Truth and reconciliation commissions vary across geo-political context, depending on the social, economic, and political landscapes. In this thesis I compare how the truth and reconciliation commissions in Canada and South Africa vary in their approach to gender. If truth and reconciliation commissions (TRC) are venues to address past injustices, then the different gendered experiences of injustice need to be centred in the work of commissions. Yet, as I argue, the Canadian TRC has only minimally incorporated gender differences into its work, and while the South African TRC made women’s experiences more central, it too did not fully address the impact of gendered forms of domination. / Graduate / 0615 / 0453 / kereid@uvic.ca

Injuries are a serious public health concern and identifying risk factors for injury is a research priority. Previous research consistently supports the link between alcohol and risk of injury and between mental health and alcohol use. There is also some research to indicate an association between mental health and risk of injury. Given the nature of these independent relationships, examining how these variables are inter-related could have significant implications for injury prevention and informing public health policies. There is however, a dearth of research examining how mental health and alcohol interact and contribute to injury risk. The present study examines the independent and shared contributions of mental health and alcohol to injury. Furthermore, gender differences in these relationships are examined. The results indicate both alcohol use and mental health are significantly associated with increased risk of injury. Moreover, a synergistic effect between alcohol and mental health on injury is found among women. The implications for these results in practice and policy are discussed. / Graduate / 0622 / aroemer@uvic.ca

Dans ses ouvrages, Gender Trouble et Undoing Gender, Judith Butler soutient que le sexe est une norme politique destinée à promouvoir l'hétérosexualité. Elle réfute l'idée d'un genre social s'appuyant sur un sexe biologique et considère que les deux concepts sont des produits de la performativité des normes. Le cas des intersexués est particulièrement intéressant pour illustrer ces théories. Ces individus présentent en effet une anatomie qui remet en cause le dimorphisme sexuel et soulèvent le problème de la construction d'une identité sexuelle cohérente sur un corps androgyne. Les romans d'apprentissage, Le choeur des femmes de Martin Winckler et Middlesex de Jeffrey Eugenides décrivent le parcours de deux personnages intersexués et mettent en évidence l'action des normes décrites par Judith Butler. Ils révèlent notamment l'action performative du langage ainsi que la collusion entre savoir et pouvoir. Ils nous invitent à imaginer une société où la catégorisation sexuelle serait moins restrictive. In Gender Trouble and Undoing Gender, Judith Butler challenges notions of sex and gender and contests that gender is the social construct of a biological sex. She affirms that both of them are gendered concepts and she develops her theory of gender performativity. Intersexuality is particularly pertinent to illustrate these concepts. Intersex individuals cannot be distinctly identified as male or female and they face the problem of building a coherent gender identity on an ambiguous biological sex. The bildungsromans, Le choeur des femmes by Martin Winckler and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides introduce intersex main characters who have to overcome many obstacles in their search for identity. They realize the impossibility of describing their condition or their feelings because of the performativity and the paucity of the language and discover that knowledge and power are indissociable. Their struggles call us to re-evaluate sexual identification. / Graduate

Colombia holds one of the most unequal sex ratios at government level in Latin America. The research therefore attempts to examine how the minority of women who have a seat in government are being reflected and reproduced in the media based on the representation of gender. In this qualitative study, the aim is to investigate, analyze and illustrate how women in high political office in Colombia are portrayed in Colombian newspapers. The study examines how gender affects the discourse of these female politicians. In the study a critical discourse analysis is used from a feminist perspective on material from Colombian newspapers, concerning four different female Colombian top politicians. The focus of the analysis is to examine how the image of these women are being produced and reproduced in the media and if the reproduction of the discourse of these women stand out or differ significantly because of their gender. The study contributes to gain a broader understanding and overview of what the situation of women in the political world in Colombia looks like, how it is shaped by the media and the social and cultural context, and finally how this affects women in politics.

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Within the context of national levels of poverty, structural adjustment policies and the AIDS epidemic, this thesis analyses the experiences of children and young people in difficult circumstances in Tanzania from a gender perspective. Using the social construction of 'childhood' as the theoretical framework, the study is based on participatory, child-focused ethnographic research, which was conducted in Arusha, northern Tanzania 2000-2002. Following an overview of the global concept of childhood, the phenomenon of street children, and concepts of childhood in Tanzania, I provide a reflexive account of the research process. Based on the findings, I explore children's and adults' perceptions of the socio-cultural concept of childhood, children's different gendered experiences, and attitudes towards education. The study then examines street children's experiences of 'home' and their narratives of why they left their immediate household. In the light of the experiences of some street children who had been orphaned by AIDS and whose families and communities were unable to support them, I analyse the experiences of children from HIV / AIDS-affected households, and young people's age-related and gendered vulnerabilities to HIV infection. The contradictions and contrasts of life on the street are explored, based on children's experiences, with gender identified as a key differential. I examine the survival strategies and coping mechanisms, both materially and emotionally, that children develop in order to survive independently in the street. Using Moser's framework of 'practical' and 'strategic' needs and interests (1989) I explore ways of responding to the experiences of children and young people. Children's participation in decision-making at the local, regional, national and international levels is analysed, and I draw up a series of policy recommendations which aim to meet children's practical and strategic needs. In the light of the previous chapters, I re-evaluate the concept of street children and offer some ways forward.

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