Between April 1997 and November 1999, I followed eight socially excluded female drug users in an attempt to describe their lives and living conditions. The study employs an ethnographic approach with the focus being directed at the specific woman and her life in relation to the social context where this life is lived. The study’s objective has been to describe the lives and living conditions of the eight drug-using women, as well as the extent of the opportunities available to them, as being determined by mechanisms of social exclusion. Their lives are understood on the basis of a feminist and social constructionist perspective where perceptions of ‘the drug-abusing woman’ are regarded as the result of constructions of gender and deviance. The theoretical perspectives proceeds from the idea that one is not born a woman but rather becomes one. The fundamental idea is that women become women by means of processes of femininisation, in the context of which certain ways of interpreting and presenting oneself as a woman are regarded as good and others as bad. Our images of ‘the female drug addict’ are based on how we define and interpret deviance and on the cultural and social thought and behaviour patterns we ascribe to people on the basis of bodily differences. It is images of ‘the good woman’ that defines what we regard as characteristic of ‘the bad woman’ and vice versa. The findings are organised into three main topics: femininity, living conditions and social control. The main findings are: The women described themselves as women by relating to normative messages about how women “are and should be”, and their drug use constituted a means of coping with life from their social position. Their life revolved to a large extent around money via a constant struggle to find enough to cover the rent, food and other basic necessities. And finally, how the women’s relations to societal institutions were formed by their social position as ‘female drug addicts’ and how the asymmetry of these relations produced certain fixed patterns of action for the parties involved.

The purpose of this study is to assess how inhabitants of the Lidköping community value or perceive their surrounding in relation to urban planning, specifically the new Hamnstaden urban development. This perception was collected as data mainly through photos, conceived here as visual ethnography, combined with written responses. As the trend of urbanization continues to grow around the world, who or what is determining how cities are built? What elements of our urban environments do we value, and how do we measure these values? Many of the current trends with urban development are inconsistent with sustainable development and new perspectives on the construction of our cities are required to make cities more sustainable. This research uses a qualitative research approach in a case study in an urban development project in Lidköping to attempt to address some of these questions. The results are very diverse, but the highest-valued elements according to the participants were green space, old buildings, pedestrian space, public art, and cafes.

Through six months of ethnographic and autoethnographic fieldwork, which included participant observation and ten individual semi-structured interviews, I sought to determine how dominant discourses in dance, especially those pertaining to professionalism, ability, validity, and legitimacy, are circulated in and through training, and how we as dancers responded to these discourses. Following the stand alone thesis format, this thesis is comprised of two publishable papers. The first is an ethnography of one integrated dance company’s members’ experience with negotiating space for alternative forms of dance in contemporary dance. The second is an autoethnographic piece of writing where I show the challenges of resisting dominant discourses of validity and legitimacy in both qualitative research as well as contemporary dance. Together, these papers form a thesis that strengthens our scholarly understanding of the discourses and associated tensions at work in participating in and writing about integrated dance.

As the population ages and income disparities increase, issues affecting older adults and marginalized individuals are examined more frequently. Despite this, little attention is paid to the community experiences of women over the age of fifty who face marginalization, criminalization and homelessness. This study is an institutional ethnography of older marginalized women in Ottawa, focusing on their identities, lives and their experiences of community life. Its findings are based on ethnographic fieldwork as well as interviews with 27 older marginalized women and 16 professionals working with this group. The women described their identities, social networks, daily activities and navigations of their communities as well as the policy and discursive framework in which their lives are situated. Regardless of whether the women had housing or were staying in shelters, upheaval, uncertainty and change characterized their experiences in the community, reflecting their current circumstances, but also their life courses. Their accounts also revealed how, through social support, community services, and personal resilience, older marginalized women negotiate daily life and find places and spaces for themselves in their communities. As an institutional ethnography, this research foregrounds participants’ responses, framing these with theoretical lenses examining mobilities, identity, social capital, governmentality, and stigma. Specifically, it uses the lenses of mobilities and identities to understand the nature of their community experiences, before moving outward to examine their social networks and the world around them. Governmentality theory is also used to describe the neoliberal context framing their community experiences. The study concludes with a reflection on the research and a set of policy recommendations arising from the study.

Little research has focused on street-involved youths’ social relationships. As some scholars have suggested that leisure is inherently social, my research sought to understand whether participation in structured and/or unstructured leisure activities influence street-involved youths’ social relationships with other street-involved youths as well with members of the mainstream community. Written in the publishable paper format, this thesis is comprised of two papers, both of which utilize Foucauldian theory. In the first paper, I examine the impacts of street-involved youths’ participation in Health Matters, a leisure program for street-involved youths in Ottawa, Canada. In the second paper, I examine street involved youths’ unstructured leisure activities (e.g., leisure in non-programmed settings) and their subsequent social impacts. Based on my findings, I argue that street-involved youths use both structured and unstructured leisure to form crucial social connections to make their lives more bearable.

Urban Aboriginal youth are one of the fastest growing populations in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008). There is growing concern with the increasing rate of overweight and obesity among Aboriginal youth (Reading, 2009). Although this unique group is quickly growing, and possibly experiencing more ill health than non-Aboriginal youth their voices are currently absent in Aboriginal health literature. Drawing on the voices of urban Aboriginal youth to understand their perspectives is important for the promotion and enhancement of overall health (RCAP, 1996). One specific topic absent from the literature is the influence of culture on body weight, physical activity, and diet for urban Aboriginal youth. (Gittelsohn et al., 1996; Kumanyika, 1993; Marchessault, 1999; Thompson, Gifford, & Thorpe, 2000; Willows, 2005). Culture is seen as the beliefs, behaviours, norms, attitudes, and social arrangements that form patterns in the lives of members (LeCompte & Shensul, 1999, pg 21). The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of culture on body weight, physical activity, and diet for urban Aboriginal youth.<p> This study used the qualitative methodology of focused ethnography. The study setting was an urban Aboriginal high school in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Fifteen participants (11 females, 4 males) took part in this study. Participants were between the ages of 14-21, with a mean age of 16.73. Methods of data collection included semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, talking circles, and participant observation. The researcher spent 10-15 hours a week for eight months on site in the research setting.<p> In this study four themes describe the influence of culture on body weight, diet, and physical activity. These themes were: (i) acceptance of our bodies, (ii) playing together, past and present, (iii) traditions and sharing, and (iv) the struggle. The young urban Aboriginal participants in this study believed that a healthy body weight comes in a variety of sizes. There was a general acceptance in the diversity of healthy body weights and sizes. Group physical activity and competitive activity was favoured among participants. Traditional physical activities such as dancing, hunting, and fishing were cited as important by all participants. Participants believed traditional foods to be healthy and desirable, and those who reported eating traditional foods less frequently desired to eat them more often. Food sharing networks consisting of friends and family were reported as a way to address food insecurity and acquire traditional foods from the participants home reserves. In this study barriers to physical activity and diet for urban Aboriginal youth were income, location or residence, and transportation. Participants attempted to overcome them when it was possible, which highlights a resiliency among urban Aboriginal youth.<p> In conclusion, this study offers valuable information on the influence of culture on body weight, physical activity, and diet for urban Aboriginal youth. Participants in this study engaged in a variety of traditional and cultural activities. These activities increased the healthy eating habits and physical activity levels of the participants. Thus, cultural engagement may be a health enhancing mechanism for urban Aboriginal youth in Canada.

Background: An understanding of the meaning of health is an integral component in the development of effective health promotion programs aimed at promoting health or preventing diseases such as childhood obesity. One group of Canadian children known to be at higher risk for obesity is those living in rural settings. The purpose of this current research was to explore the meaning of health of preadolescent children living in rural Saskatchewan. The following four research questions were addressed: (a) What are the general health characteristics of the study sample?, (b) What is the rural context of children participating in this study?, (c) What is the meaning (i.e. values, norms, beliefs, behaviors) of health from the perspectives of a group of preadolescent children?, and (d) Is the meaning of health thematically congruent from the perspectives of healthy weight and unhealthy weight children?. Study Design: Mixed methods explanatory sequential design (Participant selection model) with qualitative emphasis. Methods: Participants were recruited through classroom presentations and invitational letters sent out to all children attending a rural elementary school in Saskatchewan. Ninety-nine children (51.0% response rate) participated in the quantitative component [measurement of height and weight for purposes of determining healthy weight and unhealthy weight (overweight or obese) status and completion of health questionnaire examining dietary and physical activity patterns]. Of the children who met the selection criteria for qualitative follow up (Grade 4, 5, & 6 children who agreed to be interviewed and had a parent who agreed to be interviewed), twenty children and their parents were randomly selected to be individually interviewed for a total of 71 interviews. An observational assessment of the community was conducted by the researcher for the purpose of gaining a greater understanding of the rural context in which the study participants construct their meaning of health. Results: Prevalence of unhealthy weights in these rural children was high (34%) with gender differences evident at a very young age. Regardless of weight or health status, children described their cultural meaning of health as an integration of Knowing Stuff, Having a Working Body, and Feeling Happy. Of these three themes Feeling Happy was recognized as the most meaningful and children described that receiving encouragement and support from valued relationships contributed to their happiness and overall meaning of health. The rural environment appeared to provide a sense of safety, security, and freedom in which children frequently engaged. Significance of Findings: The high prevalence of unhealthy weights in this sample of rural children has the potential to negatively influence the present and future health of these children. Developing an understanding of the cultural meaning of health and how this culture may influence patterns of healthy behaviors may be a foundation to the development of successful interventions aimed at promoting healthy weights in rural children.

This snapshot ethnographic research was conducted in Kihande Village in Uganda with the Agabagaya Women’s Group for a period of five weeks in 2004. Using a feminist ethnographic methodology, the researcher explores how women value, share and pursue knowledge informally among themselves to support themselves, their families and their communities. The analysis indicates that the women of Agabagaya are knowers in their worlds, that they actively pursue educational opportunities and development opportunities, and that they do so from a grassroots level. This particular group does not rely on and may actually be hindered by external development organizations and outside educational influences with top-down models. However, the group does use external development agencies when there is opportunity for the group to benefit. The researcher further explores the positions and implications of a white, Western researcher conducting research in a developing, non-white country and discovers that positive and respectful relationships are at the heart of the research process and that the participants control many aspects of the research itself. / May 2005

Through six months of ethnographic and autoethnographic fieldwork, which included participant observation and ten individual semi-structured interviews, I sought to determine how dominant discourses in dance, especially those pertaining to professionalism, ability, validity, and legitimacy, are circulated in and through training, and how we as dancers responded to these discourses. Following the stand alone thesis format, this thesis is comprised of two publishable papers. The first is an ethnography of one integrated dance company’s members’ experience with negotiating space for alternative forms of dance in contemporary dance. The second is an autoethnographic piece of writing where I show the challenges of resisting dominant discourses of validity and legitimacy in both qualitative research as well as contemporary dance. Together, these papers form a thesis that strengthens our scholarly understanding of the discourses and associated tensions at work in participating in and writing about integrated dance.

This thesis examines how the village of Birzeit is made as place. The reader is taken on a tour designed to show some of the sights of Birzeit and three sets of practices that are key in forging Birzeit-as-place. The first set of practices cohere around homes: the dilapidated houses in the Old City, the modern Spanish Apartments, the frequently empty dwellings of diaspora and two destroyed homes. The second set of practices involves families: the negotiation of different distances by families stretched across continents, the extensive efforts of some families to live in close physical proximity that contrast with others who are witnessing the increasing nuclearization of family living space and attendant family practices. Thirdly, im/mobilities: the movements of disapora in the summer, students travelling to and from Birzeit University and immigrants who have migrated from the north and south of Palestine to work in and around Ramallah. In offering a passing glimpse at some of the dynamic relationships that cohere around and between these material and imaginative spatial practices, I hope to (re)present Palestine as a vibrant and dynamic place, shaded by social, political, economic and cultural differences that maybe similar to other parts of the world. In doing so my chronicle departs from accounts of Palestinian space that tend to prioritize the ongoing practices of Israeli Occupation and its effects. Nevertheless, Birzeit is coloured by such practices too, which penetrate and complicate practices of home, family and im/mobility. The tour stages a series of empirical stories and events that were drawn from the eleven months of fieldwork I conducted in Birzeit between June 2005 and October 2007, during which time I conducted participant observation, interviews and archival research. These stories are punctuated by a set of theoretical engagements. I choose to keep these moments separate to explore how theory and Birzeit as I experienced it might converse with one another. I hope that each will be an equal partner in the conversation, that each will complicate and extend the other, and that this conversation will also build a affirmative relation between this place and you.