Place is disguised, hidden or simply ignored in much sociological research. Belonging, however, has become a focus of sociological concern. This thesis proposes that one way of belonging is through belonging-in-place leading to a sociological positioning of place as an active participant in social life. In much sociological research places have been seen as fixed and essentialised. To avoid this problem, this study turned to geography and anthropology for suitable frameworks incorporating an open, fluid and relational understanding of place. In particular, Ingold’s (2000) concept of the ‘taskscape’ has been used to understand the connections between place, people, activity and time. The thesis argues that ‘imagined’ and narrativised places create only an ‘outer layer’ of belonging and that it is through embodied connections to other people in the place (what I call a ‘peoplescape’) and through inalienable connections to material places over time that a three dimensional ‘ontological belonging’, as a way of being (and doing) in the world, can develop. Belonging, often spoken of as a sense or feeling, is here shown to be the outcome of social practices, by embodied beings, in a material place.The research took a phenomenological approach in order to see the life-world of the participants from within. A multi-dimensional belonging was uncovered through various user driven qualitative methods: biographical interviews and photo and written diaries with families who have lived in one place, Wigan, for at least three generations. The diaries detailed social encounters which revealed that knowing other people and being known are crucial to an embodied belonging-in-place. Taking photos alongside the diaries enabled specific places of importance to the respondents to be discussed and these revealed that places can be passed on, as inalienable gifts, from one generation, or one life phase, to the next. Inalienable traces of previous generations of Wiganers are present in the material place. The phenomenological methodology and the mix of qualitative methods enabled an inductive analysis which disclosed the everyday life-world of these people in this place. Diaries, both written and photographic, together with other respondent directed methods could be used more widely to explore seemingly mundane aspects of social life from the perspective of the participants. The research found that place is not merely a backdrop to social life but is an integral part of the social practices carried out by embodied and emplaced people. A greater emphasis on both place and materiality as they impact social life could enhance much sociological research.

This research provides one account of the complex relationship between differentiated experiences of deprivation and the dominant poverty construct in the Jamaican context. It is based on research conducted over a period of nine months in a Jamaican 'squatter' community, Windsor, in the Parish of St. Ann. The study is organised into two 'positional' chapters (conceptual framework and methodology) and four direct 'response' chapters that demonstrate the ways in which the official poverty approach (from concept to policy) resonates with the living experiences of individuals. The 'response' chapters step back from debates on the measurement of poverty so as to critically and reflexively consider the construct's conceptual and definitional antinomies. This is done through: (i) an excavation of a partial social history of poverty discourses in Jamaica; (ii) an evaluation of problems with knowledge production in the participatory method; (iii) an examination of the implications of the abstraction of the poor from spatial relations; and (iv) an exploration of different ways in which individuals 'picture' living in their surroundings. The conclusion drawn is that it is necessary to begin engaging in a multidisciplinary project which accounts for difference within the poverty construct. This is because, insofar as it is possible, the removal of the most extreme forms of deprivation is not in itself sufficient for the eradication of the social relations that give rise to these privative 'conditions'. There instead needs to be critical engagement with relations of deprivation as resident in the social body as a whole in conceptualising poverty.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Cardiac surgery is an event of important consequences as concerns the lives of people who go through it, both in the physiological and psychological aspects. Thus, the research from which the present master‟s thesis was originated had as its aim to understand the meanings that pre and post surgical patients attribute to their experiences. It is a clinical qualitative research, of exploratory and descriptive character, with 28 patients (14 presurgical and 13 postsurgical), who were users of a cardiology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. The number of participants was reached through saturation criterion. Semi-structured interviews and autophotography were used for data collection. Analysis was carried out through content analysis and using an itinerary as regards the content analysis of the images. Categories that were originated from data analysis are described and discussed in four articles, that compose the main component of this thesis. Results point out that surgery does not only mobilize the physical body, but regards implications in the lives of such patients, concerning their meanings about themselves and the others. Acceptance of the cardiac disease was identified as a complex process, that involves a commitment among different symbolic universes and implies, for the patient, the impossibility of carrying out one‟s routine. The symptoms of the disease are most of the times not perceivable by the patient. He has to accept that other person identifies his condition through exams and medical procedures. Besides, accepting the disease means to accept finitude of life and of the potentiality of the body. Such situation seems to happen in an ambivalent way, and the confrontation with reality is intensified when there is an indication for the surgical procedure. Surgery gives rise to fantasies and fears that permeate plans and routine, imposing a situation where life and death are at stake. After the procedure, recognition of the self and of the limits of the body seems to happen. It is an experience of adequating the expectancies prior to surgery, that seems to depend on the references of each person about the process. Therefore, there are important movements of reflection, in which the subjects evaluate their lives and their implications as protagonists of them. Religiosity seems to underlie many of the reported experiences, since patients use their beliefs to search for a meaning concerning their experiences. Results point out that the surgical procedure is an experience underlied by intense feelings of helplessness and suffering. Thus, the meanings given to such reality by the patients should be more broadly understood by the health team that cares for them. Thus, it would be possible to build knowledge that may flow in the interface of the medical and layman universes, creating a commitment between them, acting as a support for the patients facing the surgical process. / A cirurgia cardíaca é um evento de importantes consequências para a vida dos indivíduos que se submetem a ela, seja em relação a aspectos fisiológicos ou psíquicos. Partindo desse pressuposto, a pesquisa da qual se origina a presente dissertação teve como objetivo geral compreender os significados que pacientes pré e pós-cirúrgicos atribuem a suas vivências atuais. Trata-se de um estudo clínico-qualitativo, de caráter exploratório e descritivo, com 28 pacientes (15 pré-cirúrgicos e 13 pós-cirúrgicos), usuários de um ambulatório de cardiologia de um hospital universitário do interior do Rio Grande do Sul. O número de participantes foi atingido mediante o critério de saturação da amostra. Foram utilizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas e a autofotografia para a coleta das informações, que foram analisadas por meio da análise de conteúdo e com o auxílio de um roteiro para a análise do conteúdo das imagens. As categorias oriundas da análise dos dados são descritas e discutidas em quatro artigos, que compõem o cerne do presente trabalho. Os resultados apontam que a cirurgia não mobiliza apenas o corpo físico, mas que diz respeito a mudanças nas significações dos sujeitos sobre si mesmos e sobre os outros. Identificou-se que a aceitação do adoecimento cardíaco é um processo complexo, que envolve um compromisso entre universos simbólicos diferentes e que está implicado, para o paciente, na impossibilidade de desempenho de sua rotina. Os sintomas da doença não são, na maioria das vezes, perceptíveis aos olhos do paciente. Esse deve aceitar que outro fale dele e de sua condição através de exames e consultas médicas. Além disso, aceitar o adoecimento é também aceitar a finitude da vida e da potencialidade do corpo. Tal aceitação parece se dar sempre de forma ambivalente, sendo que a confrontação com a realidade intensifica-se quando existe a indicação para o procedimento cirúrgico. A cirurgia desperta fantasias e medos que permeiam os planos e a rotina, remetendo os participantes a uma situação-limite, em que vida e morte estão em jogo. Após o procedimento, o que parece estar em jogo é um processo de reconhecimento de si mesmo, dos limites do corpo. Trata-se da vivência de um processo de adequação das expectativas anteriores à cirurgia, que parece depender intrinsecamente das referências de cada um sobre o processo. Dessa forma, parecem existir movimentos reflexivos importantes, que fazem com que os sujeitos possam fazer uma avaliação de suas vidas e de suas implicações enquanto protagonistas delas. A religiosidade parece atravessar muitas das experiências relatadas, de forma que os participantes lançam mão de suas crenças para buscarem um sentido para o que vivenciam. A partir desses apontamentos, considera-se que a vivência do processo cirúrgico diz respeito a uma experiência marcada por intensos sentimentos de desamparo e sofrimento. Portanto, os significados que permeiam esta realidade devem ser mais amplamente compreendidos pela equipe de saúde que acompanha tais pacientes. Dessa forma, pode ser construído um saber que circule na interface entre os universos médico e leigo, que possa formatar um compromisso entre elas, amparando os pacientes no enfrentamento do processo cirúrgico.

This research provides one account of the complex relationship between differentiated experiences of deprivation and the dominant poverty construct in the Jamaican context. It is based on research conducted over a period of nine months in a Jamaican ¿squatter¿ community, Windsor, in the Parish of St. Ann. The study is organised into two ¿positional¿ chapters (conceptual framework and methodology) and four direct ¿response¿ chapters that demonstrate the ways in which the official poverty approach (from concept to policy) resonates with the living experiences of individuals. The ¿response¿ chapters step back from debates on the measurement of poverty so as to critically and reflexively consider the construct¿s conceptual and definitional antinomies. This is done through: (i) an excavation of a partial social history of poverty discourses in Jamaica; (ii) an evaluation of problems with knowledge production in the participatory method; (iii) an examination of the implications of the abstraction of the poor from spatial relations; and (iv) an exploration of different ways in which individuals ¿picture¿ living in their surroundings. The conclusion drawn is that it is necessary to begin engaging in a multidisciplinary project which accounts for difference within the poverty construct. This is because, insofar as it is possible, the removal of the most extreme forms of deprivation is not in itself sufficient for the eradication of the social relations that give rise to these privative ¿conditions¿. There instead needs to be critical engagement with relations of deprivation as resident in the social body as a whole in conceptualising poverty.

Young women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico are coming of age in an era of feminicides, drug wars, impunity, and fear. This ethnographic study examines the ways in which Preparatoria Altavista, a public high school, in one of the most marginalized areas of Juárez, attempts to empower subaltern young women through its critical and social justice philosophy of education. The study draws from critical pedagogy, socio-cultural theory, and feminist scholarship to offer a unique analysis of how hegemonic ideas are resisted and/or inscribed pedagogically, politically, and institutionally at Altavista. Secondly, the study examines how the school’s constructions of democratic and social justice education interact with the current dystopic context of Juárez and discourses about Juárez women to provide a framework with which a group of young women author their identities and practice forms of resistance. The ethnographic fieldwork took place in the 2009-2010 academic year. The methods included unstructured ethnographic interviews with teachers, administrators, and numerous students, as well as semi-structured interviews and an auto-photography technique with nine girls. The study identifies three interrelated aspects that characterize the transformative pedagogy of Preparatoria Altavista: freedom and autonomy, authentic caring relationships, and the cultivation of critical discourse and activism. Together, these core values promote the school’s ultimate goal for its students – autogestión, or the ability to self-author empowered identities; read their world; and initiate and develop socially transformative projects. Considering the school’s context, as well as the many challenges inherent in the dystopic Juárez of today, the study also identifies a typology of four different paths to the girls’ identity and agency development: the Redirectors, the Reinventors, the Redefiners, and the Refugees. This typology is based on various ways and degrees to which the young women in this study authored the self as they negotiated the messages from the multiple figured worlds that they inhabit. The study seeks to counter sensationalist, criminalizing, and dooming narratives about Juárez youth, as well as stereotypical and objectifying depictions of Juárez women by offering a nuanced analysis of their experiences, perspectives, identities, and forms of agency. The study also seeks to offer a language of possibility and hope for urban schools and contexts of civil unrest through critical pedagogy. / text