My thesis is the product of an in-depth qualitative study of the ‘return' of British-born Cypriots to Cyprus. By specifically focusing on the second generation, my thesis seeks to rectify the lacuna in research on the second generation's connections to the ethnic homeland, capitalising on these migrants' positionalities with respect to questions of home and belonging. The thesis consists of eight chapters: Chapter 1 introduces the context in which the research was conducted; Chapter 2 provides the historical and geographical background for the Cypriot migration experience; Chapter 3 presents the methodological and ethical context in which my research was conducted; Chapters, 4, 5, 6 are the main empirical chapters, discussing the British-born Greek-Cypriot returnees' experiences, motives and viewpoints, from childhood memories to today's adult experiences; Chapter 7 provides an additional comparative angle through the inclusion of a subsample of British-born Turkish Cypriots; and finally, Chapter 8, my concluding chapter, revisits the research questions, draws comparisons with other empirical studies on second-generation return, and re-evaluates my methodological framework. Through the voices and life-narratives of second-generation British-Cypriot ‘return' migrants – following a biographical timeline – the multifaceted perspectives in which notions of ‘return', ‘home' and ‘belonging' can be viewed and experienced in a migratory context are revealed. My study shows the complexities and ambivalences involved when exploring ideas of ‘identity' and ‘return', views of ‘home', and feelings of ‘belonging' in the ancestral homeland – demonstrating how boundaries of such notions are blurred, eroded and re-established by a new generation of migrants, reflecting their time, experiences, choices and ideologies. My findings deconstruct the meaning of ‘return', move beyond the primordial cultural confines of notions of ‘belonging', and challenge the simple dichotomy of ‘home' versus ‘away', revealing new similarities (and differences) beyond such predefined labels and categories, which form the building blocks for new, contemporary, ways and spaces of belonging.

Rural tourism is a long-established practice in the industrialised West, but it is a comparatively recent and on-going development in postsocialist contexts. This thesis examines the development of rural tourism in Romania and draws on fieldwork carried out in one of the oldest and most popular destinations of the country, as well as in a newer and less visited location. As homestays are central to rural tourism, my research has an extensive focus on what happens with guesthouses and their owners. Countryside tourism is a practice grounded in a discourse that praises images of unspoilt nature, close-knit communities, material and cultural heritage and natural healthy food. Discourses about rurality also suggest that for city dwellers, village stays in their own countries can provide a way of getting in touch with their national identity, building, at the same time a sense of belonging. In Romania, such discourses are promoted by NGOs, state institutions and tour operators that aim to develop rural tourism. In spite of their efforts, in the destinations that I studied, rural tourism has strayed away from the ideal model. Instead of bucolic cottages inspired by the vernacular architecture of the region, hosts welcome their guests into large, modern villas equipped with state-of-the art amenities. Tourists too show a strong concern with material aspects of their accommodation, they rarely venture in outdoor pursuits and have little interest in notions of ‘heritage’ or ‘traditions’. My findings show that the lived experiences of local entrepreneurs have shaped worldviews that in many respects are at odds with the ideal models and best tourism practices promoted by various institutions. I also show how hosts and guests share similar notions of achievement and success and how this has turned rural tourism into a house-centred event. In explaining why discourses have little grounding in reality, I pay close attention to the economics of tourism, trying to understand guesthouses as businesses interlinked both with the wider forces of the market and with the socio-economic history of rural Romania. I show how the development of pensiuni was influenced by specific material and social constraints, arguing that a long history of living under oppressive regimes actually endowed locals with qualities that made them ready to embark on entrepreneurial pursuits. I also examine how kinship can be both a catalyst for growth and a factor that contributes to the stagnation or decline of businesses. Most notably, however, it was the unstable and burdensome legislative environment that had perhaps the strongest impact over the evolution of guesthouses, determining over half of the owners to stay in the shadow economy. My findings raise questions about the effectiveness and utility of many of the norms currently imposed on tourist entrepreneurs and I conclude by discussing a few ways in which institutions could respond better to the needs of guesthouse owners.

Devido à sua natureza, o gás natural (GN) tem na distância aos pontos de consumo um obstáculo para sua utilização, a qual vai além simples queima para geração de energia ou obtenção de calor. Portanto, é importante que sejam discutidos novos métodos para distribuí-lo e transformá-lo em fontes de energia de maior valor agregado ou em matéria-prima para fabricação de produtos a serem utilizados na indústria química. Uma opção é a conversão do GN em combustíveis líquidos de pronto uso como óleo diesel, gasolina e querosene de aviação através da rota Gas-To-Liquids (GTL). O presente trabalho avalia o potencial da tecnologia GTL no contexto do crescimento da oferta de gás natural no Brasil pelos gasodutos Rota 2 e Rota 3, contextualizando o cenário brasileiro desse energético, as perspectivas futuras e o estado da tecnologia GTL com o processo Fisher-Tropsch. Para tanto, é simulado e analisado o desempenho econômico de uma planta de diesel GTL operante por 30 anos em cenários de preços de insumo e produto obtidos por projeções de reconhecimento internacional. / The usage of natural gás (NG) is related to the distance to the final customers, that is a real obstacle to its full utilization which is beyond the usage as fuel for electricity or heat generation. It is important to prospect, analyze and propose new methods for distribution and transformation of this important energy suppy to more value added products or special raw material for the chemical industry. The transformation in ready for use liquid fuels like diesel, gasoline and kerosene through the gas-to-liquid route (GTL) is one of the options. This dissertation evaluates the GTL technology in a context of the NG additional volume available through 2 new pipelines coming from offshore, Rota 2 and Rota 3 in the Brazilian context of NG current usage and its future perspectives taking advantage of this additional availability via the traditional and long term tested GTL Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology. A GTL FT Diesel plant operating for 30 years was taken as an example considering different scenarios for NG and Oil prices retrieved from the IEA data base that is internationally considered as a consistent source of information.

Little research has been devoted to studying the interconnections between the ambiguous border identities along the so-called ‘Celtic fringe’ in the UK. It is important to explore whether, in the new context of the devolved Welsh and Scottish states, people resident in the border areas of Wales and Scotland will increasingly come to identify with the Welsh or Scottish “nation” and with its official “nationality”. Using the sociological approach advocated by Robert K. Yin, this thesis draws on ethnographical research to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary national identity, nationalism, borderlands and football fandom. It examines supporters in three border towns: Oswestry (Shropshire), Hay-on-Wye (Powys), and Berwick-upon-Tweed (Northumberland). Focus groups were conducted with match-going supporters of Welsh league champions The New Saints of Oswestry Town, Scottish League Two side Berwick Rangers and Hay St. Mary’s Football Club, who compete in both the Herefordshire and Mid Wales leagues. Examining football fans’ expressions of identity, this study discusses national sentiment and explores identity – local, regional and national – in the England-Wales and England-Scotland border regions from a theoretical and comparative perspective. A detailed and grounded study of national identity and nationalism amongst fans in the borderlands of Wales and Scotland will appeal to academics and students of sports history and with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, football fandom, debatable borderlands and contemporary national identities.

In spite of longstanding concern over the impact that parental problem drug-use may have on the lives of children, very little is currently known about the way in which problem drug-using fathers experience and interpret their parenting roles. This study explores the lived experience of fathering among problem drug-using men and considers the impact that drug addiction may have on how these fathers enact their roles as parents and the relationships that they have with their children. Through qualitative interviewing with a sample of fathers with a history of drug addiction, this research highlights the incompatibility between a problem drug-use career and an active and involved fathering role. However, it also reveals how although many of these men may not be fathering in a practical sense, they would appear to nonetheless hold well-developed notions of what qualifies as good parenting and a desire to better fulfill their role as a father. The findings suggest that greater acknowledgement of fathering issues and of men’s parenting status in the provision of services would be beneficial. Furthermore, engaging with these men as fathers and addressing their parenting issues whilst treating their drug addiction problems could potentially facilitate better, more responsible, involved, and perhaps most importantly drug-free fathering.

This thesis , through critical discourse analysis and thirty - eight in - depth interviews, examines the discursive construction of UK Kosovo Albanian D iaspora iden tity by Kosovo Albanians in both the UK and Kosovo. S imultaneously , I explore how identity and national and cultural belonging are multidirectional and shaped by both a diasporic host society and a homeland context . Although s cholarshi p on migration and diasporas is prolific, t hi s thesis argues that due to prev ious predominant scholarly focus on host context s over homeland contexts , current scholarship is limited and limiting. The analysis highlights the ‘Neither Here Nor There’ phenomenon, which suggests that Kosovo Albanians in the UK do not passively identify with a homeland identity or necessarily with a host society identity, and that this identity is multiple and context bound. The empirical chapters demonstrate that homelands are not passive distant and ‘imagined’ places but politically active agents who seek to tap into their diasporas through opaque power and what I term distance based biopolitics to construct and benefit from the diaspora . My analyses also demonstrate s that ‘othering’ discourses are not exclusive to host societies but are also present in the discourses of Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo and within the diaspora communities . I explore h omeland stereotypes such as the ‘Schatzi’ phenomenon , which are embedded discursively and ideologically in Kosovo and function to construct and ‘other’ the Kosovo Albanian Diaspora, especi a lly in Germany and Switzerland. Whilst, the UK - based diaspora is often attributed with a cultural sophistication and ‘mentality’ th at makes them more accepted in Kosovo . Therefore this research suggests that to understand diaspora complexities also requires focus on the imagined diaspora and its relationship(s) with the homeland . This thesis also provides an original contribution by extending current debates and theories about migration , diaspora and identity and by highlighting how Kosovo Albanians already settled in the UK view and discursively construct their position and identities with the UK. Coupled with all these elements, my work contribute s to migration, diaspora and identity studies as well as to studies about Kosovo Albanians in the UK, which are still lacking.

Le mémoire porte sur l'expertise communautaire en santé mentale dans la région de Québec. En s'appuyant sur la théorie de la structuration d'Anthony Giddens, l'accent est mis sur les actions liées à cette expertise, sur les moyens utilisés pour la mettre en œuvre ainsi que sur la relation dialectique entre ceux-ci. On remarque que cette expertise s'articule de façon différente selon les contextes dans lesquels évoluent les agents communautaires en santé mentale. En effet, en portant l'attention tour à tour sur leurs positions au sein de leur organisme communautaire, du système de santé publique et de la sphère politique, on peut constater que les agents communautaires font appel à différentes dimensions de cette expertise, dimensions que ce mémoire s'applique à définir.

La thèse "Sang sucré, pouvoirs codés et médecine amère" est le résultat d'une démarche relevant de l'anthropologie médicale critique s'étant principalement déroulée dans la communauté Innue de Pessamit sur la Haute-Côte-Nord du Québec. Cette recherche vise initialement à répondre à cette première question : à quels facteurs peut-on attribuer les insuccès répétés des campagnes de prévention concernant le diabète en milieu autochtone? En particulier, elle cherche à jeter un nouvel éclairage sur l'avènement des conditions d'émergence de l'épidémie de diabète qui afflige un nombre grandissant de membres des Premières Nations. Cette thèse soutient que le développement de ce que la santé publique nomme des "facteurs de risque", fait d'avantage appel à l'émergence de nouvelles caractéristiques identitaires qui doivent être comprises dans le cadre du développement d'un mouvement de revendication et d'affirmation nationale qui est intimement lié à un long et fastidieux processus de décolonisation. Le postulat de départ ici veut qu'il soit utopique de chercher à comprendre les dynamiques qui animent le niveau local sans préalablement les situer dans le cadre du mouvement de mondialisation et de globalisation des marchés. Notre lecture met donc en évidence un ensemble de facteurs sociaux, politiques, économiques et culturels qui créent les conditions d'émergence et de développement du diabète, appréhendé bien sûr en tant que maladie par le monde biomédical, mais également et surtout en tant que "normalité" dans le milieu de vie des Autochtones. Nous démontrons, entre autres, que l'obésité est aujourd'hui en milieu innu, une réalité intégrée à un système complexe de codes identitaires porteurs de sens, permettant l'inclusion et l'exclusion des acteurs de la société. En prenant en considération les niveaux "micro" et "macro" , cette thèse met en lumière qu'à un niveau intermédiaire "méso" , État colonial et "colonisés" se sont mutuellement dotés de systèmes de contrôle puissants assurant l'exercice et l'application du pouvoir au quotidien. Et c'est en prenant en considération ces forces vives en jeu dans la société autochtone moderne que cette thèse apporte un nouvel éclairage sur une question de fond qui intéresse tout particulièrement les milieux de la santé publique : pourquoi les campagnes de prévention primaire, secondaire et tertiaire de la santé publique en milieu autochtone se butent-elles constamment à d'importants insuccès et ce malgré l'injection d'importants investissements humains, scientifiques et budgétaires ?

Depuis l'indépendance de 1991, l'Ukraine s'efforce de se doter d'un capital symbolique pour appuyer sa nouvelle identité et exister en tant qu'État-nation. Ainsi sont mises en place des politiques patrimoniales, de nouvelles commémorations, et une révision du récit historique. Mais la volonté de renforcer la cohésion nationale se heurte à la persistance d'une fracture sociétale, schématisée dans une opposition entre un Ouest dit «prooccidental» et un Est dit «prorusse». Les uns défendent le principe d'une identité nationale à base ethnique s'appuyant sur la mémoire des luttes nationalistes (1920-1950), entretenue par la diaspora nord-américaine, comme enjeu majeur pour la société actuelle. Les autres, réfractaires à cette «nationalisation» du passé et de ses héros controversés, rejettent cette forme d'identification collective, allant jusqu'à lui en préférer d'autres: le panslavisme orthodoxe, le régionalisme, le soviétisme... Cette thèse, se saisit du phénomène mémoriel et en particulier des usages publics du passé, pour décrypter les raisons de cette division, issue d'expériences contrastées, portées par deux mémoires, ayant chacune son propre choix de commémorations, sa logique narrative, ses silences, renvoyant à des enjeux politico-idéologiques sous-jacents. Trois supports mémoriels-clés (Tarass Chevtchenko, la Grande Famine de 1932-1933, la Seconde Guerre mondiale) sont convoqués pour mettre en évidence, à partir de leurs interprétations concurrentes, les visions respectives du passé que se renvoient, comme dans un jeu de miroirs, les tenants des deux camps mémoriels, et qui empêchent la fixation de referents identitaires communs.

La présente recherche est née de la volonté de comprendre si les lois sur l’immigration par le parrainage affectent ou non les relations entre les hommes et les femmes qui choisissent d’immigrer au Canada par cette filière. À première vue cette loi, qui facilite le regroupement familial pour des résidents permanents ou des citoyens, pourrait paraître positive, pour les femmes notamment. Les récits des dix femmes qui ont participé à ma recherche montrent qu’au contraire, la situation est extrêmement complexe et mène parfois à des formes variées de violence, en même temps qu’elle contribue à créer des relations asymétriques et des inégalités au sein des couples. Les entrevues semi-dirigées auprès de ces immigrantes parrainées habitant la Ville de Québec montrent clairement que ce processus d’immigration a ses particularités et que les effets sur leur vie ne sont pas que positifs. / This research stemmed from the will to understand whether sponsorship immigration laws had an impact on relationships between men and women who chose to immigrate through this channel. At first glance, this law facilitating family reunification for permanent residents or citizens can seem positive, especially for women. The accounts of the ten women who took part in my research demonstrate that on the contrary, the situation is extremely complex and sometimes leads to diverse forms of violence. It also contributes to the creation of asymmetric relationships and inequalities among couples. The semi-directed interviews conducted with sponsored immigrant women living in Québec City clearly show that this immigration procedure has its own particularities, and that its effects on the subjects’ lives are not just positive.