This work is an analysis of Mambila religion based on fieldwork in Somié village, Cameroon. An ethnographic and historical introduction to the Mambila is followed by an account of their religious concepts. It is argued that, despite their adherence to Christianity (and to Islam), traditional practices continue to be of great importance in everyday life. In order to examine traditional practice descriptions are given of divination and oath-taking rites. Translated transcripts of the different forms of the sua-oath form the empirical core of the thesis. The transcripts illustrate the way that Mambila experience and understand the meaning of sua. Descriptions are also given of the sua masquerades. Finally I examine problems inherent in the analysis of non-literate societies lacking a reflective tradition, and in particular, societies lacking precise, structured religious concepts. This allows for discussion of resulting implications on the relationships between religion, politics and ‘symbolic power.’

The post-accession migration to the UK from the eight Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004 has attracted a significant amount of attention in public discourse as well as from scholars and policy-makers. On the one hand, these migrants are praised for their contributions to the local or national economy, for their work ethic and self-reliance as mostly young and well-educated labour migrants; on the other hand, post-enlargement migration is depicted as a threat to local public services and the British welfare system, or to British society more generally. Our knowledge about the 'new European migrants' in the UK, however, is limited in so far as the existing literature tends to adopt these interests and perspectives of the 'host society' or analyse migrants' experiences through an ethnic lens. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over a twelve-month period, this thesis provides an empirically-grounded, contextually rich and theoretically informed understanding of how Czech- and Slovak-speaking migrants who arrived in Glasgow after 2004 negotiate insecurities and risks and build social security in their everyday lives in the city. The thesis offers novel insights and contributes to existing theoretical, methodological, and empirical research on the nexus of (post-accession) migration, social security, and risk. Methodologically, by focusing on a language-based group across ethnic, national, and cultural boundaries and by analytically probing the heterogeneity of the research group, the study challenges simplistic generalisations and the uncritical adoption of ethnocentric concepts and ideas. Each of the empirically-driven chapters develops both the theoretical and empirical argument in its own right, exploring, for example, the various processes through which a 'risk population' was produced in the field; my informants' notion of zkancelovali with regard to state-provided support in Glasgow; the significance of past experiences and everyday knowledges in negotiations of risk and in/securities; or the notion of 'exploring potentialities of care' in Glasgow and beyond. Theoretically, the thesis fruitfully integrates socio-cultural concepts of risk with an anthropological reconceptualisation of social security and refines these in relation to migrants' lived experiences. Overall, this ethnographic study argues for the value of shifting our gaze from a sole focus on migrants as research objects to wider processes and contexts in which migrants' specific meaning-making activities and everyday practices of negotiating in/securities and risks are situated and embedded.

Starch digestion begins in the mouth where it is hydrolysed into smaller polysaccharides by the enzyme salivary amylase. Three salivary amylase genes (AMY1A, B & C) and a pseudogene (AMYP1) have been described and are located in tandem on chromosome 1. Polymorphic variation has been demonstrated in Caucasians in the form of the number of repeats of the AMY1 genes, as follows: (lA-lB-Pl)n-lC. This variation has been reported to result in differing levels salivary amylase enzyme production and, as a result, differences in the efficiency of starch digestion in the mouth. It is proposed in this thesis that an increase in salivary gene copy number may be an adaptation to high starch diets as a result of the adoption of agriculture. Reliable high-throughput multiplex PCR based methods have been designed to quantify AMY1 gene copy number and to also to type 6 microsatellite markers closely linked to the AMY gene cluster. Data have been collected for 14 human populations, with different histories of cereal agriculture and ancestral levels of starch in the diet. Data have also been collected on AMY1 gene copy number in 5 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The AMY1 allele frequency difference (measured using FST) between the two most extreme populations, the Mongolians and Saami, was not an outlier on a distribution of FST based on presumed neutral 11,024 SNPs from the human genome. The chimpanzee data suggest that the most frequent allele (AMY1*H1) in humans may not be the ancestral allele, as all chimpanzee chromosomes tested carried the AMY1*H0 allele (containing only one copy of the AMY1 gene). A more sensitive selection test, the analysis of the intra-allelic variability of the AMY1 repeat alleles using closely linked microsatellites, showed no compelling evidence for recent positive selection at the AMY1 locus in humans. As a result, genetic drift could not be ruled out as an explanation for the observed AMY1 allele frequency differences among populations. Alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT) is an intermediary metabolic enzyme that is targeted to different organelles in different species. Previous studies have shown that there is a clear relationship between the organellar distribution of AGT and diet. Non-human primates show the herbivorous peroxisomal distribution of AGT. In humans a point mutation and insertion deletion polymorphism have been associated with peroxisome-to-mitochondria AGT mis-targeting. Data have been collected using a PCR/RFLP based method, in 11 human populations. In a comparison with FST values from 11.024 SNP loci, 94.5% of SNPs had a lower FST than a comparison of AGT allele frequencies for Saami and Chinese. This unusually high allele frequency difference between Chinese and Saami is consistent with the signature of recent positive selection driven by the unusually high meat content in the Saami diet.

This thesis provides an ethnographic analysis of how Greek gay men experience the ways in which their sexuality is subject to ‘negotiation’ in the family and the military, how these ‘negotiations’ influence and sometimes even inhibit the creation of an LGBT movement. The experiences of my ethnographic informants produced little material for generalisations but the diversity of their voices suggests that they are constantly fighting between the desire to belong and the wish to remain different. I argue that the theoretical framework of timi and dropi (honour and shame) can still be a valuable explanatory tool for an understanding of Modern Greek homosexualities. Yet, this thesis offers a critique of this paradigm for its neglect to account for the possible ways in which the sexual contact of the men in a family may occasionally be seen as a threat to the family’s honour. As a result, silence becomes a defence mechanism that many of my gay interlocutors and their families employ to deal with homosexuality. This varied silence often inhibits the sense of pride in the man’s homosexuality and in turn prevents him from joining the movement that would require him to be vocal about his sexual self. The military experiences of my interlocutors, on the other hand, challenge the assumption that the military is a strictly heterosexual space. What they often describe as the ‘homo-social’ environment of the military acted as a catalyst for several of them to come to terms with their homosexuality. The thesis also explores the history of Greek LGBT activism from its inception in 1976 to today and examines the reasons behind its limited success in capturing the hearts and minds of my interlocutors.

This thesis provides an outline for how we should think of the ethics of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) by giving sense to what it means to treat an NGO as a moral agent. That is, it aims to answer the following question: Which special moral obligations do NGOs have in virtue of the distinctive type of organisation that they are? In brief, the answer provided by this thesis is that NGO agency is defined by the multiple relationships that threaten to undermine its unity. Obligations are identified as what an NGO must do in order to maintain such a unified organisational self. In Chapter 1, I define an NGO as an autonomous, norm-enacting organisation not motivated by profit and reliant on voluntary interaction. The idea of NGOs as unique agents is then developed indirectly in the middle four chapters. Each chapter engages with a central topic pertaining to NGO ethics, arguing for a particular position with respect to the topics of accountability (Chapter 2), resource allocation (Chapter 3), contributions to domestic and global justice (Chapter 4), and NGOs’ impact on the viability of universal welfare rights (Chapter 5). The second task performed by each chapter is the identification of a particular ability, or power, possessed by NGOs as agents. These four abilities characterise the moral agency of an NGO and form the basis for identifying four types of NGO obligation: 1) accountability, 2) acting consistently with organisational norms, 3) demonstration of positive social change, and 4) epistemic procedural virtue. In Chapter 6 I produce a basic framework for NGOs to use as a way of assessing themselves with respect to these four obligations. This framework is then connected to the findings from a 10-month qualitative research project, conducted from 2007-2008, on the ethical perspectives of NGO workers in Mongolia.

Many HIV/AIDS prevention interventions have been shown to increase awareness and knowledge but few have been shown to impact on behaviour. This ethnographic study was designed to provide a holistic account of risk perception in order to inform our understandings of how HIV risk is perceived. Through qualitative methods it is both a deductive testing of the risk theories of Douglas and Giddens and an inductive, grounded investigation to identify which risks are prioritised and the discourses which influence risk perceptions in one rural and one neighbouring peri-urban site in north-western Tanzania. Risk perception is framed by multiple, sometimes contradictory, discourses which shape individual perceptions of risk at particular moments. These are defined as a series of ‘risk moments’, each of which is context specific and contingent on dynamic social conditions. Living in a society in flux, where multiple forms of tradition co-exist with modern ideals, rural dwellers’ experiences of past misfortune are often interpreted to inform a future-oriented risk perception. The role of chance and fatalism are dominant public and private discourses, but ones which co-exist with collective and individual capabilities to control risk through reliance on social capital and social networks to create maendeleo(development), despite restricted lifestyle alternatives and vulnerable socio-economic conditions. Responses to some risks are invariable and predictable, such as routinised actions like hand washing. Responses to other risks, such as crop failure, vary according to predictable patterns. These patterns include social position and biography, defined through gender, socio-economic status, partner type and exposure to alternative lifestyle choices through migration. This is one of several ways in which risk perceptions are dominated by social factors. Others are the presumed social causes of many risks, and the social benefits or costs of risk aversion. Conflicting social risks, such as exposure to jealousy and being too trusting, are subject to cautious strategies to manage ambiguous social relations. Within this dynamic social world, characterised by contradictions between adaptation and resignation, risk priorities are constantly re-assessed and management strategies renegotiated as individuals encounter novel circumstances. The results from this research have confirmed this contingent nature of risk perception and contributed to our knowledge of people’s approaches towards health risks and understandings of prevention which may be useful in the design of appropriate behaviour change campaigns.

This thesis was undertaken to gain greater insights into ethnic collective action (ECA). A review of the literature revealed five gaps; a narrow definition of ECA, a failure to investigate ECA as an interactive process, a tendency to focus on external structures, a limited acknowledgement of the importance of internal heterogeneity and of intra-actions, and a lack of explanation of the role and importance of actors' worldviews. My research challenged the gaps by proposing that ECA is not only an outcome, but also part of an ongoing process. This thesis builds on elements of the theoretical approaches used by some earlier scholars. This study of ECA resulted from ethnographic fieldwork in Jordan for 10 months. My research focused on two case study groups, the Circassian and Dom. In addition, I gathered data about the setting and the interactions between Jordanian society, government and voluntary sector organisations (VSO), and the two case study groups. I argue that ethnography provided a methodological framework which allowed me to gain insights into how different factors interact and impact on ECA. This research makes empirical contributions concerning the situation of Circassians and Dom in Jordan as well as some general theoretical conclusions regarding ECA. The research revealed that ECA is a dynamic and complex process which is affected by numerous factors that do not directly impact on ECA processes, but instead it is the interaction and relationships between these factors that impact on ECA. The main factors involved in understanding the interactions that affect ECA were the level of inclusion extended by external actors to members of the two case study groups, state policies and programmes, the case study groups' levels of cohesion and leadership and the worldviews of external and internal actors.

Small island dwellings in Scotland and Ireland, typically (and often problematically) referred to as crannogs, have experienced growing archaeological activity in the past three decades through survey, underwater investigation and excavation. This renewed activity has prompted a number of recent research projects, both field and desk based in nature. While the end result has certainly created a clearer picture of life on small islets from the Neolithic to the Post-Medieval period, particularly in Scotland there are several fundamental aspects that are long overdue for attention. First, rather than focussing upon niche periods such as the Iron Age, I have chosen to examine continuity and change over the entirety of the island dwelling tradition in Scotland. Secondly, this thesis also marks a departure from traditional approaches by integrating mainland crannog studies with those found in the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides. Despite having the highest density and longest chronology for occupied islets in Scotland, very little fieldwork has been carried out in the Western Isles. Ironically, examples in the Western Isles, generally referred to as 'island duns', have typically been viewed in isolation from their mainland counterpart the 'crannog', despite Hebridean activity appearing to embrace the concept more fully. Ultimately, it is the recognition in this thesis that both areas share the same core concept- living on small islets, and how the integration of Hebridean sites into existing discourses on mainland occupied islets can be mutually beneficial. This thesis wishes to reddress this imbalance while also examining how archaeological terminology can divide the common conceptual denominator of living on small islets. Another aspect includes an examination of the phenomena of prolific reuse amongst island dwellings, as almost every islet excavation in Scotland has provided evidence of reuse, often several centuries or more after initial occupation. Therefore, another aim of this thesis is to analyse use patterns over the long-term, and examine why people repeatedly went to the effort of living on small islets. This thesis also indicates how the motivations for islet use range from pragmatic to more symbolic concerns. These underlying motivations for islet use in Scotland are found to vary greatly, and extend beyond the typical defence hypothesis.

This thesis tested hypotheses related to the dispersal, behaviour patterns and response to forest fragmentation of two endangered colobus monkey species living in sympatry in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea Bissau. Western black-and-white colobus (BWC: Colobus polykomos) and Temminck’s red colobus (TRC: Procolobus badius temminckii) are two forest dwelling primates that share most of their ecological requirements but exhibit contrasting social systems, namely in dispersal, group size and social organization. By combining behavioural data obtained for one social group of each species and non-invasive genetic data (15 microsatellite loci and a fragment of the mitochondrial control region) from eight black and white colobus and six red colobus social groups, I examined: i) historical and current dispersal patterns; ii) the within-group distribution of social interactions among males and females, and iii) the effect of forest fragmentation on genetic structure. I found evidence for historical and/or long-range dispersal via males in BWC and via females in TRC. However, a change in the current dispersal pattern was detected for BWC, as both sexes seem to be dispersing. Behavioural analysis showed that TRC females exhibit stronger social bonding than BWC females. More interestingly, and contrary to what was described for the species, TRC females seemed to prefer to engage in grooming other females rather than males and males only rarely groomed other males. Finally, analysis of genetic structure indicates the existence of only one genetic unit for each species, although some fine-scale spatial genetic structure was found for TRC. Whereas BWC seemed to be able to use the available forest corridors to disperse between forest patches, TRC females tend to disperse to immediately adjacent groups showing some constraint in the ability to disperse throughout the park. I hypothesise that the detected changes in dispersal mode in BWC and social dynamics in TRC may constitute behavioural local responses to habitat degradation. Constraints in dispersal found for TRC support the evidence that forest fragmentation should be playing an important role shaping these colobus monkey social systems.

This thesis is a sustained meditation on the relationship between embodiment, memory and cultural creativity in the black diaspora. It seeks to generate a theoretical vocabulary outside the stale polarisation between essentialism and anti-essentialism. Using the phenomenology of lived experience, I contend that black diasporic memory and identity are actively constructed within each present. I argue that bodily expression is part of a broader set of cultural strategies of self-definition, self-maintenance and self-preservation. In the case of the black diaspora, the past is evoked, invoked and provoked into existence once again through each expression of embodiment. A key concern in the thesis is therefore to highlight the active capacity of the body to recreate its world and in the process empower, renew and re-orient itself in the face of adversity and oppression. Rather than succumb to an account of black diasporicity as either a history of pain or the background of cultural hybridity, I argue that the pleasures and pains of black diasporicity are different aspects of the same ongoing phenomenon. Through the example of Jamaican dancehall culture, I show how the adorned, transgressive dancing body of dancehall women creates a dynamic of eroticised autonomy in an otherwise hostile environment. In sum, my thesis provides an analysis of the dynamics of diasporic identity and the antiphonies of continuity and discontinuity.