Henri Justel (Paris 1620 - Londres 1693) est un érudit français huguenot anglophile, membre éminent de la République des Lettres Il a été peu étudié en France à cause de son apport littéraire inexistant si on fait abstraction de sa riche correspondance et ce, en dépit de la brillante académie privée internationale qu'il animait à Paris, de son vaste réseau et de ses centres d'intérêt divers et variés et touchant autant les humanités que les sciences. C'est l'un deux, Foi et Raison, qui est exploré ici tant dans son contexte d'époque que dans le cercle de Justel. Ce débat entre la Science et la Foi a conduit à classer les idées philosophiques de beaucoup de grands esprits du XVIIème siècle. Pourra-t-il en être de même pour Justel? / Henri Justel (Paris 1620 - London 1693) was a french, huguenot and anglophile erudite and a important member of the République des Lettres. He is not so wellknown in France because his poor literary contribution in spite of his very rich correspondence, of the brilliant private academy he was hosting in Paris, of his large network of relations and of his various interests in sciences as well as in humanities. One of those, Faith vs Reason, is to be dealt with overhere, either in his historical context or in Justel's circle. This very debate between Science and Faith lead to classify the philosophical options of many famous characters of the seventeenth century. Shall we be able to do so about Justel?

A presente tese propõe um estudo pormenorizado da correspondência de Luís da Câmara Cascudo com Mário de Andrade, Joaquim Inojosa, Gilberto Freyre e José Américo de Almeida (de 1922 a 1984), tendo como objetivo ampliar o debate historiográfico travado em torno da tentativa de restringir a produção intelectual de Cascudo à sua filiação ao Movimento Modernista ou ao Movimento Regionalista Tradicionalista do Nordeste. Para tanto, trataremos do debate suscitado pela epistolografia cascudiana, com ênfase na correspondência ativa de Cascudo editada e publicada antes e depois da publicação do volume Cartas de Mário de Andrade a Luís da Câmara Cascudo (2000), organizado por Veríssimo de Melo. Por intermédio das cartas enviadas por Monteiro Lobato, Rocha Pombo, Pedro de Orleans e Bragança & Guilherme Auler, disponíveis no acervo do Ludovicus Instituto Câmara Cascudo, buscamos demonstrar que para além do debate sobre o Modernismo no campo da crítica literária, houve durante o período de correspondência com Mário de Andrade a aproximação e o interesse de Câmara Cascudo em relação ao campo historiográfico, como a associação ao pensamento conservador monárquico. Empenhamo-nos em reconstituir as redes de sociabilidades intelectuais estabelecidas através da correspondência, tomando-as como arquivos da criação das obras e ideias sobre os movimentos anteriormente referidos. Buscamos demonstrar de maneira circunstanciada as complexas relações existentes na historiografia do regionalismo e modernismo no contexto da modernização da região Nordeste do Brasil, analisando as atitudes dos atores envolvidos no processo, assim como as contradições que ele implica. / This thesis proposes a detailed study of the correspondence written by Luís da Câmara Cascudo along with Mário de Andrade, Joaquim Inojosa, Gilberto Freyre and José Américo de Almeida (1922 - 1984). The objective is to widen the historiographical discussion around the attempt to restrict Cascudos intellectual production and his affiliation to the Modernist Movement or to the Traditionalist Regionalist Movement from the Northeast. For this purpose, we will approach the debate caused by Cascudos epistolography giving emphasis to his active correspondence which was edited and published before and right after the publication of the volume Cartas de Mário de Andrade a Luís da Câmara Cascudo (2000), organized by Veríssimo de Melo. Based on letters written by Monteiro Lobato, Rocha Pombo, Pedro de Orleans, and Bragança & Guilherme Auler, available at the collection of Ludovicus Instituto Câmara Cascudo, we demonstrate that Cascudo goes beyond the debate on Modernism, on the field of literary criticism. In fact, during the period he and Mário de Andrade were corresponding, Cascudo showed interest and approached the field of historiography, relating to the monarchic conservative thought. We put effort to reconstruct the network of intellectual sociability established through the correspondence that was used as files for the creation of his work and ideas about the movements previously mentioned. We demonstrate in details the complex relations that exist in the historiography of the regionalism and modernism, in the context of the modernization in the Northeast Part of Brazil, analyzing the attitude of those who are involved in the process and the contradictions of the process itself.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria de Lourdes Albuquerque de Souza.pdf: 1686293 bytes, checksum: a28a692a21618b677116d0060ee09c27 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-27 / Fundação Ford / This research has as main objective to create moments of critical reflection with the researched group looking for the comprehension and discussion of the organization and use of the official correspondence genre - correspondência oficial ofício, an official document that is commonly received from non- indigenous institutions for kaiowá leaderships and teachers from T. I. Panambizinho. This study is based theoretically in the Socio-Historical- Cultural Activity Theory (Vygotsky, Leontiev, Engeström) and the discussions of Bakhtin about discourse genres; in Magalhães (2004), Liberali (2009), Kerbrat-Orechioni (2010), Brookfield & Preskill (2005), Smyth (1992) and Mackay (1980), in order to analyze the organizational pattern of language in the turn-taking in the discussions. The methodological orientation is anchored in the Critical Research of Collaboration, which points to the organization of language as dialogical and dialectic in the accomplishment of a joint work by the participants. As pointed out by Magalhães (2007a) it is about a methodology of intervention in the context of accomplishment of the research, with the objective to create spaces of joint construction for the understanding and transformation of senses attributed to the object under discussion and production of shared meanings. This study was carried out with leaderships and teachers of the Indigenous Land, Panambizinho, Dourados/MS. The data was collected/produced, through workshops of study, with focus in the reading and writing of the official correspondence genre, correspondência oficial ofício, that were recorded in audio and video. The focus of this dissertation is on the reading. The results had disclosed no initial understanding of the indigenous participants on the importance and use of the official correspondence ofício, in their relations with the non-indigenous institutions. It also revealed the collaborative production of meanings during the two days workshops, as well as the partial transformation of them, made possible by the construction of a collaborative interactional pattern, where all the participants shared the object of the activity and revealed themselves committed to participate in the discussions. The sharing of meanings, as to the understanding and use of the official correspondence ofício by kaiowá participants, will only be possible to be evidenced at the subsequent moment to the accomplishment of this research / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral criar momentos de reflexão crítica com o grupo pesquisado para a compreensão e discussão da organização e uso do gênero correspondência oficial - ofício, recebidos de instituições não-indígenas por lideranças e professores kaiowá da T. I. Panambizinho. Este estudo está embasado, teoricamente, na Teoria da Atividade Sócio-Histórico-Cultural (Vygotsky, Leontiev, Engeström) e nas discussões de Bakhtin sobre gêneros do discurso; em Magalhães (2004), Liberali (2009), Kerbrat-Orechioni (2010), Brookfield & Preskill (2005), Smyth (1992) e Mackay (1980), para analisar o padrão organizacional da linguagem nos turnos de fala nas discussões. A orientação metodológica está ancorada na Pesquisa Crítica de Colaboração- PCCol, que aponta para a organização da linguagem como dialógica e dialética na realização de um trabalho conjunto pelos participantes. Como aponta Magalhães (2007a) trata-se e uma metodologia de intervenção no contexto de realização da pesquisa, com o objetivo de criar espaços de construção conjunta para a compreensão e transformação de sentidos atribuídos ao objeto em discussão e produção compartilhada de significados. O estudo foi realizado com lideranças e professores da Terra Indígena Panambizinho, Dourados/MS. Os dados foram coletados/produzidos, por meio de oficinas de estudo realizadas, com foco na leitura e escrita do gênero correspondência oficial ofício, que foram gravadas em áudio e vídeo. O foco desta dissertação está na leitura. Os resultados revelaram a não compreensão inicial dos participantes indígenas sobre a importância e uso do ofício nas suas relações com as instituições não-indígenas. Revelaram, também, a produção colaborativa de sentidos durante os dois dias de oficinas, bem como a transformação parcial dos mesmos possibilitada pela construção de um padrão interacional colaborativo, em que todos os participantes compartilharam o objeto da atividade e se revelavam empenhados em participar das discussões. O compartilhamento de significados, quanto à compreensão e uso do ofício pelos participantes kaiowá, só será possível ser constatado em momento posterior à realização desta investigação

The presented diploma thesis focuses on analyzing Spanish correspondence written by Jan Adolf of Schwarzenberg (1615-1683) between 1647 and 1683. The correspondence has yet to be thoroughly explored and is deposited in the State Regional Archive in Třeboň, the department of Český Krumlov - Rodinný archiv Schwarzenberků. Through a content analysis, the author tries to explore the relationship between Jan Adolf of Schwarzenberg and people of a different social status with whom the count had established a written communication; i.e. the author makes an effort to reconstruct the communication network of the baroque nobleman and examine the content of the letters. The author also suggests the typology of Spanish Schwarzenberg participants of the communication, who were divided into Habsburg family members, emperor's emissaries in Madrid, courtiers of Madrid, Spanish emissaries in Vienna, individuals working in the Spanish Netherlands, clerics and agents.

Savanna woodlands are vitally important in providing ecological services (e.g. erosion protection, micro-climate) and economic services (e.g. timber, food, fodder non-wood products, and wild-life habitats) that sustain local livelihoods and national economies. Increasing demands and the need for sustainable savanna woodland resource management requires that the ecological, economic, social and cultural values of these resources be explored and brought to the attention of decision makers and the general public. The identification and better understanding of the structure and dynamics of woodland community types, patterns of species distribution and quantitative properties of their diversity is important to the conservation and sustainable management of these woodlands. This study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of Nakasongola woodland community types, species diversity patterns and environment correlates, natural regeneration processes (i.e. sprouting and seedling establishment) and identifying livelihood strategies adopted by households, woody species utilised, and the contribution of charcoal production to household livelihoods. Data on vegetation and environmental variables were collected using 75 rectangular 20 x 50 m (0.1 ha) plots. Data on land use and land cover changes, and relevant associated socio-economic parameters were collected through the analysis of multi-temporal satellite imagery and field observations, as well as interviews of local households and key informants. The basic major livelihood activities for the rural households in this savanna dryland are charcoal production, subsistence crop cultivation and livestock grazing. However, it, sometimes, includes various combinations of activities, i.e. charcoal production and subsistence crop cultivation for both food and cash, and livestock keeping for income generation through selling the livestock products such as milk and, sometimes, the whole animal. At least 24 woody species, including fruit trees (Mangifera indica and Artocarpus heterophyllus), are frequently harvested, including 16 species that are considered the most utilized for charcoal production. Charcoal production, being the major source of income to the rural households, contributes on average US$ 259 ± 46 (S.E.) per household annually. There were significant differences in charcoal production (Kruskal-Wallis; H = 31.42, p < 0.0001), producer sale prices per bag of charcoal (H = 35.62, p < 0.0001), and annual incomes from charcoal production (H = 32.44, p < 0.0001) per households across the 8 sub-counties. Most of the youth (≤ 20 years old) derive their livelihoods from charcoal production, a small amount of trade, offering labour services, livestock keeping, fishing, bee keeping and earth brick making. Charcoal production, livestock keeping and hunting are carried out particularly by men, whereas, crop cultivation, and collection of fire wood, medicinal plants and fruits are carried out, mainly, by women. However, men are also engaged in cultivation only during the rainy seasons. There have been significant land cover changes in the area during the period 1984 to 2001, resulting in a 64% decrease in dense woodland cover, and an 80% increase in areas under cultivation/settlements. These changes are attributed to significant spatial expansion in agriculture increased commercialisation of charcoal production, grazing and human population growth. A total of 44,195 (5,893 plants/ha) woody plants representing 99 species in 67 genera and 31 families were recorded. The most species rich families were Mimosaceae (13), Rubiaceae (9), Moraceae (7), Euphorbiaceae (7), Anacardiaceae (6), Combretaceae (5) and Verbenaceae (5). Density of woody species differed significantly (F2, 72 = 6.3, P < 0.003) among land uses, being higher under charcoal production (7,131 ± 755 plants/ha) and cultivation (6,612 ± 665) areas and significantly lower under grazing lands (4,152 ± 525). Community species composition differed significantly (Global RANOSIM = 0.14, p = 0.001) among land use types. All measures of beta-diversity (spatial “turnover” in species composition) showed consistently higher beta-diversity in the grazing land use (βW = 3.1; βT = 3.1), followed by cultivation (βW = 2.8; βT = 3.0) and charcoal production (βW = 2.7; βT = 2.8), suggesting a more heterogeneous spatial distribution of species in the grazing lands. This suggests that variations in the composition and diversity of woody species are to a great extent influenced by land use type and anthropogenic disturbances in this region. Basal area of woody species differed significantly (F2, 72 = 12.0, P < 0.0001) among land uses, being highest under cultivation and charcoal production and significantly lower under grazing. Woody plant density differed (F2,72 = 6.3, P = 0.003) across landuses, being highest under charcoal production and cultivation and significantly lower under grazing. The species that contributed most to both basal area and density across all the land uses were Combretum collinum and Combretum molle. However, different species contributed the next most i.e. Piliostigma thonningii for grazing; Albizia zygia and Harrisonia abyssinica for cultivation and Vepris nobilis for charcoal production areas. For both basal area and abundance of all woody species, the total variance in species-environmental factor relations (for the combined first four canonical axes) was higher than 50%, suggesting a relatively strong influence of the measured environment variables on species composition and distributions. The CCA points to a significant influence of soil Ca2+ and Mg2+ in association with grazing on gradients in the composition and structure of woody species in the savanna woodland of Nakasongola. Resprouting was generally common among the woody species. A total of 2,595 stumps, representing 74 species in 31 families were recorded from all plots. Of these, 98.3% resprouted and were identified to species level. Density of both stumps and total resprout differed significantly (p < 0.05) among the land uses, being higher in charcoal production areas than in grazing and cultivation land uses. For the overall pooled data, resprouts per stump differed significantly among land uses (F2, 456 = 7.75, p = 0.0005), being highest in charcoal production (mean ± S.E.; 14 ± 1) and cultivation (13 ± 1) land uses and lowest under grazing areas (10 ± 1). Generally, the mean number of resprouts per stump increased with increasing stump basal diameter (BD), being highest for BD size class > 41 cm. In relation to stump height, the highest mean resprouts/stump was found on stumps with heights ranging from 0.31- 0.40 m. Based on pooled species data, regression analyses showed weakly significant negative relationships between BD of leading resprouts and number of resprouts/stump (r2 = 0.123, p < 0.0001) and between height of leading resprouts and number of resprouts/stump (r2 = 0.068, p < 0.0001). Density of seedlings of woody species differed significantly among land use types (ANOVA; F2, 72 =5.9, p = 0.004), being highest for cultivation (3,162 ± 440 individuals ha-1), followed by charcoal production (2,416 ± 295 ha-1) and lowest for grazing (1,629 ± 205 ha-1). Composition of seedlings differed significantly among land use types (Global RANOSIM = 0.119, p = 0.001). The distributions and densities of some seedlings were explained by gradients in environmental variables, with edaphic factors (i.e. Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and organic matter) and charcoal production being the most important. The first two axes of the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) explained 41.9% of the variance in species – environmental relations and were a reflection of edaphic and charcoal production land use gradients. All of the 16 highly utilized species were well represented in both the juvenile and adult classes, with gradually declining number of individuals with increasing stem size-class. This indicates that most of these species have high regeneration potential. Juvenile:adult tree ratios >1 and negative DSCD slopes indicate good recruitment and probably successful regeneration for these species. The study revealed land cover changes mainly in the dense and medium dense woodlands, reflected by the increase in open woodland, grasslands and cultivation/settlements. These trends threaten the livelihoods of local communities who are entirely dependent on these natural resources. Sustainable management will require the establishment of suitable integrated community-based institutions and management practices, with support from all key stakeholders (i.e. National Forest Authority (NFA)) and local communities. Maintenance of savanna woodland resources and other ecosystem services essential for human well-being will require an effective legal framework to prevent over-exploitation and give incentives for the protection of the fragile savanna woodland vegetation. An appropriate savanna woodland management policy will be required to guide changes in land use that accommodate the requirements of land users, aided by targeted conservation efforts to all woody plants and particularly for the highly utilized species for charcoal production as well as the multipurpose species. In addition, there is urgent need to build local capacity for improved harvesting and utilization of these tree species. This can be achieved through equipping local users with up to date information as well as observing the existing skills.

This thesis will examine the surprising and delightful similarities between Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad (1869) and Eliza R. Snow's letters to the Woman's Exponent published in a book titled Correspondence of Palestine Tourists (1875). Snow traveled abroad from 1872-1873, five years after Twain went abroad in 1867 and three years after The Innocents Abroad was published. She clearly states in her early letters that she was reading Twain and his influence is apparent in her letters. A careful look at her letters will also show that they are not merely an imitation of Twain. Snow takes on a Twainian style to write for her audience, the Latter-day Saint women readers of the Woman's Exponent in Salt Lake City.Reading Snow's letters alongside Twain's The Innocents Abroad is beneficial in understanding the power and influence a popular text can have not only on other texts, but also on how writers describe their personal experiences. Marielle Maco states: 'Works take their place in ordinary life, leaving their marks and exerting a lasting power' 'Ways of Reading, Modes of Being,' 213). The lasting power of Twain's work is clearly shown here in Snow's letters.

Figurines with a human shape have been created in almost every culture all throughout human history. In this thesis one such group of figurines is under investigation, Viking age female figurines. These figurines are most often interpreted as representations of the Valkyries – shieldmaidens of the god Odin – or as the goddess Fröja. Interpretations made through comparative studies with the medieval written sources. However, these interpretations always privileges some attributes of the figurines over others, creating simplified and general interpretations. The purpose of this thesis is to (re)interpret the figurines beyond the concept of representation, and instead focus on what the figurines, through their various attributes (size, motive, material), do and how they influence human actions. This is realized through the creation of a catalogue of all currently known female figurines from the Viking age (53 pieces), a correspondence analysis and through the use of symmetrical archaeology and embodiment theory. The result shows that the most important attributes of the figurines is their physical bodies, through which they can interact with the world, trigger emotions, hold memory, become animated and be part of the performative practice of upholding individual identity as well as upholding both the social- and cosmological worlds.

Situées entre le biographique et le littéraire, les lettres de Camus jettent un éclairage nouveau sur sa personnalité, sur ses relations avec ses correspondants et sur la genèse de son style et de son œuvre. Sa correspondance éclaire son rapport avec la maladie ainsi que son attachement à la famille et à la beauté méditerranéenne de son pays natal. Son admiration pour Jean Grenier le pousse à suivre ses leçons et à les revendiquer dans ses missives, leur attribuant ainsi un aspect didactique. L’exploration de l’interface correspondance / œuvre trace un mouvement d’élargissement, un passage de l’intime au littéraire. Les lettres ouvertes de Camus empruntent à la littérature plusieurs caractéristiques. Certains correspondants de l’écrivain sont de véritables interlocuteurs qui évaluent ses œuvres et qui lui font des remarques, de manière à le conduire à les rectifier et même à les réécrire. Ses lettres constituent une précieuse mine d’informations susceptible de jeter une nouvelle lumière sur la réécriture de son premier recueil d’essais Les Voix du quartier pauvre et de Caligula. En accompagnant la plupart de ses textes depuis qu’il en conçoit le projet jusqu’à leur publication, ses missives élucident ses choix littéraires et infléchissent l’évolution de son œuvre. Elles révèlent les détours d’une production littéraire hétérogène. Sur les conseils de certains correspondants dont Grenier et Malraux, Camus abandonne la grandiloquence d’un style lyrique qui rend compte de sa passion de vivre dans ses premiers écrits. Le style dépouillé de L’Étranger ainsi que l’objectivité de la chronique de La Peste témoignent de l’influence des lettres sur l’évolution de l’œuvre. La persistance de quelques passages grandiloquents dans ces œuvres neutres, où le style dépouillé rejoint des soubassements poétiques, est le signe d’un combat entre le penchant originel de Camus à l’exaltation des sentiments et à l’emphase d’un côté, et les recommandations de son maître qui l’incite à la raideur et à l’écriture neutre. Camus dépasse cette dichotomie qui divise son œuvre en se mettant à la recherche d’un équilibre entre neutralité et emphase dans Les Justes. Il s’agit d’un équilibre entre l’objectivité d’une lucidité cartésienne et les excès d’un débordement sentimental. L’étude de l’ethos de l’épistolier qu’Aristote définit comme « la représentation de son caractère par l’orateur » révèle trois images de soi dans la correspondance de Camus : celle de l’écrivain émerveillé, celle de l’écrivain engagé et celle du journaliste honnête. Mais la question épineuse de la guerre d’Algérie condamne l’auteur de La Peste au silence et crée un décalage entre l’ethos préalable du journaliste et l’ethos discursif qu’il tient à mettre en place dans ses lettres. L’examen de l’ethos d’auteur, en particulier l’image de soi littéraire qui se construit dans L’Hôte, semble important dans la mesure où il est susceptible d’éclairer l’image de soi épistolaire d’un intellectuel indécis tiraillé entre son affection pour son pays natal, où il craint de perdre sa place et celle des siens, et sa foi en les valeurs de la liberté, de l’égalité et de la justice. Dans cette nouvelle, la conduite du héros et les choix de l’écrivain génèrent une image d’auteur placée sous le signe de l’inquiétude et de la perplexité d’un être tiraillé entre l’admiration des combattants et la condamnation de leur violence. / Partly biographical and partly literary, Albert Camus’ letters shed new light on his personality, his relationship with his correspondents, his style’s genesis and that of his writings. His correspondence gives more insight into his illness as well as his commitment to the family and the Mediterranean beauty of his native country. Being fond of Jean Grenier, Camus not only follows his instructions but also asks him for some advice in the letters, giving them a didactic dimension. Examining the interface between Camus’ letters and his writings is a shift from the intimate to the literary, widening the scope of my research. Camus’ open letters borrow many literary features. Some of his correspondents are real interlocutors evaluating his books and providing him with insightful feedback and comments generating modification or even rewriting of some of them. Such letters are a valuable source of information shedding new light on the rewriting of his first collection of essays, Les Voix du quartier pauvre as well as Caligula. His letters, accompanying most of his writings from their conception to publication, elucidate his literary choices and affect the progress of writing, revealing turns of a heterogeneous literary production. On the advice of some of his correspondents including Grenier and Malraux, Camus abandons the bombast of a lyrical style reflecting his passion for life in his early writings. The stripped style of L’étranger along with the objectivity of the chronicle of La Peste are evidence of the letters’ impact on the evolution of Camus’ writing process. The persistence of some emphatic passages in these neutral writings, where the simple style joins the poetic underpinnings, reveals a struggle between Camus’ innate tendency for exalting feelings and emphatic style on the one hand, and the master’s recommendations inciting neutral writing on the other hand. Camus goes beyond this dichotomy dividing his writings by questioning equilibrium between neutrality and emphasis in Les Justes, an equilibrium between an objectivity of a Cartesian lucidity and excesses of a sentimental overflow. The study of the writer’s ethos defined by Aristotle as “the representation of his character by the orator” shows three self images in Camus’ letters : that of the marveled writer, that of the committed writer and that of the honest journalist. But the thorny issue of the war in Algeria silenced the author of La Peste, creating a gap between the journalist’s preexisting ethos and the discursive ethos set up in his letters. Studying the author’s ethos, especially the literary self image built in L’Hôte seems important as it is likely to illuminate the epistolary self image, that of an indecisive intellectual torn between his love for his homeland, where he is afraid of losing his place and that of his family, and his faith in the values ​​of freedom, equality and justice. In this novel, the hero's conduct and the writer’s choices create an image of an anxious and perplexed author torn between admiring the fighters and condemning their violence.

Bibliography: leaves 466-497.

Abstract This study examines people-centred Thai NGOs trying to help peasants empower themselves in order to compete better in conflicts over land, water, forest, and capital, during the 1970s to 1990s. The study investigates how the NGOs contested asymmetric power relations among government officials, private entrepreneurs and ordinary people while helping raise the people’s confidence in their own power to negotiate their demands with other actors.¶ The thesis argues that the NGOs are able to play an interventionist role when a number of key factors coexist. First, the NGOs are able to understand local situations, which contain asymmetric power relations between different actors, in relation to current changes in the wider context of the Thai political economy and seize the time to take action. Secondly, the NGOs are able to articulate a social meaning beyond the dominating rhetoric of the ‘state’ and the ‘capitalists’ which encourages the people’s participation in collective activities. Thirdly, while dealing with one problem in social relations and negotiation with local environment, the NGOs are able to recognise new problems as they arise and rapidly identify a new political space for the actors to renegotiate their conflicting interests and demands. Fourthly, the NGOs are able to recreate new meanings, new actors and reform their organisations and networks to deal with new situations. Finally, the NGOs are able to effectively use three pillars of their movement, namely individuals, organisations and networks to deal with everyday politics and collective protest.¶ The case studies in three villages in Northern Thailand reveal that the NGOs were able to play an interventionist role in specific situations through their alternative development strategies somewhat influenced by structural Marxism. The thesis recommends that the NGO interventionist role be continued so as to overcome tensions within the NGO community, for instance, between the NGOs working at the grass-roots level and the NGOs working at regional and national levels (including NGO funding agencies); local everyday conflicts; and the bipolar views of a society among the NGOs expressed in dichotomous thinking between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’, ‘community’ and ‘state’, conflict and order, actor and system.¶ The fragmentation of NGO social and environmental movements showed that there is no single formula or easy solution to the problems. If the NGOs want to continue their interventionist role to help empower ordinary people and help them gain access to productive resources, they must move beyond their bipolar views of a society to discover the middle ground to search for new meanings, new actors, new issues and to create again and again counter-hegemony movements. This could be done by having abstract development theories assessed and enriched by concrete development practices and vice versa. Both theorists and practitioners need to use their own imagination to invent and reinvent what and how best to continue.