This research presents a qualitative analysis of issues concerning the care and identities of people with profound learning disabilities moving from hospital to a community home. Life story books were introduced and investigated as a resource for presenting biographical information about the clients. Talk concerning the compilation and subsequent use of these life story books, during the transition from hospital to community care, was examined using discourse analysis. Analysis reveals how parents and carers constitute mutual identities of themselves and the person with learning disabilites. Although the clients can not talk for themselves they are represented. by their carers and relatives, as having a position on their own identities and those of others around them. These fmdinas contribute to the debate on the nature of relationships between people with learning disabilities and their carers. Interdependencies between research and practice, are also examined through an analysis of the way the life story books are used in the setting.

The thesis, Radio in a Transitional Society: The Case of Modern Thailand, is an exploratory study of radio in its total context. In arguing that it is the structure and process of the system of production, distribution and consumption of the media that reproduce social stratification and political legitimation we undertake four major areas of investigation; the structure of ownership and control of the Thai radio system which basically constrained the range and formats of output in this arena, the dynamics of the media institutions and cultural industries within which entrepreneurs and professionals struggle to achieve organisation goals and their 'relative autonomy', the forms of representation - the 'serious genres' of news and current affairs and official commentaries and religious programmes, and the 'popular genres' of drama and music - through which ideological reproduction and contestation are played out, and lastly the active audience whom the state and the cultural industries must constantly negotiate for social integration and to fulfil their commercial goals. The study shows that the role of radio in cultural and social reproduction is highly complicated and contentious. Without examining the total system in relation to the dynamics of the economy in general and the power hierarchy we would either fall into the reductionist camp or trap in the simplistic connection between control of material and mental production argued by proponents of the dominant ideology thesis. On the contrary, we have demonstrated that disruption is possible and the transmission of any 'preferred meaning' must be negotiated. Although the notions of progress and salvation are predominant in the official programmes contestations from popular entertainment are manifested in presenting sensual pleasure as desirable whilst secularisation emerges. Nonetheless, in this dialectical relationship the arena of ideological struggle is delimited by the dynamics of the economy and political control. The thesis therefore, points the way to more detailed studies in the sociology of mass communications, particularly in the structure of ownership and control of the media industries as a whole and the tensions within them, and how alternative and oppositional discourses are curtailed, so as to better understand this complex process of representation, reproduction and contestation.

In this thesis I explore the range of complex social relationships and practices encountered in the cemeteries of Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City. The research, conducted over several periods of fieldwork, aimed to produce a visual ethnography of the social life of cemeteries by combining photographic techniques, participant observation and interviews. The narrative and visual data collected during fieldwork demonstrate the ways in which the cemeteries of Álvaro Obregón reflect the sentiments and actions invested in producing social and visual spaces that commemorate the dead. The conjoined landscapes of the living and the dead are spaces of personal and collective grief, charged with emotions, and shaped by ethical dilemmas on the part of the bereaved, mourners, the cemetery workers and the fieldworker. Profound dilemmas arise because of the dramatic expansion of the city’s population. High rates of population growth and vigorous urban development throughout the city have placed the existing landscapes of the dead under enormous pressure to make way for the living. On the one hand, the thesis considers the arguments of some residents of Mexico City for rejecting cremation, now accepted by the Catholic Church as a rational solution to the problem of shortage of burial space; on the other, it shows how other residents opt for cremation but devise a range of strategies to produce a sense of permanence and presence of their dead. This is achieved largely through the manipulation of material objects, including photographs. The need to recycle burial sites means that exhumations are quite frequent and the thesis provides a detailed visual record of the quality and demands of the work of exhumation and preparation of graves. The thesis also explores the range of daily activities and yearly rituals involved in sustaining the space of the cemetery and in supporting the intense, long-term relationships reproduced internally by mourners, regular, daily and casual visitors and cemetery workers. The thesis provides a detailed account of the economy of the cemetery and its links with the city via the work of religious, funeral parlours, stonemasons and many others who contribute to the making of this space. Attention is also paid to the ways in which the private and the public are expressed as separate yet merging spheres, marked by yearly commemorations and festivities such as the Day of the Dead that are occasions for intense social and economic activity in the cemetery. The thesis also illustrates the importance of attachment, whether to kinship, friendship or other networks and relationships that define access to the cemetery, whether for burial or for employment as a worker in Álvaro Obregón. The thesis shows how the dead in Mexico City remain important members of families of the living and how the living actively and dynamically integrate and maintain the ‘dead persons’ as social participants in their lives and daily practices.

At a time when the institutional and intellectual futures of the social sciences are under threat, there has been growing concern among researchers and policy makers around the question of how to foster and enhance the relevance of their knowledge-practices. This thesis problematises such demands by elaborating a concept of ‘relevance’ that renders it not the product of a subjective act of interpretation, but an event that is part and parcel of the immanent processes by which the facts that compose situations come (in)to matter. By expanding on the work of William Connolly, Gilles Deleuze, John Dewey, Donna Haraway, William James, Michel Serres, Isabelle Stengers and Alfred North Whitehead, among others, I follow the implications of the concept of relevance through a speculative exploration of modes of knowledge-making in contemporary social science. As I show, such an exploration requires a transformation of the ethos with which social scientific inquiries are identified. If the former could be characterised as an ‘ethics of estrangement’ whereby to inquire is to estrange oneself from an apparent reality in order to gain access to a realm of social causes and reasons, an ethos oriented by the concept of relevance must reject that bifurcation of reality and cultivate, instead, a deep empiricism that is both singularly attentive to the coming into matter of the facts that compose a situation, and inventive of propositions that may contribute to the possible transformation of those situations that demand inquiry. It is this latter ethos, one which I call an ‘adventure’, that my thesis develops.

This dissertation examines the practices and discourses of migrants of Okinawan descent from Peru around one of the major turning points in their lives, the experience of (re)location to Okinawa, and explores their shifting sense of belonging through an ethnographic approach. Since the late 1980s, Nikkei-jin - people of Japanese descent - have come from Peru to live and work in Japan as a result of an economic downturn and sociopolitical instabilities in Peru, and labour shortages in Japan. Often subsumed under this category of Nikkei-jin are people of Okinawan descent, who are the focus of this study. Primarily based on intensive fieldwork between 1996 and 1998 in Okinawa City, this research explores various sites in which migrants from Peru in Okinawa construct, reflect, negotiate and reconfigure their identities. It looks into migrants' economic activities, ritual participations, and social networks that affect their identity narratives and cultural negotiation processes. Through a historical analysis, it also examines how and why Okinawan-Peruvian migrants' subjectivity is transformed in different political and socio-economic settings. The study finds that migrants' experience of relocation to their 'ancestral home' did not necessarily lead to instant integration and identification with their local 'co-ethnics', due to their status as newcomers, downward mobility to working class and an inability to maximise their cultural capital in the new setting. As a consequence, while they came to be incorporated into Okinawan munchu kinship, discovered Okinawan dimensions in what they had previously conceived unitarily as Nikkei and began to find 'home' in Okinawa, they also began engaging in a transnational way of belonging through forming social networks of their own, thus destabilising the unitary notion of 'Okinawanness'.

This dissertation provides and examination of how NGOs, village people, government agencies and donor agencies participate in a conservation and development intervention termed ecodevelopment. It also examines the creation of a space that has come to be known as the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), which is located in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. Field data was collected from villages located in Tirthan Valley, which lies adjacent to the GHNP. I divide this dissertation into five central chapters: a review of colonial interests in forestry; a discussion of the contemporary conditions for forestry; an analysis of rural livelihoods and transformation; an examination of the conservation and development interventions centred on medicinal plant trade in Tirthan valley; and finally an analysis of how conservation and development projects are brokered to produce 'success'. I argue that by defining conservation and development issues so that they can be solved by specific expertise, organizations did not adequately recognize the political and historical context in which interventions take place, nor the structural conditions and existing relationships between the variety of actors and stakeholders. Institutions and people responsible for development and conservation programs did not examine their own practices as potentially responsbile for the further marginalization of people and shaping the outcome of project activities. What commonly occurs is that village people are blamed for their inability to remedy their own conditions, and in reponse attempts are made to modify village people's behaviour so that they are compliant with government and donor organization mandates for development and conservation. What was observed in Tirthan valley was that a series of brokers negotiated the outcomes of interventions so that the project was precieved as successfully improving the lives of "poor forest dependent villagers". With this research I demonstrate the potential ethnography in understanding interventions. Using an ethnographic lens to understand existing research and the field site provided vital insight on rationalities and forms of knowledge, and how a combination of political ecology, political economy and history come together to shape practice. An ethnographic approach allowed me to explore how subjectivities were produced in the complex conjectures where multiple powers come together, how critical practice emerged, and how they motivated new attempts to govern.

This thesis investigates the uses and purposes of material culture in Orthodox Christian worship. It is based primarily in an Antiochian Orthodox Parish in London, England, but follows pathways of engagement and movement across a wide area. Taking the material praxis of Eastern Orthodox Christians as its central focus, the thesis examines how various materials interact within the ritual and quotidian lives of Orthodox practitioners. The argument here advanced is that Orthodox Christians, within the wide milieu of materials and substances with which they engage, optimise indexical qualities inherent in the materials in an art-like production of themselves. Of particular importance within the wider set of sacred materials are a number of specific items of fabric. The thesis engages the materiality of fabric in and outside explicitly religious settings. Following critical literature, this thesis understands the liturgical vestments of Orthodox priests to make the priest into an embodied ikon of Christ. Drawing on ethnographic research, however, the thesis pushes past this initial understanding, exploring how such transformations are accomplished and what they do socio-culturally. It is argued that the process of becoming, wherein the Orthodox subject makes use of the transformative impact of the indexical qualities of fabric, is not something pertaining to clergy alone. Rituals such as Baptism offer a clear example of how multiple domains of materials are engaged in order to accomplish a transformation of the religious subject. Such situations allow for the examination of diverse social genre, as they are navigated and transformed through material enactments in ritual space. The thesis takes the praxis of such transformation within the context of the continuity of Orthodox religiosity. In a religious tradition characterised by repetition, continuity, and sensuous tactility, this thesis argues that material objects are necessary for the continual production of Orthodox Christians as artlike subjects.

This thesis explores experiences of internal displacement and identity formation among Southern Sudanese people who have relocated to Khartoum. It seeks to show how therapeutic events and therapeutic sites are integral to the process of knowledge production. I argue that the structural relationship between space, illness and identity within Khartoum is continually being challenged and reworked through new forms of therapeutic practice through which people remake the city, overcome the difficulties of displacement and move towards remediation. This often involves adopting new beliefs about the nature of healing that call into question or replace pre-existing beliefs and practices that were previously based in ethnic identity. Consequently I argue that people use therapy and narrative creativity to craft new ways of being, belief and self-understanding in their quest towards health in the context of displacement. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork, the thesis involves an ethnographic analysis, of formal and informal therapeutic contexts, through close relationships with patients and healers who were willing to share their experiences and practices, as well as within residential neighbourhoods that are marginalised and therefore allow healing practices that are not sanctioned within the centre of the city. The Southern Sudanese population encompasses Acholi, Balanda, Baria, Dinka, Kreish, Nuer, Shilluk and Zande. However within the context of Khartoum this diversity becomes subsumed under the single category of 'Janoubiyin' (Southerners) versus the 'Shamaliyin' (Northerners). Consequently, specific ethnic identities and cultural differences are less visible within the city, allowing for the creation of new Southern identities that are not based in historical and categorical distinctions. By focussing specifically on Janoubiyin health seeking practices at times of crisis I examine how people actively recast their pre-existing identities through the therapeutic encounter. Therapy in this context can be defined as people's active responses when encountering distress, disease, misfortune and suffering with the aim of restoring equilibrium and 'normality' to their life. Therapy allows persons to transform themselves and their circumstances. Moreover, by exploring how different therapeutic interventions, including the 'biomedical', the 'traditional' and 'the hybrid', are linked to space I examine how people use their marginal identities to move between, use and appropriate a range of 'official' and 'non-official' healing contexts within and around the city. By examining the position of the body-in-place and movement the thesis equally comments and offers a re-evaluation of the wider concerns about the modern Sudanese identity, formed in the wake of independence. Tracing the polemical nature of identity - through health seeking behaviours in Sudan - locates the position of southern internally displaced persons (IDPs) within this debate, and establishes internal displacement as a separate category of marginalisation.

Using a qualitative approach, this study looks into the experiences of refugees during settlement in Britain, their perceptions and expectations of community associations and refugee agencies and the services these provide. Focused on the Colombian and the Somali refugee communities in London, the research is based on eight in depth interviews with personnel from refugee organisations and 31 with refugees themselves: 16 with Colombians and 15 Somalis. One mixed-sex group discussion with Colombian refugees and two, one male and one female, with Somalis were also conducted. This was complemented with direct observation and an extensive review of the existing literature. The research shows that English language skills, transferability of previous skills and employment experience, circumstances of flight, racism and discrimination, cultural differences between the country of origin and the UK, and availability of adequate health-care services and accommodation are key factors affecting refugee settlement. The findings also show that word of mouth was the most common medium of gaining awareness of refugee organisations for both the Colombian and the Somali refugees, followed by printed material. Whilst the Somali refugees were generally satisfied with the organisations they had approached, the Colombians expressed a high level of dissatisfaction. The findings lead to the conclusion that refugees' socio-cultural background and the reasons behind their flight are likely to shape both their settlement and their attitudes towards refugee organisations in the country of exile. Whilst the research suggests that there is a long way to go before refugee organisations can satisfactorily meet the needs of refugees in Britain, it also shows a pervasive lack of feed-back systems in those organisations. The study concludes with a number of recommendations to facilitate settlement, arguing that unless the available resources are used more efficiently, the effects of current legislation will be disastrous for the refugee population.

There is an urgent need to develop relational sociological theories, as oppose to structural ones, which enables understanding of the linked social processes involved in (re)making inequalities in support social capital. This thesis presents a relational theory on how interacting race/ethnicity, gender and class practices in social spaces and time are involved in reproducing unequal access in support social capital. Thus, the exploratory research question asks: what happens to Black people when they enter social spaces to access much needed social support resources to get on? A complex relational analytical framework (SEEMORE) is used in the interpretation. A mixed qualitative methodology was used to collect data from thirty seven Black and White professional and worker women and men working in two re -structuring public sector organisations in the UK. The data was analysed using SNA and qualitative procedures. Unequal access to career social support capital happens when IRGC-ed identities and practices in social spaces and time, access routes, agentic orientations, power resistance activities and orientalions towards work support interact and are reproduced. In formal and informal access routes networked IRGC-ed practices helped to (re)produce triad and clique networks of dominant White men and women engagements in localised IRGC practices. The powerful men and women's engagements in routine IRGC practices remade their RGCed identities, orientations towards work and reproduced their power positions and privilege access to career social support capital. . At the same time, networks of institutional IRGC practices and powerful white men and women engagements in network based IRGC practices reproduced the subordination of Black and 'not White enough' individuals in formal routes. The (re)production of IRGC practices in formal routes ascribed to Black and non-white enough individuals' subordinated racialised identities and directed their orientations towards formal support at work and home and friends support capital. Black workers and militants engaged in power resistance agency actions to challenge IRGC-ed practices and their unequal access to resources, but Black managers and 'not White enough' individuals engaged l passive power resistance agency actions. In unequal access to career support capital, there are differentiated IRGC-ed practices and identities in social spaces, access routes, agentic activities and orientations towards work support which interact to (re)produce 'network hegemonic Whitening’