This thesis analyses agrifood work in Hawaiʻi from an intersectional, gendered perspective. It examines the intersecting social relations of production, investigating how different agrifood practices address, if at all, intersecting social inequalities. It asks, how do agroecological ‘alternatives’ address intersecting inequalities, if at all, in their work? Do forms of ʻalternative agriculture’ offer more ‘gender-inclusive’ forms of work when intersecting inequalities are considered? The research sought to address these questions by analysing three case studies which can be said to represent ‘outliers’ compared to the majority of Hawaiʻi’s agrifood production. It examines particular cases of small and collective agroecological growing practices, as well as examples of transnational seed production. The thesis utilised methods of participant observation, interviews and document analysis in order to understand how different how agrifood work is organised and how different participants in these practices make meaning of their work. It drew on analytical frameworks from agrifood studies of labour and justice and intersectional feminist and anti-imperialist political economic and ecological theorising. The research found that within the cases, agrifood practices are characterised by their diversity, and sought to draw out what I argue are nevertheless important tendencies within them. This entailed analysing the tensions, contradictions and possibilities these cases presented for addressing intersecting inequalities in their work. I showed that, in some ways, agroindustrial seed production offers more formal ʻgender-inclusive’ benefits but that agroecological practices create spaces to challenge gendered-norms on an individual and collective basis. At the same time, I suggested that projects for the recognition and inclusion of women and women’s work are highly limited when they fail to account for the ways gendered inequalities intersect with other differences of class and race, for example. At the same time, I argued that efforts to address intersecting gendered inequalities within agrifood work must attend to these contradictions, failures and possibilities and that doing so is not only revealing of some of the wider logics shaping agrarian ideals and agrifood practices, but potentially of how gendered colonialities operate.

Living arrangements of older people in Europe and the US have changed considerably in the last decades. The impact of these changes on mental health in later life is not fully understood. Making use of interdisciplinary ageing datasets (the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Health and Retirement Study in the US), this thesis aims to evaluate how changes in the way older people live influence depressive symptoms in old age – focusing on two types of living arrangements: intergenerational co-residence and housing tenure. Composed of four empirical chapters, this PhD thesis makes four methodological and substantive contributions to the literature. The first chapter sets the stage for a cross-national comparison of the effect of living arrangements on depression. It assesses the comparability of commonly used depressive symptoms measures in the primary ageing datasets (Euro-D and CES-D scales). The second chapter focuses on the effect of early access to homeownership (before the age of 35) and housing stability on later life depression in the US. The findings suggest that accessing the housing ladder early on in the life course and remaining in that home are associated with both lower levels of depressive symptoms and slower progression of depression in later life. The third empirical chapter investigates the association between changes in housing tenure and depression in later life in the US. Using individual fixedeffects models, this analysis assesses whether within-person changes in housing tenure are associated with within-person changes in depressive symptoms. The analyses show that acquiring a home after 50 brings mental health benefits. The fourth empirical chapter evaluates the effects of intergenerational co-residence in 14 European countries. Using an instrumental variable approach to account for reverse causality, the findings suggest that co-residing with an adult child in the context of the 2008 economic crisis can yield mental health benefits for their parents. Taken together, the results presented in this thesis underscore the importance of living arrangements as key life course determinants of depression in old age.

This thesis examines the role of proximity radio (radio de proximité) in the re-making of place in post-conflict Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Proximity radio stations are areabased, non-commercial broadcasters introduced in the late 1990s as part of the liberalisation of the Ivoirian airwaves. Following recent politico-military conflict, stations have become key actors in national and local efforts to rebuild ways of living together. To understand the role that proximity radio stations play in post-conflict cohabitation, it is necessary to move beyond policy discourses of "reconciliation" and "social cohesion." These discourses are ubiquitous in Abidjan but they provide an abstracted and de-politicising account of togetherness. Instead, putting critical media and urban studies in dialogue, I ground my approach in the layered complexities of everyday mediation, as well as the contested politics of city life. Theoretically, the work of proximity radio stations can be understood in terms of what I call the mediated production of locality. This situates radio's significance in its ability to sustain habits of shared space from which encounters can spring and new commonalities can emerge. It also conceives of urban place as thoroughly political terrain, challenging top-down discourses that posit the local as a realm of social activity separate from (national) politics. The centrality of place, as a concept for inquiry, informs an ethnographic methodology attuned both to the multiple sites of media-related practices and to discourses linking (or de-linking) locality, media and politics in Abidjan. Asking what kind of place proximity radio stations make in the Ivoirian metropolis allows us to grasp local mediation in its full ambivalence - that is, considering both its challenges and its potential for new commonalities. My empirical analysis shows that, on the one hand, proximity radio stations carry discourses in which the local serves to contain and constrain urban dwellers' ability to question their situation. On the other hand, stations foster a sociability of encounter in which it is possible to discern the promise of a new form of local politics, rooted in the shared experiences of everyday urban life. In the end, I argue that proximity radio should allow inhabitants to make their own place in the city, rather than tell them what kind of meaning the local should take in their lives.

This thesis explores connections between spirituality, diet and system-wide Sustainability Transitions. The pivotal role of food in greenhouse gas emissions is widely acknowledged across disciplines, yet it is under-researched by Sustainability Transitions scholars. Likewise, while sustainable diets comprising of less meat are often associated with spiritual and ethical beliefs, the transitional agency of worldviews has not been conceptualised in the Sustainability Transitions literature. To address this gap, eco-spiritual practices are investigated to understand how vegetarianism is maintained in spiritual communities. Enabling and disabling factors are analysed for potentials of diffusion into broader levels of society. I present findings of qualitative research and fieldwork, which included participant observation and in-depth interviewing in Hare Krishna communities in Europe. Three eco-farms were selected to represent different features of spirituality and ecological commitment. Data collection and analysis were guided by Social Practice Theory which enables close-up scrutinising of eco-spiritual practices. Findings reveal a firm durability of food practices, which contributes to the longevity of Hare Krishna eco-farms. Motivated by their distinct worldview, believers advocate simplification over technological improvements to serve ecological sustainability. Extensive outreach via eco-tourism and food sharing programmes demonstrate a working alternative to development and lifestyles supported by an economics based on unlimited growth. While these attract visitors in high numbers, adherence to religious culture in the form of dress, gender roles and language use may slow the diffusion process into wider society. Lock-in mechanisms in the outside world also work against the up-scaling of less-meat dietary practices, making the work of vegetarian advocacy less effective. By exploring and analysing Krishna practices, this thesis makes two key contributions. First: the conception of agency for change in Sustainability Transitions frameworks is extended by the inclusion of spirituality, worldviews, and their corresponding lifestyle practices. Second: Hare Krishna communities are shown to illustrate a ‘new economics’ which posits demand-side simplifications as a precondition for systemic change.

During the last decade there has been intense controversy over the nature of contemporary armed conflicts and their connection with religion, ethnicity, crime and natural resources. Central to the discussion is the question of why armed organisations use violence against civilians. Recent contributions underscore the self-interested behaviour of individuals and suggest that war, violence and collaboration are increasingly driven by personal ambitions rather than political goals. Combatants, warlords and politicians seem less interested in victory than in satisfying their lust for power and money, usually at the expense of the population; meanwhile, fearful but rational civilians try to exploit the opportunities that conflict throws up, engaging in individualistic alliances with armed organisations and even prompting the use of violence against their fellows. These trends, it is argued, are compounded by the convergence between crime and warfare, and the Colombian conflict is often cited as a typical example. This dissertation examines these claims by studying a recent outbreak of violence against civilians in the Middle Magdalena Valley, in Colombia, that left nearly 2,000 civilians dead and more than 110,000 people forcefully displaced. Based on data obtained from official and unofficial sources on conflict and violence, interviews with key informants and news reports, the dissertation argues that violence was used by armed organisations and, to a lesser extent, by the state, to extend and strengthen the territorial and political control they had over the region. Despite the salience of illegal economies, there is no evidence that economic motives have significantly contributed to the production of violence. Furthermore, civilian collaboration went beyond the narrow sphere of private interests as politicians, parties and social organisations took part in alliances with armed organisations and aimed to advance the interests of the social groups they represented. The dissertation thus challenges common misconceptions and influential contributions in the field of armed conflict and political violence; it also sheds light on the nature of the Colombian conflict.

In Jamaica the economic environment is characterized by abiding foreign dependence, stagnant growth, and deficient development. This thesis, based on fifteen months of fieldwork in Montego Bay is concerned with the everyday understanding and management of Jamaica's adverse economy. This is explored through an ethnographic analysis of economic practice among five groups variously involved in Montego Bay's tourist sector. These groups include Sindhi merchants, local craft vendors, an artisan cooperative, a Rastafarian tour village, and local lottery scammers. Their dynamic case studies illustrate a diverse set of responses to the constricted political, economic, and social structures of the Jamaican economy, depicted as one of comprehensive and inescapable precariousness, or as a state of sufferation. This thesis examines these groups' everyday strategies and ethics of survival in sufferation, which include articulations of market failure, production, commercial skill, cultural property, and capital seizure. From these strategies emerges an understanding of how notions of history, citizenship, race, and cooperation structure the formation of economic practice, and bear upon constructions of the market.

While exhibiting similar socio-economic disadvantage, concentrated in post-migration communities, as the 274 towns and cities that rioted in the 2005 disturbances in France, Marseille did not riot. As a possible explanation for this behavior this thesis argues that the city has an inclusive urban identity not present in the same form in the other French cities that rioted. It is hypothesized that it is the application of a ‘policy narrative’ (Boswell et al 2011) offering ‘recognition’ (Taylor 1994) to post-migration communities that has given the identity of the city this inclusivity. On the contrary, this thesis takes the two cases of Paris and Lyon as contrasting examples of cities that rioted in 2005 to enable a comparative analysis to take place against two cities adhering to the national French policy context of assimilation that does not offer such recognition to post-migration communities. In light of the similar socio-economic problems across the three cases, and drawing on the literature concerned with the policy applications of multiculturalism, this thesis examines the policy narratives applied across three interrelated areas of municipal policy – governance, public culture and the commemoration of history. This analysis, however, demonstrates some unexpected trends. In this instance, both Paris and Lyon, in varying ways have begun in the past decade to apply a policy narrative of recognition towards post-migration communities in variance to the national policy context of assimilation. In both cases, however, the application of policies of recognition is both very recent, and very much contested by those interest groups that seek to maintain the status quo of assimilation. This analysis has found that Marseille is much more advanced in both the duration and extent of the policies of recognition deployed by the city across the three areas of governance, public culture and historical commemoration. As such, over the past two decades the city has worked to offer representation and recognition to post-migration communities that could be argued to play an important roll in creating an inclusive urban identity at the local level that militates against civil unrest.

This dissertation develops an analytical framework for studying the effects of health system devolution on the health policymaking process and policy choices made by subnational governments. It addresses two research questions: (1) How does devolution change the structure and agency of the health policymaking process? (2) What is the resulting impact on health policy priorities? A critical literature review covers decentralization, devolution, and interest-based approaches for analysing the policymaking process, structure and agency. An analytical framework for uppermiddle and high-income countries is constructed by integrating (i) a modified version of Bossert’s decision-space approach for decentralized health systems; (ii) BlomHansen’s combined policy network and rational-choice institutionalist approach, which analyses the intergovernmental relations within the national health policymaking environment; and (iii) an original conceptualisation and analysis of informal intergovernmental policymaking at the subnational government level. Empirical evaluation uses information on Spain’s 2001 health system devolution reform, focusing on the regional cases of Extremadura and Madrid. Primary data from stakeholder interviews and secondary data are analysed primarily using qualitative, case study and content analysis methods. The decision space granted to regional governments in Spain is examined before and after the reform, developing a decision-space map for Extremadura and Madrid and showing the shifts in the range of choice allowed for each health system function over time. Next, the compositions of the national and subnational health policy networks are determined for before and after devolution, and the policy priorities for each are estimated ex ante. Finally, the dissertation analyses the ex post priorities and results of health policy decisions made by Spain, Extremadura and Madrid in the period after devolution. Overall results show that the analytical framework is only partially successful in anticipating health policy priorities. Suggestions for improving the framework are proposed, and policy implications and lessons are drawn from the case studies.

Frailty affects 10% of adults aged 65 years and older. It denotes loss of an individual’s body reserves, which increases vulnerability to developing adverse health outcomes such as death, disability, and institutionalization. Consequently, frailty has been described as the most problematic expression of ageing. Having good understanding of specific conditions influencing development of frailty and its effects holds the key to slowing its progression and mitigating its adverse outcomes. To this end, pathways to frailty and its adverse outcomes are the focus of my thesis. I begin with a literature review to assemble evidence on frailty pathways and instruments. Guided by this evidence and using the working framework of the Canadian Initiative on Frailty and Aging as the template, frailty pathways incorporating physical, psychological, and social conditions are conceptualized. Arguing that narrower physical frailty specifications are more suitable for investigating these pathways, I develop them based on the frailty phenotype. In my first two papers, I use data of 4,638 respondents aged 65 to 89 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to demonstrate construct, concurrent, and predictive validity of two physical frailty specifications. Adopting the specification with three indicators for latent growth curve analysis in my third paper, I show that chronic disease, allostatic load, low physical activity, cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms, poor social support, and poor social integration are predictors, mediators, or moderators on pathways to physical frailty. In my fourth paper, discrete time survival analysis reveals that low physical activity and cognitive impairment are mediators on pathways from physical frailty to death. In my fifth paper, autoregressive cross-lagged analyses demonstrate that these two conditions and depressive symptoms are mediators on pathways from physical frailty to activity limitation. All these conditions represent potentially modifiable targets for population-level interventions to address physical frailty in older people.

This is an exploratory case study aiming to describe the current state of the child protection system in Greece by examining both policy interventions and service responses targeted at all the stages of the phenomenon, ranging from detection and investigation to the provision of support or out of home care. This thesis is embedded in EU and international mandates for protecting children, embracing the Convention for the Rights of the Child as the starting point and value base of any developed, contemporary system designed to deal with this complex phenomenon. The main objective is to paint a picture of policy implementation in conjunction with front line interagency and multidisciplinary working. Data is collected and analysed in regards to all three levels; the macro, or policy level; the meso, or organisational/structural level and the micro, or frontline, professional, case specific, grassroots level. The researcher uses first-hand knowledge of the systems of both England and Greece in order to position Greece within the EU continuum of approaches based on the long-standing dilemma of support versus protection. As a result, the study concludes by offering suggestions on how to overcome barriers and improve the current situation in Greece so as to ensure that vulnerable children and their families receive appropriate and adequately designed services that would potentially enhance their life chances and enable better outcomes. This is achieved by distilling lessons to be learned from other more developed systems and adopting them to the Greek reality. This is an opportune moment for such a study as there is significant international movement towards convergence, which advocates unifying responses to such complex social phenomena and utilising international evidence of good practice.