In this investigation I discuss power relations between agricultural frontier colonists and the Nicaraguan State, within a framework of neoliberal environmental policies. In so doing, I analyze the origins of this relationship, construction and nature of the State, mestizos-peasants-colonists identity, migration to the agricultural frontier, and the space under contention. Under the pressure of the World Bank, the State has passed several environmental and indigenous rights protection laws. This legal framework involves evicting the colonists from indigenous territories and natural reserves. It has been a decade since the framework was passed, but the government has not fulfilled this duty. This fact raises question about the capabilities of the colonists to remain within those places and the willingness of the government to enforce the law. Between 2009 and 2014, I did ethnographic work and collected geographic information in Mayangna Sauni Bas and Mayangna Sauni Bu indigenous territories, located in the northwest region of Nicaragua. My findings reveal that the colonists are engaged in micropolitics relations with local mestizo power groups. These relations grant protagonism to the colonists to negotiate with the government those measures that they regard as unfair. I reached two main conclusions: the State has marginalized and racialized the colonists, and contradictory interests among the power groups that form the State contribute to these micropolitics relations. This dissertation argues the need to focus agricultural frontier studies in more inclusive and integral ways. Colonists have played the double role of being victimizers of indigenous people and their environmental resources, and victims of ambitions and discrimination from the State. The experiences that colonists, and peasants in general, have acquired through generations under abuses and violence are shaping their own knowledge and political standpoint. / text

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Background Suicidal behaviour among young people is one of the major public health problems in low-income countries; it is estimated that every year 70,000 young people take their lives and maybe 40 times as many attempt suicide. Nicaragua has the highest suicide rate among young people of all Latin and Central American countries. This thesis aims at examining: (1) suicidal expressions and their determinants among school adolescents in Nicaragua, (2) cross-cultural aspects on suicidal expressions comparing Nicaragua and Cambodia, (3) pathways to suicide attempts among young men, and (4) primary health care professionals’ perceptions of suicidal behaviour and mental health problems among young people. Method Paper I is a cross-sectional study of 368 school adolescents in Nicaragua using self-report instruments (Youth Self Report and Attitudes Towards Suicide). Paper II compares data from Paper I with corresponding data from a study of 316 adolescents in Cambodia using the same methodology. Paper III is a qualitative study based on interviews with 12 young men who have recently attempted suicide. Paper IV is a qualitative study with 12 primary health care professionals. Results Paper I: Among adolescents, suicide ideation during recent year was reported by 22.6%, suicide plans 10.3%, and suicide attempts 6.5%. Girls were significantly more likely to report suicidal ideation. Multivariate analyses showed that anxious/depressed syndrome (YSR), somatic complaints syndrome (YSR) and exposure to attempted or completed suicide in significant others were significantly associated with their own serious suicidal expressions. Paper II: There was no significant difference in serious suicidal expressions (plans and attempts) between countries, but milder suicidal expressions during past year were more common among Nicaraguan young people. Overall, mental health problems were more commonly reported in Cambodia, where adolescents scored significantly higher on almost all YSR-syndromes as compared to Nicaraguan adolescents, except for withdrawn/depressed syndrome among boys. The pattern of association between mental health problems and suicide plans/attempts differed between countries. In Nicaragua, all eight YSR-syndromes were significantly associated with serious suicidal expressions for both genders compared to only one syndrome among girls and two syndromes among boys in Cambodia. Paper III: A model of the pathways leading to suicide attempts among young men was constructed based on the informants’ experiences. Structural conditions such as poverty or single-headed families, along with normative expectations within a framework of hegemonic masculinity, were all involved to create a sense of failure and an inability to cope. Subsequent increased drinking and drug abuse as well as exposure to attempted and completed suicide among friends and family acted as triggers to their own suicide attempt. Paper IV: Primary health care professionals felt themselves that they lacked knowledge and competence when approached by young people with mental health problems. Misconceptions were common. They felt frustrated which made them either ignore signs of mental health problems or reject help-seeking young people. In practice, a common response from health care professionals was to refer the patient over to someone else, the “hot potato” strategy. Conclusions The prevalence of serious suicidal expressions among young people in Nicaragua is within the range reported from Western high-income countries. Health care professionals need to be aware that somatic complaints as such are related to an increased risk of serious suicidal behaviour among young people, and that those who have been exposed to the attempted or completed suicide of someone close are at increased risk of serious suicidal expressions also when there are no warning signs in terms of mental distress. The cross-cultural comparison lends support to the notion that both cultural specificity and universality characterize serious suicidal expressions, as suggested by several researchers. Whereas prevalence shows less variation between cultures, associated factors might behave differently as shown in the present study, calling for different preventive approaches. The interviews with young men who had attempted suicide tell us that not only difficult socio-economic conditions but also the normative expectations on young men need to be addressed to decrease their risk of suicide. Health care professionals need to be alerted that sometimes serious mental health problems are hidden behind help-seeking for more trivial reasons. There is a necessity of a more integral approach towards mental health problems in PHC, including integral training of staff. The continued involvement of the community, family and other institutions would be essential to develop the care further.

Two months of fieldwork was conducted during the summer of 2014 in Nicaragua, through qualitative interviews the aims was to investigate the Value Chain of dried mango and its potential as an alternative income source for livelihood improvements for households in Manzano Uno, Nicaragua. The idea to investigate dried mango in particular originates from a conversation in the spring of 2012 with Ben Orton, co- founder of local NGO Waves of Hope, who considered the idea after witnessing the huge amounts of ripe mango falling to the ground and rutting away during the peak season in Manzano Uno. The research problem in a bigger context is related to the debate on how developing countries, and rural parts in particular, are often excluded from the benefits that come with a globalized market economy, since they often lack the tools to participate or do so on unfavorable terms. The idea of a Value Chain Analysis is to detect where along the production line value is added to a product from raw to finished good. Income Diversification comes in to the investigation and contributes to the conclusion that it would be favorable for livelihood improvements to households in Manzano Uno to diversify income sources, to create more secure and higher quality income. The value chain analysis is mainly based on information provided by Sol Simple, an organic-fruit drying plant in San Ramon, Nicaragua and is one out of two fruit processing enterprises in the country. They have been growing every year and have positive expectations of the future. Dried fruit and mango in particular seems to have good prospects for future demand as export products and one important addition is the sustainable, organic and Fairtrade markets which all enable higher product prices and thereby enable bigger shares to go back to the local producers. The federal incentives in Nicaragua include focus on the foreign investment to the country and quantity secondary education, which is concluded to not always be quality education. The high share of investments and entrepreneurships from foreigners are explained by the high security profile in the country, fertile lands and the lowest minimum wage in the region.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Zugl.: Hohenheim, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1998--Freiburg i. Br.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-215). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Socio-Economico / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-16T01:56:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Neste trabalho foi proposto uma análise das realidades avaliativas no âmbito acadêmico das instituições universitárias de quatro países da América Latina: Brasil, Cuba, México e Nicarágua. A metodologia adotada baseia-se num tipo de pesquisa bibliográfica, de natureza descritiva e documental. Pelos resultados pode-se observar que Brasil e México têm estreita semelhança nos indicadores considerados no processo avaliativo, assim como na metodologia adotada. No caso de Cuba e da Nicarágua, os indicadores adotados têm estreita relação. Na metodologia se observa uma definição de participação mista no caso cubano e uma tendência maior à autoavaliação no caso nicaraguense. Nos quatro países, é considerado o uso de métodos tanto qualificativos como quantitativos no processo. Finalmente, são propostas uma série de variáveis e indicadores a serem considerados na formulação de um modelo avaliativo das atividades-fim da universidade nicaraguense.