cannot be understood without taking the socio-political context within which they occur into consideration. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Psychology)

La vie en groupe fascine les scientifiques depuis longtemps et la question des mécanismes en jeu permettant à un groupe social de rester cohésif est largement étudiée. Dans ce travail, je me suis intéressée à l’implication des relations sociales dans le maintien de la cohésion chez trois espèces de Cercopithecinae. Pourquoi certains individus occupent une place particulière au sein du réseau de relations sociales d’un groupe ?Ces individus ayant un statut social particulier ont-ils un rôle de ciment social ?D’après les résultats de ce travail, les relations de parenté, en relation avec le style social de l’espèce, semblent être le facteur prédominant sous-tendant l’accession des individus à un statut social élevé. De plus, les individus occupant une position sociale élevée jouent un rôle primordial dans la stabilité du groupe, et ont également une influence importante sur les décisions prises quotidiennement, leur conférant in fine un avantage en termes de survie et de reproduction./The comprehension of the mechanisms allowing a social group to stay cohesive throughout their environment and across seasons is a fascinating question. In this work, I studied the implication of social relationships in maintaining group cohesion in three Cercopithecinae species. Why some individuals occupy specific positions within the social relationships network? Have these individuals a particular role in the stability of social groups? According to our results, kinship seems to be an important variable underlying the access to a high social status for group members, in respect with the social style displayed by the considered species. Moreover, Individuals occupying such high social positions play a crucial role for the group stability. They also have a great influence on decisions took on a daily basis by the group. This high social status is therefore advantageous for individuals in terms of survival and reproduction. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In 1885 Adele Steinwender arrived in South Africa from Germany. Her vocation was that of a teacher, but unlike the majority of white women who moved to the colonies to teach, Steinwender taught the children of the missionaries, as opposed to the local children. During her five years in Bethanie, a Berlin Mission Station in the Orange Free State, she kept a diary recording her observations of day-to-day life. Steinwender’s diary reveals certain aspects that were often neglected in the diary of the male missionaries, namely the domestic side of life. Her commentaries provide one with a unique perspective on missionary activities, not only because she is writing as a woman, but because although she is in the employ of the Berlin Mission Society, she herself, was not a missionary. Thus her reflections are that of an “outsider”. She was an outsider in more senses than one, considering she was an unmarried woman, who was financially independent, and this set her apart from the other woman who lived within this community at the time. Another aspect that made her unique was that she was the most recent arrival from Germany. Although the white residents of Bethanie did attempt to uphold their germanness during their time spent abroad, they had somewhat adapted to a more “colonial lifestyle”. Throughout her diary, Steinwender cites examples of such cultural adaptations amongst the people living there. That having been said, however, the missionaries and their families still held a feeling of superiority over the local population and there was a deeper sense of German nationalism that was prevalent at all times. This study examines the diary alongside nationalism and gender and provides one with an image of what a community was perceived like through the eyes of Steinwender. She proved to be the exception more than the rule, yet there is a perpetual undertone of her wanting to fit within the confines of what was considered to be normal. / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

No description available.