In April 2005, a group of women gathered for a human rights workshop at a Toronto drop-in centre for women experiencing homelessness, poverty, and isolation. One year later, the group sent a representative to address the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This dissertation describes and analyzes the feminist participatory action research-intervention project that began with the workshop and led to the United Nations. Over the course of 15 months, more than 50 participants attended weekly meetings at the drop-in. They learned about social and economic rights, testified about their experiences of human rights violations, and planned and undertook actions to respond to and resist homelessness. This thesis draws upon observations of meetings, documents produced by the group, and interviews with thirteen of the participants, in order to examine the project from a number of angles. First, the project suggests a new understanding of women’s homelessness: testimonies and interviews reveal that homelessness is not only a material state, but more importantly a social process of disenfranchisement enacted through relations of harm, threat, control, surveillance, precarity and dehumanization. Understanding homelessness as a social process enables an analysis of its operations within and for a dominant social and economic order structured by colonization and neoliberal globalization. Secondly, the thesis takes up participants’ assessments of the project’s political effectiveness and its impacts on their well-being and empowerment, and reads these against the researcher’s experiences with the project, in order to explore how feminist participatory methodologies can contribute to resistance. Finally, the thesis concludes with recommendations for theory, research, service provision, and human rights advocacy on women’s homelessness.

“The Transgressive Stage: The Culture of Public Entertainment in Late Victorian Toronto,” argues that public entertainment was one of the most important sites for the negotiation of identities in late Victorian Toronto. From the vantage point of the twenty-first century, where theatre is strictly highbrow, it is difficult to appreciate the centrality of public entertainment to everyday life in the nineteenth century. Simply put, the Victorian imagination was populated by melodrama and minstrelsy, Shakespeare and circuses. Studying the responses to these entertainments, greatly expands our understanding of Victorian culture. The central argument of this dissertation is that public entertainment spilled over the threshold of the playhouse and circus tent to influence the wider world. In so doing, it radically altered the urban streetscape, interacted with political ideology, promoted trends in consumption, as well as exposed audiences to new intellectual currents about art and beauty. Specifically, this study examines the moral panic surrounding indecent theatrical advertisements; the use by political playwrights of tropes from public entertainment as a vehicle for political satire; the role of the stage in providing an outlet for Toronto’s racial curiosity; the centrality of commercial amusements in defining the boundaries of gender; and, finally, the importance of the theatre—particularly through the Aesthetic Movement—in attempts to control the city’s working class. When Torontonians took in a play, they were also exposing themselves to one of the most significant transnational forces of the nineteenth century. British and American shows, which made up the bulk of what was on offer in the city, brought with them British and American perspectives. The latest plays from London and New York made their way to the city within months, and sometimes weeks, of their first production. These entertainments introduced audiences to the latest thoughts, fashion, slang and trends. They also confronted playgoers with issues that might, on the surface seem foreign and irrelevant. Nevertheless, they quickly adapted to the environment north of the border. Public entertainment in Toronto came to embody a hybridized culture with a promiscuous co-mingling of high and low and of British and American influences.

“The Transgressive Stage: The Culture of Public Entertainment in Late Victorian Toronto,” argues that public entertainment was one of the most important sites for the negotiation of identities in late Victorian Toronto. From the vantage point of the twenty-first century, where theatre is strictly highbrow, it is difficult to appreciate the centrality of public entertainment to everyday life in the nineteenth century. Simply put, the Victorian imagination was populated by melodrama and minstrelsy, Shakespeare and circuses. Studying the responses to these entertainments, greatly expands our understanding of Victorian culture. The central argument of this dissertation is that public entertainment spilled over the threshold of the playhouse and circus tent to influence the wider world. In so doing, it radically altered the urban streetscape, interacted with political ideology, promoted trends in consumption, as well as exposed audiences to new intellectual currents about art and beauty. Specifically, this study examines the moral panic surrounding indecent theatrical advertisements; the use by political playwrights of tropes from public entertainment as a vehicle for political satire; the role of the stage in providing an outlet for Toronto’s racial curiosity; the centrality of commercial amusements in defining the boundaries of gender; and, finally, the importance of the theatre—particularly through the Aesthetic Movement—in attempts to control the city’s working class. When Torontonians took in a play, they were also exposing themselves to one of the most significant transnational forces of the nineteenth century. British and American shows, which made up the bulk of what was on offer in the city, brought with them British and American perspectives. The latest plays from London and New York made their way to the city within months, and sometimes weeks, of their first production. These entertainments introduced audiences to the latest thoughts, fashion, slang and trends. They also confronted playgoers with issues that might, on the surface seem foreign and irrelevant. Nevertheless, they quickly adapted to the environment north of the border. Public entertainment in Toronto came to embody a hybridized culture with a promiscuous co-mingling of high and low and of British and American influences.

Dozens of major cities around the world have launched large-scale waterfront redevelopment projects over the past fifty years. Absent from this list of noteworthy achievements, however, is Toronto, a case of grand ambitions gone horribly awry. Despite three extensive revitalization plans in the second half of the 20th century, Toronto’s central waterfront, an area roughly double the city’s central business district, has remained mired in political gridlock for decades. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain why this came to pass. Informed by extensive archival and interview research, as well as geospatial data analyzed using Geographic Information Systems software, the thesis demonstrates that above and beyond political challenges typical of any major urban redevelopment project, in Toronto, issues of land ownership — specifically, public land ownership — were pivotal in defining the scope and pace of waterfront planning and implementation. Few, if any, waterfront redevelopment projects around the world have been attempted amidst the same degree of public land ownership and jurisdictional fragmentation as that which plagued implementation efforts in Toronto. From 1961-1998, no less than 81% of all land in the central waterfront was owned by one public body or another, dispersed across a patchwork of public agencies, corporations, and special purpose authorities nestled within multiple levels of government. Such fragmentation, specifically across public bodies, added a layer of complexity to the existing intergovernmental dynamic that effectively crippled implementation efforts. It created a “joint-decision trap” impervious to conventional resolution via bargaining, problem solving, or unilateral action. This tangled political history poses a considerable challenge to conventional liberal, structuralist, and regime-based theories of urban politics derived from US experiences. It also highlights the limits of conventional implementation theory in the study of urban development, and calls into question longstanding interpretations of federal-provincial-municipal relations and multilevel governance in Canada.

Through the simple action of covering one’s head with the wrong type of apparel, at the wrong time, and in the wrong spaces, Black and racialized youth exist in a hostile environment where their identities are reconstructed and relabeled according to dominant economic-political needs. This study interrogates and ruptures dominant notions of how space, identity and power are constructed, confronted, engaged, negotiated and resisted by Black and racialized youth in greater Toronto Area (GTA) schools. In an atmosphere of zero-tolerance toward policing youth violence, the anti-gang focus of the Safe Schools headwear policies institutionalize a ‘colour-coded’ link between crime, violence and race. Through ethnographic narrative inquiry this study critically interrogates the multiplicity of ways how the collision between zero-tolerance approaches toward regulating school violence and the policing of specific types of headwear and bodies results in differential outcomes and impacts on Black students and other racialized groups.

Dozens of major cities around the world have launched large-scale waterfront redevelopment projects over the past fifty years. Absent from this list of noteworthy achievements, however, is Toronto, a case of grand ambitions gone horribly awry. Despite three extensive revitalization plans in the second half of the 20th century, Toronto’s central waterfront, an area roughly double the city’s central business district, has remained mired in political gridlock for decades. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain why this came to pass. Informed by extensive archival and interview research, as well as geospatial data analyzed using Geographic Information Systems software, the thesis demonstrates that above and beyond political challenges typical of any major urban redevelopment project, in Toronto, issues of land ownership — specifically, public land ownership — were pivotal in defining the scope and pace of waterfront planning and implementation. Few, if any, waterfront redevelopment projects around the world have been attempted amidst the same degree of public land ownership and jurisdictional fragmentation as that which plagued implementation efforts in Toronto. From 1961-1998, no less than 81% of all land in the central waterfront was owned by one public body or another, dispersed across a patchwork of public agencies, corporations, and special purpose authorities nestled within multiple levels of government. Such fragmentation, specifically across public bodies, added a layer of complexity to the existing intergovernmental dynamic that effectively crippled implementation efforts. It created a “joint-decision trap” impervious to conventional resolution via bargaining, problem solving, or unilateral action. This tangled political history poses a considerable challenge to conventional liberal, structuralist, and regime-based theories of urban politics derived from US experiences. It also highlights the limits of conventional implementation theory in the study of urban development, and calls into question longstanding interpretations of federal-provincial-municipal relations and multilevel governance in Canada.

Through the simple action of covering one’s head with the wrong type of apparel, at the wrong time, and in the wrong spaces, Black and racialized youth exist in a hostile environment where their identities are reconstructed and relabeled according to dominant economic-political needs. This study interrogates and ruptures dominant notions of how space, identity and power are constructed, confronted, engaged, negotiated and resisted by Black and racialized youth in greater Toronto Area (GTA) schools. In an atmosphere of zero-tolerance toward policing youth violence, the anti-gang focus of the Safe Schools headwear policies institutionalize a ‘colour-coded’ link between crime, violence and race. Through ethnographic narrative inquiry this study critically interrogates the multiplicity of ways how the collision between zero-tolerance approaches toward regulating school violence and the policing of specific types of headwear and bodies results in differential outcomes and impacts on Black students and other racialized groups.

Submitted by Lya Cynthia Porto de Oliveira (lyaporto2@gmail.com) on 2017-05-03T19:54:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_versão final Lya Porto.pdf: 3209120 bytes, checksum: fd5167613279caef5406707cbc1a2182 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2017-05-03T20:15:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_versão final Lya Porto.pdf: 3209120 bytes, checksum: fd5167613279caef5406707cbc1a2182 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-03T20:19:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_versão final Lya Porto.pdf: 3209120 bytes, checksum: fd5167613279caef5406707cbc1a2182 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-14 / This thesis deals with an analysis of different Urban Agriculture (UA) models of public action. The theoretical model adopted is the cognitive analysis of public action, based on Pierre Muller and Yves Surel, and the actor-network theory by Bruno Latour. The purpose of the thesis is to understand the relationship dynamics between ideas, organizations, networks of action and results in the field of UA public action. The results are understood as basic services for Urban Agriculture, that were defined according to the literature analysis in this field, and it can be offered by state and/or civil society organizations. Based on the literature review of 21 different cities, four different types of public action were identified. These types are formed by the intersection of modes of action of civil society and local government, and they have been termed as 'Marginal', 'Emerging', 'Society-driven', and 'State-driven'. To further understand each type of Urban Agriculture public action, it was carried out a multiple case study with three units of analysis, based on different types of public action. The municipality of São Paulo was selected to further understand the 'Emergent' type, to understand more broadly the 'Society-driven' type, it was selected the City of Montreal and, finally, the municipality of Toronto was chosen to better understand the 'State-driven' type. The research methodology is qualitative and more than 80 semi-structured interviews were carried out, besides document analysis, field visits and participant observation in gardens, political and social meetings of Urban Agriculture. The research demonstrates that, although UA started from different ideas and actions in each municipality, they have become increasingly similar and have mobilized actions in different sectors: community, social, economic and state. The forms of institutionalization of these ideas have also become more homogeneous and tend to be directed to the model of Toronto, where there is greater state support for Urban Agriculture. The results of public action, however, depend on both government actions and civil society. Thus, the municipalities of Montreal and Toronto have good structures for basic services directed to UA. Montreal achieved it due to its strong civil society, and Toronto due to its combination of governmental and non-governmental actions. However, while the city of Montreal needs better planning for this field, Toronto's public management needs to step up some actions to increase food productivity. The city of São Paulo has institutions and civil society under construction, and, although it has increased the structures for basic services directed to Urban Agriculture, it still presents different failures in some specific services. / Esta tese de doutorado trata de uma análise de diferentes modelos de ação pública de Agricultura Urbana (AU) em contextos distintos. O modelo teórico utilizado é a análise cognitiva da ação pública, de Pierre Muller e Yves Surel, e a teoria do ator-rede de Bruno Latour. O objetivo é compreender as dinâmicas da relação entre ideias, organizações, redes de ação e resultados no campo da ação pública de AU. Os resultados são compreendidos como serviços básicos para a Agricultura Urbana, definidos de acordo com uma análise da literatura do campo, podendo ser oferecidos por organizações estatais e/ou da sociedade civil. Com base na revisão da literatura de 21 cidades diferentes, foram identificados quatro tipos de ação pública distintos. Esses tipos são formados por meio da combinação dos modos de ação da sociedade civil e do governo local, e foram denominados como 'Marginal', 'Emergente', 'Societal' e 'Estatal'. Com o objetivo de aprofundar a compreensão de cada tipo de ação pública de Agricultura Urbana, foi realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo com três unidades de análise, que seguem tipos de ação pública diferentes. O município de São Paulo foi selecionado para aprofundar o tipo 'Emergente', o município de Montreal para aprofundar o tipo 'Societal' e o município de Toronto para compreender em melhor profundidade o tipo 'Estatal'. A metodologia da pesquisa é qualitativa e ao todo foram realizadas mais de 80 entrevistas semiestruturadas, além de análise de documentos, visitas de campo e observação participante em hortas, encontros políticos e sociais de Agricultura Urbana. A pesquisa demonstra que, embora a AU tenha partido de ideias e ações distintas em cada município, elas têm se tornado cada vez mais homogêneas e têm mobilizado ações em rede em diferentes setores: comunitário, social, econômico e estatal. As formas de institucionalização dessas ideias também têm se tornado mais semelhantes e tendem a ser direcionadas ao modelo do município de Toronto, onde há maior apoio estatal para a Agricultura Urbana. Os resultados da ação pública, porém, dependem tanto de ações governamentais como da sociedade civil. Assim, os municípios de Montreal e Toronto têm boas estruturas de serviços básicos para AU. Montreal pelo fato de ter fortes ações da sociedade civil e Toronto pela combinação entre ações governamentais e não-governamentais. Porém, enquanto o município de Montreal necessita de melhores planejamentos para esse campo, a gestão pública de Toronto necessita intensificar suas ações para aumentar a produtividade de alimentos na cidade. Já o município de São Paulo, pelo fato de ter instituições e sociedade civil em construção, ascendeu muito nas estruturas de serviços básicos para a Agricultura Urbana, porém ainda apresenta muitas falhas em alguns serviços específicos.

No Abstract / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.