Both Joy Kogawa's Naomi Nakane and Sky Lee's Kae Ying Woo attempt to overcome silence and secrecy in order to reconstruct their families' histories, particularly their matrilinear histories. Their task is problematic: Naomi has no mother, and Kae has too many maternal figures battling for control. Both narrators approach their texts (and their searches for identity) with a degree of ambivalence. In Obasan, Naomi's uncertainty over the family identity she attempts to uncover manifests itself in the silences which pervade the text. Over the course of the novel, she pushes aside silence, in the process giving rise to two problematic issues at the work's centre: first, the adult Naomi who narrates must re-enter the experiences of her younger, silenced self; secondly, Naomi must overcome an oppressive silence in order to tell a story both centred around and driven by silence. / Whereas Naomi is reluctant to delve into her history, Kae is eager to recover what has been hidden from her. Instead of the numerous silences which pervade Obasan, Kae's growing ambivalence surfaces as narrative unreliability. Disappearing Moon Cafe is strongly mediated by Kae, who acknowledges the extent to which her authority is problematic; in reconstructing her past, she often reinvents it as well. / This paper explores the parallels between Naomi's and Kae's searches for family, and the ways in which similar journeys find radically different narrative expression. While the text of Obasan resists the tendency to inscribe the silences of its family narrative, Disappearing Moon Cafe battles its desire to fill in the blanks, to romanticize and invent.

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What does it mean to be middle class? The majority of Americans define themselves as members of the middle class, regardless of their wealth. The number of Americans that affiliate with the middle class alludes to the idea that it cannot be defined simply by level of income, number of assets, type of job, etc. The middle class is a lifestyle as much as it is a group of similarly minded people, just as it is a social construct as much as it is an economic construct. Yet as the masses fall away from the elite, and changes continue to reshape the occupational structure of the job market—due to globalization in a technological age; many have begun to question whether or not the middle class—and, by extension, the American way of life—will be able to survive. This thesis analyzes which Americans fall into the category of middle class and why. It observes the possible reasons the middle class is changing from the style portrayed through much of the 19th and 20th centuries. And lastly, this thesis poses possible solutions through public policy initiatives.

Coastal erosion, population decline, and economic deterioration, in the rural coastal community of Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, are concerns upon which the provincial government is focused. This thesis explores how ideas of permanence, adaptation, and sacrifice can engage the prevailing erosion of both the coastline and community, in terms of the physical cliff face, population, and economy. Articulating methods of responding to the various conditions of erosion enables an evolving and didactic architecture, which can become a catalyst to stimulate the economy and create stability for the town. Strategies of site placement, as well as technologies of geological formation, historic mining practices, and adaptation approaches, explored in this thesis, provide examples of how prototypical architecture and programmatic insertions can create a viable solution to erosion in this coastal town.

An Analysis of the Legal Protection of the Disappearing Island States Population Rising ocean levels, which occur as a result of global warming, currently pose a threat to low-lying island states. The so-called "disappearing island states". This thesis deals with the legal protection of the disappearing island states population. The main objective is to provide a basic overview of protective instruments for this scenario, and assess their potential application. This text is divided into three parts. The first chapter deals with the concept of disappearing island nations, the reasons behind their disappearance and some of the consequences. Of particular importance is the subchapter, discussing the dissolution of the state in general. Even though in theory a state's dissolution due to climate change effects is viable, in practice this event has never occurred before. Therefore, international law does not offer a clear answer to the legal personality of the state that has been affected by climate change-induced sea level rise. This question needs to be answered in order to define the status of the population, and to define the tools that can be used to ensure its protection. The second chapter discusses the options a state has for the protection of its population through legal and non-legal means. The...

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Today, millions of people are living in poverty and in emergency situations with lack of basic needs. This thesis will look into cash transfers in emergencies in Kenya and Kenya’s cash transfer program; Hunger Safety Net Program. Cash transfers are money transfers from organizations/donors to households that intent to provide the beneficiaries with the opportunity to purchase basic needs, in order to assist them to get out of poverty and to address Sustainable Development Goal 1; No poverty.  The aim of the thesis is to get a larger understanding of when cash transfers intervention are appropriate during emergencies and to get a view of the current image of cash transfers in Kenya. The thesis will have the following research questions;  When it is appropriate to deliver cash transfer in emergencies?   What is the image of Hunger Safety Net Program and cash transfers in emergencies perceived by different actors? To be able to answer the research question in this thesis, information was gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups from four different actor groups; funding sources, implementing agencies, local chief in Lodwar and beneficiaries in two different location in Turkana county. The thesis provides information that cash transfers has a positive impact on the beneficiaries and the local communities. Moreover the findings from the thesis suggests that the cash transfers should be transferred in prevention stage along with other intervention steps, in line with the theoretical frameworks of sustainable livelihood and WHO conceptual framework for the role of cash transfer.  The thesis also provides findings that the image is diverse, however the findings from beneficiaries are that they do not receive their money they are entitling to. The funding source and the implementing agencies claim the opposite and praise the monitoring system that is in place. The thesis findings and conclusions are based on perceptions and therefore no physical evidence is proven, it is up to further research and organizations to investigate where the money is and who is benefitting from the program. The thesis contribution to knowledge are; the cash is appropriate to deliver in prevention stage and at the moment the cash from the Hunger Safety Net Program appears to not reach the beneficiaries, therefore the findings are highly important for knowledge to various stakeholders and for the public.

The thesis examines representations of the matriarch in three Chinese Canadian texts: SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe, Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony, and Denise Chong's The Concubine's Children. The matriarch is the female head of the Chinese household who is able to gain substantial power by manipulating the assets granted to her in a patriarchal system. Dislocated from her home in China, she serves in these texts as the focal point for the collision between the New World, Canada, and the Old World, China. Confronted by a new environment, the matriarch must decide whether she will choose conformity or identity experimentation. The thesis is concerned with the way Chinese Canadian writers negotiate multiple identities through narrators who must come to terms with the divided loyalties of the women of the past. The analysis of the matriarch's identity shifts is informed by the work of the feminist theorists, Elspeth Probyn and Moira Gatens, who explore the productive potentials of rebelling against binary codes. The thesis is divided into three chapters that discuss how the texts come close to embracing identity fluidity, but cannot overcome the need to reach a coherent representation of the matriarch. The first chapter is devoted to Disappearing Moon Cafe, and argues that Lee's narrator sacrifices her female characters, albeit reluctantly, in order to privilege feminism over her Chinese heritage. The second chapter turns to The Jade Peony and discusses how Choy's child narrators give in to binary thinking by relegating Poh-Poh, the Old One, to the realm of memories to make room for the New Ways. The final chapter on The Concubine's Children explores Chong's desire to redeem a grandmother who wreaked havoc on the family when she defied traditional gender roles. The thesis concludes by determining that Lee, Choy, and Chong are reaching for a multi-voiced reading of the past, but cannot yet articulate a way out. The uncertainty of their representations of the matriarch signals their efforts to move beyond binaries to a state of coexisting identity categories.

The thesis examines representations of the matriarch in three Chinese Canadian texts: SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe, Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony, and Denise Chong's The Concubine's Children. The matriarch is the female head of the Chinese household who is able to gain substantial power by manipulating the assets granted to her in a patriarchal system. Dislocated from her home in China, she serves in these texts as the focal point for the collision between the New World, Canada, and the Old World, China. Confronted by a new environment, the matriarch must decide whether she will choose conformity or identity experimentation. The thesis is concerned with the way Chinese Canadian writers negotiate multiple identities through narrators who must come to terms with the divided loyalties of the women of the past. The analysis of the matriarch's identity shifts is informed by the work of the feminist theorists, Elspeth Probyn and Moira Gatens, who explore the productive potentials of rebelling against binary codes. The thesis is divided into three chapters that discuss how the texts come close to embracing identity fluidity, but cannot overcome the need to reach a coherent representation of the matriarch. The first chapter is devoted to Disappearing Moon Cafe, and argues that Lee's narrator sacrifices her female characters, albeit reluctantly, in order to privilege feminism over her Chinese heritage. The second chapter turns to The Jade Peony and discusses how Choy's child narrators give in to binary thinking by relegating Poh-Poh, the Old One, to the realm of memories to make room for the New Ways. The final chapter on The Concubine's Children explores Chong's desire to redeem a grandmother who wreaked havoc on the family when she defied traditional gender roles. The thesis concludes by determining that Lee, Choy, and Chong are reaching for a multi-voiced reading of the past, but cannot yet articulate a way out. The uncertainty of their representations of the matriarch signals their efforts to move beyond binaries to a state of coexisting identity categories. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is an important source of funds for firms and provides opportunities for investors. However, the economic boom of 1990-1996, the Asian Economic Crisis and the recession of 1997-2002 have affected the performance of firms listed at SET. The dividend policies of listed firms have also been influenced by these fluctuations in the business cycle.This study investigates the phenomenon of disappearing dividends in the developing capital market of Thailand. It adopts a similar methodology to Fama and French (2001) by classifying listed firms in line with changes in their dividend polices over the period 1990 to 2002. More specifically, the study explores the characteristics of firms which pay dividends, non-payers, former payers and firms which have never paid dividends. These characteristics include profitability, investment opportunities and firm size. The analysis uses firm characteristics for predicting the dividend policies of listed firms. Changes in firm characteristics and the propensity to pay dividends are identified in this process.The analysis suggests that firms which pay dividends tend to be large and highly profitable, although they possess low investment opportunities. The study also suggests that the characteristics of firms which paid dividends changed slightly before the crisis of 1997 and changed markedly during the crisis. However, after the crisis (1998-2002) the characteristics of firms are similar to those observed before the crisis. This result is attributed to the fact that some firms have resumed paying dividends after briefly ceasing this payment during the crisis. More importantly, when firm characteristics are held constant, the propensity to pay dividends of listed firms declined slightly before the crisis and declined strongly after the crisis. Consequently, the majority of new firms and many mature firms do not pay dividends.The findings of this study are consistent with the results of Fama and French (2001), particularly with regard to the characteristics of firms and changes in the propensity to pay dividends. However, this study extends the knowledge on the phenomenon of disappearing dividends by focussing on a developing economy, Thailand. Finally, this study suggests that investors should consider the characteristics of firms, changes in these characteristics and the propensity to pay dividends when identifying opportunities for investment.