This thesis examines the underlying causes of food insecurity, famine in general and green famine in particular in the enset-dominant livelihood zones of Kambata land in southern Ethiopia, which are historically considered more resilient and less vulnerable to food insecurity and famine than other parts of Ethiopia. Given Ethiopia's long-standing history of food insecurity and famines, the discourse of food insecurity and famine is dominated by natural and demographic factors as the main causes. In order to unpack the multi-layered underlying causes of food insecurity in general and green famine in particular, the thesis adopts Sen's analytical framework of ‘entitlement to food'. Using multi-site qualitative research techniques, this thesis captures the perceptions of different actors at different levels about the causes of green famine, identifies the sources of livelihood vulnerability and the types of livelihood strategies undertaken by households in the study area. By systematically capturing and analysing these different aspects, the study concludes that the causes of green famine extend beyond the dominant narratives of drought and population growth, and that these factors alone cannot fully explain famine occurrence. Green famine is caused by a web of complex and intertwined policy-related, political, natural, socio-­‐economic and demographic factors that have long been present in the study area. The thesis further investigates how the contemporary understanding and classification of famine is dominated by anthropometric and mortality outcomes (‘objective indicators') and thresholds set by outsiders and how ‘subjective indicators' such as the perceptions, knowledge, experience and coping strategies of famine victims are undervalued and given less weight by ‘famine scales'. By incorporating ‘subjective indicators' of famine, this thesis challenges conventional famine conceptualisation and measurement and recommends that these indicators be given equal treatment and weight to ‘objective indicators' in famine classification.

No description available.

Diss.--Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaften--Bochum--Rühr-Universität, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 426-440. Index.

The Great Famine (1845--1852) was not only a catastrophic moment in Irish history, it was and remains an important source of textual production, particularly in regard to literature and drama. These cultural products carry a powerful discourse used to communicate various social and political agendas. From the beginning, Irish novelists, poets and dramatists have confronted the question of the Famine's meaning then and now. At each historical moment, they have interrogated the Famine and have employed various discursive strategies to communicate to their readers and audiences. / This dissertation makes four primary claims: (a) The historical Irish Famine has remained a source of discursive activity by Irish writers, and so constitutes a phenomenon that merits communication research; (b) This discursive content constructs the Famine in ways that communicate its meaning for contemporary readers in successive historical periods; (c) The multiple discursive meanings of the Famine are often contradictory, and demonstrate the conflicting socio-cultural and political goals of both writers and their readerships; and (d) The emergence and evolution of Famine discourse, which consistently recruits pre-existing discourses, provides an important site for examination of the communicational function of imaginative literature and drama. / A survey of Famine literature and drama reveals inconsistent patterns of textual production and discursive content. By determining the historical periods of Famine literary and dramatic production, and by analyzing the contextual dimensions and textual features of representative works, the reasons behind periods of high and low output, the purposes of discursive maintenance and manipulation and the relationship between literary and dramatic discourse and readerships can be approached. To undertake this analysis, five central tropes---land, national identity, religion, gender and agency---are employed. These themes are multi-layered and mutually implicated both on the level of textual production and consumption, that is, in their writing and in their reading/viewing. These tropes have been employed in and through the communicational perspectives of several thinkers, notably Pierre Bourdieu and Teun van Dijk. / Termed an Gorta Mor in the Irish language, the Famine dramatically altered Ireland's social, economic and political fabric, triggered massive emigration to America, Britain and Canada, and etched itself into the Irish psyche as an enduring, if frequently repressed, moment of trauma. As such, a study of its role in communication, in human meaning-making, can illuminate not only Irish experience but the human capacity to tell a bitter, painful story, for specific ends, by remembering and manipulating its elements and to use that story as tool in achieving social and political goals, and in obtaining or maintaining power.

This thesis examines the pictorial record of the Great Famine Era circa 1842--1854: the engravings, sketches, and paintings found in the English public domain. As part of the historical record, these contemporary visual images document attitudes of prejudice and indifference held about Ireland and the Irish during the calamitous years of the Great Irish Famine. The study probes the broad contextual background, narrative structure, and didactic intent of these works in an effort to assess the prejudicial impact of the visual record as a whole.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 351-360). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Agricultural Economics, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 5, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-86). Also issued in print.

No description available.

Ahmednagar District, in Bombay Presidency, was affected - along with much of South India - by a major drought in 1876-78, leading to famine relief by the Government of Bombay and considerable emigration and mortality. Recent literature, however, has suggested that famine is a complex, human and long-drawn-out process, rather than a sudden, natural phenomenon. This thesis seeks to identify that process among poor peasants in Ahmednagar between 1870 and 1884. It does so by examining their factors of production - land, capital and, to a lesser extent, labour - as well as markets in credit and the cheap foodgrains they produced, in order to locate both their chronic food insecurity and forces increasing their vulnerability over time. In this context, emphasis is given to the relationship of the British colonial state to the peasantry. The agrarian policies and agendas of the Government of Bombay are explored with regard to peasant vulnerability. It is argued that it failed to invest in production and infrastructure, while forcing peasants into competitive markets in which they were ill-equipped to compete. Despite a laissez-faire philosophy, it intervened to first promote, then penalise, usurious moneylenders, reducing the availability of credit. It also taxed peasants directly through the inflexible ryotwari land revenue system. In the crisis, peasants were not treated as famine victims and discouraged from accepting relief. The state can therefore be said to have contributed to the process of famine. It is argued that the propriety of colonial famine policies - and especially of other policies in the agricultural sector that undermined peasant food security - was widely discussed at different levels within the British state, from assistant collectors in Ahmednagar to secretaries of state in London. Attention is given to the way these debates were conducted and the process of policy-making analysed, concluding that the colonial hierarchy made it difficult for officers to be responsive to local problems.

No description available.