Abstract The study aimed to investigate the issue of women’s access and rights to land in Kenya. The study targeted Yaw Pachi women’s group, Siaya district who have experienced several problems of land tenure in terms of access and rights within their community which is Luo by tribe. The factors that influence these women’s access to land were also examined. The factors included Luo customary law, Luo customary practices, statutory laws as well as statutory institutions. The study also aimed to analyse the 2006 Draft National Land Policy by looking at what aspects of gender reform had been incorporated into the policy. The study examined the role of the land board as a statutory institution responsible for ensuring women and men have equal access and rights to land. In order to collect data, this study used qualitative method of social research. The researcher chose a small sample based on the research being conducted using a case study method. The sample was from an area where the phenomena such as customary laws and practices are prevalent. Qualitative research enables the researcher to collect and analyse in-depth information on a smaller group of respondents. Documentary analysis, interview techniques were used to gather data. The study population comprised of seventeen women from Yaw Pachi women’s group in Siaya district and twelve key informants. The key findings of the case study of Yaw Pachi women’s group shows that women can gain access to land in Siaya district mainly through marriage and by association with a male relative, who could be the woman’s father, father in-law, brother or son. Although the law of succession states that women can inherit land from their fathers, most findings revealed that this does not happen in reality. The 2006 Draft National Land Policy that intends to solve all the disparities women face when it comes to equity in land resources has been put on hold following an unsuccessful constitutional review in 2005.While the policy acknowledges that there are customs that discriminate against women, it also seeks to promote customary systems of land tenure. The Draft National Land Policy proposes a pluralist approach to land reform.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / An indigenous cultural practice among the many ethnic groups of South Africa, lobola has changed immensely, especially in highly urbanised towns. It has also been the subject of several interpretations in academia, the media, and popular opinion. These have included ethnographic scholarship that focuses on its cultural significance and its centrality to reciprocal relationships between groups. Other academic and activist views criticize how lobola, as a form of bride wealth, instrumentalises women in patriarchal society. In addition, other interpretive strand acknowledges lobola's patriarchal impacts while also recognizing the agencies and choices of women who embrace it. The work demonstrates that women are neither consistent agents nor constant victims of lobola, but that they experience it in different ways. As a result, the study explores how young women‘s situated knowledge helps us understand lobola‘s complex and ambiguous meanings that might assist in comprehending the current connotations of lobola, which are presently complicated and confusing. The current study is concerned with mapping out and analysing the complexities of standpoint knowledge-making that is typically side-lined in the numerous scholarly and activist studies of lobola by selecting a diverse range of young women respondents as well as commentators in the public sphere.

Cette thèse propose une réflexion sur le rapport ville/processus d'urbanisme dans la période post-soviétique. Elle se focalise sur l'évolution des formes urbaines et urbanistiques à partir de l'articulation ville/pratiques juridiques/pratiques sociales. Erevan – capitale de l'Arménie est notre terrain d'investigations. Les analyses sont d'abord centrées sur l'état actuel des interfaces ville/politiques/pratiques urbaines : la situation socio-économique, les caractères spatiaux et les différentes logiques d'organisation de l'espace urbain. Les analyses portent ensuite sur l'évolution historique de ces mêmes interfaces ; sont examinés les projets et les modèles spatiaux appliqués, ou encore les Nouveaux Plans de la ville. La thèse se propose ainsi de comprendre le dialogue entre la ville, ses habitants et son héritage, en démontrant que ces derniers peuvent être un élément stimulant le développement urbain à toutes les échelles, un développement urbain identitaire et durable / This thesis proposes a reflection on the relationship between the city and urban planning processes in the post-Soviet period. It focuses on the evolution of urban forms and urban planning by considering the articulation of the city, legal rules and social practices. Yerevan, Armenia's capital, is our field of investigation. Our studies first focus on the current situation of interfaces between the city, policies and urban practices taking into account socioeconomic situations, spatial characteristics and logics of the organization of urban space. Then, the analyses deal with the historical evolution of these interfaces : projects, spatial models or new town planning schemes are examined. Thus, this thesis aims to understand the links between city, its inhabitants and its heritage, demonstrating that these last can be stimulating elements at all scales for attaining a sustainable and identitary urban development