Pastoral nomadism as a way of life is no longer as prevalent as it once was, but it is still an important phenomenon in the Middle East. In the last few decades, the rate of sedentarization among nomads has increased as a result of technological progress in agriculture and pastoralism, as well as political, social, ecological, and economic factors. This study focuses on the Qashqa'i nomads of Iran and their migration as an example for the Middle East. It deals with both nomadic and sedentary Qashqa'i people and examines the causes and consequences of their migration. Push-pull theory, is used as an analytical framework for the research. As a part of the methodology, logit models are employed in statistical analysis. A survey questionnaire was administered in order to develop a comprehensive picture of nomadic people at the places of origin and destination. The research attempts to generate several 'general profiles' of nomads depending upon their location--either at the place of origin or at the place of destination. These profiles can be used to increase understanding of the causes and consequences of Qashqa'i migration, as well as the processes of cultural change which occur when nomadic people 'settle' in urban areas. For the Qashqa'i the major economic, social, and environmental push factors are poverty, lack of educational institutions, and hardship of climate. The main pull factors are centred around their desire to improve educational, job, and accessibility criteria. The research also revealed that Qashqa'i culture is slowly adapting to urban ways. An examination of public migration policy shows that a more systematic approach is needed to questions of inter- and intra-regional development and migration issues.

Si les nombreuses etudes sur l'histoire des Metis ont souligne que la disparition de la traite des peaux de bisons et les evenements de 1870 a la Riviere-Rouge avaient bouscule l'organisation de la societe, aucune ne pose la question de savoir de quelle maniere les femmes ont ete touchees par ces bouleversements, conment elles se sont adaptees a la nouvelle situation, et si elles ont trouve de nouvelles formes de legitimation de leurs roles. En ce qui a trait au cadre de vie quotidien des femmes metisses de souche francophone, on s'apercoit qu'il a enormemenent change au cours des annees 1850-1900. Dans les annees 1850 jusqu'a la disparition du bison, la nature offrait une plethore de produits necessaires a la survie. Les Metis dependaient de cette natue pour la fabrication de leurs moyens de transport, la construction de leurs maisons et pour la confection des vetements. L'arrivee de nouveaux habitants dans les annees 1870 et 1880 suscita l'importation de nouvelles technologies. Les maisons se moderniserent peu a peu et l'ameublement se diversifia. Les femmes furent particulierement touchees par ces changements puisqu'ils ne concernerent pas seulement la structure des maisons, mais aussi l'ameublement. Elles durent apprendre a cuisiner sur un fourneau plutot que dans une cheminee et la confection des vetements fut facilitee par l'introduction de la machine a coudre dans certains foyers. Certaines coutumes disparaissent pour laisser place a des pratiques culturelles qui rapprochent les experiences quoddiennes des Metisses a celles des autres femmes, comme dans le domaine de la sante. Jusqu'a l'invasion de maladies contagieuses vehiculees par les nouveaux arrivants, les Metisses jouaient un role fondamental dans les communautes car elles s'occupaient de la sante des familles en faisant appel a un savoir medical herite de leurs ancetres autochtones. A partir des annees 1870, la confiance face aux remedes naturels diminue constamment car les femmes ne connaissent pas de cures pour assurer d'eventuelles guerisons contre la diphterie, la fievre typhoide ou la tuberculose. La gravite des maladies, l'influence du clerge et des Canadiens-francais les poussent, elles et leurs enfants, a venir se faire soigner a l'hopital. L'etude des registres des hopitaux de Saint-Boniface et de Saint-Roch revele que les femmes etaient plus nombreuses que les hommes a venir se faire soigner dans les institutions des Soeurs Grises. Mais l'element revelateur de notre etude de ces registres, est que des les annees 1870, la tuberculose prime sur les autres maladies. Cette tendance, qui ne fera que s'accentuer avec les annees, souligne deja l'emergence d'un probleme specifique aux conditions de vie des nations autochtones et metisses du Canada. En ce qui a trait au statut economique des femmes, il s'est peu a peu deteriore au cours de la periode etudiee. Dans les annees 1850, les preoccupations feminines depassaient les limites du foyer car elles etaient essentielles au depecage et au decoupage de la viande de bison et a la preparation du pemmican. Leurs activites etaient centrales a la bonne marche de l'entreprise et leur expertise grandement appreciee, car sans elles, la traite des peaux de bisons n'aurait pas existee. Apres la disparition de cet animal, les activites des Metisses se sont concentrees principalement autour de la maison. Comme le montre notre etude, le role economique des femmes n'en reste pas moins indispensable. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis is about Metis music and the Metis people. Its purpose is to examine the intimate connections between the two and how music constitutes an inherent component of Metis identity(ies). The premise of this study is that Metis identity is fluid and flexible and that Metis musical traditions do not merely reflect these characteristics but are instrumental in its construction. In the same vein, I am arguing that multiple Metis identities have emerged from several specific factors, including individuality, regionalism, socio-economic conditions, historical events, political manipulations, various metissages, and spiritual beliefs and values. The goal of this study is to acknowledge the multiple Metis identities which are experienced and articulated among Metis through the examination of their musical practices. This study is based on an in-depth ethnography of the musical practices of the Metis community in Mattawa, Ontario. This community provides a case-in-point from which Metis identity can be studied. It features a wide and diverse range of musical practices typical of the Metis communities in Ontario, and it enacts the internal divisions which have undermined its official representation at the local as well as the regional and national levels.

The social production and reproduction of traditional forms of masculinity has been associated with various sports including football. The purpose of this case study was to examine language as one particular feature of an all-male football environment. More specifically, the study focused on the narratives accompanying interactions on the football field, in the locker room, and at team social gatherings for one Canadian interuniversity football team, and examined the function of these narratives as well as their interpretation by the players. A triangulated methodology was used and information pertaining to the narratives was gathered through: (a) a content analysis of official documents including guidelines regarding the behavior and language of interuniversity football players; (b) a participant observation of the players' interactions and narratives; and (c) in-depth interviews with a sample of the players. Results of the study indicate that racist narratives are very rare, but that sexist, homophobic, violent and macho narratives are prevalent within this football subculture, as well as narratives related to pain and injury. The main functions or reasons identified for those narratives were: (a) conformity or peer pressure, (b) insecurity, (c) need to demonstrate superiority over teammates, opponents, and selected social groups, (d) male bonding and need to have a common language, (e) need to uphold the stereotypical tough "masculine" football image, and (f) isolation associated with an all-male environment. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Abstract not available.

In this thesis I examine the rave experience in central Canada. More specifically, I investigate in detail the experience that rave's around the world have called connectedness. I begin by describing the historical antecedents to rave, which trace back much farther than most people believe. Moving through acid rock, disco, the Northern soul scene, New York garage, Chicago house, and Detroit techno, I then describe acid house---rave's immediate predecessor---and its technological quantum leaps, electronic and chemical. Discussing its roots on the island of Ibiza and in the popular culture capital of the world, "Madchester," I then trace acid house's explosion into what we now know as rave (despite the fact that the term was passe before the phenomenon had even hit North America). I then review the literature on rave culture, which falls into two broad categories: sociology and cultural studies. Finding most of these analyses lacking due to their underlying epistemological foundations and resultant methodological approaches, I illustrate how the most fruitful approach to studying rave, especially the rave experience, is an experiential one. After outlining the fundamental tenets and some methodological requirements of experiential anthropology, I describe the methods used in this research. In the following chapter, I provide a multi-sited narrative of the people and places I encountered during field research, with a particular focus on my own lived experience. I then illustrate how some aspects of rave in central Canada allow it to be characterized as a religious or spiritual experience for some participants. I go on to explore the central theme of that experience next---connectedness. Again using my own and my informants' experiences as illustrative, I outline the five key features of connectedness, in the process demonstrating its equivalence with Emile Durkheim's collective effervescence and Victor Turner's communitas. Finally, in the conclusion I pose the questions: What is the teleology of rave? and What is the future of rave? I answer these by returning to Durkheim and Turner, particularly the similar but seldom recognized processual and dialectical understanding of social life inherent in both of their anthropologies.

Chronicling five different social movements in Akwesasne's contemporary history, this study highlights the progression of changes and reforms associated with concepts and metaphors found in the Kaianerenkowa (Great Law of Peace). Using the theory of Segmentary-Factional-Political Systems this thesis examines how the Kaianerenkowa has been transformed from a lore espounding communal participatory democracy into a socio-political construction serving the needs of various (and sometimes opposing) Mohawk political groups in Akwesasne. In the conclusion we examine the contemporary significance of the Kaianerenkowa in Akwesasne and its possible future role in the community.

Abstract Not Available.

Tutkielma käsittelee maahanmuuttajien osallistumista paikallispolitiikkaan ja vapaan pääsyn paikkoihin Oulussa ja sen vaikutusta maahanmuuttajan kotiutumiseen. Aihetta on aikaisemmin tutkittu Suomessa lähinnä sosiologisista näkökulmista ja kansainvälisestikin antropologinen tutkimus maahanmuuttajien poliittisesta toimijuudesta on vähäistä. Maahanmuuton lisääntyessä aiheen tutkiminen on ajankohtaista. Keskeisiä teoreettisia käsitteitä tutkielmassa ovat valta, demokratia sekä integraatio, joita käsitellään työssä antropologisesta näkökulmasta. Tärkeä teoreettinen työkalu työssä on myös maahanmuuttajan käsittäminen poliittisena toimijana. Osallistumalla poliittiseen prosessiin toimija toteuttaa toimintaa subjektiivisesti, hyödyntäen omia henkilökohtaisia kokemuksiaan ja kykyjään, sen sijaan, että hän olisi poliittisten toimintojen kohde, objekti. Tutkielman aineisto on kerätty laadullisen tutkimuksen menetelmillä, osallistuvalla havainnoinnilla ja haastatteluja tekemällä. Osallistuvaa havainnointia tein Oulun suuralueilla pidettävien yhteistyöryhmien kokouksissa, erilaisissa tapahtumissa ja erään Oulun asukastuvan maahanmuuttajille suunnatulla kielikurssilla. Teemahaastatteluja pidin kymmenen, joista osan pidin maahanmuuttajille ja osan kaupungin päätöksentekoelimiin kuuluville henkilöille, kuten kaupunginvaltuutetuille ja virkamiehille. Tutkimusaineiston perusteella Oulussa asuvat maahanmuuttajat osallistuvat paikalliseen politiikkaan vaihtelevasti. Osalla poliittinen toimijuus oli elämäntapa ja toiset eivät osallistuneet politiikkaan aktiivisesti. Ongelmalliseksi koettiin sekä maahanmuuttajien että päättäjien välinen informaation kulku. Tiedonsaannin lisäksi osallistumista ohjaa yksilön persoonallisuus ja hänen henkilökohtaiset mielenkiinnon kohteensa — kaikki eivät pitäneet politiikkaa itselleen mielekkäänä vaikuttamiskeinona. Lisäksi luottamusta söi kokemus siitä, että päättäjien toimintaan ei juuri voi kansalaisena vaikuttaa. Valtaväestön ja yhteiskunnan kannustavan ilmapiirin avulla voidaan kuitenkin luoda osallisuutta maahanmuuttajien parissa. Nykyinen kotouttamispolitiikka jättää parantamisen varaa osallistumisen suhteen, vaikka sen vaikutukset kotiutumiseen koettiin haastateltavien mukaan myönteisinä. Tulevaisuudessa aiheesta olisi hyvä tehdä lisää tutkimusta antropologian saralta. Tutkimusaluetta voisi laajentaa esimerkiksi järjestöihin, opiskelijapolitiikkaan tai valtakunnalliseen politiikkaan.

No description available.