This dissertation examines lesbian and queer desire in texts in Catalan and Spanish written in Barcelona, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires from the 1960s to the present. In the texts, desire includes but is not limited to the erotic; it encompasses issues of queer textuality, relationality, and literary transmission. I focus on the works of three authors who have spent the majority of their lives in Barcelona. However, the city appears almost incidentally in their works; the genealogies that the authors trace are transnational. The texts combine literal movement (through exile or diaspora) and a metaphorical sense of being “out of place” that prompts writers to take refuge in writing. I demonstrate that despite depicting affinities beyond the family and nation, the works reveal the persistence of familial and national ties, albeit in spectral or queer ways. Rather than tracing continuous lines of descent that emphasise origins, the works are principally concerned with futurity and fragmentation, as in Michel Foucault’s reading of genealogy. Chapter One on Maria-Mercè Marçal’s La passió segons Renée Vivien (1994) traces a literary genealogy from Sappho to Renée Vivien in fin de siècle Paris to Marçal. The novel represents a merging of literary desire and erotic desire; Marçal’s search for symbolic mothers turns out to be a search for symbolic lovers that is oriented towards the present and future. In Chapter Two, I posit that in Cristina Peri Rossi’s La nave de los locos (1984) “happiness” consists of being open to chance and unpredictability unlike in conventional “happy” scripts in which a valuable life is believed to consist of (heterosexual) marriage, children, and property ownership. In Part II I argue that through fragmentation, allegory, and ambiguity, Peri Rossi’s El libro de mis primos (1969) contests authoritarian discourse without itself becoming a site of hegemonic meaning. In inviting the reader’s collaboration, it ensures authorial legacy. Part I of Chapter Three is an analysis of the temporality of obsession in Flavia Company’s Querida Nélida (1988). I propose that obsession and melancholia may point to a utopian future rather than signalling an entrapment in the past. My study of Melalcor (2000) in Part II suggests that queer forms of relationality that are not centred on procreation and monogamy offer ethical models of sociality. Part III focusses on Company’s return to biological family in Volver antes que ir (2012) and Por mis muertos (2014). The resurgence in these texts of family members who have died signals that just as the queer haunts the family, the family haunts the queer.

The diploma thesis deals with the complex construction of the Vartovna lookout tower near the village of Seninka. Within this work was prepared item budget, drawings of construction site equipment for the main construction stages, concreting scheme and landfill supply, time schedule of the whole construction, construction financing plan, number of workers, necessary machines and mechanisms with their deployment over time, technological regulation for monolithic foundations. hydraulic concrete structures, technological regulation for the assembly of the steel structure of the lookout tower, control and test plans for monolithic and prefabricated structures, the formwork scheme of all foundation structures, and safety and health protection at work.

Text in English with summaries in English, isiXhosa and Sesotho / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-153) / Provision of municipal services to urban residents particularly those residing in small towns across developing countries, is facing challenges. A small town or rural district of Luwingu in Zambia, is no exception. This study provides an analysis of factors that influence provision of municipal services in developing countries with Luwingu town or rural district in Zambia as the case study. Through this study, it has been shown that urban residents in small towns and to some extent, those residing in urban peripheries such as informal settlements, low-income residential neighbourhoods in major cities continues to experience poor provision and access to basic services such as drinking water, sanitation, refuse removal and electricity supply. Influencing effective provision of municipal services in the developing countries including Luwingu district council in Zambia, is a number of factors. Amongst others, is inadequate service infrastructure; lack of human and financial resources in various local municipalities particularly small rural local municipalities including Luwingu district council in Zambia. / Phano ya ditshebeletso ya masepala ho baahi ba diteropo haholo ba dulang diteropong tse nyane ho pharalla le dinaha tse ntseng di tswelapele, e lebane le mathata. Torotswana e nyane kapa setereke sa mahaeng sa Luwingu ho la Zambia, le yona e ya tshwana. Phuputso ena e fana ka manollo ya dintlha tse amang phano ya ditshebeletso tsa masepala dinaheng tse ntseng di tswelapele e sebedisa teropo kapa setereke sa mahaeng sa Luwingu jwalo ka mohlala wa phuputso. Ka phuputso ena, ho bontshitswe hore baahi ba diteropong ba leng diteropong tse nyane le ka tsela e itseng, ba dulang mabopong a diteropo jwalo ka diahelo tse sa hlophiswang, metse ya batho ba kgolang tjhelete e nyane diteropokgolong tse kgolo, ba tswelapele ho fumana phano e fokolang le phihlello ho ditshebeletso tsa motheo tse jwalo ka metsi a nowang, tlheko ya dikgwerekgwere, tlhwekiso ya dithole le phepelo ya motlakase. Ke dintlha tse mmalwa tse amang phano e ntle ya ditshebeletso tsa masepala dinaheng tse ntseng di tswelapele ho kenyelletswa khansele ya setereke ya Luwingu e Zambia. Hara tse ding ke boteng bo fokolang ba disebediswa tsa ditshebeletso; tlhokeho ya ditjhelete le basebetsi dimasepaleng tse fapaneng tsa lehae tse kenyelletsang khansele ya setereke ya Luwingu e Zambia. / Ukunikezelwa kweenkonzo zikamasipala kujongene nemingeni kubahlali basezidolophini, ngakumbi abo bahlala kwiidolophu ezincinci kumazwe asaphuhlayo. Le nto iyenzeka nakwidolophana encinci okanye isithili sasemaphandleni aseLuwingu eZambia. Esi sifundo sihlalutya izinto ezinefuthe kunikezelo lweenkonzo zikamasipala kumazwe asaphuhlayo, kwaye sizekelisa ngedolophana okanye iphandle laseLuwingu eZambia. Ngokwenza esi sifundo, kubonakele ukuba abahlali beedolophana ezincinci kunye nabo bahlala kufuphi nazo, njengabo bahlala kwiindawo ezingekho sesikweni nabahlala kwiindawo zabantu abanemivuzo ephantsi kwizixeko ezikhulu, bafumana iinkonzo ezikumgangatho osezantsi. Ezo nkonzo zifana namanzi okusela, ukugcina ucoceko, ukuthuthwa kwenkunkuma nokunikezelwa kombane. Ziliqela iimeko ezinefuthe ekunikezelweni kweenkonzo zikamasipala ezisemgangathweni kumazwe asaphuhlayo njengeZambia, kwisithili saseLuwingu. Phakathi kwezo meko singabalula ukungafakwa ngokwaneleyo kwezilungiselelo nezibonelelo zeenkonzo, (infrastructure); ukunqongophala kwemali nabantu abaqeqeshelwe umsebenzi koomasipala bendawo abahlukeneyo, ngakumbi abeendawo ezincinci, kuquka nekhansile yesithili saseLuwingu eZambia. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development studies)