Urban redevelopment in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, marginalizes low-income residents and threatens them with displacement. Site visits and an analysis of discourse suggest that gentrification and the establishment of new restaurants in the area have also contributed to a commodification of poverty. The impacts of restaurant gentrification provoke resistance, and the opening of a new restaurant accused of inviting voyeurism and objectifying neighbourhood residents has resulted in an indefinite picket out front. Interviews show that picketers are endeavouring both to stop gentrification and to win social housing and needed services for the area, while also attempting to create social, economic, and political change at a larger scale. The picket draws attention to the effects of restaurant gentrification on the neighbourhood and the disproportionate influence of the state apparatus on the Downtown Eastside, yet also seeks to preserve a heterotopic space as an alternative to a neoliberal urbanism. / Graduate / 0615 / burnettk@uvic.ca

This thesis seeks to uncover some of the cultural practices central to youth activist subcultures across three urban centres in Canada: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. I undertake this work within the context of rising moral and state claims about the apparent need for ‘good citizenship’ to be exercised by young people, alongside a late modern relationship between liberalism, neoliberalism, and Canada’s history of class- and race-based exclusions. The theoretical framework bridges cultural and political sociology with youth cultural theory. It also draws heavily upon the work of feminist philosophers of agency and the state. The main methodology is ethnographic, and was carried out within a phenomenological and hermeneutic framework. In total, 41 young people, ages 13-29, were involved in this research. Participants self-identified as being involved in activist work addressing issues such as globalization, war, poverty and/or colonialism. The findings of this study suggest that the effects of the historical and contemporary symbol of the ‘good citizen’ are experienced within youth activist subcultures through a variety of cultural means, including: expectations from self and schooling to be ‘responsible,’ with its associated burdens of guilt; policing practices that appear to rely on cultural ideas about the ‘good citizen’ and the ‘bad activist’; and representations of youth activism (e.g. within media) as replete with out-of-control young people being punished for their wrong-doings. Wider effects include the entrenched impacts of class- and race-based exclusions, which manifest within youth activist subcultures through stylistic regimes of ‘symbolic authorization’ that incorporate attire, beliefs, and practices. Although findings suggest that many young people come to activism via a predisposition created within an activist or Left-leaning family, this research also highlights the relational means by which people from outside of this familial habitus can come to activist practices. Taken together, findings suggest that youth activism must be understood as a cultural and social phenomenon, with requisite preconditions, influences, and effects; that such practices cannot be disassociated from wider social inequalities; and that such effects and influences demand scrutiny if we are to reconsider the role of activism and its part in expanding the political boundaries of the nation-state.

This thesis critically explores the role of consumer culture in young women’s understanding of self. Drawing on media and cultural studies literature as well as post-structuralist and critical perspectives, this study asks: how does consumer culture guide or influence a young woman’s way-of-being in everyday life? Despite arguments that consumer culture, underpinned by neoliberal principles of personal responsibility and individualism, has become the institution of reference for young women, consumer research on the experiences of women, and from feminist perspectives, is generally sparse. Moreover, claims that consumer culture may covertly subjugate young women by encouraging practices of self regulation are in contention with consumer research that emphasises consumption as a means of self-expression and agency. Therefore, a qualitative, feminist study was conducted in which, over 18 months, fifteen women, aged 20 to 34, engaged in multiple in-depth interviews. The data generation process typically consisted of four interviews over a nine-month period: the first interview covering life history and background was followed by an in-home ‘show-and-tell’ interview about the participant’s ‘stuff’. The third interview addressed participants’ engagement with digital technologies also through a ‘show-and-tell’ approach and the final interview was semi-structured, addressing themes emerging from previous interviews. This generated 50 interviews lasting two hours on average, as well as data from observation, photographs and engagement with social network sites. From a critical thematic analysis, four significant findings emerged. Firstly, in relation to being a woman, participants felt pressure to ‘have it all’ in terms of both traditional (e.g., getting married, raising children, being attractive) and progressive (e.g., achieving career success) ideals. Whilst some disagreed that women continue to be subjugated, most participants experienced a sense of mounting pressure and expectations compared to men and subscribed to neoliberal principles of personal responsibility in combatting gender inequality. Secondly, participants reflexively experienced being a consumer as an unavoidable, often burdensome and anxiety-provoking position that encouraged the making of the self through appearance, as well as adherence to hegemonic feminine ideals. A consumer orientation was further reinforced by increasingly pervasive digital spaces, particularly social media, infused with advertising and consumption. From this, a third finding emerged related to the understanding of self: participants often experienced or expressed a sense of self as a task, an individualistic project for which they felt responsible. Constantly comparing themselves to others to benchmark the project of the self, participants worked to continually craft a story of success and agency despite unpredictability of the life course and contradictory events sometimes conspiring. Moreover, participants who did not feel they had achieved career goals placed greater emphasis on crafting an ideal appearance. The fourth finding addresses the importance of others in understanding the self. Rather than experiencing an ‘identity’ as formed individually, participants looked to others (e.g., family, peers, media, ideologies) to understand the self. Focusing on the opinions of others was associated with anxiety, which varied in degree but was part of all participant accounts. This study suggests that consumer culture is indeed an institution of reference for young women as they experience a sense of self through consumption practices, increasingly digitally mediated. In this sense, the findings align with theorisations in consumer research. However, for the participants of this study, the experience of living the subject position ‘consumer’ is anxiety provoking, particularly in light of postfeminist, neoliberal discourses that encourage experiencing the self as a ‘project’ for which the individual is responsible. As reflected in the data, a self-as-project orientation triggered anxiety given disjointedness between the desire to manage or control the self fostered by dominant discourses, and the impossibility of doing so as reflected by lived experience. This positioning engendered alienation from the self and therefore anxiety that was further sparked by increasing individualism and competition with others; feelings of shame and envy; and a forward-looking temporal positioning. Therefore, findings suggest that consumer research’s conceptualisations of ‘identity’ as a ‘project’ in which individuals can express themselves through marketplace resources is problematic, if not further perpetuating the subjugation of women by rendering them as ‘free’ to consume their way into being. This calls into question individual agency and the role of cultural influences in the making of subjects. Therefore, findings suggest that, from an emancipatory perspective, consumer research examining processes of subject constitution might be more productive to understandings ‘identity’ and the ‘self’ in a particular space and time, with attention to implicit power relations.

Trans-frontier conservation areas (TFCAs), large cross-border areas dedicated to biodiversity conservation, multi-national co-operation and development are expanding in southern Africa, fast becoming the dominant conservation solution in the region. TFCAs adopt a celebratory discourse of ecological, community, economic and political gains, while the reality is often far more complicated. This thesis situates the expansion of TFCAs within a critical political ecology approach, and argues that they represent a neoliberal solution to a complex series of development, environment and political challenges. Drawing on five and a half months of fieldwork to Mozambique along with policy and discourse analysis it examines the first marine reserve to be linked to a TFCA in Africa, the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (PPMR) in southern Mozambique. It makes three arguments: First, it argues that Mozambique’s embrace of TFCAs represents the neoliberalisation of conservation through novel tourism-based products, techniques of governance, creation of subject positions based on entrepreneurialism, and new arrangements of space. At the same time, the adoption of TFCAs also stems from Mozambique’s post-war politics, especially the ways in which elite state actors have sought to reconstruct and reorder the country through engagement with donors. Second, the thesis uses a combined governmentality and assemblage framework to explore how neoliberal conservation is made to cohere as a truth discourse, how it materially co-produces human and non-human life in the marine reserve, and how it is fragile, partial and contested. Third, it critiques the increasingly close relationship between the extractive and conservation sector at a policy, state and donor level, exploring how and why marine conservation is increasingly intertwined with Mozambique’s resources boom through its green economy discourse. Through these three points of engagement, the thesis contributes to debates around the intensifying relationship between extraction and conservation, Mozambique’s post-war development, and processes of neoliberalisation of nature.

Submitted by Tamires Cunha (tamycunha_@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-26T19:43:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_PaulaGalrao.pdf: 2286935 bytes, checksum: 71c45e2589db067ce6bf707265f9b46d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Uillis de Assis Santos (uillis.assis@ufba.br) on 2017-07-26T19:49:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_PaulaGalrao.pdf: 2286935 bytes, checksum: 71c45e2589db067ce6bf707265f9b46d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-26T19:49:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_PaulaGalrao.pdf: 2286935 bytes, checksum: 71c45e2589db067ce6bf707265f9b46d (MD5) / A presente tese analisa o modo como pressupostos feministas e os de cunho gerencialista neoliberal são operacionalizados no processo de aplicação de políticas para as mulheres em Petrolina-PE. O intuito central foi compreender como noções caras à teoria e práxis política feminista são performatizadas nestas ações políticas e como elas adquirem um caráter distinto à medida que precisam ser alocadas em um modelo neoliberal de gestão de políticas públicas. Para dar conta desta proposta, foi utilizado o método latouriano de reagregar o social por meio da formação da associação dos mediadores envolvidos neste processo. Os sentidos atribuídos pelos atores sociais às suas práticas políticas foram evidenciados por meio do trabalho etnográfico e da realização de entrevistas. Este arranjo metodológico permitiu eleger alguns atores centrais nestas políticas, assim como compreender as conexões de sentido e arranjos políticos realizados para levar a cabo seus projetos. Neste sentido, foi salientado como característica central destes arranjos a preponderância do enfrentamento à violência contra a mulher. O modelo de operacionalização das ações com este foco se baseavam em preocupações focalizadas em casos pontuais e em formatos desconectados dos debates de gênero e feminista que respaldam, pelo menos a nível nacional, as políticas neste sentido. Nesta operacionalização, também foi levantado como problemático as concepções identitárias essencializadas que respaldavam as políticas, e os modelos de empoderamento tecnicizados e individualizados. Por fim, foi possível perceber como este modo peculiar de aplicar as referidas concepções estava articulado a um modelo gerencialista neoliberal de gestão de políticas públicas, que tem deturpado demandas e noções caras aos feminismos, desencadeando “acomodações discursivas” e “gambiarras” políticas.

Submitted by Ricardo Almeida (ricardogesteira@hotmail.com) on 2018-07-31T21:22:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado - Ricardo Gesteira Ramos de Almeida.pdf: 1255730 bytes, checksum: 255889878b80bd175fb957612974b26a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Setor de Periódicos (per_macedocosta@ufba.br) on 2018-08-01T20:42:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado - Ricardo Gesteira Ramos de Almeida.pdf: 1255730 bytes, checksum: 255889878b80bd175fb957612974b26a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T20:42:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de Mestrado - Ricardo Gesteira Ramos de Almeida.pdf: 1255730 bytes, checksum: 255889878b80bd175fb957612974b26a (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPESB / RESUMO A pesquisa buscou, como objetivo geral, analisar os processos de cercamento de fronteiras registrados nos últimos 30 anos, de modo a compreender o que eles revelam sobre a globalização e suas eventuais potencialidades. Quanto à metodologia, o trabalho se classifica como pautado em documentação indireta, com suporte em fontes primárias e secundárias. Procedeu-se a uma revisão sistemática da literatura, que compreendeu a leitura e análise de livros, artigos científicos publicados em revistas, dissertações e teses acadêmicas acerca da globalização, do cosmopolitismo e das tendências de expansão neoliberal aprofundadas a partir dos anos 1980. A pesquisa divide-se em uma abordagem teórica e analítica, desenvolvida sobretudo nos dois primeiros capítulos, e uma abordagem exploratória empírica, descrita no terceiro capítulo. Como resultados, observou-se que a dinâmica de cercamento de fronteiras estatais contraria o prisma cosmopolita, segundo o qual os processos de globalização consubstanciariam o estabelecimento de uma janela de oportunidade para a reconfiguração da soberania Estatal, no sentido do surgimento de um modelo de soberania liberal internacional – ou com maior participação popular –, e voltado para a flexibilização das fronteiras. Os muros apontam para uma dialética distinta, qual seja, a flexibilização da soberania Estatal por uma soberania transnacional com ainda menos participação popular. A partir da análise das dinâmicas de cercamento e dos processos de decisão sobre a construção desses muros, não se constatou que a globalização tenha atuado de modo a criar novos locus ou vínculos democráticos. Conclui-se que a dinâmica de erguimento dos novos muros de fronteira se mostra inquinada pela racionalidade neoliberal e atende ao aprofundamento do projeto político neoliberal global, à medida que atua na criação de espaços “seguros” para o capitalismo global. Em vez de vivenciar um mundo sem fronteiras – utopia de uma globalização cosmopolita desejada por muitos, cuja característica poderia ser a desregulação dos regimes de fronteira –, depara-se com a re-regulação neoliberal desses regimes, na qual os muros cumprem um papel fundamental de enclausuramento e imobilidade dos pobres (indesejados), sem interferir nos fluxos desejáveis de pessoas, conhecimento, mercadorias e capitais. Palavras-chave: Cosmopolitismo e globalização. Globalização neoliberal. Muros de fronteira. / ABSTRACT As its general purpose, this research sought to analyze the fencing processes registered in the last 30 years, in order to understand what they reveal about globalization and its potentialities. Regarding methodology, the work was based on indirect documentation, with further support in primary and secondary sources. A systematic review of the literature was carried out, which included reading and analyzing books, scientific papers published in journals, dissertations and academic theses on globalization, cosmopolitanism and the neoliberal expansion tendencies that deepened since the 1980s. The research is divided in a theoretical and analytical approach, developed mainly in the first two chapters, and an exploratory empirical approach, described in the third chapter; as a result, it was noted that the dynamics of fencing contradicts the cosmopolitan prism, according to which the processes of globalization consubstantiate the establishment of a window of opportunity for the reconfiguration of State sovereignty, in the sense of the emergence of a model of an international liberal sovereignty - or one with greater popular participation -, aimed at flexibilizing borders. The building of walls points to a distinct dialectic, that is, the flexibilization of State sovereignty by a transnational sovereignty with even less popular participation. Based on the analysis of the fencing dynamics and the decision processes on the construction of these walls, it was not verified that the globalization has acted in a way to create new locus or democratic bonds. It was concluded that the dynamics of raising new border walls are tainted by neoliberal rationality and caters to the deepening of the global neoliberal political project, as it participates in the creation of "safe" spaces for global capitalism. Instead of experiencing a world without borders - a utopia of a cosmopolitan globalization desired by many, whose characteristic could be the deregulation of border regimes -, society is faced with the neoliberal re-regulation of these regimes, in which the walls play a fundamental role in enclosuring and restraining the poor (the unwanted), without interfering with the desirable flows of people, knowledge, goods and capital. Keywords: Cosmopolitanism and globalization. Neoliberal globalization. Border walls.

The concept of choice as it applies to the American educational system has been a topic of intense discussion in recent years. Since the development of this central institution, the freedom of scholastic choice has been an intricate part of the United States’ academic landscape. However, scholars have noted a recent shift as the country has started to take a more neoliberal approach to schooling. In order to better understanding of the concept of choice on a more individualistic level, I conducted a number of personal interviews with parents raising their children in the small rural town of Port Townsend, Washington. My exploration found that while the abundance of academic programs put strain on the educational system on a communal level, on a personal level the ability to have choices was vital for many families. Educational options are shaped by the needs community they serve, often providing flexibility and protection for families who simply want their students to have the best possible future. Thus, I conclude that while the concept of choice may be debated on a nationwide theoretical level, on a personal level it remains a complex but necessary tool for families to ensure their children’s happiness and success.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:31:37Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 oliveira_h_me_mar.pdf: 687106 bytes, checksum: d46ce341d631333307ce6d01a4182c93 (MD5) / Esta pesquisa tem como tema investigar a resistência da classe trabalhadora bancária do Banespa contra a privatiza;ão da instituição no contexto da política neoliberal adotada no país. A pesquisa priorizou, especificamente, investigar a atuação da entidade representativa dos trabalhadores do Banco do Estado de São Paulo, a Afubesp-Associação dos Funcionários do Banespa. Destaca-se o movimento de resistência promovido pela associação dos trabalhadores, mobilizando a categoria bancária para impedir a privatização do banco. Neste processo, percebemos uma luta de classes entre capital e trabalho. Debatemos,nesta pesquisa, a conscientização política da vanguarda do movimento bancário, pois sua ofensiva possibilitou uma resposta positiva a sua atuação, juntamente com o sindicato da categoria em favor dos banespianos. Neste contexto, resgatamos um balanço histórico do movimento de resistência bancária, propondo uma análise crítica frente à mobilização desta categoria de trabalhadores. A relevância do estudo aponta para a análise de dados significativos sobre as transformações nas relações do trabalho bancário e enfoca a atuação de organismos de representação dos trabalhadores e do sindicato da categoria bancária, trazendo à memória valores intrínsecos à consciência de classe dos trabalhadores e da sua particularidade. Destaca,também, a pesquisa, que as formas de resistência adotadas pelos trabalhadores bancários, permitiu agir com procedimentos legais e jurídicos que possibilitou resistir à venda da instituição para um grupo financeiro privado, justificando sua ofensiva e promovendo um debate com vários setores da sociedade civil, chamando atenção para aquele momento singular da história brasileira, trazendo à tona discussões político-ideológicas em torno de interesses antagônicos. / This research theme is to investigate resistance of Banespa working class against the institution privatization in the context of the neo-liberal political science adopted in the country. It is prioritized, especially, to investigate the entity actuation that represents the State of São Paulo Bank employees, Afubesp (Associação dos Funcionários do Banespa). It is stood out the resistance movement promoted by workers association, mobilizing the bank class to impede the privatization. In this process it is realized a classes fight between capital and work. It is discussed the political consciousness of the bank movement vanguard, for, its offensive enabled a positive answer to its actuation, joined with the trade union in behalf of Banespa employees. In this context, it is recovered a historical examination of bank resistance movement, proposing a critique analysis about this working class mobilization. The importance of this study points to a critique analysis of significant facts about the transformations in the relationship of bank work, and focus on the actuation of organizations that represents the employees and the trade union of bank class, bringing to memory intrinsic values to working class conscience and its particularity. It is also stood out that resistance forms adopted by the bank employees allowed them to act with legal and juridical procedures which enabled them to resist the institution sale to a private financial group, justifying its offensive and promoting a discussion with a number of civilian society sectors, directing people attention to that peculiar moment of Brazilian history, becoming notable ideological and political discussion towards antagonistic interests.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T16:24:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo1864_1.pdf: 4085344 bytes, checksum: 7dc0e9a0160d34b05623819e81bb7ad8 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A partir do marco teórico da Análise do Discurso francesa, analisamos o discurso das charges publicadas no Diario de Pernambuco em 2004 sobre os topoi econômicos. Partindo do pressuposto que os jornais veiculam a ideologia neoliberal, buscamos entender como as charges se colocaram, discursivamente, perante esse discurso hegemônico. Delimitamos como marco temporal, o segundo ano do governo Lula. A questão que nos norteava era identificar se haveria uma adesão das charges aos pressupostos neoliberais. Defendíamos que, embora a doutrina neoliberal encontrasse na Imprensa uma forte aliada, os próprios jornais não deixavam de veicular um contradiscurso a esse modelo. Nossa hipótese central defendia a charge como um dos locais mais evidentes de resistência ao discurso neoliberal dentro do jornalismo. Após as nossas análises, concluímos que, efetivamente, a charge funciona como um espaço de resistência e crítica aos pressupostos neoliberais, em decorrência de sua função de carnavalização da realidade. O nosso corpus apontou, ainda, um movimento de crítica das charges às mudanças discursivas operadas por Lula nos primeiros anos de seu governo

This thesis seeks to uncover some of the cultural practices central to youth activist subcultures across three urban centres in Canada: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. I undertake this work within the context of rising moral and state claims about the apparent need for ‘good citizenship’ to be exercised by young people, alongside a late modern relationship between liberalism, neoliberalism, and Canada’s history of class- and race-based exclusions. The theoretical framework bridges cultural and political sociology with youth cultural theory. It also draws heavily upon the work of feminist philosophers of agency and the state. The main methodology is ethnographic, and was carried out within a phenomenological and hermeneutic framework. In total, 41 young people, ages 13-29, were involved in this research. Participants self-identified as being involved in activist work addressing issues such as globalization, war, poverty and/or colonialism. The findings of this study suggest that the effects of the historical and contemporary symbol of the ‘good citizen’ are experienced within youth activist subcultures through a variety of cultural means, including: expectations from self and schooling to be ‘responsible,’ with its associated burdens of guilt; policing practices that appear to rely on cultural ideas about the ‘good citizen’ and the ‘bad activist’; and representations of youth activism (e.g. within media) as replete with out-of-control young people being punished for their wrong-doings. Wider effects include the entrenched impacts of class- and race-based exclusions, which manifest within youth activist subcultures through stylistic regimes of ‘symbolic authorization’ that incorporate attire, beliefs, and practices. Although findings suggest that many young people come to activism via a predisposition created within an activist or Left-leaning family, this research also highlights the relational means by which people from outside of this familial habitus can come to activist practices. Taken together, findings suggest that youth activism must be understood as a cultural and social phenomenon, with requisite preconditions, influences, and effects; that such practices cannot be disassociated from wider social inequalities; and that such effects and influences demand scrutiny if we are to reconsider the role of activism and its part in expanding the political boundaries of the nation-state. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate