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This thesis contributes to knowledge in the field of medical anthropology, particularly in Egypt and the Middle East, in two specific ways. First, the thesis demonstrates how a limited focus on kinship and micro social relations precludes a full understanding of the life experiences of people, especially at times of illness. The thesis shows that these conceptual limitations stem from a romanticized view of Egyptian culture---a view that poorly corresponds to the contemporary Egyptian situation. The thesis proposes that social networks And the ground between micro and macro social associations need to be incorporated into future studies of medical anthropology in general, and in Egypt and the Middle East in particular. Second, the thesis demonstrates how cultural values linked to the diversity of social classes and unequal access to social and financial capital shape illness experience. It is argued that access to biomedical services is a social manifestation of culturally constructed subcultures where kinship, social networks, and social hierarchy produce the current inequalities in well-being among inhabitants of modern Egypt. A cultural and social analysis grounded in the history of Egyptian modernity is pursued here to better understand current inequality in social and physical well-being. Space, aesthetics, religion, network affiliation, and other factors constitute essential elements of this analysis. The thesis proposes integrating a study of the cultural manifestations of the production of social inequality into all future studies of illness in Egypt and the Middle East. It is concluded that a culture of social distinctions and discrimination prevails, and that such a culture shapes social relations and illness experience. Unless this culture is understood and addressed, there is little hope for an equal distribution of resources for well-being among Egyptians.

Several twentieth century archaeological expeditions to Lower Nubia recovered the skeletal and cultural remains of C-Group populations mainly from cemetery sites between Shellal and the Second Cataract. Along with the remains of the more or less contemporary Pangrave and Kerma peoples, the C-Group archaeological sequence was assigned to the Middle Nubian Period which lasted from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasties and is dated from ca. 2200 B.C. to ca. 1500 B.C. Conflicting interpretations of C-Group socioeconomic conditions are inevitable since no systematic analysis of the data resulting from the excavations of Middle Nubian cemeteries has ever been undertaken. In an attempt to assess the extent of C-Group economic contact with the Egyptians and to resolve the issue of possible growing social differentiation within the C-Group community, a quantitative analysis of the mortuary remains from fifteen C-Group cemeteries was undertaken. The results indicate that the flow of a small number of Egyptian artefacts into Lower Nubia was relatively constant and that contact between Lower Nubians and Egyptians was probably quite limited. Egyptian portrayals of constant fluctuation in Egyptian-Nubian political relations do not correspond with the evidence from the Nubian archaeological record. The analysis also indicated that economic inequality amongst the Middle Nubian population was present in each date category and tended to increase over time. Socioeconomic differences were greatest during the middle of the Second Intermediate Period. These findings indicate that the Middle Nubian socioeconomic system tolerated increasingly conspicuous differences amongst its members. They are not consistent with the hypothesis that no increase in differential access to burial resources occurred between ca. 2100 and ca. 1550 B.C. and that C-Group social and economic conditions remained virtually unchanged throughout their 800-year history.

Using a social historical framework applied to Gottingen, North Germany, from the sixteenth century to 1948, the dynamics of local government structure are researched. This is seen through time as a corporate organisation of domains of externally oriented activity variably integrated with a decision-making core as an involute structure. Through examination of recruitment practices, administrative allocation and decision-making it is shown how integrated processes of decision-making (means of choice) constitute a framework for political action, where individuals have differential access to and control over critical events and modes of communication within that framework. / Deriving from this, political activity in local government is analysed in terms of a categorisation of means and dimensional properties of power in local government. A link is made to a theoretical enquiry of the nature of social classes and the state and their implications for community politics. This provides the basis for an examination of class relations in Gottingen.

This dissertation examines class and ethnicity in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Southeastern Bangladesh. The indigenous people of this region are now in a minority because of the influx of Bengalees. This study argues that ethnic conflicts, ethnicity or "tribalism" in the CHT emerged as consequences of British, Pakistani and Bengalee colonialism, modernization and development projects undertaken by the international development agencies; these factors changed the relations of production and were accompanied by militarization of the area and a destruction of the traditional mode of life. Ethnicity as an ideology has played a determinant role in the CHT rather than class, despite the fact that the CHT groups and the Bengalees are divided into several socio-economic levels. Here, class interests and class issues are undermined and overshadowed by the presence of ethnic antagonisms and an ideology of "tribalism" among Bengalees and the indigenous CHT peoples.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-381). / Microfiche. / x, 381 leaves, bound 29 cm

This thesis provides a Marxist analysis of the political economy of contemporary Maori protest politics in the years from 1968 to 1995. It is argued that Maori protest politics embraces a range of competing political ideologies, which are informed by different assumptions about the causes of Maori inequality in wider society, and in turn, different sets of strategies for ameliorating and transcending that inequality. Overall, the thesis has two central concerns: firstly, it identifies the critical economic, political and ideological conditions and context that have allowed particular competing political ideologies and strategies to dominate contemporary Maori protest politics. This involves a particular focus on understanding and explaining the rise of identity politics and cultural nationalism as the dominant political strategy within Maori protest politics. This involves a particular focus on understanding and explaining the rise of identity politics and cultural nationalism as the dominant political strategy within Maori protest politics. Secondly, the thesis critically assesses the effectiveness of contemporary Maori struggles against racism and oppression on the basis of whether they involve, or are likely to contribute towards, the transformation of the generative structures that give rise to manifest inequalities between Maori and non-Maori. It is argued that the systematic alienation of land and the inequality that exists between Maori and non-Maori are not simply the result of the underlying cultural values of individual non-Maori but are rather the result of the historical process of capitalist development in Aotearoa and the economic, political and ideological requirements necessary for the generalised commodification of indigenous labour-power. The thesis explores how the politics and practice of Maori protest has been shaped and influenced to a large extent by the underlying social, economic, political and ideological forces of global capitalism. It is argued that the international collapse of the long boom, the global upturn in class struggle and the emergence of the New Left internationally from the late 1960s had an enormous influence on the political direction of Maori protest in the New Zealand context. The success of the working class offensive and the growing political influence of rank and file Maori workers ensured that Maori protest groups formed part of the progressive social movements of the time. Indeed, although some were explicitly nationalist in their orientation, these movements were consciously part of the Left. The balance of political forces within the Maori protest movement changed considerably during the late 1970s and early 1980s with the rise of the New Right as a political force internationally together with the rise of employer militancy, the defeat and demoralization of the working class movement internationally, the decline of the social movements and the absence of mass struggle. This had important implications for the influence of the various ideological factions that co-existed uneasily in the Maori political milieu from the early 1970s onwards. The downturn in militant mass struggle saw the rise in the influence of identity politics as cultural nationalist strategies came to dominate Maori protest politics, representing a fundamental retreat from Left-wing ideas. In practice this entailed a rejection of the class politics and mass struggle that had informed the politics and strategies of Maori protest groups from the late 1960s, and its replacement with a politics of cross-class alliances and a personal rejection of �Pakeha society�. In practice this was a recipe for passivity and divisiveness within the Maori protest movement itself. The politics of cultural nationalism left Maori ill-equipped to resist the ruling class counter-offensive and the anti-working class policies that successive governments introduced to restore the conditions for profitable capital accumulation. In particular, the rejection of a class analysis of Maori inequality in capitalist society has undermined the capacity of working class Maori to resist the neo-liberal agenda and a Treaty of Waitangi settlement process that has resulted in a substantial shift in resources to those sections of Maori society already wealthy and powerful. Although the settlement process represented an important concession by the state, it has never compensated for the anti-working class policies of governments since 1984, which have widened the social and economic inequalities in New Zealand society. In this way, the emphasis on cultural identity alone as the determining factor in Maori oppression has been counter-productive for working class Maori as successive governments shifted the costs of the economic crisis on to the weakest sections of the community. As New Zealand entered a new period of economic and social crisis in the 1990s, the commercial interests of Maori tribal executives, Maori corporate enterprises, and the Maori bureaucracy were clearly at odds with the material interests of the vast majority of working class Maori families. This fundamental conflict in class interests was to set the scene for a revival of militancy on scale not seen since the 1970s.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2007. / Title from title page screen, viewed on March 11, 2008. Dissertation Committee: Christopher D. Breu (chair), Cynthia A. Huff, Amy E. Robillard. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 262-273) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2008. / "Psychology"--T.p. Title from PDF title page (viewed on Mar. 11, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Business and Public Administration and Dept. of Economics. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2007. / "A dissertation in public affairs and administration and economics." Advisor: Robyne Turner. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Jan. 2, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-249). Online version of the print edition.