Comments and Discussions : Emiko USUI (臼井恵美子)

This thesis investigates the impact of rural to urban migration on long-standing commons regimes in the Sierra Norte (northern highlands) of Oaxaca – the most biologically and culturally diverse state in Mexico. Since the second half of the twentieth century, local communities have been engaged with regional, national and international markets for wage labour, with many losing a significant percentage of their resident populations. The study shows how demographic and cultural change is impacting the two social institutions – cargos and tequios – that underpin the highly autonomous form of governance the region is famed for. The loss of able-bodied men and women has meant that these customary systems are struggling to remain operational. In response, a number of far-reaching changes have been introduced, including institutional adaptations and the forging of strong translocal ties that show potential for reducing the vulnerability of affected communities. However, while migration was temporary or circular for much of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, thus helping to maintain a balance between subsistence production and market engagement, a form of semi-permanent or permanent migration has come to dominate over the past decade and a half. This critical yet poorly recognised shift in migration dynamics has seen new and increased pressures emerge, and served to reduce the effectiveness of adaptive strategies at the community level. Within this context, the implications for commons theory are discussed, with two alternate frameworks (rational choice vs. moral economy) utilised to explain why institutions may persist, transform or fail in the face of change. In addition, a layer of complexity is added to the body of work examining the consequences of rural depopulation on Mexican forest landscapes and associated biological diversity. The study questions the assumption that rural to urban migration necessarily stimulates ecosystem recovery and enhances biodiversity conservation at a landscape scale. In fact, because of abandonment of a mosaic of use, the net effect may be an overall loss of biodiversity. From a policy perspective, the principal contributions of the study are especially pertinent at a time when funding agencies and government programs show belated interest in the consequences of out-migration for environmental management, resource use and rural livelihoods in tropical country settings.

This thesis investigates the impact of rural to urban migration on long-standing commons regimes in the Sierra Norte (northern highlands) of Oaxaca – the most biologically and culturally diverse state in Mexico. Since the second half of the twentieth century, local communities have been engaged with regional, national and international markets for wage labour, with many losing a significant percentage of their resident populations. The study shows how demographic and cultural change is impacting the two social institutions – cargos and tequios – that underpin the highly autonomous form of governance the region is famed for. The loss of able-bodied men and women has meant that these customary systems are struggling to remain operational. In response, a number of far-reaching changes have been introduced, including institutional adaptations and the forging of strong translocal ties that show potential for reducing the vulnerability of affected communities. However, while migration was temporary or circular for much of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, thus helping to maintain a balance between subsistence production and market engagement, a form of semi-permanent or permanent migration has come to dominate over the past decade and a half. This critical yet poorly recognised shift in migration dynamics has seen new and increased pressures emerge, and served to reduce the effectiveness of adaptive strategies at the community level. Within this context, the implications for commons theory are discussed, with two alternate frameworks (rational choice vs. moral economy) utilised to explain why institutions may persist, transform or fail in the face of change. In addition, a layer of complexity is added to the body of work examining the consequences of rural depopulation on Mexican forest landscapes and associated biological diversity. The study questions the assumption that rural to urban migration necessarily stimulates ecosystem recovery and enhances biodiversity conservation at a landscape scale. In fact, because of abandonment of a mosaic of use, the net effect may be an overall loss of biodiversity. From a policy perspective, the principal contributions of the study are especially pertinent at a time when funding agencies and government programs show belated interest in the consequences of out-migration for environmental management, resource use and rural livelihoods in tropical country settings.

Depopulation is a well-known phenomenon in peripheral rural regions. The most identified problems are based on structural weaknesses in terms of decreasing business activities and a lack of public infrastructure. In such regions population is mainly older causing major changes in social infrastructure. For instance many schools and kindergartens close down for lack of demand, which hinders young families to migrate to such regions. The result is typically a negative cumulative process of loss of population, loss of jobs, loss of infrastructure, further outmigration. It is an enormous challenge for such regions to overcome this vicious circle. Regional identity can be seen as an important factor to overcome such structural weaknesses. The paper will discuss the concept of regional identity in order to define the term and how it is embedded in regional development theory. The empirical analysis is presenting results focusing on regional identity coming out of a qualitative data analysis and a postal survey. We designed a regional identity index, which measures the intensity of personal and social relationships of both in-migrants and out-migrants.

Le sujet de ce travail porte sur un regard socio-anthropologique de l’échec de la migration. Il s’interroge sur la notion d’échec tel que vécu par le migrant et à travers le regard que peut porter le milieu d’origine sur cet échec. Un échec qui est défini par une expulsion ou selon un jargon administratif, par une reconduite à la frontière à cause d’un séjour irrégulier vis-à-vis des lois de la France. Pour ce faire, il analyse le cas spécifique des expulsés maliens de France tout en se référant aux différents parcours centrés sur les récits de vie. Ce travail de recherche permet d'aborder diverses facettes de l'immigration malienne, il est original car il permet d'approfondir notamment la notion d'échec associée à la migration en focalisant dans une approche compréhensive sur les sentiments et le vécu de cet échec par les migrants eux-mêmes. Dans la société malienne et surtout dans les localités à fort taux d’émigration, le migrant reçoit tous les honneurs quand il réussit sa migration. Mais quand il échoue, il tombe dans une forme disgrâce dont les conséquences sont très souvent désastreuses. L’expulsion, quelle que soit sa forme et les conditions dans lesquelles elle survient, est difficilement comprise et acceptée par le milieu d’origine. Elle constitue aujourd’hui un problème de société au Mali puisqu’elle symbolise le retour de la honte, le retour sans gloire, le retour à la case départ, etc. Ainsi, dans ce travail, nous prenons en compte deux dimensions fondamentales. L'une est individuelle parce que chaque expulsé est un cas particulier à travers ses projets et ses parcours. L'autre est sociale au regard de son appartenance à un groupe, à une communauté qui restent très présents dans sa vie de tous les jours. La prise en compte de ces deux dimensions permettra de comprendre les différentes logiques, les conflits, les rejets, les problèmes de réinsertion sociale et professionnelle de ces expulsés. / The subject of this work brings a socio-anthropological perspective to migration failure. It wonders about the notion of failure as was experienced by the migrant and also viewed through the eyes of their communities of origin.A failure is defined by being deported or according to administrative jargon, being escorted to the borders because of illegal residence towards French laws. To this end, this work analysis specific cases of Malians deportee from France while referring to different life-courses stories.This research permits to address various aspects of Malian immigration. It is special in the way it makes a further development of the notion failure associated with migration by focusing in an understanding approach to the way this failure is lived and felt by the migrants.In Malian society and especially in localities with high out-migration rates, the migrant receives all the honours if he successfully achieves his migration. But if he fails, the migrant falls in a form of disgrace with often disastrous consequences. An expulsion, whatever form and conditions it takes, is always hardly understood and accepted by the community of origin. Nowadays, this failure has become a social issue in Mali because it symbolises shame, an inglorious return, a back to square one, etc.Thus, in this research, we take into account two fundamental dimensions: one is individual because each deportee has his own story, a particular path and different projects; the other one is social regarding the migrant belonging to a group, a community which is strongly present in his everyday life.Taking into account these two dimensions enable us to understand the different logics, conflicts, rejections, social and professional reintegration issues of these deportees.

Until recently, rural households in southeastern Mexico have survived on subsistence and chili farming. But over the last decade, male out-migration to the United States has also become a popular livelihood strategy. This case study used data from semi-structured qualitative interviews to assess the effects of male out-migration on women's lives in three areas: households' financial and material situation, issues of infidelity and women's vulnerability to abandonment, and the gendered division of labor. Overall, this study found that male out-migration had both positive and negative effects on the women left behind. First, the financial outcomes of migration were mixed. A few women received large, steady remittances while the majority received minimal, sporadic remittances. These various financial outcomes had different effects on women's lives. Second, some women experienced marital separation or abandonment, and many others feared this could happen to them. Women also experienced increased 'policing' of their actions. These outcomes had a negative effect on most women by placing them in a financially precarious position and limiting their freedom and mobility. Third, women's roles in agricultural production changed in two ways: 1) increased attendance at the monthly community meeting and 2) increased contracting and supervising of day laborers. For most women, however, their agricultural field labor participation did not increase. Women's new roles created a shift in gender relations, but most women said that they were more 'uncomfortable' with, than empowered by, these new roles. Despite the lack of empowerment noted by the women themselves, it is important to consider that, over time, these changes in gender roles and gender relations may influence gender ideologies (e.g., perceptions of what women can and should do) and increase women's empowerment. The contributions of these findings to the literature and policy are discussed in the conclusion.

Questions of integration and immigration are increasingly subject to public debate in Sweden. With the arrival of many immigrants, the current ethnic housing segregation in the country is enforced. The problems associated to segregated and socio-economic weak areas are to a larger extent also defined in terms of ethnicity: connecting problems of a place to the people of that place. Research shows that many problems in these neighbourhoods exist regardless of who happens to be the residents today. Based on this, the current study aims to better understand the reproduction of rumours and socio-economic conditions in Araby, Växjö. The voices of people from Araby are brought forward in order to let them reflect about their neighbourhood. The main material collected through interviews provide an exploration of different perceptions present in relation to processes of reproduction in Araby. The material is discussed in relation to the concepts zone in transition and stigmatisation of place and mutually the concepts are discussed by situating them in relation to the material. Two new insights not pronounced in previous studies were found: the segregation unfolding within Araby, and the understanding of the neighbourhood as a zone in transition in a positive light. In conclusion, the study strengthens previous literature on segregated and socio-economic weak areas and also problematizes the application of the concepts used. The exploration lays ground for future research, in Araby, or in other kinds of segregated neighbourhoods.

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In the past studies covering 1965-90, it is observed that net migration was from villages and district centers towards province centers. Although the net migration trend throughout the period was almost constant for the villages and the province centers, the role of the district centers changed in later periods. Previously, the district centers were transient settlements in terms of net migration with resultant almost zero net migration. However, in later years, they began to have net out-migration in significantly increasing numbers, because net in-migration from the villages decreased and net out-migration to the province centers increased. The increase in the net migration from district centers to province centers and the gradual loss of the importance of the district centers (towns) occurred not only in Turkey but also in the other developing countries, especially in 1990&amp / #8217 / s. The aim of this thesis is to study the net migration trends and patterns of the three different settlement types namely, province centers, district centers and villages of Turkey during 1985-90. In this study, the descriptive analyses which were carried out on the net migration rates of the provinces and three settlement types clearly indicate the regional disparities between west-east and south-north of Turkey. For all of the three settlement types, the provinces having the highest net in-migration rates are located along the Western and Southern coastal zones whereas the provinces having the largest net out-migration rates are located in the East, North East and South East regions.

<p> This study examines the problem of "rurbanization," which is a term that has been applied to the process by which rural areas are being changed by urban influences. This implies more than the traditional geographic concept of land-use change at the rural-urban fringe, but is concerned with bagic changes in the agricultural industry relating to appearance, land use, nengity and social structure.</p> <p> In rural Southern Ontario, there are two main phenomena occurring to effect these changes: the increage in part-time farming and in low-density residences. This study is concerned more specifically with an examination of these two phenomena. Its two main objectives are to gee how these two are interrelated and how they have affected agriculture and rural society. </p> <p> The study achieveg thege objectives through the use of a questionnaire admtnigtered to residents of Brantford township, a rural area with a thriving agricultural industry, but at the same time under considerable stress from urban pressures. Three types of residents were surveyed: full- time farmers, part-time farmers and non-farmers. The data collected was subjected to discriminant and cross-tabulation analyses in order to observe similarities and differences among the three groups . These similarities and differences allowed inferences concerning the acceptance or rejection of six postulated hypotheses. </p> <p> The following general conclusions result from the analysis: </p> <p> Part-time farmers and rural non-farmers are predominantly former urbanites who have migrated to rural areas. Both groups share similar occupations and have lived at the rural location for a similar length of time, but non-farmers tend to be older an to have been born and raised on a farm. However, there does exist a significant minority of part-time farmers who ere former full-time farmers. Both phenomena appear to be fairly permanent arrangements as the overwhelming majority of both groups wished to maintain their present status. </p> <p>Full-time farmers tend to have a larger size of holding than part-time farmers. Part-time farmers place less emphasis on livestock and tobacco as the predominant crop than do full-time farmers, and tend to place a greater emphasis upon corn and mixed grains as cash crops. The type and quality of land that is occupied and the attitude toward the preservation of agricultural land do not vary significantly by group. All three groups were strongly in favour of preservation of land for farming. The participation rates of part time and non farmers in the rural organizations of the township and in the urban organizations of nearby towns are not significantly different from those of full-time farmers. </p> <p> The study has confirmed some of the findings of other researchers and has in turn shed some new light on the "rurbanization" problem. Urban out-migration has been found to be the most important cause of the problem. Thus, the problem appears to be the result of a social phenomenon rather than a physical one, and the phenomena causing the problem appear to be persistent and permanent. It may also be noted that the choice of alternative, either part-time farming or non-farming residency, is somehow related to the age and location of birth and childhood of the urban out-migrant. Significantly, more part-time farmers were born in city and more non-farmers were born on a farm. It may be argued that is precisely opposite to the situation that might be expected. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)