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The project explores the design development of housing within the scenario of Post Disaster Rehabilitation of populations displaced by natural disasters. By looking at the house as a system that combines two distinct phases of rehabilitative housing, namely Transitional Housing and Durable Housing, the design seeks to reduce the complications of relocation every time there is a need to move on to the next phase of shelter aid. To truly make the house construction an owner driven experience, the system aims to be designed such that it can manipulated by the owner/user to suit their long term needs and personal tastes. By doing so, the house strives to imbibe a sense of belonging, making it less likely for the shelter to be rejected by the owner. For this purpose, the aesthetic of the shelter would need to be carefully designed and organic patterns of settlement growth studied to realize the need of the types of public, semi public and private spaces.

Thesis advisor: Kalpana Seshadri / The dominant discourse on the Sri Lankan civil war classifies it as an ethnic conflict resulting from Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and Tamil nationalism. The classification of Sri Lanka as an ethnic conflict neglects to account for divisions within both the Sinhala community and the Tamil community, especially along class and caste divisions. This thesis provides a nuanced historical understanding of the Sri Lankan civil war as a class conflict arising from Sinhalese nationalism and manufactured ethnic tensions. The argument presented is that the Sri Lankan civil war is rooted in class struggle within and across ethnic groups for access to political power and economic equality. Since there have been instances of solidarity between Sinhalese people and Tamils due to shared class interests, it is clear that ethnic divisions were not inherent to the Sri Lankan polity but were caused by colonial policies and class divisions. To make this argument, the thesis utilizes an intersectional Marxist framework accounting for the influence of ethnic relations in class theories of exploitation, exclusion, and class interests. The thesis concludes with a focus on the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka and how it furthers my argument for a nuanced understanding of the civil war with attention to the class disparities in the nation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: International Studies.

This paper explores the nature of emerging adulthood in Southern India. Survey data was collected from 450 college students in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India and 100 non-students from rural villages surrounding Coimbatore. Unlike American samples, the majority of the 18- to 26-year-olds studied felt that they had achieved adulthood. The sample emphasized attributes needed to fulfill family roles as characteristics necessary for adulthood. Differences in optimism levels were found between students and non-students. Arnett suggests that emerging adulthood would be affected by cultural influences. The unique cultural and structural influences in India such as, Hinduism, caste, gendered socialization, and the educational system, are discussed as possible explanations for the unique findings.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att ge en förståelse för hur tonårstjejer på landsbygden i Tamil Nadu i södra Indien upplever menstruation. Aspekter som tillgång på information, hygien och traditionella sedvänjor diskuteras. Initiationsriterna som hålls för alla flickor kopplas till ritualteori av Turner, Bell, Rappaport, Staal med flera. En genomgång från det antropologiska fältet ges genom Buckley och Gottlieb. Centralt för uppsatsen är uppfattningar om orenhet och symbolisk förorening som finns inom hinduismen. Detta diskuteras med hjälp av Mary Douglas. Den till huvuddel kvalitativa studien består av intervjuer med fem fokusgrupper, bestående av tjejer i åldrarna 12-25 år, och kompletterande intervjuer med personal på NGO:s och andra med kopplingar till området. En enkkätstudie genomfördes samt en observation. Resultatet visar att tonårstjejer är i stort behov av mer reproduktiv kunskap och att det finns fördelar med att uppmärksamma och samtala kring de traditionella sedvänjorna, eftersom delar av dem upplevs som negativt av tjejerna. Det är tydligt att det finns ett behov för bekväma, hygieniska och hållbara alternativ för kvinnors mensskydd. I uppsatsen presenteras också olika projekt som syftar till att sprida information om menstruation och mensskydd. / The purpose of this thesis is to give an understanding about how adolescent girls in rural Tamil Nadu experience menstruation. Aspects on access to information, hygiene and traditional menstrual customs are discussed. The initiation rite that all girls go through is connected to ritual theory by Turner, Bell, Rappaport and Staal et al. An understanding from the anthropological field is given through the work of Buckley and Gottlieb. Central for the thesis is notions about impurity and pollution, which are discussed with the theories of Mary Douglas. The mainly qualitative research consists of focus groups interviews with girls in the age of 12-25 years and complementary interviews with NGO workers and others connected to the field. A questionnaire study was conducted as well as an observation. The results from the study show that adolescent girls are in great need of more reproductive knowledge and that there could be benefits to further bring up the traditional customs to discussion, since part of them make girls feel uncomfortable. It is seen that there is a need for comfortable, hygienic and sustainable solutions for women´s sanitary protection. Presented in the thesis are also different examples of projects that aim to spread information about menstruation and the use of sanitary pads.

Decoloniality has become a buzzword in the Canadian international development sector. The term intends to draw continuities between Canada's colonial past and present and draws attention to the way that the practice of international development perpetuates colonial power structures, specifically what Pailey (2020) has called the “White gaze of development.” When racialized actors in a white settler state like Canada are involved in international development initiatives in their countries of ethnic origin, they are often met with a binary, racist discourse among the broader Canadian community that either praises them as useful "tools" of Canadian foreign policy or denigrates their activities as a posing a potential "risk" to national interests. As a development actor on the world stage that sees itself as “cultural mosaic,” Canadians and the Canadian government should consider the potential for its diaspora to contribute to its foreign policies and strategies. Diasporic development can help with innovation in the development industry by expanding ideas about development and how it can be done. Reductionist understandings about diasporic transnationalism limit these possibilities, which underline the imperative to better understand diasporic identity and transnationalism. Using a Bourdieusian (1986) field analysis, Bhabha's notions of (1994) hybridity and liminality, as well as Yuval-Davis' (2006) conceptualization of belonging, this research explores the negotiations of belonging among the second-generation Tamil diaspora in Canada as they engage in development initiatives focused on communities in Sri Lanka. Through in-depth interviews with 34 participants, this research finds that the diaspora has day-to-day interactions in a number of sites or "micro-fields" which inform their engagement in international development initiatives that are focused on communities in Sri Lanka, and that their negotiations of belonging and otherness are salient in their development experiences. Members of the diaspora also interrogate coloniality through their hybridity and subsequent positioning in a liminal space. They reject colonial discourse by constructing belonging to the communities at the development sites and valuing localization. However, their interrogation of power structures across different fields as well as their multiple subject positions also contribute to their reflexivity about the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Turtle Island/Canada.

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Background: Currently, there is limited research on the importance and need for access to healthcare amongst refugee and immigrant populations in Canada. Amongst such populations are the Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada, who arrived in Canada as either refugees or immigrants due to the ongoing war in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. Although Canada is home to the majority of Sri Lankan Tamils, there is minimal research showcasing the need and access to better healthcare for such individuals who have fled from a crisis, the civil war in Sri Lanka. As such, this study aims to assess and understand the experiences of the Canadian Sri Lankan Tamils in accessing healthcare upon their initial arrival to Canada and how these experiences have changed overtime. Methods: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to conduct semi-structured interviews in English and Tamil with 8 Sri Lankan Tamil Canadians who arrived in Canada during the late 1980s and are currently between the ages of 55-75 years, residing in the Greater Toronto Areas. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the IPA to elicit themes. Results: The interviews revealed facilitators and challenges to access care within the past and present experiences of Sri Lankan Tamil Canadians. Past experiences revealed facilitators to access care, such as the influences of personal factors, the significance of social support systems and structural facilitators. The impacts of immigration status and acculturation in Canada were identified as barriers to access to care in the past. As for present experiences in accessing care, the degradation of the Canadian healthcare system revealed itself as a barrier to care, whereas settling down as a gradual process came up as a facilitator to accessing healthcare services. Conclusion: While Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian’s perspectives suggested facilitators in accessing care, their experiences still reveal many areas for improvement in the healthcare system for future newcomer populations in Canada. As such, these findings may have implications for policymakers who focus on refugee and immigrant health and service providers working with these populations. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)