Lithuanian dumps’ waste pickers are poorly studied group in our population. Therefore in the dissertation presented research is the first study of waste pickers as a social group in Lithuania. The research, introduced in this work, was devoted to explore way of life of people working in Kariotiškės dump in the context of waste pickers mode of life. The paper reveals nature of waste picking as a social phenomenon, deals with the historical, economic and social context. On the grounds of visual ethnographic study, carried out in 2006-2008, empirically is reconstructed way of life of people working in Kariotiškės dump. It addresses the following issues: work and earnings, the daily life and household, leisure, social organization, health and mortality, adjustment to the closure of dump. Thesis discloses way of life links between people working in Kariotiškės dump and other countries waste pickers and concludes that both Lithuanian and other countries waste pickers’ way of life is not a random set of patterns of daily life, but an expression of a specific waste pickers’ subculture. / Lietuvos sąvartynuose dirbantys atliekų rinkėjai yra menkai tyrinėta mūsų visuomenės grupė. Tad šioje disertacijoje pristatomas tyrimas yra pirmas atliekų rinkėjų kaip visuomenės grupės tyrimas Lietuvoje. Disertacijoje pristatomu tyrimu buvo siekiama ištirti Kariotiškių sąvartyne dirbančių žmonių gyvenimo būdą atliekų rinkėjų gyvensenos kontekste. Darbe atskleidžiama atliekų rinkimo kaip socialinio fenomeno prigimtis, aptariamas istorinis, ekonominis ir socialinis jo kontekstas. 2006-2008 m. atlikto vizualinės etnografijos tyrimo pagrindu empiriškai rekonstruojama Kariotiškių sąvartyne dirbančių žmonių gyvensena. Nagrinėjami tokie jos aspektai: darbas ir uždarbis, kasdienis gyvenimas ir buitis, laisvalaikis, socialinė organizacija, sveikata ir mirtingumas, prisitaikymas prie sąvartyno uždarymo. Disertacijoje atskleidžiamos Kariotiškių sąvartyne dirbančių žmonių ir kitų šalių atliekų rinkėjų gyvensenos sąsajos ir prieinama išvados, kad tiek Lietuvos, tiek kitų šalių atliekų rinkėjų gyvensena yra ne atsitiktinis kasdienio gyvenimo įpročių rinkinys, o specifinės atliekų rinkėjų subkultūros raiška.

Participation has been promoted and studied in diverse disciplines including tourism, development, planning, health, politics, and others. In natural resource conservation, the shift from centralized to decentralized decision making which emphasizes community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring of programs has been broadly encouraged, especially in developing countries. Although considered a more effective alternative to top down decision making, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly the exclusion of marginalized groups in programs which lead to unequal distribution of socioeconomic benefits. This inequality is conditioned by social, physical and political structures which act as barriers to sustainable development of resources and communities. Using a political ecology approach, this research explored the participation of marginal groups (poor, women, and lower caste) in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. The main objectives of this study are: 1) To examine the perceived benefits of Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and how marginal groups fare in the distribution of benefits; 2) To analyze the level of participation of marginal groups in local management institutions; and 3) To identify the barriers to participation as perceived by marginal groups. Field work for this dissertation was conducted during August ? October 2010 using both quantitative and qualitative data, and employing participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that benefits of the project were distributed unequally, and targeted towards elite members of the community. Findings also indicated that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was marginal and had not led to empowerment. Lastly, barriers to participation of communities were complex and deeply rooted in traditions and social norms. Overall, the findings indicate that the definition of marginal groups go beyond gender and caste, and are more significantly defined by wealth, poverty, education, and access to information. The study concludes that ACAP needs to re-orient its conservation and development projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and that these projects should aim to overcome the barriers identified by the marginalized households.

The thesis Gender, identity, body attempts to set out a method suitable for historical description and analysis of representations of bodily identities, such as old age, childhood, race etc. The conceptualization of gender identities presents our starting point, the very capacity of the term of gender is examined through the reading of the works of Joan W. Scott and Judith Butler. In respect to our final purpose, the term appears convenient only partially, for it balances between two extremes: it is either overly dependent on gender binarism or it utterly ceases to represent bodily identities. This paper brings an alternative concept: corpus. Combining the concept of gender and the phenomenology of body, it conceives bodily identity as a type of Paul Ricoeur's narrative identity. Composing different bodily parts and behaviour stereotypes, this kind of identity creates a distinctive collective identity: corpus. In its next part, the thesis follows the construction of representations of old age and adolescence in the field of Czechoslovakian 20th century developmental psychology. It appears that both old age and youth are disqualified in the name of a symbolic adult-centrism. Keywords: gender studies - identity - phenomenology of body - marginal groups in the 20th century

My motivation and purpose of this research particularly evolve around the question on the origin of Yahweh and the development of Yahwism, as well as the role of marginal groups in the maintaining of a pre-exilic Yahweh-alone monotheism, and the subsequent conversion by Judahites – who previously practised a syncretistic religion – to a post-exilic Yahweh monotheism. In accordance with the Kenite hypothesis, the Yahwist tradition originated in the South amongst the Midianites and Kenites. A Moses-type figure acquired knowledge about Yahweh from these tribes who venerated Yahweh before the Israelites did. According to the Chronicler's genealogy, marginal southern groups were all related. The Kenites and Rechabites had the opportunity, due to their nomadic lifestyle and particular trade – as coppersmiths – to spread their religious beliefs. Although the majority of Israelites practised syncretism, these marginal groups – particularly the Rechabites – sustained their Yahwistic faith throughout the Monarchical Period, actively involved in a Yahweh-alone movement. Jeremiah set the Rechabites – who followed a puritanical lifestyle – as an example for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. My hypothesis is that the Israelite God Yahweh was originally a Midianite/Kenite deity and that marginal groups related to the Kenites, such as the Rechabites, played a signi¬fi¬cant and dominant role in the preserving of a pre-exilic Yahweh-alone movement, as well as in the establishment of a post-exilic Yahweh monotheism. My approach to this research was with the premise that the Yahwist tradition originated in the South whence it spread to Judah and the North. According to a recurring biblical tradition, Yahweh emanated from the South. Evidence from certain Egyptian documents endorses Yahweh's presence in the South. It was also my aim to establish the interdependence – or not – of different disciplines relevant to the Hebrew Bible. In my research it became clear that archaeology and biblical scholarship – particularly historiography – cannot operate effectively without the acceptance of their mutual dependence. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

No description available.