This thesis deals with issues of gender, power, and history in Koriak women's lives in northern Kamchatka. The Koriak represent one of the indigenous populations of Russia's north. They migrate with the reindeer over vast, rugged tundra territory, and live by the products the animals and the land yield. This cultural order has increasingly been threatened by encroachments of first the Soviet, and now the Russian, state. Today, the Koriak are marginalized within the powerful model of the nation state, and their lives are marked by dissolution and despair. / I conducted my research in two villages, Tymlat and Ossora, situated at the northeastern shore of the Kamchatka peninsula. In particular I worked with Koriak women whose various discourses of love, erotics, and desire I examine in this thesis. I adopt a wider framework of history, state power, and marginalization to analyze their practices of femininity and sexuality. In order to exemplify the Koriak experience of everyday life in northern Kamchatka I draw on women's narratives to elucidate various strategies of gender and cultural positionings in the life-world of Tymlat and Ossora. Moreover, I explore Koriak descriptions of Soviet history as a critical commentary on Soviet and Russian descriptions of historical processes in northern Kamchatka.

The changes that affected Iranian women's lives after the coming of Islam in the seventh century were similar to the changes that occurred in their lives after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. In both cases these changes were largely wrought by men. / Iranian women have been actively involved and have participated fully in diverse religious, political, and social contexts since the eighteenth century, but frequently without due acknowledgment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the belief that education was a pillar of freedom began to gain popularity among Iranian women. The efforts of women to secure an equal place with men in the nation's educational institutions received support from a number of women writers and poets in the form of protests and petitions. It was through this process that Iranian women learned the importance of education in freeing them from patriarchal bondage. The twentieth century, however, witnessed the destruction of most of Iranian women's hopes and quests. Different Iranian governments enacted a series of important laws and regulations touching on "women's issues." Most of the time, however, these governments failed to consider the voices, positions and demands of women concerning these "issues." / In the last two decades, under the Islamic Republic, male authority figures continue to determine women's rights, identity, education, employment, and so on. Changes which affected the status of Iranian women came in the form of different religious decrees and laws that were justified by the argument that they all complied with the Quran and the hadiths. / Iranian women have refused to abandon their quests for an improved or even equal status. Among these women, there are those who still believe that equality can be achieved under the Islamic Republic. Women such as Rahnavard and Gorgi are relying on a "dynamic jurisprudence" that would lead to "Islamic justice." There are also other women who argue that in order to bring about true social justice, women's oppression and subordination in any form must be eliminated. They find such injustice ingrained in the existing culture. Women such as Kaar and Ebadi are making women and those in power aware of the need to achieve a "civil society," based on "social justice" through the process of "revealing the law." This group is hoping that a gradual cultural revolution brought about by women will lead to the establishment of "such justice."

No description available.

This research attempted to examine the reasons why children and youths disclose their sexual victimization, as well as the manner of their disclosure, specific to the school setting. An original questionnaire was developed, and given out to all the school social workers from one social service agency. Each worker chose, non-randomly one case of sexual abuse disclosure. / It was hypothesized that if a child or youth had decided to disclose their sexual victimization in the school setting they would do so in a planned and overt manner, choosing an adult with whom they had a close, positive and trusting relationship; a positive authority figure. Both hypotheses were borne out, although the strongest predictors of planned disclosure in this study, were that the victim had a positive relationship with the adult they told, knew them fairly well, and that they were being abused by their natural father or live-in father-figure.

<p>Following Bryceson&rsquo / s article, &lsquo / De-agrarianisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Acknowledging the Inevitable&rsquo / , and other related writings in the volume Farewell to Farms, rural development has become a contested academic and policy domain. One side of the debate is characterized by &lsquo / agrarian optimism&rsquo / , mirrored in various state policies and advice from the World Bank / the other side is typified by the de-agrarianisation thesis, which is sceptical regarding the agrarian path to rural development, because it doesn&rsquo / t accord with dominant trends. The main reasons given for the trend of de-agrarianisation are: unfavourable climatic trends, economic adjustments, and population growth. While the de-agrarianisation thesis seems to be a sensible proposition, it has failed to attract many disciples, evidenced by the continuation of current policy directions towards the agrarian optimistic path. The purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of the de-agrarianisation thesis in the Gokwe-Kabiyuni area of Zimbabwe, during a time when the nation went through climatic, economic and political crises. The idea was to assess the influence of such an environment to smallholder farmers in terms of livelihood strategies by observing trends in climate, education, occupation, and crop yields over the period. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to establish whether the de-agrarianisation process can be noted in two villages over the period 1990-2008. A comparative analysis of the experiences of smallholder farmers in these two villages revealed the existence of a cultivation culture and differential agrarian resilience depending on natural resource endowment and levels of infrastructural development, notwithstanding the involvement of the villagers in non-farm activities to diversify their livelihood portfolios.</p>

No description available.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is an illness of unknown origin. Although its reality and nature remain in dispute, people in crucial social roles have taken positions that stigmatize or legitimize the condition. And most sufferers remain convinced that CFS is a real, physical illness. This study examined stigma and legitimation in CFS through semi-structured interviews with doctors (N = 15), insurers (N = 16), significant others (N = 23), and sufferers (N = 43). The findings confirm that CFS is stigmatized by characterizing it as a psychological disorder or a form of malingering. But they also show that the duration of the illness and associated disability are sources of stigma not previously identified with CFS. Furthermore, in the absence of biomedical findings, social judgments about sufferers' credibility became a major factor in legitimizing the illness. / By studying stigmatization and legitimation together, it became possible to identify how shifts occurred from one position to the other. By studying doctors, insurers, and significant others, it became evident that five common elements across their different social locations were influencing their views about the illness and its effect on their personal and professional lives or occupational contexts. In turn, these perspectives and effects shaped their reactions to sufferers. / Individual and social factors were found to be implicated in sufferers' illness convictions. On a personal level, persistent or recurrent severe somatic symptoms, functional deterioration, and self evaluations led sufferers to conclude they were physically sick At a social level, these beliefs were sustained by intermittent reinforcement from sympathetic doctors, support group members, and selected medical literature. Finally this study showed the personal and social costs associated with both stigmatizing and legitimizing CFS.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M. (School of Politics))-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

This project presents an overview of the social interactions that play a role in the development of a work culture that many nurses find hostile. strong evidence that many factors are related to the nursing shortage contributing role in creating a hostile nursing work culture. These factors include patient workload, a lack of consistent mentoring, gender inequality, stealing, and educational disparity among nurses. Some proposed achieving a more cohesive work culture and providing more effects may require providing veteran nurses with training in the latest me It could also be helpful to provide strong leadership training, emphasize team building, develop more team cohesion over individualism, and aggressively recruiting men to alleviate the nursing shortage. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services