Following the conflict between Shining Path and the state, trauma-related mental disorders among the peasant population of Peru received an unprecedented level of attention, but for all that, relatively little is known about the situation of other forms of mental illness. Using data gathered from participant observation and formal interviews, this study explores the situation of mentally ill peasants and their families in Paucartambo, a province in the southern Andes. Foregrounding the confusion and multiple explanations that surround such conditions, I examine the semantic networks employed in speaking about them and reveal that they cannot be understood apart from distinctively Andean conceptions of relatedness and expectations of normal social interaction. Not only does mental illness manifest as a disturbance in patterns of relatedness, but such patterns may also be seen to have caused it. When it comes to seeking healing, such local meanings of madness jostle with other interpretations provided by vernacular healers, psychiatrists and evangelical churchmen. The vernacular healers, known as yachaqs in Quechua, continue to be the most influential 'experts' in sufferers' communities, and so considerable attention is given to what a sample of these practitioners have to say about mental illness. But I argue that it is only when analysis keeps in play the indecision and contingency that so dominate for families dealing with the stark reality of madness in a close relative, that it becomes possible to understand such concepts as 'soul loss', or how families choose where to seek help. I compare the different healing options and show that some familiar theories of medical pluralism are inadequate to account for the choices made by the peasants of Paucartambo, before putting forward suggestions to shed light on their patterns of consultation and the implications for the different forms of care they receive.

Drawing on fieldwork data collected in 2000-3, this thesis deals with Roma (Gypsies) living in post-socialist Józsefváros, Budapest in Hungary, a unique, urban setting, where they were a highly visible minority and seen by many, in the area, as culturally dominant. The fall of communism brought economic crisis and mass unemployment that led many to question existing life-strategies. In this context, the thesis deals with two generations of Roma. The older lived through communist attempts at cultural and social assimilation. The second generation lives with the memories and bitterness of what they see as their parents’ failed assimilation. Both generations share the knowledge of the generalised economic and social crisis since 1990 and suspect their former political passivity was bought by the socialist welfare regime. In these contexts, shaped by intergenerational change, the thesis examines different strategies for personal and communal ‘recomposition.’ It considers strategies of passing as well as ‘new ethnicities’. In Józsefváros, in contrast to much of the rest of the country, a dense concentration of Roma produces some advantages for the minority. Calls for Roma unity from majority and Romany politicians, as well as young Roma deciding to abandon the passing and hiding strategies of the previous generation has led to a change in discourses on identity. The Roma discussed here have adopted a conscious, and in parts, a more united - while at the same time a much more spontaneous and often hybrid - Roma identity, than that of their parents. The somewhat contradictory trends towards an individualisation of ethnicity and the creation of a virtual united Roma nation are never entirely held together by the ‘everyday politics’ of life in this district. It is these dynamic processes of ‘ethnic politics’ on the move that form the object of this study.

This thesis focuses on the materiality of hospitality situations in an industrial county- level town in south-west China, and its rural peripheries. Using ethnographic data, it demonstrates the movement of structures of habituated hospitality practices from ‘guest hall’ rooms in homes to a plethora of new commercial venues that have emerged in the town during the ‘reform and opening’ period. The first half of the thesis illustrates how, in the domestic sphere, these layouts serve to create a locale around which the family is both literally and metaphorically arranged, but also as a key site in which the family attempts to manage and control their interactions with non-family guests. In recent years, the expectations that hosting situations should be ever more exuberant in nature (typified by the creation of large amounts of ‘social heat’) has resulted in such gatherings being considered increasingly unsuitable for the home environment, which is progressively being reconceptualised as a location for ‘relaxation’. The second half of the thesis focuses upon the town’s commercial venues, examining both the material environment and social interactions taking place within, to demonstrate the similarities that exist between these spaces and the home’s guest hall. It will be shown that the widespread commodification and de- domestification of hosting situations has brought about a number of changes in the town, including concerns over a lack of co-presence of family members, and an enhanced facility for the creation of socially efficacious relationships that are free of the ties and purview of kin relations. The thesis concludes by proposing the term 'structured hosting' to inform both existing anthropological notions of the home and hospitality, and to extend Bourdieu’s notion of habitus by demonstrating how it can become inscribed upon new social domains.

Mandis or primary agricultural markets are old and ubiquitous institutions across many parts of the Indian economic landscape. Wherever they have formed, they tend to be dense sites of economic and political activity, connecting town and countryside, and local agricultural markets with larger circuits of commerce and consumption. Mandis are the most important site for the regulation of the critical "first transaction" between farmers and the buyers of their produce, vital points of interaction in complex and intricately intermediated markets for a range of agricultural commodities. Widely portrayed and perceived as entrenched, inefficient and unchanging, the last decade has seen growing calls for the dismantling of the mandi system as the key to the liberalisation and growth of Indian agriculture. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis centres on the everyday life, life histories, and relationships of Harda mandi, an agricultural market in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It discovers a dynamic marketplace, constantly interacting with the changing contexts of agricultural production, regional political dynamics, technological developments, processes of reform, and the penetration and contraction of different forms of agro-commercial capital. Part One follows the mandi as a shifting site of regulation over the three decades from 1980 to 2010, as major state-led interventions in agricultural production and marketing interact with local agrarian contexts and political dynamics, producing a range of effects on the mandi, its spatial dimensions, material composition, forms of intermediation, and social relations. Part Two immerses itself in the seasonal dynamics of two contrasting commodity markets – soybean and wheat – analysing the diverse and differential effects on mandi actors, processes, and market management, as global movements and domestic policies are experienced in the market yard. Stepping back, it then traces critical transitions in mandi trade over the last twenty years, describing the dominance and decline of different transactional forms, their economic consequences, and the ethical questions that they raise for local actors and more distant policymakers.

Demographic transition to low fertility appears maladaptive from the standpoint of genetic fitness. In their search for causality, evolutionists and demographers alike have found it difficult to separate individual characteristics from wider sociocultural and interpersonal influences on fertility, with research tending to focus on either micro or macro levels of analysis. This thesis is concerned with understanding fertility decline from an integrated evolutionary perspective, by combining and testing hypotheses from two different theoretical frameworks: human behavioural ecology, which emphasises individual factors and a socioeconomic model of behaviour; and cultural evolution, which emphasises social interactions, cultural norms and group level effects. I collected ethnographic and survey data designed to test these hypotheses from 1,995 women in 22 populations (21 villages and 1 town) in rural southern Poland. The area is characterised by high completed fertility (>3 births) and low contraceptive prevalence, but is rapidly ‘modernising’ from a peasant agrarian to a fully market-integrated economy. I use multilevel regression models to explicitly examine both individual and group-level effects on fertility decline. Specifically, I examine how fertility is influenced by: (1) changes in the effects of wealth and status; and (2) changes in the structure and frequency of social interactions. I also examine (3) the extent to which contraceptive use is driven by social influence and cultural dynamics in addition to socioeconomic factors. Ultimately, the aim of this thesis is to evaluate the extent to which low fertility can be understood as: (a) a tradeoff between the quantity and ‘quality’ of children, as advocated by human behavioural ecologists; and (b) a compromise between cultural and reproductive success, advocated by cultural evolutionists. The results show that the characteristics of individuals are not the only things that matter. I find that fertility decline is associated with interactions between individuals, the environments in which they live, and the behaviour of the people that surround them. The findings partially support both approaches to fertility decline. However the combined assumptions of both frameworks are more successful in explaining low fertility than is either framework alone. A comprehensive evolutionary explanation of the demographic transition will therefore require a principled synthesis of both.

This thesis explores the increased risk of genetic breast cancer for Ashkenazi Jews who are at significantly increased risk of carrying three specific mutations in the high risk breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The Ashkenazi Jewish population has the highest known risk of genetic breast cancer and are the most well researched in relation to genetic disease. They are believed to have a particularly supportive and unique relationship with genetics, despite also having a history of discrimination that includes claims of biological inferiority. The use of racial or ethnic groups in genetic research is highly contentious and the implications for those populations being studied are usually assumed to be negative. There is also significant discussion about the potential of new genetic knowledge to transform individual and collective identity and alter how individuals conceive of themselves and the groups to which they belong. This thesis contributes to both of these areas of debate by exploring the implications for individuals of knowing that they are at increased risk of genetic breast cancer because they are of Ashkenazi Jewish origin. It specifically addresses whether being at increased risk has an impact on how Ashkenazi Jewish women feel about their own Jewish identity, whether they have concerns about current genetic research related to them, and if they are particularly supportive as if often claimed. Evidence is provided principally from qualitative interview material with Ashkenazi women at increased risk of genetic breast cancer as well as non high risk individuals. The qualitative data is supplemented by a quantitative survey. Ethnic identity can be an important mediating factor for the ways in which genetic knowledge is interpreted and genetic medicine can become intertwined with culturally specific issues. Ashkenazi Jews conceive of themselves, their history and their future in ways that are compatible with new genetic knowledge. While it is important not to assume there are necessarily damaging or transformative consequences for those populations that are the subjects of genetic research, there were implications for Ashkenazi women and their disease was interwoven with their identity in complex ways.

Bushmeat is an important source of cash income and animal protein in rural sub-Saharan Africa. However, hunting levels are largely unsustainable, resulting in the widespread depletion and local extinction of prey species. This is a problem for both the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable development of rural African communities. This thesis investigates the consequences of wildlife depletion for the livelihood security of Ghanaian cocoa farmers with diversified incomes. The overarching hypothesis that runs through the study is that the importance of bushmeat in livelihoods increases with household vulnerability (i.e. poor households and female-headed households), especially during the agricultural lean season. The study is based primarily on repeated socio-economic questionnaires (N=804), conducted over twelve months among 63 households inWansampo: an agricultural community situated in a forest reserve in SW Ghana. The research found that the amount of bushmeat harvested was low and limited to smallbodied species, suggesting severe depletion of wildlife populations around the study village. Protein insecurity and income poverty were widespread but neither co-varied strongly with household vulnerability. While income poverty was highest during the lean season, total protein consumption/security did not vary across seasons. Hunting was efficiently integrated into agricultural activities, with bushmeat being a minor part of household income and protein consumption. Contrary to expectations, household vulnerability had little effect on the importance of bushmeat in livelihoods. However, during the lean season, the bushmeat harvest increased. Since most bushmeat was consumed by the hunter’s household, the relative dietary importance of bushmeat was highest during the lean season, enabling households to reduce their meat/fish expenditures while maintaining protein consumption levels. Moreover, when income shortages were highest, bushmeat sales increased, preventing some households from falling into income poverty. In summary, despite local wildlife depletion, the importance of bushmeat for both income and protein security increased during the lean season. This suggests that bushmeat is an important safety-net for some households in this community. The thesis concludes by outlining the study’s limitations, before suggesting further research and policy implications.

Colombia embraces 7% of the Amazon basin, a worldwide conservation priority ecosystem, and most of it overlaps with indigenous territories. Some indigenous communities live inside protected areas and the impact of people in parks on biodiversity is uncertain. This work compares harvests measures hunting sustainability from indigenous people, prey species richness and carnivore density in a protected area and an unprotected area in Amazonia. Field data collection was collected for 14 months by recording hunting harvests from indigenous groups inside and outside Amacayacu National Park and camera trapping in their respective hunting catchment areas. Hunting harvests, catchment areas sizes and hunters effort where comparable between sites, Catch Per Unit (CPU) effort was slightly here in the unprotected site, nevertheless hunters harvested equal biomass to those in the park. Hunting of the largest mammal species at both sites showed evidence of unsustainable extraction rates and were taken more often than expected from availability. The majority of hunting occurred within 15 km from towns and hunting within the first 5 km was higher in the unprotected area. Relative abundance indexes of game species presented no strong difference between sites. Edge effect from hunting towns was evident at a large scale and the probability of detecting game species and carnivores farther from town was significantly higher. Jaguar (Panthera onca) and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), densities did not vary significantly outside or inside the park. These densities are reported for the first time in Colombia. Prey base of indigenous communities showed decreased abundance outside the park, and the continuing hunting pressure could drive large game species to local extinction, unless limits to human increase and sustainable hunting is achieved, particularly in the unprotected area.

In the context of the challenges facing historical cemeteries in England, this thesis poses the question of how issues such as space shortages, decay and lack of income have developed over the last century, and examines how these issues are or how they can be addressed in order to provide a viable future for such cemeteries. Based on an in-depth ethnography of West Norwood Cemetery in London, with an emphasis on phenomenological exploration of its landscape and material culture, this thesis addresses the development, contemporary significance and situation of West Norwood Cemetery in order to gain insight into both its’ own and, by extension, other cemeteries’ contested futures. First the historical context of the debate, the methodological strategies and theoretical framework of the thesis, as well as the main field-site are introduced. Here a discussion of the material culture perspective and phenomenological approach demonstrates the rationale for the methodology adopted, as well as placing the ethnography in its anthropological context. West Norwood Cemetery is explored through a thick ethnographic description of a phenomenological walk through the cemeteryscape. This leads to an analysis of the historical development of West Norwood Cemetery starting with the issues faced in English urban churchyards at the start of the 19th century, the garden cemetery movement, burial in perpetuity and the socio-cultural context within which cemetery development took place. Drawing on a variety of historical and ethnographic sources the subsequent biographical account of the site demonstrates how past practices laid the foundation for those issues which dominate the debate surrounding West Norwood Cemetery and similar sites today. The latter part of this thesis seeks to contribute to this debate by examining the contemporary situation of the site with a focus on the contested nature of the cemeteryscape, heritage practices and different stakeholder groups. It concludes by exploring how new developments in disposal culture and cemetery design may influence the future development of the site.

Based on the field research among practitioners of mystical Islam in urban Macedonia, this thesis examines a modality of failure to perform one's religion. Having initiated a reform of their ancestral religious tradition, these practitioners experienced a peculiar dissatisfaction with their own accomplishments as Sufi saints. Self-critically, aspirants observed that their flair to perform rituals and to commit to spiritual exercises and techniques of ethical self-fashioning fell far short of the prototypical examples of the Prophet Muhammed and the ancient Sufis. Theological books about the lives of these figures captured people's intellectual imagination. These texts did not, however, yield concrete performative technologies that would enable aspirants to succeed in replicating the spiritual ontologies of the dead Muslim saints in the contemporary nation-state of Macedonia. People were convinced that their spiritual advancement depended on the enactment of theological propositions in formal rituals and interpersonal relations, yet they felt hindered by not knowing the 'correct' experiential methods of ritual training and ethical self-work (autopoesis) and by their physical disengagement from religious practices. Aspirants described themselves as incomplete mystics and proclaimed that they had failed to become intensely religious beings. Through detailed ethnography, this thesis explores people's experiences of performative failure and illuminates the themes of theological learning, ritual founderings, unavailability of bodies for rituals and religious training, and the search for the lost method of self-transformation into a saint. Performative failure is defined as a postponement of achievement under infelicitous historical conditions. Drawing on a variety of anthropological theories and comparative ethnographic cases, this thesis aims to contribute new ethnographic material to the anthropology of religion and to articulate critical insights into the difficulties of turning theology into performances. Furthermore, the thesis examines the possibility of failure that hovers over people's reflexive efforts to actualize their ambitions and desires and argues that failure is a productive analytical concept for the understanding of aspirations and barriers to excellence.