This diploma thesis traces the changing human, animal and technology assemblage after the recent emergence of wolf packs in Broumov region. As the return of wolves coincides with ecological transformations gaining in strength, the central research focus are the possibilities - and impossibilities - of local multispecies coexistence in the conditions of Anthropocene. The research draws upon methods of multispecies ethnography, building on the literature that examines the ontological aspects of multispecies coexistence, including primarily the work of Donna Haraway, Eduardo Kohn, Annemarie Mol, Anna Tsing and Rane Willerslev. The thesis analyzes several modes of situated multispecies coexistence which have been reconfigured or made possible by the return of wolves: administrative and sensual practice of shepherds, methods of mimetic empathy of wolf trackers, emergence of new actors interfering with local events (satellites, subsidy programmes, drought) and the translation of processes on pastures into politically engaged activities of local farmers. The thesis develops the employed concepts in such a way that they enable analyzing the situation in Broumov region as situated making of more-than-human sociality. Key words: multispecies ethnography, wolfs, pastoralism, trackers, more-than-human sociality

Anelosimus studiosus is a socially polyphenic spider. Individuals can be classified as social/tolerant or solitary/aggressive. These behavioral differences are associated with considerable variation in social structure. Here, we begin to examine the physiological differences that may underlie the behavioral dimorphism in this species and possible implications for the evolution of sociality. Octopamine is a neurotransmitter that has been found to elevate aggression in invertebrates. Serotonin has been shown, in some cases, to interact antagonistically with octopamine. We used High Pressure Liquid Chromatography with Electrochemical Detection to quantify levels of these neurochemicals among adult females from social (multi-female) and solitary (single-female) webs in east Tennessee. A subset of spiders was scored for individual social tendency. We found that higher octopamine levels are associated with a greater degree of aggression and intolerance, both at the individual level and the population level, while higher levels of serotonin are found in multi-female colonies and social individuals.

This thesis is based upon fieldwork carried out in the island of Apiao, in the archipelago of Chiloé, southern Chile. It is an ethnographic exploration of the way the small community of Apiao conceive of communication and interaction with both fellow human beings and supernatural creatures. The thesis describes details of every day life, with an emphasis on visiting as the main mode of social interaction. Through reciprocal hospitality the islanders enact balanced reciprocal exchange. Food and drink is offered and received; this is always returned in equal measure with a return visit. Visits between friends or neighbours are articulated according to a formal ritualistic etiquette based on asking. Balance is temporarily interrupted and small debts incurred when favors are asked. These must be reciprocated promptly. Momentary interruption of equilibrium perpetuates relations among people who describe themselves as being 'all the same'. Marriage equates to forming an independent, productive unit with a focus on inhabitants of households rather than on family in terms of decent or blood ties. Kinship terms are limited to the word mama and this refers to the grandmother, the focal role in raising children. Active memory as expression of love and care is what makes people related to each other. Kin ties must be kept active by constant love and care. Forgetful kin are in turn forgotten and slowly erased from memory. The thesis shows that religious beliefs are centered on exchange relationships with powerful entities that belong to the supernatural world. The dead and the miraculous San Antonio are powerful and ambivalent: they protect and help the living but can be revengeful and harmful if neglected by the living. Novenas are offered to the dead and the San Antonio in exchange for protection and miracles. Novenas represent a public and powerful ritual display of hospitality, enacting values of memory, solidarity and exchange.

<p>This dissertation investigates the influence of spatially explicit animal behavior active subsidy distribution patterns. Active subsidies are animal-transported consumption and resources transfers from donor to recipient ecosystems. Active subsidies influence ecosystem structure, function and services in recipient ecosystems. Even though active subsidies affect ecosystem dynamics, most ecosystem models consider the influence of spatially-explicit animal behavior on active subsidy distributions, limiting the ability to predict corresponding spatial impacts across ecosystems. Spatial subsidy research documents the need for systematic models and analyses frameworks to provide generally insights into the relationship between animal space use behavior and active subsidy patterns, and advance knowledge of corresponding ecosystem impacts for a variety of taxa and ecological scenarios.</p> <p> </p> <p>To advance spatial subsidy research, this dissertation employs a combined individual-based and movement ecology approach in abstract modeling frameworks to systematically investigate the influence of 1) animal movement behavior given mortality (chapter 2), 2) animal sociality (chapter 3) and 3) landscape heterogeneity (chapter 4) on active subsidy distribution. This dissertation shows that animal movement behavior, sociality and landscape heterogeneity influence the extent and intensity of active distribution and impacts in recipient ecosystems. Insights from this dissertation demonstrate that accounting for these factors in the development of ecosystem models will consequentially enhance their utility for predicting active subsidy spatial patterns and impacts. This dissertation advances spatial subsidy research by providing a road map for developing a comprehensive, unifying framework of the relationship between animal behavior and active subsidy distributions.</p>

Le phénomène du retour des immigrants dans leur pays d’origine est relativement peu étudié. Le plus souvent, les causes de ce phénomène sont ramenées à des facteurs économiques. Dans cette perspective, les immi- grants qui éprouvent le plus de difficultés à se trouver un emploi ou qui occupent un emploi de mauvaise qualité seraient les plus enclins à retourner dans leur pays d’origine. Cette explication ne semble toutefois pas s’appliquer au cas des immigrants français installés au Québec. Ces derniers dis- posent d’une bonne qualité de vie et sont généralement très bien intégrés au marché de l’emploi local. Étrangement, ils sont aussi parmi les immigrants les plus nombreux à quitter cette province canadienne. On peut déduire des témoignages laissés sur les médias sociaux que ces immigrants quitteraient la Belle Province des suites d’un sentiment de frustration et d’un profond mécontentement à l’égard de la culture locale. Pourtant, les immigrants français toujours présents au Québec disent en apprécier la culture d’ouverture et de liberté. Cet apparent paradoxe s’expliquerait selon moi par des variations dans les pratiques et les rituels de socialité entre les deux sociétés. La démarcation entre le public et le privé serait plus floue au Québec. On n’y trouverait pas de système aussi bien organisé et compartimenté qu’en France et, que ce soit en public ou en privé, les mêmes formes de socialité seraient indistinctement utilisées. Mes données laissent entendre que cette socialité indifférenciée et floue poserait de nombreuses difficultés sur le plan personnel aux immigrants français. La plus importante de ces difficultés concerne la rapidité avec laquelle certains comportements considérés comme privés et marqueurs d’intimité en France sont exhibés au Québec. Sans être foncièrement incompatible avec le système français, cette variation viendrait donner l’impression aux immigrants français qu’ils ont quitté un mode de socialité où les liens interpersonnels sont établis graduellement et en respectant des façons de faire bien déterminées pour intégrer un système extrêmement ouvert où l’intimité apparait se nouer dès les premiers moments de la relation. Bien qu’en apparence mineure, cette différence serait lourde de conséquences. Mes résultats ont montré que cette « familiarité » laisserait de nombreux immigrants français incertains quant à la consistance de leurs relations avec des Québécois. Plus précisément, cette familiarité les amènerait à présumer d’une certaine « solidité » dans leurs rap- ports avec leur contrepartie québécoise. Seule l’expérience leur permettrait de constater la « liquidité » de ces liens. Cette prise de conscience se ferait souvent dans la douleur, engendrant une forme de malaise qui pourrait déboucher sur un profond ressentiment à l’égard des Québécois, de la culture québécoise et du Québec en général. C’est ce malaise et non des facteurs économiques qui — selon moi — initierait chez ces immigrants le désir de quitter le Québec et de retourner en France. / The phenomenon of the return of immigrants to their country of origin has been little studied. Most often, the causes of this phenomenon are reduced to economic factors. In this perspective, unemployed immigrants or immi-grants who occupy poor quality jobs are the most likely to return to their country of origin. This explanation does not appear to apply in the case of French immigrants settled in Quebec. These immigrants have a good quality of life and are generally well integrated into the local employment market. Strangely, they figure also amongst the first groups of immigrants to leave the province. The testimonies left on social media suggest that these immi-grants leave the Belle Province due to frustration and a deep dissatisfaction with the local culture. Yet the French immigrants still present in Quebec say that they appreciate its culture of openness and freedom. This apparent paradox could be explained by variations in the practices and rituals of so-ciality of those two societies. The line between public and private would be blurrier in Quebec. It would not have a system as well organized and, whether in public or private, the same forms of sociality would be use indis-criminately. My data suggest that this undifferentiated sociality poses many difficulties on a personal level to those immigrants. The most important of these challenges concerns how quickly conducts that are considered to be markers of privacy and intimacy in France are exhibited in Quebec. Without being fundamentally incompatible with the French system, this variation would give the impression to French immigrants that they left a form of so-ciality where interpersonal relationships are established through time and incorporated an extremely open system where privacy appears to be estab-lish through the first moments of the encounter. Although seemingly minor, that difference would have serious consequences. My results have shown that this "intimacy" would leave many French immigrants incertain of the consistency of their relations with Quebecers. Specifically, this familiarity would lead them to assume a certain "solidity" in their relations with their Quebec’s counterpart. Only experience will enable them to see the "liquidity" of those links. This recognition would often occur in pain, causing discomfort that could lead to a deep resentment against Quebecers, Quebec’s culture and Quebec in general. It is this discomfort rather than economic factors — in my opinion — that would initiate among these immigrants the desire to leave Quebec and return to France.

Eight rodent species with fossorial activity differing in a number of characteristics such as ecology, climatic conditions, geographical distribution, or kinship were studied using infrared thermography in order to describe their surface temperature and its patterns. An attempt to describe the relation between surface temperature and varied social organisation in burrowing rodents was made.

The importance of social behaviour is evident in human society, but there are both costs and benefits associated with cooperation and sociality throughout the animal kingdom. At what point do the benefits outweigh the costs, and when do selective pressures favour sociality and colonization over solitude and independence? To investigate these questions, we have focused on an anomalous species of spider, Anelosimus studiosus, also known now as the northern social spider. Throughout its broad range, A. studiosus is solitary and aggressive, but recently, colonies of cooperative and social individuals have been observed at northern latitudes. This leads to two research questions: 1) what characteristics differentiate the two variants behaviourally, and, 2) how are they different physiologically? Colonies and individuals were collected from multiple populations throughout the Tennessee River watershed area and maintained in a laboratory environment for quantitative and qualitative assessment of behavioural traits as well as specific neurochemical analysis by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. After classifying individuals as social or aggressive, I looked at the influence of factors such as age, reproductive state, nutritional state, and time of day on behaviour and neurophysiology. I found correlations between social behaviours and serotonin, aggressive behaviours and octopamine (invertebrate counterpart of norepinephrine), and several other compounds associated with an increase or decrease in aggression. These studies combine techniques from multiple disciplines to contribute to the greater understanding of the proximate control of social and aggressive behaviours as well as factors influencing the evolution of sociality.

Vi har gjort en socialpsykologisk undersökning där vi har studerat barnavårdscentralssjuksköterskornas erfarenheter av meningsfullt arbete i barnavårdscentralen. Vårt syfte med studien är att öka förståelse kring hur BVC-sjuksköterskorna går tillväga för att känna arbetet meningsfullt och samtidigt mår bra. Resultatet visar att meningsskapande har en stor betydelse för sjuksköterskorna när det gäller deras välbefinnande. Den visar att sjuksköterskorna känner meningsfullhet i sitt arbete när de som person och deras roll stöder varandra och när det finns harmoni mellan dessa två. Sjuksköterskorna mår bra av det och arbetet flyter på utan ansträngning, de vill hjälpa och det hör till deras roll att hjälpa och på det sättet stöder deras roll och de som personer varandra. Det kan uppstå konflikter ifall deras roll och person inte stöder varandra. Sekretesslagen är ett exempel på något som kan hindra sjuksköterskorna från att hjälpa och detta bidrar till en konflikt mellan sjuksköterskornas personlighet och roll. En sådan konflikt kan leda till att sjuksköterskorna inte mår bra och de kan bli känslomässigt engagerade så att de känner sig förvirrade och frustrerade. Det gör att de inte kan hitta en mening i det de gör och arbetet upplevs som tungt och meningslöst. De upplever att de inte kan hjälpa föräldrarna som utreds när de inte vet varför de utreds. De känner att harmoni uppkommer ibland av sig själv och ibland försöker de själv åstadkomma denna harmoni på olika sätt. En sjuksköterska umgås med vänner, andra utvecklas kunskapsmässigt o.s.v. / We have done a social psychological study where we have studied the child health nurses' experiences of meaningful work in child care center. Our purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how the child health clinic nurses go about to feel the work meaningful and feel good at the same time. The results show that the creation of meaning is of great importance for the nurses in their welfare. It shows that the nurses feel meaningfulness in their work when they as a person and as a role support each other and when there is harmony between the two. The nurses feel well and work flows in without effort, the nurses want to help and it´s a part of the role to help and in this way role and person supports each other. There may be conflicts if they do not. Secrecy law is an example of something that may prevent nurses from helping and the law contributes to a conflict between the nurses’ personality and their role. Such conflict can lead to the nurses do not feel well and they can become emotionally involved so that they feel confused and frustrated. This means that they cannot find a meaning in what they do. The work is perceived as heavy and useless and they feel that they cannot help parents who are investigated when they do not know why they are being investigated. Harmony occurs sometimes by itself and sometimes the nurses try themselves to achieve this harmony in different ways. A nurse socializes with friends, others develop their knowledge etc.

Studien avser att genom ett kvalitativt fältarbete få förståelse för hantering av känslor för socialsekreterare inom socialt arbete på en socialförvaltning. Syftet är även att få en inblick i vilka faktorer som eventuellt har en inverkan på denna hantering och vad denna emotionella hantering kan ha för konsekvenser för socialsekreteraren. Det insamlade materialet i studien baseras på intervjuer för att få en detaljrik uppfattning om informanternas arbetssituation. Intervjuerna utfördes med åtta socialsekreterare som utreder ärenden angående barn, unga och familjer inom en specifik kommun. Att de arbetade under en gemensam arbetsstruktur och kultur underlättade ytterligare vår undersökning. Resultatet visar att det som minskar risken för psykisk ohälsa hos socialsekreterarna är social respons och stöd från bl.a. kollegor där de får möjlighet till utrymme och utlopp för sina känslor i en avslappnad miljö. Till följd av att socialsekreterarna är i behov av att bygga en relation med sina klienter, befinner de sig i ett komplext läge i klientmötet där de använder sig av en kombination mellan ett ytligare och djupare agerande. Socialsekreterarna måste således visa sig mänskliga under samtalet för att konstruera en känsla av trygghet, vilket kräver en balans av en viss känslomässig frihet att respondera utan att göra avsteg från rollen som professionell. / The study’s intention is to achieve an understanding for social workers' management of feelings within social work at a social service centre through qualitatively fieldwork. Our intention is also to receive an insight of the components that might have an impact on the feeling management and also what consequences this feeling management might have for the social worker. The gathered material in the study is based on interviews to receive a detailed view of the informants' work situation. The interviews were performed on eight social workers investigating cases concerning children, young adults and families in a specific county, which contributed to a common working structure and culture that have simplified our research. The result shows that what reduces the risk of psychological illness for the social workers is social response and support from, among others, colleagues where they have a chance of space and can express their feelings in a relaxed environment. Because of the need for social workers to build a relationship to their clients, they are in a complex situation in the meeting with the client where they have a combination of a more surfaced acting and a deeper acting. Therefore social workers must show their humanity during the client meetings to construct a feeling of security, which demands a balance between having a certain emotional freedom to express oneself without breaking the role as a professional.

This research was completed to deal with many unanswered questions regarding drug use, specifically drug use in areas of rural poverty. Look at any "Faces of Meth" billboard or listen to any corporate-news program and one might assume there is a drug epidemic in rural areas. Without research, this allows the viewer to assume that poverty is the fault of the drug user who happens to live in rural places. This study sought to take a qualitative and ethnographic methodology to "embed" the researcher in this setting to see for himself whether these views were valid or invalid. The questions of functional drug use were at the forefront of the study, as was the possible relationship between drug use and rural poverty. This study transformed into a serious analysis of a network of drug users in the town of Mulch Valley. While standard sociological (and policy issues) concerns are dealt with, this thesis moves beyond such concerns. Theoretical concerns are brought into questions as new concepts, such as: cultural narrative of addiction, master sociality, slave sociality, and Derridity." "Crushing. Cheating. Changing. Am I deaf or dead? Is this constricting construction or just streets with rusty signs of something violent coming?" (Manson, 2012)