Cette thèse, basée sur une approche qualitative, étudie les dynamiques de la pauvreté dans la campagne égyptienne à travers le cas du village de Nazlet Salmân (gouvernorat d’Assiout, Haute Égypte). L’objectif était de comprendre la nature de ces dynamiques au niveau du groupe domestique, et d’analyser les dynamiques et les changements à plusieurs échelles (macro et micro). Le cadre théorique choisi est la construction sociale de la pauvreté. L'étude a démontré que l'identification et la définition, par les villageois, de « celui qui est pauvre » et « celui qui ne l’est pas », est constitué principalement en fonction des considérations locales, selon un ensemble de critères liés à l'accès aux ressources, aux revenus, aux dépenses et au statut social. En face, le concept de pauvreté adopté par l'État est défectueux, et malgré sa correspondance avec le concept local sur le revenu, il ne tient pas compte des ressources et se limite uniquement à la « pauvreté extrême ». La principale finalité recherchée par les pauvres est de parvenir à la « sécurité sociale », en s’appuyant sur des stratégies multiples, fondées sur la diversification des sources de revenus et d'emplois dans l'agriculture et hors agriculture, par l’émigration de travail, par l'exploitation des individus et des ressources de la famille. A chaque fois que la possession de terre disparait ou diminue pour une famille, l’instabilité et l’insécurité sociale s’accroissent. L'État a joué un rôle majeur dans l'appauvrissement des paysans à travers des politiques agricoles et des conceptions du développement qui ne correspondent pas aux besoins et aux désirs des pauvres. / This thesis is based on a qualitative approach to study the dynamic of poverty in the egyptian countryside, through the case study of the village of Nazlet Salmân, located in the Asyut governorate, in Upper Egypt. This study was initially aimed at understanding the nature of the dynamic of poverty at the level of the domestic group, and analyzed these dynamics or changes on a variety of scales (micro and macro). For this study, the social construction of poverty has been used as the theoretical framework. The study showed that the concept of poverty among the village poor is mainly based on local considerations that play a key role in the “identification and definition” of the one who is poor and the one who is not, according to a set of criteria based on the evaluation of access to resources, income, expenditure and social status. Also, the concept adopted by the State is defective, and despite the intersection with the local concept of “income”, it does not include resources, but is limited only to “extreme poverty”. The main objective sought by the poor is to achieve social stability and security. In fact it relies on multiple strategies based on the diversification of means of income and employment inside and outside the agricultural sector, the labour migration, the exploitation of both the individuals and the family resources to achieve it. Each time a family’s land disappears or diminishes, this family experiences more social instability and insecurity. The study has shown also the role the state played in the peasant’s impoverishment through its agricultural politics and its vision of development which did not meet the poor’s needs and desires.

The objective of this study was to investigate whether community print media is fulfilling its developmental mandate in society using a comparative study of Alex News and Greater Alex Today community newspapers. This study is as the result of an outcry from various stakeholders claiming that community print media is no longer playing its developmental role in society due to the impact of structure and agency. They also claim that community media is no longer representing the interests and needs of the communities that it serves and lacks community participation. There are also concerns that community print media is no longer serving historically disadvantaged communities and is failing in its role to disseminate information in the community. They claimed that the control and ownership of community media is not in the hands of the community that it is supposed to serve, but in the hands of outsiders who are after business opportunities and profit-making. The qualitative research method was used for this study and the findings correlated with the literature reviewed. It concluded that the constraints of structure and agency is shaping the role of community media in society. Based on these findings the research recommends that government should assist the community newspapers by providing a subsidised printing machine that can be placed in a central place for easy access by the community newspapers. It also recommends that the community newspaper should transform from the traditional newspaper print to digital media to cut the printing costs and that the government should allocate more funds to MDDA. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Science)