Urban inequality has emerged as one of the dominant themes of modern life and globalization. More than three million people experienced homelessness in the United States last year; in Miami-Dade, more than 15,000 individuals were homeless. Surviving extreme poverty, and exiting or avoiding homelessness, involves negotiating a complex mix of public and private assistance. However, a range of factors influence what types of help are available and how they can be accessed. Frequently, larger social structures determine which resource are available, leaving many choices entirely out of the individual’s control. For single men, who are ineligible for many benefits, homelessness can be difficult to avoid and even harder to exit. My study seeks to better understand how adult, minority men living in extreme poverty in Miami-Dade negotiate their daily survival. Specific research questions address: Do black and Hispanic men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have different personal characteristics and different experiences in avoiding or exiting homelessness? How does Miami’s response to extreme poverty/homelessness, including availability of public benefits and public and private service organizations, either maximize or constrain the choices available to this population? And, what is the actual experience of single, adult men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, in negotiating their daily survival? A mixed methods approach combines quantitative survey data from 7,605 homeless men, with qualitative data from 54 semi-structured interviews incorporating the visual ethnography techniques of Photo Elicitation Interviewing. Results show the differences experienced by black and Hispanic men who are poor and homeless in Miami. Findings also highlight how the community’s official and unofficial responses to homelessness intersect with the actual experiences of the persons targeted by the policies and programs, challenging preconceived notions regarding the lives of persons living in extreme poverty. It adds to the existing body of literature by focusing on the urban Miami context, emphasizing disparities amongst racial and ethnic groups. Findings are intended to provide an empirically grounded thesis that humanizes the subjects and illuminates their personal experiences, helping to inform public policy around the needs of extremely poor populations.

Orientador: Arlete Moysés Rodrigues / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T20:02:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Iaderozza_FabioEduardo_D.pdf: 2091120 bytes, checksum: 5e774c7d975681b8c7cc33a3dc84a509 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: A década de 1990 assistiu ao predomínio de ideais liberais-globalizantes, cuja principal marca foi o processo de privatização nas suas mais variadas formas. A pressão exercida por países do centro para a adoção de um sistema de propriedade industrial mais adequado aos interesses de grupos hegemônicos, fez surgir uma nova legislação sobre Propriedade Industrial no Brasil que abriu a possibilidade para se privatizar as riquezas naturais contidas em território nacional, como aquelas oriundas da biodiversidade, bem como o conhecimento tradicional associado. Levando-se em conta os avanços que estão ocorrendo em áreas como biotecnologia e engenharia genética, tidas como muito promissoras em meio aos novos domínios do capital, o fato de possuir ou ter acesso à biodiversidade tornou-se estratégico para a reprodução ampliada do capital. Diante dessa constatação, a tese analisa o processo histórico no qual se observa à crescente mercantilização da natureza, cujo resultado é a ampliação da produção de mercadorias a partir de suas riquezas, não para atender as necessidades humanas, mas aos interesses do capital. Com os Direitos de Propriedade Industrial cria-se a possibilidade de apropriação, por parte de grandes empresas transnacionais, das riquezas naturais existentes em dado território. Com isso, impõe-se uma nova forma de dominação, não diretamente nas terras, mas no acesso aos recursos genéticos patenteados, expropriando as comunidades tradicionais e os países biodiversos de seus conhecimentos e de suas riquezas. Consideramos esse tipo de apropriação a versão contemporânea dos enclosures, dado que a propriedade cercada e o monopólio são os objetivos finais / Abstract: The 1990s faced the predominance of liberal-globalizing ideals, whose main result was the process of privatization in its many forms. The pressure exerted by core countries for the adoption of a system more appropriate industrial property to the interests of hegemonic groups, introduced a new legislative industrial property law in Brazil that opened the possibility of privatizing the natural resources contained in the national territory, such as those arising from biodiversity and the associated traditional knowledge. Taking into consideration the advances that are occurring in areas such as biotechnology and genetic engineering, considered as very promising among the new domain of the capital, the fact of possessing or having access to biodiversity has become strategic for the expanded reproduction of the investment. Considering this fact, the thesis analyzes the historical process in which one observes the increasing commodification of nature, the result of which is the expansion of commodity production from their resources, not to meet human needs, but to the meet the capital interests. The industrial property rights creates the possibility of proprietorship by large transnational companies of the existing natural resources in a given territory. With this, a new form of domination is imposed, not directly on the land, but on the access of the patented genetic resources, expropriating traditional communities and the biodiverse countries of their knowledge and their resources. We consider this type of ownership the contemporary version of the enclosures, as the fenced property and monopoly are the ultimate goals / Doutorado / Análise Ambiental e Dinâmica Territorial / Doutor em Geografia

Orientador: Marcelo Weishaupt Proni / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T02:37:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_Tiago_D.pdf: 2364490 bytes, checksum: 346d8b800555715a5460f7a86c792855 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: O estudo ora apresentado pretende colocar em discussão o significado do processo atual de reconfiguração do mercado de trabalho brasileiro, iniciado em 2004, destacando seus principais elementos, determinantes e obstáculos. De modo mais específico, as reflexões presentes nesta tese de doutorado têm como objetivos: a) analisar de que forma a adoção de um novo padrão de desenvolvimento condicionou a dinâmica do mercado de trabalho brasileiro e a sua nova configuração; b) ponderar acerca dos limites intrínsecos à estratégia de crescimento neoliberal na tarefa de superar os traços persistentes de subdesenvolvimento do mercado de trabalho brasileiro; c) e, finalmente, examinar se a reconfiguração em curso representa uma tendência à superação dos problemas estruturais deste mercado de trabalho. Assim sendo, defende-se que, muito embora o excedente de mão de obra, a informalidade, os baixos salários, a alta rotatividade e a desigualdade de rendimentos continuem sendo problemas crônicos, os determinantes estruturais da organização e funcionamento do mercado de trabalho se alteraram decisivamente no capitalismo contemporâneo. Além do mais, a nova divisão internacional do trabalho, as tendências de polarização e precarização do mercado de trabalho e de flexibilização das relações de emprego na Europa alteraram os termos do debate sobre a estruturação do mercado de trabalho e o padrão de emprego desejado, assim como da discussão sobre as políticas necessárias para a solução dos referidos problemas. Nesse contexto, trava-se no Brasil uma disputa entre dois discursos distintos no que tange ao tema "desenvolvimento e mercado de trabalho": o discurso neoliberal e o social-desenvolvimentista, derivando de cada um deles diferentes implicações sobre a dinâmica do mercado de trabalho. Diante desse debate, argumenta-se que a estratégia de crescimento neoliberal é incapaz de enfrentar os problemas crônicos inerentes a um mercado de trabalho subdesenvolvido como o brasileiro. Ao final do presente estudo, espera-se ter reunido argumentos para discutir a seguinte hipótese: a superação dos traços herdados do passado (responsáveis pela reprodução da pobreza extrema e das desigualdades socioeconômicas) e a consolidação de um mercado de trabalho condizente com a nova inserção do País na economia mundial e com os avanços no campo da cidadania e dos direitos sociais dependem, em última instância, da viabilidade de sustentação do novo padrão de desenvolvimento gestado na década passada / Abstract: The study presented here discusses the meaning of the current process of reconfiguration of the Brazilian labor market, started in 2004, highlighting its main elements, determinants and obstacles. More specifically, this doctoral thesis has the following objectives: a) to analyze how the adoption of a new development pattern conditioned the dynamics of the Brazilian labor market and its new setting; b) to identify the intrinsic limitation of a neoliberal growth strategy to overcome the persistent characteristics of underdevelopment of the Brazilian labor market; c) and finally to examine whether the ongoing reconfiguration has the potential to overcome the structural problems of the labor market. Therefore, it is argued that, although the labor surplus, informality, low wages, high turnover and income inequality continue to be chronic problems, the structural determinants of the organization and functioning of the labor market have changed decisively in contemporary capitalism. Moreover, the new international division of labor, the trends of polarization and precarious labor market and flexibilization of the labor relations in Europe changed the terms of the debate about the structure of the labor market and the intended job patterns, as well as the discussion on the policies needed to solve those problems. In this context, in Brazil two different discourses regarding the theme "development and the labor market" are in dispute: the neoliberal and the social-developmentalism, each one with implications for the dynamics of the labor market. Given this debate, it is argued that the neoliberal growth strategy is unable to address the inherent chronic problems of an underdeveloped labor market as is the Brazilian. This study gathers arguments to discuss the following hypothesis: overcoming the inherited traits of the past (responsible for the reproduction of extreme poverty and socioeconomic inequalities) and the consolidation of a consistent labor market with the new insertion of the country into the global economy and the advances in the field of citizenship and social rights depend, ultimately, on the new development pattern conceived in the last decade / Doutorado / Economia Social e do Trabalho / Doutor em Desenvolvimento Economico

This research assesses changes in Canada’s national park system between the years 2000-2015 and places these changes within the broad social, political, and economic context in Canada, as well as within trends in international conservation policy and practice. The animating research questions include: how did Parks Canada respond in the fifteen years following the report of the 2000 Panel on Environmental Integrity? What political, economic, and cultural factors influenced Parks Canada Agency in this period? A further research question emerged from my findings: Why has it been so hard for Parks Canada to lead with ecological integrity as its first priority? Through a political ecological lens, the research utilizes a mixed methods approach. Using semi-formal interviews with retired Parks Canada managers, I was able to establish what had changed and how these changes were interpreted by these former employees. I also interviewed environmental NGOs to gather information on how those outside the Agency viewed the changes taking place within Parks Canada. I then collected and reviewed primary Parks Canada documents to establish the main changes, including of policy, as well as budgets and expenditures. My research found that in this period, despite efforts to shift the culture of the organization of Parks Canada to ecological integrity (EI) the Agency deepened its emphasis on visitor experience. The most recent "decade of change" in Canadian national parks policy and practice is thus reminiscent of the century-long struggle to determine whom or what parks are for and the role that Parks Canada plays in the production of Canadian identity. Although we are tempted to conclude that the decades repeat themselves like a pendulum swinging between “use” and “preservation,” this analysis suggests that this decade of change is distinct from the previous decades, with the institution increasingly emphasizing its role as nation-builder and tourism provider. This research purposes that a kind of Polanyian “double movement” is playing out on a new foundational terrain characterized by neoliberal solutions for conservation, a terrain influenced by a broader, global neoliberal transformation within state institutions. / Graduate / 2021-05-18

The purpose of the study was to describe and examine how the constraints on urban school districts led to the establishment in 2010 of a consortium of California’s largest urban school districts that included structures of mutual accountability in response to neoliberal school reforms and top-down accountability since the implementation of No Child Left Behind. Using a qualitative case study research design and critical policy analysis as an analytical framework, this study examined how California’s CORE districts (i.e., Fresno Unified School District, Long Beach Unified School District, Los Angeles Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District, and Santa Ana Unified School District) experienced, negotiated, and responded to the shifting landscape of education policy resulting from the expansion of privatization and neoliberal school reform. The expansion of the top-down high-stakes accountability and neoliberal school reform policies since No Child Left Behind has impeded the work of districts, by narrowly focusing their work on accountability and limiting their flexibility in determining how to allocate resources to support improvement. These top-down reform policies have also limited opportunities for collaboration and diminished ownership and responsibility at the district level. Urban district leaders not only in California, but in urban districts across the United States, have felt the impact of competing social, political, and economic forces, such as the high-stakes, top-down federal accountability of No Child Left Behind, neoliberalism, and privatization. To better understand the conditions that led to the creation of the CORE districts and their subsequent impact on urban school district leaders in California, the following research questions guided the study: 1. What social, political, and economic forces led to the creation of California’s CORE districts? 2. What are the governance and leadership models that characterize the CORE districts? 3. What impact have the CORE districts had on the urban education policy landscape in California? An examination of these questions not only helps us understand the circumstances that led to the establish of the CORE districts, but how their work impacted the policy landscape in California and supports the learning of other district leaders.

In the mid-2000s, novels written by Indian women featuring a single woman's adventures in work and romance joined a transnational genre of writing called "chick lit" epitomized by novels such as Bridget Jones's Diary (Fielding 1996) and Sex and the City (Bushnell 1997). While chick lit has garnered some scholarly attention (Ferriss and Young 2006; Gill 2007; Harzewski 2011), studies remain largely focused on Anglo-American writing even while acknowledging the genre's global spread. There has been no in-depth analysis of chick lit written by Indian women in India, and it is this lacuna that this study seeks to fill.;The emergence of chick lit in India roughly a decade after economic liberalization makes the novels a useful lens through which to observe the formation of a new feminine neoliberal subjectivity - "the Indian singleton". I argue that the discourse of singleness in Indian chick lit novels is deployed not so much to solve the problem of being unmarried, but to resolve the tension between the demands of "Indian tradition" on urban, middle-class, young women and their desire for a selfhood inflected by transnational, neoliberal discourses of autonomy. By shifting my analytical focus away from the protagonist and her romantic partner to the mother-daughter relationship in the novels, I show how "tradition" and "modernity" are crystallized through discourses of food, fashion and the body. While "tradition" and "modernity" are conceptualized in these narratives as a binary, the protagonists seem to be attempting to articulate a selfhood that merges the two poles without having to pick a side. I draw on postcolonial, poststructuralist and feminist theory to argue that in their refusal to conform to ideas of Indian selfhood wherein individualism is circumscribed by community, the single women in Indian chick lit present, if not entirely represent, the idea of synthesis.

This dissertation examines how three contemporary Mexican intellectuals confront the cultural milieu and political economy of the neoliberal era by revising the utopian imaginaries of Mexico’s major 20th century student movements. Building on recent scholarship on Mexican history and geography, urban studies, and political theory, I analyze the cities and politics that Mexican intellectuals have imagined to challenge the neoliberal cultural injunction against alternative forms of utopian thinking. The principal works studied in this dissertation are Roberto Bolaño’s novels Amuleto (1999), Los detectives salvajes (1998), and El espíritu de la ciencia-ficción (2016); Eduardo Ruiz Sosa’s novel Anatomía de la memoria (2014); and Alonso Ruizpalacios’ film Güeros (2014). The first chapter examines Roberto Bolaño’s treatments of the 1968 student movement and the Tlatelolco massacre within his broader Mexico City works. Bolaño uses metaphors derived from horror film to critique traditional historiographies of ’68 that are colored by morbid fascination with the violence, while positing science fiction as a utopian method for rethinking the relationship between the past and the future. The second chapter analyzes how Eduardo Ruiz Sosa’s novel Anatomía de la memoria conjures the specters of the 1970s student guerilla uprising in Sinaloa to shed light on the present struggles against the contemporary violence plaguing cities like Culiacán. I approach Ruiz Sosa’s novel as a study of the ruins of revolutionary Third Worldism which politicizes individual and collective processes of mourning and reaffirms a future open to possibilities beyond narco-neoliberal sovereignty. The third chapter unpacks the utopian resonances of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ film Güeros about the 1999-2000 National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) student strike against the neoliberal effort to privatize higher education. I read the portrayal of the student occupation of the UNAM campus as an exploration of the dialectical utopian tensions between the needs for access to urban resources and poetic encounters with the unexpected in city life. By studying these intellectuals as critics of neoliberalism and as visual and textual philosophers of the utopian, my dissertation conceives of utopia as a strategy of finding potentialities within historical narratives to restore a sense of possibility to contemporary political landscapes.

This study investigates the exclusion of rural communities from the postcolonial South African nation state as a result of the neoliberal agenda of the democratic government. This is a qualitative study that was conducted using a desktop analysis of literature and information on the case of the rural Xolobeni community and their resistance to mining. The secondary sources analysed included books, journal articles, news articles and online court documents. The study was also guided by the postcolonial concepts of the nation state and neoliberalism, which have both contributed to the conceptualisation of citizenship in the postcolonial world. The study found that economic growth-centred development in South Africa is often at the expense of those living in the poor communities of the country, such as in the rural areas (Capps & Mnwana, 2015; Kunnie, 2000). Rural communities, such as the former Bantustans, are often stripped of their land rights and livelihood strategies without their consent, at the hands of the democratic government of South Africa under the guise of development. This study argues that this is an injustice that results in the exclusion of rural communities from the postcolonial nation state. This exclusion is not only undemocratic – it resembles the oppression of these communities that characterised apartheid in South Africa.

Magister Artium - MA / Solid waste management in South Africa is in a phase of transitioning. This transition entails the valorisation and diversion of recyclable waste away from landfills for the creation of a new secondary recycling economy. However, reclaimers within the Global South have been engaged in valorising waste through market-driven pricing. Localised and ‘informal’ as they are, they remain a significant source of labour for global capital. Their presence runs parallel to the emergence of green models such as the circular economy, coupled with contentious initiatives that aim at formalising and integrating reclaimers. Given the revitalised emphasis on the urban waste economy, inadequate attention has been given to understanding the linkages between the formal processing companies and informal waste reclaimers operating at the level of the street and landfill.

Among the most notable trends of the last several decades in the United States have been the rise of corporate power, the entrenchment of neoliberalism, the rise in inequality, along with discussions regarding the ‘culture wars’ and the phenomenon of polarization. The onset of the neoliberal era has been accompanied and facilitated by a decades-long marketing campaign propagating the consistent narrative of individualism over the collective, that government is the problem rather than a solution to problems, while associating freedom exclusively with the market. This thesis project draws on critical theory, Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power, discourse, narrative and communications theory, along with some insights from social psychology to examine the discursive shifting of the political spectrum that has occurred over the last four decades and has helped to entrench market fundamentalism as a hegemonic common sense. The thesis pays particular attention to the weaponization of the word ‘liberal’ and how this strategy has affected the understanding of the political spectrum and how the centre is currently framed. The research design I use to interrogate this entails a qualitative content analysis of various media sources noting how ‘common sense’ populist discourse, such as terms like ‘liberal’, are utilized by Republican operatives and conservative commentators, as well as by the mainstream media and the general public. Using a multi-disciplinary theoretical approach and a methodological framework provided by Stone and Parker, I deconstruct and analyze the narrative that has been built up around neoliberalism and how it can serve to reinforce neoliberalism as a little-questioned hegemonic paradigm, often by-passing cognition. Neoliberal logics reject the political in terms of participatory democracy, while still requiring a strong state to stabilize the economic order. The resulting erosion of democracy augurs the possibility of right-wing authoritarianism, exacerbates inequality, and promotes a growth model that is unsustainable ecologically / Graduate