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.

This autoethnographic account explores my experiences of healing with my daughter and two sons after childhood cancer. My goal was to understand the disconnect between my experiences of persisting fear, grief and trauma and the contradictory messages we encountered during treatment that urged us to resume our ‘normal lives’ at the end of treatment. In analyzing my story, juxtaposed with other anthropologists’ narratives of their journey through cancer and beyond, I realized that my experiences were mediated by prevalent war metaphors in illness; the pervasive social and medical messages and expectations of restitution; as well as narrow biomedical un- derstandings of illness and healing. I offer up my story with the intention of bridging the divide between patients, their family, and medical professionals.

This thesis uses insight drawn from fieldwork among people developing a civic parade in Manchester over 2011-12 to analyse what happens in the translation of ideas into entities for display. It argues for creativity as an adaptive process, a responsive, dynamic activity manifested by parade makers, as they sought to realise the imagined event. It traces the roles that underpinned parade production and how people made sense and use of allocated responsibilities, while working within and through organisational boundaries. It situates the parade as an ‘art object’ (Gell 1998), constituted of assemblages at different scales (De Landa 2006), each embedded in a web of relationships to show how: a civic attempt to bring a public into being provides insight on the constituting organisational structures; the operational style of the arts organisation commissioned to produce the parade, led to imagining it into existence; and how two community groups responded to the parade parameters according to their own social dynamics. The thesis builds on ethnographic analyses of collaborative activities to consider how organisational shapes combine and how their constitutions substantially affect evolving entities. Situating creativity as an adaptive process separates creative activities from art practices by emphasising how supporting people to respond productively to changing circumstances encourages them to be creative. This thesis makes an original contribution to anthropology by showing through ethnography how creativity is a process, enacted through purposeful adaptation to circumstances in order to realise something tangible. It also encourages the development of a comparative framework for contemplating the extent to which different cultural contexts enable adaptive endeavours.

O objetivo principal desse trabalho foi o de descrever e compreender a maneira pela qual se constituem em mantém-se as formas de sociação de uma organização chamada Casa da Cultura Digital em Porto Alegre (CCD). Para tanto, os objetivos específicos foram: descrever as sociabilidades e conflitos como formas de sociação; descrever as peculiaridades da forma se organizar da CCD; e, compreender os significados que a CCD tem para seus integrantes. Estes objetivos estão embasados nos direcionamentos das “lentes teóricas” utilizadas que buscam compreender os estilos de vida e as formas de viver em conjunto permeadas por uma saturação do indivíduo em meio às objetificações da vida moderna, as quais podem lhe constranger. Em certos casos, tais objetificações são chamadas de formas de sociação: maneiras pelas quais as pessoas associam-se umas com as outras e desenvolvem conteúdos – entendidos como motivações ou interesses – que se abrigam em uma determinada “forma”. Quando uma lógica racional-instrumental, que faz parte de tais objetificações, dá sinais de saturação, emerge uma forma de viver em comum estética, lúdica e presenteísta que, de certo modo, opõe-se às institucionalizações, ao gigantismo e ao imperativo da eficiência. Um exemplo dessa expressão acontece em tribos pós-modernas, as quais revelam um modo de ser e estar com os outros dotado de uma razão sensível. Neste trabalho, estão em foco estas duas noções: formas de sociação e tribos contemporâneas à luz do exemplo de uma organização de natureza associativa, que busca realizar eventos, palestras e encontros para informar a população sobre cibercultura, uso dos meios digitais e o universo hacker - não restrita a isso. A partir de uma aproximação etnográfica com esse campo, foi possível notar sinais de uma exacerbação das sociabilidades, dos conflitos e de algumas peculiaridades da forma de organizar as tarefas, tais como: a rejeição de formalizações, de hierarquias, certa aversão às relações demasiadamente monetarizadas, bem como o modo de uso dos espaços físicos e do ciberespaço. Tal forma de ser e de organizar-se revela aspectos de um grupo que busca expressar-se em sua criatividade, demonstrando, para além disso, uma tentativa de se opor às formas de trabalho centralizadoras e pouco criativas, formatando um espaço divergente. Nesse jogo de formas, entre proximidades e afastamentos, o sujeito mostra que quando não encontra a satisfação nos ambientes “tradicionais”, este busca maneiras de expressão concretizadas em uma organização que se aproxima da metáfora da tribo contemporânea, constituindo uma forma de sociação, a qual revela negações e rearticulações de formas de gestão. / The main objective of this work was to describe and comprehend the way through which forms of sociation are constituted and maintained in an organization named Casa da Cultura Digital (CCD) situated in Porto Alegre. Thus, the specific objectives were: to describe sociabilities and conflicts as forms of sociation; to describe the peculiarities of the way CCD is organized; and, comprehend the meanings that CCD plays to its members. These objectives are based on the directions of the “theoretical lenses” which search to comprehend the life styles and forms of living together permeated by a saturation of the individual amidst the objectifications of a modern life, which can constrain him (SIMMEL, 2005b). In certain cases, these objectifications are named forms of sociation: manners through which people associate with one another and develop contents – understood as motivations and interests – that accommodate in a certain form. When an instrumental rationality, which is part of those objectifications, displays signs of saturation, an aesthetic, playful, and presentist way of living emerges in a certain way opposing to an institutionalization, a gigantism, and an efficiency imperative. An example of this expression happens in “post-modern tribes” (MAFFESOLI, 2010b) that reveal a form of being with others permeated by a sensitive reason. In this work, both notions of forms of sociation and contemporary tribes are in focus from an example of organization named Casa da Cultura Digital, an association which seeks to perform events, lectures, meetings to inform the population about cyberculture, the use of digital means and the hacker realm – not restricted to these themes. This form of being and organizing reveals a group that seeks to express itself in its creativity, sensitiveness, hedonism, and presentist interactions, which demonstrate, beyond that, an attempt to oppose centralized and less creative forms of working, thus, formatting a different space. In this play of forms, between proximities and distances, the individual shows that when the satisfaction is not found in “traditional” realms, he searches for forms to express himself that are actualized in an organization which approaches the metaphor of a contemporary tribe constituting a form of sociation, which reveals denials and re-articulations of ways of managing.

The objective of this dissertation is to document the lived experience of mothering in poverty and the unique challenges the role of mother presents to maintaining food security. Millions of households in the United States are struggling to put food on the table, a problem made worse by the current economic recession and high food prices. Among them, households with children and specifically, single mothers, report the highest prevalence of food insecurity. While Federal food assistance programs are available to help alleviate this issue, the continued problem of hunger is a very real and pervasive concern for millions of American families. While there is a robust and comprehensive scholarly body of work focused on food security and nutrition, this study fills an important gap in the literature. By describing the unique social and cultural circumstances that accompany the transition to motherhood in a low-income setting, I connect the lived experienced of mothering with vulnerability to food insecurity. This is framed within the underlying assumption that the related experiences of expectant mothering and caring for an infant impart different risk factors for food insecurity. This study used a mixed methods approach to examine its objectives. These include semi-structured ethnographic interviews, participant observation, surveys and questionnaires and foodscape analysis. The mixed method design allowed for a holistic examination of the lived experience of mothers through narrative analysis, the visual representation of their foodscape through community mapping, and the triangulation of findings through administered surveys and questionnaires. The primary findings of this dissertation include identification of social, cultural and geographic patterns of maternal isolation among low-income women and their impact on food security. Results of this study indicate that the unique demands of mothering in a low-income setting present challenges to maintaining food security. Gaps in services provided to low-income mothers to address food insecurity were identified to include improving the social connectedness of expectant and new mothers. This study is intended to reach a wide target audience including students, practitioners, anthropological colleagues and policymakers. In an effort to translate the findings of this study into practical recommendations for action, the author calls for more research into the issue of maternal isolation and for policy initiatives to recognize the unique role mothering plays in contributing to household food security status.

Urban inequality has emerged as one of the dominant themes of modern life and globalization. More than three million people experienced homelessness in the United States last year; in Miami-Dade, more than 15,000 individuals were homeless. Surviving extreme poverty, and exiting or avoiding homelessness, involves negotiating a complex mix of public and private assistance. However, a range of factors influence what types of help are available and how they can be accessed. Frequently, larger social structures determine which resource are available, leaving many choices entirely out of the individual’s control. For single men, who are ineligible for many benefits, homelessness can be difficult to avoid and even harder to exit. My study seeks to better understand how adult, minority men living in extreme poverty in Miami-Dade negotiate their daily survival. Specific research questions address: Do black and Hispanic men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have different personal characteristics and different experiences in avoiding or exiting homelessness? How does Miami’s response to extreme poverty/homelessness, including availability of public benefits and public and private service organizations, either maximize or constrain the choices available to this population? And, what is the actual experience of single, adult men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, in negotiating their daily survival? A mixed methods approach combines quantitative survey data from 7,605 homeless men, with qualitative data from 54 semi-structured interviews incorporating the visual ethnography techniques of Photo Elicitation Interviewing. Results show the differences experienced by black and Hispanic men who are poor and homeless in Miami. Findings also highlight how the community’s official and unofficial responses to homelessness intersect with the actual experiences of the persons targeted by the policies and programs, challenging preconceived notions regarding the lives of persons living in extreme poverty. It adds to the existing body of literature by focusing on the urban Miami context, emphasizing disparities amongst racial and ethnic groups. Findings are intended to provide an empirically grounded thesis that humanizes the subjects and illuminates their personal experiences, helping to inform public policy around the needs of extremely poor populations.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-07-24T12:21:41Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO para cd terceira tentativa.pdf: 3038484 bytes, checksum: b66fc439bf80f5a39a9ac476f6411146 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-24T12:21:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO para cd terceira tentativa.pdf: 3038484 bytes, checksum: b66fc439bf80f5a39a9ac476f6411146 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-26 / FACEPE / O incesto, ainda que tabu não transcendental e/ou universal, mas sim contingente, é uma prática sexual muitas vezes silenciada como bem apontam alguns estudos sobre Sexualidade e Erotismo. A juventude é uma etapa da vida humana também culturalmente marcada por tensões ligadas à sexualidade. Dessa forma, este trabalho objetivou estudar os sentidos sobre o incesto construídos por jovens habitantes da Região Metropolitana do Recife. Tais jovens interlocutoras/es participaram de um grupo de formação chamado Ação Juvenil, ligado ao Projeto Diálogos para o Desenvolvimento Social em Suape. O grupo funcionava com o objetivo de trabalhar questões ligadas à sexualidade, violência de gênero, violência sexual, consumo abusivo de álcool e outras drogas e violência contra a mulher, uma vez que as vulnerabilidades sociais relacionadas a esses temas intensificaram-se na referida região desde a chegada da Refinaria Abreu e Lima. Dessa maneira, em formato de oficinas e a partir da perspectiva teórico metodológica do trabalho com grupos e epistemologia feminista, construímos um espaço que se mostrou privilegiado para lidar com questões ligadas à sexualidade e juventude. O método etnográfico inspirou a relação com o campo que tratou de maneira “espontânea” de aspectos sobre relações sexuais intrafamiliares. Os encontros foram vídeo-gravados, transcritos e posteriormente organizados em categorias analíticas temáticas. Assim, essas categorias foram marcadas pelos sentidos sobre o incesto trabalhados no grupo de jovens, que se atrelaram aos sentidos de abuso sexual intrafamiliar, de noções que questionaram as possibilidades de autonomia na infância e também de ideias ampliadas simbolicamente sobre violência, todas fortemente permeadas pelas desigualdades do sistema sexo/gênero, assim como as relações dentro do próprio grupo, também permeadas por essas desigualdades. Esses sentidos ligados ao incesto atravessados por ideias de violência ligadas às hierarquias de gênero produziram desdobramentos em outros sentidos sobre esse objeto. Esses outros sentidos estiveram, no entanto, pautados em um diferente registro ou sistema de ideias, mais ligados à ordem dos discursos de sexualidade e do erótico do que mesmo ao gênero propriamente dito, ainda que permeados por ele. Dessa forma, as demais categorias ligaram-se aos sentidos do incesto como vício em sexo, atrelados aos discursos científicos e religiosos sobre família e sexualidade, e de arranjos eróticos chamados de "safadezas" entre quem pode ou não pode fazer sexo. Assim, não só pelas relações de desigualdade, como também de possíveis subversões do sistema sexo/gênero atreladas ao marcador geracional juvenil trataram essas categorias. Por fim, o grupo funcionou a partir de sua propriedade interinventiva em que construímos processos marcados por multiplicidades de entradas e saídas, assemelhados a um rizoma, em que foi possível (res)situar os impasses e desenhar linhas de fuga para as relações e sentidos construídos na Pesquisa. / Incest, though not a transcendental taboo and / or universal but contingent, is a sexual practice often silenced as it has been pointed in some studies on Sexuality and Eroticism. Youth is a stage of human life also culturally marked by tensions related to sexuality. Thus, this study investigated the different individual interpretations of incest given by young people in the metropolitan region of Recife. These young interlocutors attended a training group called Youth Action, joined to the Dialogue Project for Social Development in Suape. The group main aims were to work issues related to sexuality, gender-based violence, sexual violence, abuse of alcohol and other drugs and violence against women, as social vulnerabilities related to those issues were intensified in that region since the arrival of the Abreu e Lima Refinery. Thus, promoting workshops based on the methodological theoretical prospect of working with groups, we built up a space that favoured the work with issues regarding sexuality and youth. The ethnographical method contributed to the spontaneous atmosphere, in which, the aspects regarding intra-family sex were approached. The meetings were video-recorded, transcribed and later organized into thematic analytical categories. Thus, these categories were set based on the interpretations about incest which were elicited from the youth group, These are the categories, domestic sexual violence, notions that questioned the possibilities of autonomy in childhood and also ideas symbolically maximized about violence, all strongly permeated by the inequalities of gender system / gender, as well as relations within the group were also permeated by these inequalities. These different meanings given l to incest crossed by ideas of violence related to gender hierarchies produced other perceptions in this study. These other directions were, however, guided in a system registry or different ideas, more related to the speeches regarding sexuality and erotic than the gender itself, although permeated by it. Thus, other categories have been added as sex addiction, related to scientific and religious discourses on family and sexuality and erotic arrangements called "crooked deals" between those who can or cannot have sex. So these categories treated not only the relations of inequality, but also possible subversions of sex system / genre linked to youthful generational marker. Finally, the group worked based on their interventional or inter-inventive actions, in which we went through processes marked by multiplicity and multiple inputs and outputs, like a rhizome in which was possible to (re) situate the impasses among the different meanings given to the incest and the relationships built in the research.

The study of possession phenomena in South Asia presents a unique set of challenges for scholars. Because of its occurrence within diverse contexts, from healing temples and ritual performances to festival celebrations and devotional practices, attempts on the part of scholars to hone in on a concise vocabulary and conceptual framework with which to articulate the critical nature and function of possession has resulted in an extensive body of literature with wide-ranging methodological and theoretical dispositions. Each of these approaches, in its own way, contributes to an increasingly complicated web of intersecting disciplinary approaches. As this body of literature continues to grow, and with it, the resources for generating a more productive academic discourse surrounding possession, so too grows a set of distinct challenges. How is one to sort through the maze of interpretive strategies and the conclusions they produce? Is it possible to assemble them in such a way as to develop a cooperative and mutually beneficial approach? Is there hope for arriving at a commonly shared vocabulary of possession capable of functioning across disciplinary boundaries? And if so, would such a vocabulary avoid forcing localized experiences and practices to conform to ill-fitting, non-native criteria of analysis? Through critical evaluation of ethnographic contributions to the study of possession, this paper sets out to arrive at a set of conclusions about what works best for furthering the depth of appreciation and understanding for how diverse, complex, and pervasive possession practices are within a South Asian context. My criteria for this evaluation focuses on the degree to which specific approaches are established in, and guided by, an ethos of inclusivity, one that develops a healthy and vibrant dialectic between indigenous models of experience, practice, and interpretation, and those of the scholar. Along the way, I investigate key issues raised in the study of possession, such as ritual efficacy, embodiment, agency, and the nature of human relations with various nonhuman beings.