This submission for PhD by Publication includes three studies designed to reflect the popular view of ordinary Palestinians regarding events and politics in Palestine throughout modern history. They aim to primarily provide a ‘history from below’ political discourse of the Palestinian people. While the studies do not purport to determine with certainty the exact dynamics that propel Palestinian politics and society - as in where political power ultimately lies - they attempt to present a long-dormant argument that sees ‘history from below’ as an indispensable platform providing essential insight into Palestinian history to explain present political currents. Over the course of 11 years, I conducted three studies which resulted in the publication of the following volumes: The first work, Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion (2003) is centered on the events that surrounded the Israeli siege, invasion and subsequent violence in and around the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jenin in April 2002. The study includes forty two eyewitness accounts, collected from people who witnessed the violence and were affected by it, were recorded and positioned to create a clear and unified narrative. The reality that the refugees portrayed in these accounts was mostly inconsistent with the official Israeli narrative of the violent events that occurred in the refugee camp, on one hand, and that were provided by the Palestinian Authority (PA) or factions, on the other. The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle (2006) shows the impact of the Israeli military policies used against revolting Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and the popular response to these policies during the first five years of the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005). The results of the study also demonstrate the inconsistencies between the views and practices held by the official political representation of Palestinians, and the popular view, as demonstrated in the discernible collective behavior of ordinary Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories. In My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (2010) my research pursues the roots of the current situation in the Gaza Strip – that of siege, political deadlock and violence. The study traces the lives of selected refugees before the Nakba - the Catastrophe of 1947-48 - back in Palestine during the British Mandate in the 1920s and just before the Zionist colonial project went into full swing. In the three studies, the central argument is that historical and political events are best explained through non-elitist actors, who although at times lack political representation and platform, are capable of influencing, if not shaping the course of history, thus the present situation on the ground. The studies also indicate that such notions as popular resistance, collective memory and steadfastness (sumud in Arabic) are not mere idealistic and sentimental values, but notions with tangible and decipherable impact on past events and present realities. The central argument endeavors to demonstrate that although the Palestinian people are divided into various collectives, they are united by a common sense of identity and an undeclared political discourse, and they have historically proven to be a viable political actor that has influenced, affected, or, in some instances, deeply altered political realities. To examine my thesis, my paper will be reviewing several theoretical notions of historiography including the Great Man Theory, which uses an elitist approach to understanding the formation and conversion of history. The Great Man Theory argues that single individuals of importance have made decisions that drive the outcomes of history. This notion is challenged by Group Theories which argue that history is shaped by the outcome of competing interest groups belonging to socio-economic elites, and that multidimensional forces often shape political realities. Furthermore, I examine a third theoretical approach that of ‘history from below’, which argues that history is scarcely shaped by ‘great men’ or socio-economic elites. Such historiography rarely contends with how history is formed; instead, it is mostly concerned with attempting to reconstruct the flow of history. It does so through deconstructing largely collective phenomena that are believed to be responsible for shaping current political movements. I attempt, through these volumes, to present a flow of Palestinian history based on the ‘history from below’ approach. The following paper will attempt to explain the logic behind my choice.

Esta pesquisa discute as transformações que vêm ocorrendo nos tradicionais mercados populares do centro de São Paulo (Brás, 25 de Março e Santa Ifigênia), a partir das chamadas galerias e feiras da madrugada. Atualmente, milhares de revendedores, vindos da periferia da cidade, da região metropolitana, do interior do Estado e também de outros estados, direcionam-se a estas regiões em busca de oportunidades de negócios. Além de brasileiros, encontram-se, nesses espaços, bolivianos, chineses, paraguaios, peruanos, libaneses, angolanos, entre outros, atuando seja na distribuição de uma produção local, seja como importadores ou, ainda, como compradores que visam revender as mercadorias em seus países de origem de modo que esses locais passaram a dialogar de outra maneira com a economia urbana da cidade. As formas de controle e fiscalização que incidem sobre estes espaços também se alteraram, tanto por meio das políticas de formalização de certas práticas, que são toleradas e até incentivadas, como através do recrudescimento da repressão policial, que em determinados comportamentos e práticas passam a ser combatidos e reprimidos. A pesquisa procurou problematizar os agenciamentos locais que se constituem em torno do desenvolvimento desses mercados populares, as formas de regulação, práticas de controle e fiscalização de diferentes agentes estatais e a dinâmica dos atores localmente situados. Trata-se de problematizar tais agenciamentos, como eles se formam no entrecruzamento de circuitos de mercadorias de diferentes procedências, quais são as mediações em jogo e de que maneira eles se conectam com as novas formas de gestão da produção e estratégias de circulação e distribuição comercial / This research proposes a discussion on the transformations that have been taking place at the popular tradicional markets in São Paulo downtown, which are: Brás, 25 de março e Santa Ifigênia, through the so called galleries and late-night-early-morning faires. Nowadays, thousands of resellers, coming from the peripheral areas of town, from the metropolitan region, from inter-state and from other states, go into those areas searching for trade oportunities. Besides Brazilian people, these areas receive people from Bolivia, China, Paraguay, Peru, Leban, Angola, among others, who act as distribuitors of local produce, importers of products and buyers who aim at reselling the goods in their original countries. This way, these places have started a different dialogue with the urban economy of the city. The control and fiscalization applied to these spaces have also changed, not only through the policies of formalization of certain practices that are tolerated, and even incentivated, but also through the recrudescence of the police repression, in which certain behaviors and practices have begun to be fought against and repressed. This study made an attempt to problematize the local assemblages that constitute themselves around the development of these popular markets, amidst regulation ways, practices of control and fiscalization done by different state agents, and the dynamics of the locally placed actors. It is about problematizing these assemblages, the ways in which they are formed in the intersection of goods circuits coming from different origins, which the mediations in play are and in which way they are connected with the new management forms and strategies of commercial circulation and distribuition

Esta pesquisa discute as transformações que vêm ocorrendo nos tradicionais mercados populares do centro de São Paulo (Brás, 25 de Março e Santa Ifigênia), a partir das chamadas galerias e feiras da madrugada. Atualmente, milhares de revendedores, vindos da periferia da cidade, da região metropolitana, do interior do Estado e também de outros estados, direcionam-se a estas regiões em busca de oportunidades de negócios. Além de brasileiros, encontram-se, nesses espaços, bolivianos, chineses, paraguaios, peruanos, libaneses, angolanos, entre outros, atuando seja na distribuição de uma produção local, seja como importadores ou, ainda, como compradores que visam revender as mercadorias em seus países de origem de modo que esses locais passaram a dialogar de outra maneira com a economia urbana da cidade. As formas de controle e fiscalização que incidem sobre estes espaços também se alteraram, tanto por meio das políticas de formalização de certas práticas, que são toleradas e até incentivadas, como através do recrudescimento da repressão policial, que em determinados comportamentos e práticas passam a ser combatidos e reprimidos. A pesquisa procurou problematizar os agenciamentos locais que se constituem em torno do desenvolvimento desses mercados populares, as formas de regulação, práticas de controle e fiscalização de diferentes agentes estatais e a dinâmica dos atores localmente situados. Trata-se de problematizar tais agenciamentos, como eles se formam no entrecruzamento de circuitos de mercadorias de diferentes procedências, quais são as mediações em jogo e de que maneira eles se conectam com as novas formas de gestão da produção e estratégias de circulação e distribuição comercial / This research proposes a discussion on the transformations that have been taking place at the popular tradicional markets in São Paulo downtown, which are: Brás, 25 de março e Santa Ifigênia, through the so called galleries and late-night-early-morning faires. Nowadays, thousands of resellers, coming from the peripheral areas of town, from the metropolitan region, from inter-state and from other states, go into those areas searching for trade oportunities. Besides Brazilian people, these areas receive people from Bolivia, China, Paraguay, Peru, Leban, Angola, among others, who act as distribuitors of local produce, importers of products and buyers who aim at reselling the goods in their original countries. This way, these places have started a different dialogue with the urban economy of the city. The control and fiscalization applied to these spaces have also changed, not only through the policies of formalization of certain practices that are tolerated, and even incentivated, but also through the recrudescence of the police repression, in which certain behaviors and practices have begun to be fought against and repressed. This study made an attempt to problematize the local assemblages that constitute themselves around the development of these popular markets, amidst regulation ways, practices of control and fiscalization done by different state agents, and the dynamics of the locally placed actors. It is about problematizing these assemblages, the ways in which they are formed in the intersection of goods circuits coming from different origins, which the mediations in play are and in which way they are connected with the new management forms and strategies of commercial circulation and distribuition

The present thesis on bilingual education, with its foci on linguistic heterogeneity and language policy 'from below', covers the first 15 years in the officially multilingual new South Africa. The post-apartheid era has seen South Africa's pro-multilingual Constitution and the language-in-education policy for schools being sidelined in favour of an English-oriented mindset. The subversion of the policy's additive bi/multilingual intent in favour of a replacive 'English-as-target-language' approach indexes a collusion between the political class and the African-language speaking majority, and has been accompanied by systemic underachievement. While the linguistic market beyond school is not necessarily unified in its monolingual habitus, choices for the poor are constrained by a lack of alternatives. Within the implementational spaces afforded by the policy environment, groups such as Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) have attempted to demonstrate an alternative approach that valorised mother-tongue-based bilingual education. These alternative education initiatives (1995-2009) form the substance of the five published pieces in the present portfolio, capped by the summative thesis. They were written while the author was still a member of PRAESA, and collectively address topics such as language policy initiatives 'from below', the role of surveys in gauging language behaviour and creating language awareness, a multilingual training of trainers programme for southern Africa, a bilingual teacher in-service programme foregrounding different teacher identities in relation to policy realisation, and a classification system for schools by language medium that factors in mother tongues while making allowance for linguistic heterogeneity. The thesis reflects critically on the prevailing monoglossic language ideology informing these studies, and suggests the need for a heteroglossic approach oriented to language as a resource.

Fire has influenced species composition within the Central Hardwood Forest for millennia. Since the last glacial retreat, Native Americans followed by European settlers used fire as a tool to manipulate their environment. This fire use by humans helped maintain the dominance of well-adapted oak-hickory species across eastern forests. By the 1940's, land fragmentation from increased settlement and actively enforced suppression policies effectively eliminated fire from the landscape. Without the disturbance of recurrent fire that alters succession, the fertile loess-capped hills of southern Illinois have undergone several decades of compositional and structural change manifested by encroachment of mixed mesophytic competitors that are maladapted to fire. Today, land managers seek practical methods to restore declining oak-hickory forests. Southern Illinois forests in particular are lacking information on how cutting and prescribed fire techniques can be applied to encourage regeneration of oak-hickory species. In 2002, five sites were chosen across the Greater Shawnee Hills geographic region for similar ecological characteristics. A factorial combination of thinning and a fire treatment consisting of two burns was used to test the response of understory components including: seedling density, seedling height, seedling diameter, non-tree cover and available sunlight. Results showed a distinct improvement in oak-hickory seedling competitive position as compared to non oak-hickory species. Seedlings of sassafras out-competed all other groups in this study and were the only species to increase in both density and height following repeated fire. The non-tree vegetation layer increased as a result of thin from below treatments, while burning had no effect on the amount of available sunlight. Generally, woody seedlings benefited from thinning based on their physiological adaptations and fire essentially acts as a filter selecting for traits of disturbance-prone vegetation.

This research seeks to study the peacebuilding strategies used in South Sudan. It is interested in the interaction between the liberal peacebuilding framework and the “local turn” as manifested in the strategy adopted by peacebuilding organisations in Africa. The local turn and local ownership only enjoy rhetorical acceptance and prove to be challenging to operationalise. This research critically analyses the ideological policies and implementation impact of strategies used, especially relating to the inclusion as well as the exclusion of “the local”. As local ownership in peace processes is essential in ensuring sustainability, the research is interested in the position that the “local” voices and “local” peace actors occupy in post-independence peace strategies and policies employed mainly through the liberal framework in South Sudan. It is in the light of the top-down liberal peacebuilding framework that this research provides an analysis of the bottom-up strategies that can be identified in the case of South Sudan. The research will thus identify types of discourses, beliefs, practices and ideologies that have been adopted in South Sudan’s peacebuilding interventions by both the local and external actors and their implications. Using the different strategies employed by the external and internal peace actors as a unit of analysis, the research will aim to find out how the peace strategies employed in South Sudan include “the local” approach, how local and external actors interact and the implications of this relationship for peace in South Sudan. This research employs a critical theory approach to analyse the inclusion of “the local” in peacebuilding and the existing relationship between the liberal peacebuilding framework and the local turn. This will be done using a qualitative approach and a phenomenological design. Since the current strategies do not exist in a vacuum, historical process tracing will be conducted to understand and evaluate the effect and the change of strategies employed by external and internal actors in the past and possible current implications. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Political Sciences / PhD / Unrestricted

Cette étude porte sur le vécu d’individus ayant reçu un diagnostic de déficience intellectuelle et institutionnalisés à l’hôpital psychiatrique Saint-Michel-Archange situé dans la région de Québec à partir de 1951. Adoptant une perspective from below, elle explore le parcours de quatorze patients à partir de leur dossier médical afin de comprendre la sortie tardive de l’institution de plusieurs d’entre eux en pleine période de désinstitutionnalisation. Cette recherche rend compte de vécus complexes, nuancés et multiples à l’extérieur et à l’intérieur des murs de Saint-Michel-Archange. Y sont documentés les aspects plus pénibles de la vie à l’institution et la résistance qu’y opposent nombre de patients, mais aussi l’appréciation qu’expriment plusieurs des soins, loisirs, occupations et relations auxquels ils y avaient accès. C’est en effet avec réticence que certains quittent Saint-Michel-Archange après y avoir vécu pendant plusieurs décennies. Nos sources révèlent par ailleurs différentes lacunes du mouvement de désinstitutionnalisation québécois. Non des moindres sont celles concernant les ressources résidentielles se développant à l’extérieur de l’institution. Vraisemblablement mal adaptées au besoin de plusieurs, certains demandent à revenir à Saint-Michel-Archange après en avoir fait l’expérience. D’autres, en général ceux dont l’autonomie au quotidien est la plus faible, ne quittèrent jamais l’hôpital après leur première admission. Aucun foyer ne paraît avoir été disposé à accueillir des individus aux besoins aussi grands que les leurs. En sommes, cette recherche démontre la pertinence d’un point de vue historique de s’intéresser au vécu de personnes ayant reçu un diagnostic de déficience intellectuelle. Son étude démontre en effet le rôle d’agents actifs qu’ils ont eu dans le cadre de leur institutionnalisation.

Structural fire design represents one important aspect of the design of reinforced concrete buildings. The work presented in this thesis seeks to elucidate the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs during exposure to heating from below, as would occur in the case of a building fire, with a particular focus on structural fire modelling using finite element analysis. The focus in on validating finite element models against experimental results and quantifying the sensitivity of model outputs to relevant thermal and mechanical input parameters. A primary goal of the work is to provide recommendations to structural fire engineering analysts and designers considering the performance-based design of reinforced concrete slabs for structural fire resistance using available finite element software. A critical review of the available knowledge of the structural fire response of reinforced concrete structures in general and concrete slabs in particular is presented, along with an awareness as to the importance of understanding structural response of concrete structures exposed to fires. Current techniques for structural fire design of concrete structures are reviewed, and shortcomings highlighted. Available experimental data are presented, and various finite element models of these slabs are developed and interrogated to identify important aspects for understanding, as well as for future improvement of similar studies (both experimental and numerical) with the intention of supporting future progress in structural fire engineering, in particular as regards performance based structural fire design of concrete slabs. A range of thermal and mechanical parameters that are potentially important and influential in the structural fire design of reinforced concrete slabs is then studied, including: fire scenario, thermal properties of materials (thermal conductivity and specific heat), heat transfer parameters (coefficient of convection and emissivity) and assumptions, restraint conditions at the supports, variations of span-to-depth ratio, reinforcement detailing, as well as plan aspect ratio are all investigated; their influence on the structural fire response of reinforced concrete slabs is studied and discussed. A key issue in validating finite element models against experimental results lies in defining the temperature inputs to the structural finite element models correctly. Variation of available thermal and mechanical input parameters, as recommended in Eurocodes, influences the predictive performance of thermal and structural finite element models, however these are not the main contributing factors in obtaining a credible prediction of response from the finite element models. The most challenging aspect in performing heat transfer analysis for fire furnace tested reinforced concrete slabs lies in defining the correct thermal boundary condition. For simply supported one-way spanning and two-way spanning slabs, increasing slab's thickness (lowering span-depth ratio) does not improve fire resistance rating for the slabs when both limiting deflection criteria and limiting tensile plastic strain are set as acceptance criteria. Two-way slabs with higher span-depth ratio have better fire resistance ratings, judging from the overall trends and magnitudes of mid-span deflections. The formation of plastic hinges is likely to occur for one-way spanning slabs modelled with finite rotational spring stiffness at supports, but not for two-way spanning slabs. A yield line mechanism in two-way slabs means that the behaviour is more complex as compared to the simple flexural mechanism for one-way slabs. In one-way slabs, plastic hinges potentially occur at the location where top reinforcement is curtailed, highlighting the importance of properly understanding the nuances in response of concrete slabs in fire. Investigation of the influence of aspect ratio in two-way spanning slabs confirms that slabs with lower aspect ratios have better structural fire resistance than slabs with higher aspect ratios when both limiting deflection criteria and limiting tensile strain in reinforcing steel were used as the performance indicators. A combination of both limiting mid-span deflection criteria as well as limiting tensile plastic strain is recommended for specifying acceptance criteria for both one-way and two-way slabs, since it gives more accurate and comprehensive assessment on the structural response of the slabs under exposure to severe heating from below.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Este trabalho propÃe-se a um estudo do livro Quarto de despejo (1960), de Carolina Maria de Jesus, associando-o à modalidade de criaÃÃo literÃria e perspectiva conceitual que optamos por chamar de literatura vista de baixo. Entendemos por esta Ãltima categoria a produÃÃo literÃria das camadas sociais subalternas e marginalizadas socialmente e, simultaneamente, uma perspectiva teÃrica que valorize as diferenÃas entre esse tipo de literatura e a literatura erudita, historicamente associada Ãs elites sociais e culturais em diferentes espaÃos e perÃodos. Na obra em questÃo à narrado o dia-a-dia miserÃvel e violento da autora, na hoje extinta favela do Canindà e tambÃm nos percursos que faz pela cidade de SÃo Paulo, entre os anos de 1955 a 1960, dentro do quadro polÃtico e ideolÃgico conhecido em nossa historiografia como âdesenvolvimentismoâ, pautado por vertiginoso crescimento urbano e industrializaÃÃo do paÃs. Nosso objetivo geral Ã, alÃm de investigar como a criaÃÃo literÃria, nos planos do conteÃdo e da expressÃo, foi condicionada, no livro Quarto de despejo, pela origem de classe e a situaÃÃo de misÃria de sua autora, desenvolver a noÃÃo de âliteratura vista de baixoâ como uma chave teÃrica para explicar os limites da representaÃÃo da pobreza pela literatura culta do Brasil. Procuramos, ao mesmo tempo, traÃar um breve panorama da representaÃÃo da pobreza na literatura brasileira pÃs semana de 22, a partir de autores e obras-chave de nossas letras, analisando de que forma o universo erudito literÃrio relacionou-se com o mundo material e mental das classes subalternas. Tentamos tambÃm mostrar as consequÃncias temÃticas e formais que advÃm da inversÃo de lugar do pobre, quando este passa de objeto para sujeito de sua prÃpria representaÃÃo literÃria. As bases teÃricas principais das anÃlises realizadas nesse projeto serÃo os estudos de Antonio Candido sobre a relaÃÃo entre literatura e sociedade (CANDIDO, 1965) e de Roberto Schwarz sobre a representaÃÃo da pobreza na literatura brasileira (SCHWARZ et alli, 1983), bem como a consulta de obras historiogrÃficas e sociolÃgicas que abordam a literatura e as questÃes de poder, como os trabalhos de Carlo Guinzburg (2006) e Pierre Bourdieu (2009) sobre a micro-histÃria e o poder simbÃlico, respectivamente.

This thesis explores how people struggle to make livable lives in the conditions of existence of seeking asylum in the UK. The study is based on ethnographic research, conversations and participant observation, with people seeking asylum in Manchester. Grounding the research in their narratives is a contribution to decolonizing knowledge and doing justice to the sentience of people who are marginalized and pathologized. The narratives are brought into dialogue with feminist and decolonial philosophy and political theory, and with empirical studies of 'refugeedom' from a number of disciplines, to produce a new field of connection from which to map the terrain involved in theorizing livability. While the whole thesis seeks to respond to the narratives, there is a detailed focus on three dimensions which participants emphasize as crucial to livability: settlement in Manchester; the prohibition of employment; the asylum application procedures. These are moments in which livability is claimed as both ethics and practice. From the perspective of the narratives and the ethics which permeate them, livability opens up into questions of recognition, social justice and care. People claim commonality: recognition as human, equality and inclusion in social goods, and care in public settings. These are the practical and ethical supports of livability. The narratives point also towards critiques of 'refugeedom', the policies and practices that form the discursive and material conditions within which people seeking asylum attempt to make livable lives.