Over the past three decades microfinance has become one of the most important policy interventions used by international development practitioners, offering loan opportunities to those who lack access to basic financial services. Women have been the primary targets of this poverty alleviation strategy as it was presumed that they would be empowered through increased control over their incomes. In Cambodia, these strategies are guided by a business-approach to development and enforce regulatory measures encouraging competition, marketization and commercialization, and in so doing, put more economic pressure on women borrowers. Through the concepts of debt and trust, the following thesis will argue against the motive of empowerment through microfinance programs. Since microfinance was not designed to address social inequalities, it will also argue that deeply embedded patriarchal power relations go unchallenged and the status of women within the household goes unchanged. In stark contradiction to the empowerment discourses lauded internationally, usurious moneylenders and unregistered microfinance institutions practicing predatory lending are actually encroaching upon Cambodian women’s domestic and work space. A feminist ethnography was employed in seeking to unearth participants’ understandings of their circumstances and giving them a voice, where the specific methodological tools included semi-structured interviews with Cambodian women who have taken loans. The analysis was guided by examining discourse in microfinance policy reports as well as interviews with employees of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The resulting research is positioned within the critical literature in human geography on neoliberalization by examining whether or not the integration of the poor into the “market” benefits them or places them in highly exploitative circumstances. / Graduate / 0453 / 0366 / 0733 / elaurin@uvic.ca

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Reliable clean water supply and treated sewage are fundamental for human health and wellbeing. Water scarcity becomes a discussing concern due to the unfair distribution of resources and different amount of precipitation in some parts of the earth. Although water-related issues are highly influenced by climate changes, there are always various mismanagements of human kind in local scale which totally affects the natural water cycle. Therefore, an urban water system and how this system copes with the natural and built environment are going to be studied in this research. Reviewing the urban management and decision making process inIran, privatization and its prerequisites is the main backbone of this thesis. The central region ofIran,Yazd, has been selected as the case study. This water-stressed area is located on desert margins which water plays a key role in every new and existing development. Along with studying vulnerability of urban water system in this area, the potential risks and crisis would be pointed out. Finally, the analysis and discussion to the current of water sector’s situation based on previous experiences have been presented.

In this research, I provide a foundation for theorizing and understanding institutionalized antiracism initiatives; under-examined sites of geographical research. Through an examination of three different research sites (Queen’s University, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), I seek to understand how organizations working in different contexts negotiate a range of variables so as to achieve the most effective outcomes possible. With a focus on site-specific context and its role in antiracist initiatives, this research combines a range of qualitative methods including interviews and researcher observations to assess the factors that influence the strategic directions and decisions of organizations. This thesis contributes to the exploration of social change and human rights strategies by positioning institutionalized antiracism initiatives as the focus of study; highlighting the importance of geopolitical context and other institutional factors in this work; identifying key challenges and opportunities; presenting findings on effective human rights strategies; and filling a gap in this area of geographic study. More specifically, this research demonstrates that institutionalized antiracism initiatives experience specific advantages and challenges as a result of factors internal and external to the organization. It also provides insight into the climate of social change in Canada and reveals some important findings with regard to antiracism strategies that can be used by organizations to improve the effectiveness of their initiatives and programs. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2014-01-31 08:45:08.578

New markets for the conservation of so-called ecosystem services, like the ability of a wetland to mitigate floods, are emerging worldwide. According to environmental economists, these markets require some metric - ecological or otherwise - that names the relevant characteristics of the service to be traded as a commodity. But while this is often assumed to be a simple task of science, I argue that the environmental regulators, eco-entrepreneurs, and conservationists who actually design and implement metrics are not so easily brought into agreement. In “rolling-out” revamped metrics and protocols, regulators and their conservationist allies in one market in Oregon haven’t established the conditions for market success so much as they have constrained entrepreneurs. The solutions to ecosystem destruction 20 years ago - privatization, commodification, and commercialization - have become the obstacles which limit the market’s future viability. The moments when capitalists find themselves saying “let’s sell nature to save it” - or when states say it for them - can spell trouble for capitalists at the same time that they seem like their escape hatch. Still, the short-term and long-term effects of market design may differ; barriers to the market now may prove to be its success later.

Discourse used in the field of conservation, be it of animals, land masses or marine zones, matters in that discourse and practice are mutually constitutive and discourse will therefore ultimately influence how conservation is practiced. Conservation discourses have shifted over time depending on the broader political economic climate. At present, neoliberal conservation discourse is gaining traction amongst terrestrial conservationists and has both proponents and detractors; however, it is less clear whether marine conservationists have similarly adopted the discourse of property rights, markets and incentives. Marine conservation is a newer pursuit, and has tended to follow in the path of its terrestrial counterpart. It is therefore of consequence whether and how the neoliberal discourse is beginning to impact marine conservation. While some academic literature has focused on neoliberal discourse in marine environments, to date it has been narrow in scope, mostly focusing on the privatization of fisheries and the role of neoliberalism in the privatization of marine protected areas (MPAs). However, the versatility of neoliberal approaches to conservation suggests that the impact may be much more widespread than this. With the potential to align itself with previously dominant discourses such as fortress conservation and community-based conservation, neoliberal conservation stands to gain traction. This thesis addresses the lack of attention given to neoliberal conservation in marine environments by conducting a collaborative event ethnography (CEE) of the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP10). The CBD-COP10 is a forum where a diverse array of actors from the public, private and civil society sectors come together to discuss the future of the field of conservation. It is here that ideas about conservation are both conceptualized and contested, and those that become dominant discourses can ultimately influence how conservation is undertaken in practice. The research finds that as with terrestrial conservation, a wide range of marine actors are indeed invoking neoliberal conservation discourse. At the CBD-COP10, neoliberal discourse and its related practices were rarely challenged and often lauded, from NGO and government partnerships with the private sector, to economic valuation, to the drive towards a ‘green economy’. By revealing this usage, this thesis contributes to scholarship by addressing the lack of attention to the impact of neoliberal conservation discourses in the marine realm. It also shows that the study of discourse can be a useful mode of understanding how marine conservation is conceptualized. It helps to illuminate the power channels through which discourse travels and how a particular discourse can become dominant, which is important to understand because dominant discourses can ultimately impact how conservation is practiced. / SSHRC; Research supported by the US National Science Foundation (award nos. 1027194 and 1027201)

In this thesis, I consider the emergence of a new generation of food trucks and question their popularity, narration and representation. I examine the economic and cultural discourses that have valorized these food trucks, and pay attention to the everyday material and embodied practices that constitute them. This research is situated in Chicago, where proposed changes to the existing mobile food vending ordinance spurred contentious debates about food safety, regulations, rights to the city and livelihoods. I follow the myriad actors involved in the food truck movement to understand the strategies employed to change the mobile food vending ordinance on behalf of these food trucks. As part of this, I raise questions about what interests are prioritized, and what interests are marginalized especially in light of Chicago’s long history of policing Latino street vendors. I conclude by considering what food trucks can elucidate about the city, the changing economy, and the molding of laboring and consuming subjects.

La production du logement en France est au cœur de plusieurs débats académiques : sur l'action de l'Etat, sur les logiques privées de production, sur la gouvernance locale. La thèse selon laquelle un processus de néolibéralisation affecte les sociétés occidentales depuis les années 1970 en offre une lecture transversale. Cependant, l'analyse d'un instrument de la politique nationale du logement – l'aide fiscale à l'investissement locatif – en montre les nombreuses limites, en particulier dans les années 2000. Reposant sur une méthodologie croisant approches qualitatives et quantitatives, notre recherche révèle plutôt l'émergence d'une nouvelle économie politique de la production du logement. En lien avec la décentralisation, la puissance publique se fait duale, avec d'un côté un Etat qui encadre le marché par la réglementation et de l'autre des collectivités qui entrent en négociation avec les acteurs privés. Cette dualité fait d'ailleurs apparaître des contradictions entre enjeux nationaux (notamment macroéconomiques) et priorités locales. En regard, la promotion immobilière se transforme : si les dispositifs d'incitation fiscale mis en place par l'Etat ont amené de nouveaux acteurs et fait naître un modèle de production spécifique, la nouvelle logique d'action publique induit une adaptation des stratégies. La fabrication matérielle de la ville se trouve affectée par ces changements. A la fois parce que la réglementation nationale a un impact sur l'offre mais aussi parce que les inégales capacités de négociation des collectivités avec les acteurs privés exposent davantage les villes petites et moyennes à une production de logements en décalage avec les attentes publiques / Housing production in France is at the heart of several academic debates concerning State intervention, private production models and local governance. In each of them, some authors have expressed the idea that western countries have been affected by a neoliberalization process since the 1970s. But our study of the fiscal aid to rental investment, which is one of the tools of national housing policy, shows the limits of this interpretation, especially in the 2000s. Based on a methodology combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, our research however shows that a new political economy of housing production is emerging. Along with decentralization, there are now two public authorities involved in regulating the market: the State by law and the local governments by negotiation with private parties. And this duality creates contradictions between national issues (especially macroeconomic) and local priorities. In this context, the property development sector has witnessed major changes: if State incentives have induced the emergence of new participants and of a specific model of production, the new public regulation implies a change in strategies. Urban production is concerned by these changes. Not only because State regulation has an impact on supply but also because the unequal ability of local governments to negotiate with developers make small and medium-sized cities more exposed to a gap between real housing production and public expectations

In february 2017 the maternity ward in Sollefteå was shut down. The citizens of the surrounding area, Ådalen, thus have more than two hours - with private transportation on narrow roads without phone connection - to the nearest maternity ward. The shutdown is a result of various developments in society, connected to larger structures of power that present these changes as natural and inevitable. This qualitative study explores the relationship between individual and structure by examining the area of Ådalen and its inhabitants’ access to maternity care. The emphasis lay on power dynamics within - and between - different structures and how these come to influence people’s everyday life. With ethnographic material collected through in depth-interviews and observations, the impact of these power structures are exemplified and discussed from the perspectives of a few individuals. The relevant structures are examined through three norms; a male norm, a neoliberal norm and an urban norm. The analysis problematize how the norms, through the conceptions of women, rurality and human values they reproduce, influence access to maternity care and limit the agency of the study’s participants. The analysis is based on power theories of both Foucault and Bourdieu. Foucault’s theories of subject and resistance are used to examine structural exercise of power and the informants’ collective actions and experiences. While Bourdieu’s theories of habitus, capital and field are used to analyze the informants’ individual perceptions of power. The power structures discussed are tied together by an intersectional framework, which enables a broader analysis of how these structures cooperate and strengthen each other. The study shows the complexity of power where the local movements challenge prevailing structures through mobilization and resistance. / I februari 2017 stängdes Sollefteå BB. Invånarna i det omgivande området, Ådalen, har därmed över två timmars bilfärd - med privat transport på smala vägar utan telefontäckning - till närmaste förlossningsvård. Nedstängningen av Sollefteå BB kan förstås som en konsekvens av olika samhälleliga förändringar, vilka är kopplade till större maktstrukturer som får denna utveckling att framstå som naturlig och oundviklig. Denna kvalitativa studie utforskar relationen mellan individ och struktur genom att undersöka Ådalen och dess invånares tillgång till förlossningsvård. Fokus ligger på makt-dynamiken inom, liksom mellan, olika strukturer och hur dessa påverkar människors villkor. Maktstrukturerna exemplifieras och diskuteras utifrån ett antal individers perspektiv, med etnografiskt material insamlat genom djupintervjuer och observationer. De för studien relevanta strukturerna undersöks genom tre normer; en manlig norm, en neoliberal norm och en urban norm. Utifrån dessa normer diskuteras hur informanterna relaterar till makt i kontexten av nedstängningen av Sollefteå BB. Analysen problematiserar hur de olika normerna genom den uppfattning om kvinnor, landsbygd och mänskliga värden som reproduceras påverkar tillgången till förlossningsvård, liksom handlingsutrymmet för studiens deltagare. Analysen utgår från teorier om makt av både Foucault och Bourdieu. Foucaults teorier om bl. a. subjekt och motmakt används för att analysera strukturellt maktutövande och informanternas kollektiva handlingar och upplevelser. Medan Bourdieus teorier om habitus, kapital och fält används för att förstå informanternas individuella erfarenheter av och uppfattningar om makt. De maktstrukturer som diskuteras knyts samman genom ett övergripande intersektionellt ramverk, vilket möjliggör en bredare analys av hur dessa strukturer samarbetar och stärker varandra. Studien visar en komplex bild av makt och maktutövning där de lokala rörelserna i Ådalen utmanar rådande maktstrukturer genom mobilisering och motstånd.

Fondée sur une démarche de terrain qualitative, cette thèse propose une analyse géographique de la pauvreté urbaine dans une des plus grandes villes du monde. La métropole de Jakarta, agglomération de plus de vingt millions d’habitants, s’affirme comme ville vitrine de la croissance économique de l’Indonésie et comme point relais de la mondialisation, où la pauvreté n’aurait, en somme, plus lieu d’être. Pourtant, en augmentant les situations de vulnérabilité de certaines populations, les dynamiques urbaines en œuvre contribuent à la mise sous tension de l’espace urbain.L’entrée par le concept de pauvreté en géographie permet de saisir la diversité des positions sociales et spatiales qui se conjuguent, se concurrencent et se négocient dans cet espace urbain, au gré des rapports de force en œuvre. Au-delà de la pauvreté en tant qu'état, il s’agit de prendre en compte les parcours individuels et collectifs liés au phénomène, en les insérant dans les trajectoires des lieux – depuis l’échelle du quartier à celle de l’aire métropolitaine.Plus que les seuls enjeux de définition, ce travail examine le rôle des représentations et des intérêts des groupes stratégiques dans la production de politiques urbaines profondément ancrées dans les idéologies dominantes, le néolibéralisme urbain notamment.Enfin, l’analyse croisée de plusieurs types d’espaces de la pauvreté à Jakarta et à Bekasi montre les disparités en termes d’appropriations et de pratiques de l’espace urbain. Ainsi, au-delà d’une dualisation de la société urbaine d’une métropole contemporaine, cette thèse pointe la segmentation des intérêts à agir des citadins considérés comme pauvres, selon leurs sentiments de légitimité et leurs modalités d’appartenance à la ville, ancrant alors la réflexion géographique dans un questionnement politique. / Based on qualitative methodologies, this PhD dissertation proposes a geographical analysis of urban poverty, in one of the biggest city in the world. The urban region of Jakarta counts more than twenty millions of inhabitants. It comes up as the showcase for economic success in Indonesia and a node of globalization, where one could expect the level of poverty to have decreased. Yet, current urban dynamics contribute to unsettle urban spaces increasing the vulnerability of poor people. The examination of the concept of poverty through a geographical lens allows to grasp the diversity of social and spatial positions and positionnings, from the neighborhood level to the metropolitan area. It helps also to investigate how they compete with each other and are (re)negotiated and interwoven under the influence of power relations. More than the mere situation of poverty, this work is based on a cross-analysis of individual and collective trajectories and spatial transformations. Further than the issue of defining poverty, this thesis explores the role of representations and the interest of stakeholders in urban policies related to mainstream ideologies, such as urban neoliberalism. Finally, a comparison between different types of poverty’s spaces in Jakarta and in Bekasi shows the strong differences in space’s appropriations and space’s uses. Beyond the idea of dualization of the urban society, this study aims to highlight the segmented interests of citizens, according to their sense of being legitimate in the city and their sense of belonging to the city. This shows how much the geographical inquiry is political.