This dissertation employs techniques from folkecology to identify factors that have influenced lawmakers in their decision-making about animals. The purpose of this research is to understand the natural world as seen by lawmakers, identify and explain variation between lawmakers and scientists priorities, and, ultimately, consider ways to improve communication of understandings between these two cultures. The study is structured to follow Amadeo Rea's recommendation that scholars "note the etic while searching for the emic" (Rea 1998: xx) It compares priorities and then discusses findings to get at the question of meaning. What do different animals mean to lawmakers? What forces are operating when they make or interpret laws on behalf of animals? The answer "takes us into the realm of mythology," as Rea said it would (Rea 1998: xx), and provides an opportunity to consider the foundations of law and science, and the role of reason, narrative and imagination across the disciplines and across time, as lawmakers - who are keepers and shapers of their cultures -- continuously define and redefine what it means to be human, and what that means for other animals. Findings indicate that conservation efforts need to increase the cultural relevance of the natural world, rather than hope that science alone will change the ethic and priorities of lawmakers.

La codification, qui a plus de 4000 ans d’histoire, vise à assurer la sécurité juridique tout en exigeant une forte volonté politique. Il s’agit d’une technique juridique qui a connu plusieurs âges d’or, et également des périodes moins propices, voire de régression. Elle découle de multiples enjeux techniques, sociaux et politiques. On distingue de nombreux types de codification. Ils mobilisent deux principales méthodes, la codification-modification et la codification-compilation. Les acteurs de la codification, ses étapes ainsi que la composition du code sont des processus importants pour caractériser la technique mobilisée. Cette recherche présente l’expérience française en la matière. Son ambition est de fournir un cadre de référence au législateur vietnamien en vue d’améliorer le système juridique de ce pays. / Codification is a more than 4000-year old process aiming to assure juridical security while requiring strong political back-up. This judicial technique has been through several golden ages as well as periods of less favorable development. Codification has produced numerous technical, social and political outcomes through a large number of different approaches. Codification-modification and codification-compilation are two major methods in codification. Techniques also differ in relation to stakeholders involved, stages in codification as well as code structure. This research is an analysis of France’s experience in those fields. It aims to produce a reference framework to lawmakers in Vietnam in view of improving the national legal framework.

<p>My dissertation is an exploratory study examining the power dynamics that Black women lawmakers navigate in Georgia General Assembly. My project focuses on re-conceptualizing power in legislative studies by centering on the lived experiences of Black women lawmakers. I build on previous work to develop my theory of intersectional resistance. I defined intersectional resistance as individuals with intersectionally marginalizing identities pushing back on behaviors, events, and norms that attempt to marginalize them or their constituents to advance their agenda in the state legislature.</p>