Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In recent years there has been substantial research on Dominican migration and transnationalism, yet these studies have largely overlooked both the manner in which globalisation generates new localisations, and the continuing salience of the state as a mediator between the global and the local. Based upon fieldwork in La Ciénaga, a poor barrio of Santo Domingo, this thesis argues that emplacement, rather than transnationalism, is paradigmatic of the experiences of poor Dominicans and provides their primary source of unity. Race, ethnicity, and social class have long been promoted as structuring the experiences of Caribbean people, but my analysis suggests that these operate more as sources of differentiation than of identification in Santo Domingo’s barrios. I examine the strategies and practices residents deploy to create value in place, overcome their localisation, and achieve progreso (progress) within the bounds of the state. These include transforming the material environment and its symbolic meanings, elaborating certain social hierarchies and contesting others, and developing locality-based political organisations. In the Caribbean, it has been usual for studies of cultural oppositions or dualisms to effectively constitute a different genre to studies of class, race, and globalization. My ethnography indicates that this distinction is false. Residents of La Ciénaga deploy cultural oppositions and notion of difference to define a place in the social hierarchies of the barrio and city, while simultaneously recognising the moral value and identical structural position of those around them. Popular politics in Santo Domingo are characterised by this tension between social stratification and the elaboration of cultural value in place. This thesis develops a political and social economy of value that addresses both the bases of stratification in the sphere of production and the ways in which projects of self-creation, such as through consumption, allow for the elaboration of cultural value and meaning for individuals and social groups. Given the importance of locality to popular politics, I argue that this integrated approach is necessary to any assessment of the transformative potential of community organisations and other political movements in Santo Domingo.

This dissertation builds a socio-cultural biography of Paris's Gare du Nord, Europe's largest railway station, from its transnational aims to connect Europe in the nineteenth century, to early twentieth century strikes, to twenty-first century immigration and riots. It shows how the formation of subjects, boundaries, and the "dangerous classes" in France were linked to infrastructural development. Through this examination, I argue that official French rhetoric and policies around the so-called "dangerous classes" created ideologies of contact that played out in concrete public space and came to be challenged by subjects and groups represented as dangerously different. Through encounter, overlapping boundaries--beyond the foreigner/citizen divide--became significant in the Gare du Nord, as marginalized subjects created new ways of relating spaces and bodies in this heterogeneous arena. My dissertation examines the connection between four processes that govern the station’s socio-political trajectory: 1) the government’s elaboration of the "dangerous classes" paradigm that led to expanding technologies of policing and surveillance; 2) the development of transportation infrastructure that brought migrants and goods to the capital; 3) the emergence of a railroad labor economy that created a new class of workers; and 4) the arrival and settling of immigrant groups from former colonies. I show how "dangerous" social archetypes, from the nineteenth century provincial migrant, to the early twentieth century railway worker on strike, to the African-Muslim immigrant, were summoned and reconfigured in events at the Gare du Nord and shaped the future configuration of political subjects and their struggles. I focus ethnographically on the trajectories of African immigrants at the station, the contemporary "dangerous classes." I argue that through their trans-regional networks and practices, the Gare du Nord has become a unique site of political contestation as it transforms into a node that connects the station to immigration pathways through sub-Saharan and North Africa. By offering an ethnographic approach to multidisciplinary conversations on transnational cities and postcolonial history, my dissertation builds a framework and methodology to analyze proliferating "theaters of encounter:" sites suffused with conflicting idioms, grounded in structures of human and capital circulation, and traversed by histories of struggle.

Abstract This paper begins by introducing the concepts of urban anthropology and poststructuralism that lay a basis for my project and referencing some of the themes that will be explored in further chapters. Chapter I analyzes conceptualizations of Los Angeles in terms of center and edge, and discusses the ways in which Greater Los Angeles can be an interesting site in terms of queer possibilities of built spaces. In Chapter II the focus shifts to Los Angeles freeways, distinguishing them as in-between spaces of the built landscape and examining how they have been conceptualized by prominent scholars and artists. Chapter III then moves to disciplines of philosophy and queer studies in order to “queer” the freeways. It addresses postmodern and poststructuralist discourses surrounding built spaces and the ways they are experienced, and extends discussions of public space versus private space and the ways bodies interact with built spaces. It also introduces the concept of disorientation and how it can be applied to the experience of the freeway. In the conclusion I tie together these theories of space and apply them to my own Fall project, and propose directions for my project in the Spring semester.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In recent years there has been substantial research on Dominican migration and transnationalism, yet these studies have largely overlooked both the manner in which globalisation generates new localisations, and the continuing salience of the state as a mediator between the global and the local. Based upon fieldwork in La Ciénaga, a poor barrio of Santo Domingo, this thesis argues that emplacement, rather than transnationalism, is paradigmatic of the experiences of poor Dominicans and provides their primary source of unity. Race, ethnicity, and social class have long been promoted as structuring the experiences of Caribbean people, but my analysis suggests that these operate more as sources of differentiation than of identification in Santo Domingo’s barrios. I examine the strategies and practices residents deploy to create value in place, overcome their localisation, and achieve progreso (progress) within the bounds of the state. These include transforming the material environment and its symbolic meanings, elaborating certain social hierarchies and contesting others, and developing locality-based political organisations. In the Caribbean, it has been usual for studies of cultural oppositions or dualisms to effectively constitute a different genre to studies of class, race, and globalization. My ethnography indicates that this distinction is false. Residents of La Ciénaga deploy cultural oppositions and notion of difference to define a place in the social hierarchies of the barrio and city, while simultaneously recognising the moral value and identical structural position of those around them. Popular politics in Santo Domingo are characterised by this tension between social stratification and the elaboration of cultural value in place. This thesis develops a political and social economy of value that addresses both the bases of stratification in the sphere of production and the ways in which projects of self-creation, such as through consumption, allow for the elaboration of cultural value and meaning for individuals and social groups. Given the importance of locality to popular politics, I argue that this integrated approach is necessary to any assessment of the transformative potential of community organisations and other political movements in Santo Domingo.

Thesis (B.A.)--Bryn Mawr College, Growth and Structure of Cities Program, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. (Anthropology))--Rhodes University, 2005.

Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo da relação homem/meio, ou sociedade/natureza através da revelação dos arquétipos que influenciam tal relação. A tese buscou verificar se as interpretações que os sujeitos fazem do ambiente (relação homem e natureza) são, em sua base, arquetípicas. Tal tese se constrói baseada no conceito de inconsciente coletivo definido por Carl Gustav Jung. Assim, o trabalho objetivou sondar os arquétipos do inconsciente coletivo que formam as opiniões e interpretações da realidade externa, notadamente na interpretação do ambiente (relação homem/meio) dos moradores de Santa Maria, RS. Buscou-se trazer à superfície as imagens arquetípicas e suas respectivas mitologias que filtram as informações do mundo fenomenológico, do mundo vivido. Isso porque se acredita que, embora a maioria da civilização moderna tenha abandonado ritos e mitos ancestrais, estes continuam vivos no inconsciente humano, se processam e se projetam no ambiente. A pesquisa foi conduzida com aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas e o auxílio de fotografias (entrevista projetiva) da cidade de Santa Maria, RS. Os dezenove entrevistados são moradores da cidade de Santa Maria, RS, têm idade entre 21 e 69 anos, com escolaridade que variou entre ensino médio incompleto e pós-graduação e responderam à seguinte pergunta: como você vê a relação do homem com a natureza nestas imagens? Os entrevistados foram orientados a responder livremente, podendo fazer associações livres ou elaborar um discurso contextual. Também foram orientados a mencionar imagens ou mitos que conhecessem, caso fizessem alguma associação com as fotografias. A análise de conteúdo foi utilizada para categorizar os discursos em nove categorias e relacionar os arquétipos correspondentes. A pesquisa empírica resultou no levantamento de quatro arquétipos mitológicos cosmogônicos: Paraíso perdido, Gaia, Caos e Apocalipse; e outros três arquétipos mitológicos: hybris, o diabo e a morte. Ademais, treze arquétipos representados pelas lâminas do Tarô de Marselha auxiliaram na categorização e na inferência dos arquétipos nos discursos dos entrevistados. / This research proposes a study of the man / medium, or society / nature through the revelation of the archetypes that influence this relationship. The thesis sought to verify that the interpretations that subjects describe about the environment (man and nature relationship) are, at their base, archetypal. This thesis is built based on the collective unconscious as defined by Carl Gustav Jung. Thus, the study aimed to fathom the archetypes of the collective unconscious that form the opinions and interpretations of external reality, especially in the interpretation of the environment (man / medium) of the residents of Santa Maria, RS. We sought to bring to the surface the archetypal images and their mythologies that filter the phenomenological world's information, the lived world. This is because it is believed that, although most of modern civilization has left ancestral myths and rites, they remain alive in the human unconscious, are processed and protrude into the environment. The research was conducted with application of semi-structured interviews and the aid of photographs (projective interview) of the city of Santa Maria, RS. Were nineteen interviewees are residents of the city of Santa Maria, RS, have between 21 and 69 years with education ranging from incomplete secondary education and graduate and answered the question: how do you see the relationship of man with nature in these images? Respondents were asked to answer freely, make free associations or makes a contextual speech. They were also advised to mention images or myths they knew if they did some association with photographs. The content analysis was used to categorize the speeches in nine categories and list the corresponding archetypes. The empirical research resulted in four cosmogonic mythological archetypes: Paradise Lost, Gaia, Chaos and Revelation; and three mythological archetypes: hybris, the devil and the death. In addition, thirteen archetypes represented by the Tarot of Marseilles figures helped in the categorization and inference about the archetypes in the interviews.

Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo da relação homem/meio, ou sociedade/natureza através da revelação dos arquétipos que influenciam tal relação. A tese buscou verificar se as interpretações que os sujeitos fazem do ambiente (relação homem e natureza) são, em sua base, arquetípicas. Tal tese se constrói baseada no conceito de inconsciente coletivo definido por Carl Gustav Jung. Assim, o trabalho objetivou sondar os arquétipos do inconsciente coletivo que formam as opiniões e interpretações da realidade externa, notadamente na interpretação do ambiente (relação homem/meio) dos moradores de Santa Maria, RS. Buscou-se trazer à superfície as imagens arquetípicas e suas respectivas mitologias que filtram as informações do mundo fenomenológico, do mundo vivido. Isso porque se acredita que, embora a maioria da civilização moderna tenha abandonado ritos e mitos ancestrais, estes continuam vivos no inconsciente humano, se processam e se projetam no ambiente. A pesquisa foi conduzida com aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas e o auxílio de fotografias (entrevista projetiva) da cidade de Santa Maria, RS. Os dezenove entrevistados são moradores da cidade de Santa Maria, RS, têm idade entre 21 e 69 anos, com escolaridade que variou entre ensino médio incompleto e pós-graduação e responderam à seguinte pergunta: como você vê a relação do homem com a natureza nestas imagens? Os entrevistados foram orientados a responder livremente, podendo fazer associações livres ou elaborar um discurso contextual. Também foram orientados a mencionar imagens ou mitos que conhecessem, caso fizessem alguma associação com as fotografias. A análise de conteúdo foi utilizada para categorizar os discursos em nove categorias e relacionar os arquétipos correspondentes. A pesquisa empírica resultou no levantamento de quatro arquétipos mitológicos cosmogônicos: Paraíso perdido, Gaia, Caos e Apocalipse; e outros três arquétipos mitológicos: hybris, o diabo e a morte. Ademais, treze arquétipos representados pelas lâminas do Tarô de Marselha auxiliaram na categorização e na inferência dos arquétipos nos discursos dos entrevistados. / This research proposes a study of the man / medium, or society / nature through the revelation of the archetypes that influence this relationship. The thesis sought to verify that the interpretations that subjects describe about the environment (man and nature relationship) are, at their base, archetypal. This thesis is built based on the collective unconscious as defined by Carl Gustav Jung. Thus, the study aimed to fathom the archetypes of the collective unconscious that form the opinions and interpretations of external reality, especially in the interpretation of the environment (man / medium) of the residents of Santa Maria, RS. We sought to bring to the surface the archetypal images and their mythologies that filter the phenomenological world's information, the lived world. This is because it is believed that, although most of modern civilization has left ancestral myths and rites, they remain alive in the human unconscious, are processed and protrude into the environment. The research was conducted with application of semi-structured interviews and the aid of photographs (projective interview) of the city of Santa Maria, RS. Were nineteen interviewees are residents of the city of Santa Maria, RS, have between 21 and 69 years with education ranging from incomplete secondary education and graduate and answered the question: how do you see the relationship of man with nature in these images? Respondents were asked to answer freely, make free associations or makes a contextual speech. They were also advised to mention images or myths they knew if they did some association with photographs. The content analysis was used to categorize the speeches in nine categories and list the corresponding archetypes. The empirical research resulted in four cosmogonic mythological archetypes: Paradise Lost, Gaia, Chaos and Revelation; and three mythological archetypes: hybris, the devil and the death. In addition, thirteen archetypes represented by the Tarot of Marseilles figures helped in the categorization and inference about the archetypes in the interviews.

Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo da relação homem/meio, ou sociedade/natureza através da revelação dos arquétipos que influenciam tal relação. A tese buscou verificar se as interpretações que os sujeitos fazem do ambiente (relação homem e natureza) são, em sua base, arquetípicas. Tal tese se constrói baseada no conceito de inconsciente coletivo definido por Carl Gustav Jung. Assim, o trabalho objetivou sondar os arquétipos do inconsciente coletivo que formam as opiniões e interpretações da realidade externa, notadamente na interpretação do ambiente (relação homem/meio) dos moradores de Santa Maria, RS. Buscou-se trazer à superfície as imagens arquetípicas e suas respectivas mitologias que filtram as informações do mundo fenomenológico, do mundo vivido. Isso porque se acredita que, embora a maioria da civilização moderna tenha abandonado ritos e mitos ancestrais, estes continuam vivos no inconsciente humano, se processam e se projetam no ambiente. A pesquisa foi conduzida com aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas e o auxílio de fotografias (entrevista projetiva) da cidade de Santa Maria, RS. Os dezenove entrevistados são moradores da cidade de Santa Maria, RS, têm idade entre 21 e 69 anos, com escolaridade que variou entre ensino médio incompleto e pós-graduação e responderam à seguinte pergunta: como você vê a relação do homem com a natureza nestas imagens? Os entrevistados foram orientados a responder livremente, podendo fazer associações livres ou elaborar um discurso contextual. Também foram orientados a mencionar imagens ou mitos que conhecessem, caso fizessem alguma associação com as fotografias. A análise de conteúdo foi utilizada para categorizar os discursos em nove categorias e relacionar os arquétipos correspondentes. A pesquisa empírica resultou no levantamento de quatro arquétipos mitológicos cosmogônicos: Paraíso perdido, Gaia, Caos e Apocalipse; e outros três arquétipos mitológicos: hybris, o diabo e a morte. Ademais, treze arquétipos representados pelas lâminas do Tarô de Marselha auxiliaram na categorização e na inferência dos arquétipos nos discursos dos entrevistados. / This research proposes a study of the man / medium, or society / nature through the revelation of the archetypes that influence this relationship. The thesis sought to verify that the interpretations that subjects describe about the environment (man and nature relationship) are, at their base, archetypal. This thesis is built based on the collective unconscious as defined by Carl Gustav Jung. Thus, the study aimed to fathom the archetypes of the collective unconscious that form the opinions and interpretations of external reality, especially in the interpretation of the environment (man / medium) of the residents of Santa Maria, RS. We sought to bring to the surface the archetypal images and their mythologies that filter the phenomenological world's information, the lived world. This is because it is believed that, although most of modern civilization has left ancestral myths and rites, they remain alive in the human unconscious, are processed and protrude into the environment. The research was conducted with application of semi-structured interviews and the aid of photographs (projective interview) of the city of Santa Maria, RS. Were nineteen interviewees are residents of the city of Santa Maria, RS, have between 21 and 69 years with education ranging from incomplete secondary education and graduate and answered the question: how do you see the relationship of man with nature in these images? Respondents were asked to answer freely, make free associations or makes a contextual speech. They were also advised to mention images or myths they knew if they did some association with photographs. The content analysis was used to categorize the speeches in nine categories and list the corresponding archetypes. The empirical research resulted in four cosmogonic mythological archetypes: Paradise Lost, Gaia, Chaos and Revelation; and three mythological archetypes: hybris, the devil and the death. In addition, thirteen archetypes represented by the Tarot of Marseilles figures helped in the categorization and inference about the archetypes in the interviews.

This thesis is the result of twenty-five months of ethnographic fieldwork, both online and offline, in the United Kingdom working with London-based fashion bloggers. It aims to examine the ways that bloggers negotiate between style and identity through the presentation of self in online environments, more specifically fashion blogs and corresponding social media websites, as well as offline spaces, including London Fashion Week, industry events, and regular social interactions with other bloggers and blog readers. It also address the relationships between bloggers and members of the fashion industry, as the industry struggles to define a place for them. Furthermore, this thesis hopes to contribute to growing debates regarding the potentiality of media anthropology to influence the creation and production of ethnographic texts.