There are many good reasons to ponder about what it is that makes life worth living. To observe and reflect on what it is that gives a person a good quality of life is arguably the essential core of social-work. The aim of this research was to investigate how 15-year old youths interpret quality of life. The key areas that we explored in order to meet the research aims were: what did the youths interpret as a good quality of life for a 15-year old and for an adult, how did they view their own quality of life, and did they think that the regional context (i.e. if one lives in a big city or in a small town) affects how one interpret quality of life. The studywas based on interviews with four boys and four girls. Half of the respondents lived in a suburb of Stockholm and the other half lived in a small country town. A qualitative method was used to interview the respondents individually. The results were analysed by using Brülde´s theories on quality of life. The results show that to a large extent the youths in both areas shared each others values – a loving and supportive family was deemed to be the most important factor for a good quality of life, followed by friendships and recreational-time for young people and job satisfaction for adults. However, the two groups differed in two ways. The suburban youths declared that they experienced a lot of school-stress which the small-town youths did not experience. Also, the Stockholm respondents identified several aspects that could make their lives better. In the contrast none of the small town respondents could identify ways to improve their lives. Explanations for these differing responses are explored in the study.

Sustainability is a buzzword covering a variety of fields and subjects. For the purposes of my research sustainability is “the ability to keep going over the long haul. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present” (Gilman 1). The sustainability movement refers to activists, educators and researchers who are dedicated to finding high quality ways of living in the world that are environmentally benign for all who are now living as well future generations to come (Gilman 1). This research focuses on three women who engage in voluntary simplicity— “simplicity that is voluntary-consciously chosen, deliberate, and intentional- [and] supports a higher quality of life” (Elgin 4). The complexity of the subject of sustainability is why I chose to narrow my focus to such a worldview and because much of my educational background is in Gender and Women’s Studies I specifically focus on women. Feminist ethnographic methods of participant observation are utilized as well as rhetorical analysis. I examine the attentive roles that have afforded these women the ability to form intimate social as well as ecological relations in their community. The observations are recorded in a narrative form and contribute to the growing knowledge base of sustainability as well as resilience studies. The lack of sustainable practices on a large scale in our country affects every citizen who lives here through environmental problems like climate change and peak oil. The narrative form allows the research I have collected to maintain an accessible language which is important in reaching a greater audience beyond that of academia. The narrative shows easy, manageable sustainable choices and changes that can be applied at the micro as well as macro level. These choices and changes are not exhaustive or all inclusive; rather they are suggestions for those who are interested in joining the sustainability movement.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:54:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 leny.pdf: 6340458 bytes, checksum: bf6c1208bb697df7e32f7ffbb23f03a8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The sustainable development speech has colonized the nature, and converted it on a natural capital. This new capitalism face has gained force since the 1990´s, which since Rio 92 has taken social, political and mainly economic proportions which is presently called ecocapitalism. The objective of this study is comprehending the REDD Project (Reduction by Deforestation and Degradation) in the Juma sustainable development Reserve, once it is the first Brazilian and American Conservation Unit to be certified by Avoided Deforestation, fact that inserts the State of Amazonas on a Global Environmental Order. We have run ways and (no) ways for reaching three proposed objectives: characterize Juma´s RDS and the REDD Project; identify the REDD impacts in the eight communities under investigation, being: Sâo Francisco do Anape I, Flexal, Boa Frente, Repartimento, Limão, Paiucaua, Cacaia and São Felix, and at last demonstrate the territory use and ordering, according to the Managing Plan. As methodological procedures it was used the participative research with raising of bibliographic sources regarding to categories of analysis and development, ecocapitalism, environmental order, territory and environmental services; searching of primary data through field work with open interviews with five families of the community and semi-structured interviews with UC, CEUC, FAS, SEDUC and IDAM managers. The results of the study have allowed us to understand that the diverse partnership that the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation has tried for developing the REDD in the communities has not helped to improve them. On regard to the territory use and ordering, it was noticed that from the approval of the Managing Plan, the communities started to be normatized, according to the Plan rules, which has directly influenced on the use of the natural resources, as well the RDS zoning and the social and political relationships, causing therefore a disterritorization promoted by the managing organs, creating new territorrilities where prevails an imposition through and agenda which needs to attend capital interests on detriment of the communities. It is expected that this study may dismistificate this ideology of payment for environmental services on Juma´s RDS and a sustainable development model, as in its practice it is not satisfying the basic needs not even the present generations maybe the future ones, and even least the good life according the ecodevelopmental principles. / O discurso do desenvolvimento sustentável colonizou a natureza, convertendo-a em capital natural. Essa nova face do capitalismo, ganha força desde a década de1990, que a partir da Rio 92 tomou proporções sociais, políticas e sobretudo econômica, atualmente denominada de ecocapitalismo. O objetivo desse estudo é compreender o Projeto de REDD (Redução por Desmatamento e Degradação) na Reserva de desenvolvimento sustentável do Juma, uma vez que é a primeira Unidade de Conservação do Brasil e das Américas a ser certificada por desmatamento evitado, fato que insere o Estado do Amazonas numa Ordem Ambiental Global. Percorremos caminhos e (des) caminhos para alcançarmos três objetivos propostos: caracterizar a RDS do Juma e o Projeto de REDD; identificar os impactos do REDD nas oito comunidades investigadas, sendo: São Francisco do Anape I, Flexal, Boa Frente, Repartimento, Limão, Paiucaua, Cacaia e São Félix e por fim demonstrar o uso e ordenamento do território, segundo o Plano de Gestão. Como procedimentos metodológicos utilizou-se a pesquisa participante com levantamentos de fontes bibliográficas referente a categorias de análise ecodesenvolvimento, ecocapitalismo, ordem ambiental, território e serviços ambientais; levantamento de dados primários, por meio do trabalho de campo com entrevistas abertas com cinco famílias por comunidade e entrevistas semi estruturadas com gestores da UC, CEUC, FAS, SEDUC e IDAM. Os resultados do estudo nos permitiu entender que a diversa parceria que a Fundação Amazonas Sustentável tem buscado para desenvolver o REDD nas comunidades não tem trazido melhorias para as mesmas. No que concerne ao uso e o ordenamento do território, observou-se que a partir da aprovação do Pano de Gestão, as comunidades passaram a ser normatizadas, segundo as regras do Plano, influenciando diretamente no uso dos recursos naturais, bem como o zoneamento da RDS e as relações sociais e políticas, ocorrendo, portanto uma desterritorialização promovida pelos órgãos gestores, criando novas territorialidades, onde prevalece a imposição por meio de uma agenda que precisa atender os interesses do capital, em detrimento das comunidades. Espera-se que esse estudo possa desmistificar essa ideologia de pagamento por serviços ambientais na RDS do Juma como um modelo de desenvolvimento sustentável, pois na prática não está satisfazendo as necessidades básicas sequer das gerações presentes, quiça as futuras, e tão pouco o viver bem, segundo os princípios do ecodesenvolvimento.

This thesis examines the construction of ethnic identity, autonomy and indigenous citizenship in plurinational Bolivia. In 2009, the Kallawayas, an Andean indigenous nation, took advantage of legislation in Bolivia's new constitution to begin a process of legally constituting themselves as autonomous from the state. The objective of Indigenous Autonomy in the constitution is to allow indigenous nations and peoples to govern themselves according to their conceptions of ‘Living Well'. Living well, for the Kallawayas is understood in terms of what it means to be runa, a person living in the ayllu (the traditional Andean community). The Kallawayas are noted as healers, and sickness and health is understood as related to the maintenance of a ritual relationship of reciprocity with others in the ayllu, both living humans and ancestors, remembered in the landscape. Joint ritual relations with the landscape play an important role in joining disparate Kallawaya ayllus with distinct traditions and languages (Aymara, Quechua and the Kallawaya language Macha Jujay are spoken) together as an ethnic group. However, Kallawaya politics has followed the trajectory of national peasant politics in recent decades of splitting into federations divided along class and ethnic lines. The joint ritual practices which traditionally connected the Kallawaya ayllus adapted to reflect this new situation of division between three sections of Kallawaya society. This has meant that the Kallawayas are attempting political autonomy as an ethnic group when they have never been more fractured. This thesis then examines the meaning of autonomy and the Good Life for a politically divided and ethnically diverse indigenous people.

L’expansion du capitalisme a suscité des luttes à travers le monde, qui se sont exprimées contre les formes de domination et les divers types de déstructurations – sociopolitiques, économiques, culturelles, environnementales, notamment – issues d’un modèle homogénéisant. Face à l’amenuisement de la capacité de résilience de l’Ecosphère et à l’accroissement des inégalités inter et intra-sociétales, les acteurs de ces résistances anti-systémiques soulignent l’ « insoutenabilité » du système dominant qui porte atteinte au respect de la dignité des êtres humains et de l’intégrité de la Nature. Au sein de ces luttes, trois champs se distinguent par la fécondité de leur articulation à l’heure actuelle : le genre, les peuples autochtones et l’environnement. Peu étudiées dans leurs interrelations, ces catégories représentent des sphères essentielles dans l’analyse de la naissance et de la construction d’un autre ordre mondial, par les liens existants mais souvent masqués entre ces pans et par le potentiel de leur articulation avec d’autres groupements. L’émergence d’un socle de valeurs partagées par ces acteurs sociaux souligne une convergence autour d’une responsabilité éthique, qui implique de repenser la perception prédominante de l’altérité au sein du système dominant. Dans ce cadre, la redéfinition de la responsabilité, fondée sur les notions de réciprocité, de « care » et de « bien vivre », a permis de rassembler ces groupements autour d’une approche qui peut être qualifiée de solidaire et d’écocentrée. Si face à l’urgence sociale et environnementale actuelle, la reconnaissance de l’interdépendance de l’ensemble des composantes de l’Ecosphère, l’humanité y compris, est devenue une nécessité pour divers mouvements sociaux, les peuples autochtones et les mouvements écoféministes constituent les principaux sous-ensembles porteurs de cet en-commun. Reconnaître l’appartenance de l’humanité à l’Ecosphère implique d’adopter une vision du monde respectueuse des êtres humains et de la Nature qui doit se matérialiser dans la pratique par une organisation sociale fondée sur la justice sociale et environnementale. Partir des propositions existantes émanant des acteurs sociaux afin de penser à la construction d’un autre ordre mondial fondé sur une responsabilité solidaire et écocentrée permet de poser les fondements de l’élargissement futur de l’en-commun. / The expansion of the capitalism aroused struggles worldwide, which expressed themselves against the forms of domination and the various types of destructurations – sociopolitical, economic, cultural, environmental, in particular – stemming from a homogenizing model. In front of the decrease of the resilience capacity of the Ecosphere and of the increase of the inter and intra-societal inequalities, the actors of these anti-systematic resistances underline the « unsustainability » of the dominant system which affects the respect for the human being’s dignity and for the Nature’s integrity. Within these fights, three fields distinguish themselves by the fertility of their articulation at the moment : gender, indigenous peoples and environment. Little studied in their interrelations, these categories represent essential spheres in the analysis of the birth and the construction of another world order, by the existing often masked links between these fields and by the potential of their articulation with other groupings. The emergence of a core set of values shared by these social actors underlines a convergence around an ethical responsibility/ accountability, which implies to rethink the dominant perception of the otherness within the dominant system. In this frame, the redefining of the responsibility, based on the notions of reciprocity, care and « good life », allows to gather these groupings around an approach which can be considered as mutual and ecocentric. If in front of the current social and environmental urgency, the acknowledgment of the interdependence of all the constituents of Ecosphere, the humanity including, became a necessity for diverse social movements, indigenous peoples and the ecofeminist movements constitute the main carrier subsets of this « shared common ». To acknowledge the membership of the humanity in the Ecosphere implies to adopt a respectful world’s vision of the human beings and the Nature which has to materialize in the practice by a social organization based on social and environmental justice. To start from existing proposals emanating from social actors to think of the construction of another world order based on a collective and ecocentric responsibility allows to build the foundations of the future extension of the « shared-common ».

Lifestyle migrants from the affluent North move to the Mediterranean region intensively from the 80's. Lifestyle migration to Spain takes different forms: here we meet rich yacht owners in Marbella, retired people in the housing complexes in Almuñecar, or surfers in Tarifa. This work focused on people, who chose their new place in the region of La Alpujarra. They live in the remote houses called cortijos, which gave name to their inhabitants - cortijeros. Their lifestyles are the subject of this work, together with more general strategies practiced in lifestyle migration, the skills needed in such a move, and values they pursue. Ten years of research enabled to get together both, opinions and plans of the newcomers in the region, and their activities, stories, and imprints in the real world. I try to present different perspectives: the lens of lifestyle migration, counter-urbanization, material culture anthropology, history, positive psychology. At the end, I propose to think a positive anthropology that would focus on studying such practices that seemed to work towards understanding "the good life"; that work towards both individual well-being, and creating social structures considerate to humans and the environment.

Lifestyle migrants from the affluent North move to the Mediterranean region intensively from the 80's. Lifestyle migration to Spain takes different forms: here we meet rich yacht owners in Marbella, retired people in the housing complexes in Almuñecar, or surfers in Tarifa. This work focused on people, who chose their new place in the region of La Alpujarra. They live in the remote houses called cortijos, which gave name to their inhabitants - cortijeros. Their lifestyles are the subject of this work, together with more general strategies practiced in lifestyle migration, the skills needed in such a move, and values they pursue. Ten years of research enabled to get together both, opinions and plans of the newcomers in the region, and their activities, stories, and imprints in the real world. I try to present different perspectives: the lens of lifestyle migration, counter-urbanization, material culture anthropology, history, positive psychology. At the end, I propose to think a positive anthropology that would focus on studying such practices that seemed to work towards understanding "the good life"; that work towards both individual well-being, and creating social structures considerate to humans and the environment.

A small proportion of people claim to live and consume in ways they consider more sustainable in social and environmental terms. As yet, we do not know how many exactly, but possibly no more than 5-10% of the population. The thesis intentionally focuses on this minority finding there are at least three reasons why it is interesting to do so. First because they are all but ignored in sociologies of practice in the context of sustainable consumption which considers this minority an insignificance and focuses almost exclusively on 'mainstream' majority which more closely maps onto the stereotype of 'consumer society'. Second because we think we can learn much from juxtapositioning this group empirically against the spectrum of theories of practice to devise more robust and appropriate theoretical explanation of how these subjects, in the context of everyday practice, negotiate the many interpretations and contradictions involved in trying to put 'sustainability' into practice. Third because by understanding them better we can reflect on theoretical, empirical and policy implications for nudging this minority of the population to a higher percentage. The thesis sits at one end of a spectrum of positions in theories of practice applied to consumption, and in particular with a normative interest in sustainable consumption. It aligns with those who seek to re-insert the reflexive agent into accounts of practice, with particular reference to the conceptual construct of the 'citizen-consumer' and the context of political consumption (Spaargaren & Oosterveer 2010). Referring to theories of consumption, the thesis adds perspectives on how people negotiate multiple domains of consumption simultaneously since everyday practice involves interactions across multiple domains (such as eating, mobility, householding); and yet typically in theories of practice these are artificially separated into single domains. The study therefore considers the implications which domains have on how particular practices are carried out, first separately (per domain) and then as they come together (in a cross-cutting domain perspective). The study then takes theories of practice as a springboard to develop a theoretical position and framework which better fits the narrated accounts of the 37 subjects who participated in this study. In iteratively co-developing a theoretical framework and multiple 'stages' of empirical research (using grounded theory methodology) the study seeks to explain theoretically how subjects justify their 'doings' (drawing on 'conventions' and 'orders of worth' (Boltanski & Thévenot 2006)); how they appear to muddle through as best they can (introducing 'bricolage' (Lévi-Strauss 1972)); and how subjects appear to devise decision short-cuts when approaching decisions characterised by the multiple contradictions of sustainable consumption and incomplete or 'too much' information (introducing heuristics (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier 2011)). In joining calls to re-insert the reflexive agent to account for how, when and why subjects enact changes towards trajectories which they consider 'more sustainable' in their own terms, the study takes inspiration from Margaret Archer's morphogenesis approach (1998) and explores her model of multiple modes of reflexivity, announcing certain modes as 'better fitting' conditions of late modernity. The study finally finds that contrary to a notion of the un-reflexive agent, the citizen-consumer is able to articulate visions of the 'good life'. In addition she is able to fold these visions back onto everyday practices performed in the past, present and future, laying out normative guidelines and positive accounts of how to achieve personal or societal well-being and happiness. The overarching positioning of the study is much inspired by Andrew Sayer's (2011; 2000) 'normative turn' calling upon social sciences to re-instate research into the things about which people care. The study is therefore guided by the overarching question of how people translate their environmental and/or social concerns into the ways in which they live and consume.

The Philebus is devoted to the question what constitutes the good for a human being. Although Socrates initially favors a life of pure intelligence against the hedonist’s life of pure pleasure, he quickly concedes that some pleasures actually enhance the life of intelligence. In order to determine which pleasures deserve a place in the best life, Socrates undertakes a lengthy investigation into the nature of pleasure. Commentators have long been frustrated in their attempt to uncover a single, unified account that explains in a plausible way the extraordinary variety of pleasures analyzed in the dialogue. I argue that this search for a generic account of pleasure is misguided, because one of the main purposes of Socrates’ division of pleasure is to expose its essentially heterogeneous nature. Pleasures can be bodily or psychic, pure or mixed with pain, truth apt or not, healthy or diseased, and inherently measured or unmeasured, and there are no essential properties which all of these diverse phenomena share. The inclusion of some pleasures in the final ranking of the goods at the end of the Philebus represents a dramatic shift in Plato’s attitude towards certain pleasures, and so it is not surprising that many scholars misinterpret the force of this conclusion. Even in the Republic where the pleasures of reason are favorably compared to the pleasures of spirit and appetite, intellectual pleasures are judged to be more pleasant and real than other pleasures, but they are nowhere judged to be better or praised as genuine goods. In the Philebus, not only are some pleasures unambiguously ranked among the highest goods, but Socrates gives no indication that these pleasures are good only in some qualified or extrinsic way. Instead, certain pleasures make their own positive contribution to the goodness of the best human life, making the mixed life more valuable and choiceworthy than the unmixed life of intelligence.

The Philebus is devoted to the question what constitutes the good for a human being. Although Socrates initially favors a life of pure intelligence against the hedonist’s life of pure pleasure, he quickly concedes that some pleasures actually enhance the life of intelligence. In order to determine which pleasures deserve a place in the best life, Socrates undertakes a lengthy investigation into the nature of pleasure. Commentators have long been frustrated in their attempt to uncover a single, unified account that explains in a plausible way the extraordinary variety of pleasures analyzed in the dialogue. I argue that this search for a generic account of pleasure is misguided, because one of the main purposes of Socrates’ division of pleasure is to expose its essentially heterogeneous nature. Pleasures can be bodily or psychic, pure or mixed with pain, truth apt or not, healthy or diseased, and inherently measured or unmeasured, and there are no essential properties which all of these diverse phenomena share. The inclusion of some pleasures in the final ranking of the goods at the end of the Philebus represents a dramatic shift in Plato’s attitude towards certain pleasures, and so it is not surprising that many scholars misinterpret the force of this conclusion. Even in the Republic where the pleasures of reason are favorably compared to the pleasures of spirit and appetite, intellectual pleasures are judged to be more pleasant and real than other pleasures, but they are nowhere judged to be better or praised as genuine goods. In the Philebus, not only are some pleasures unambiguously ranked among the highest goods, but Socrates gives no indication that these pleasures are good only in some qualified or extrinsic way. Instead, certain pleasures make their own positive contribution to the goodness of the best human life, making the mixed life more valuable and choiceworthy than the unmixed life of intelligence.