This thesis examines Alutiiq stories of loss, disempowerment and distrust in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill crisis. It examines Alutiiq responses to the oil spill in relation to how, twenty-five years earlier, members of the same communities experienced the impacts of an earthquake crisis. The thesis describes how the 1989 oil spill crisis was associated with experiences of loss of cultural livelihoods, loss of cultural identities, environmental distrust, enhanced distrust of governments, and experiences of disempowerment, while, in contrast, responses to the earthquake were characterised by resilience and adaptability. Using evidence derived from discussions, interviews and participation in community life, as part of 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in two Alutiiq communities between September 2006 and September 2008, I argue that differences in Alutiiq responses to the two crises can be partly attributed to socio-political factors that characterised the aftermath of each of the disasters, in addition to the absence of culturally-specific knowledge and experientially-based adaptive strategies in the aftermath of the oil spill. Unlike earlier anthropological studies of the oil spill, this study compares Alutiiq responses to the oil spill with their responses to the earthquake crisis.

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This dissertation develops insights into subsistence related decision-making from the perspective of homeless and street involved young people themselves through 39 in-depth and life story interviews. The interviews provide insight into two important and underexplored questions: how the social organization of street spaces shapes street life and subsistence; and how the self is implicated in subsistence related decision-making. To address these questions the analysis develops a conceptual model based on field theory (Bourdieu 1984; Green 2008; Martin 2003) that conceptualizes “the street” as a collection of interlocking subfields—unique social terrains structured at the intersection of various social forces that position actors relative to one another and that orient actors towards particular approaches to street life. The core concepts of field theory—field, capital, and habitus—provide insight into how the unique social spaces of homelessness distribute resources, stratify actors, and provide discourses that frame practice. The analysis demonstrates the strength of this approach through case studies of three such subfields in Toronto. Further, the analysis extends the field framework, and contributes to research on the role of the self in street life, by examining how narratives influence the navigation of street spaces. Actors use narratives to make sense of their circumstances and to invest lines of action with a sense of personal meaning. This narrative perspective is integrated with a dual process approach to action (Vaisey 2009) that states that action is influenced by internalized dispositions formed through experience and upbringing (habitus), as well as through available cultural resources that underwrite and legitimize courses of practice. I extend this approach by considering how these two processes interact within narratives, and how the resulting interplay shapes how the homeless navigate the social spaces of homelessness.

The current study consists of a preliminary analysis of the faunal materials recovered from test pit excavations at Magubike (HxJf-01) and Mlambalasi (HwJf-02), two archaeological sites in the Iringa district of Tanzania. Both sites contain faunal materials from the Iron Age, Later Stone Age and Middle Stone Age, which is unique for this region and causes them to be particularly germane to the behavioural modernity debate. The analysis of the faunal materials employed a combined zooarchaeological and taphonomic approach designed to elucidate each site’s formational history and human behavioural component. Through the construction of a sound taphonomic framework, an initial understanding of the formational processes at both sites was achieved and insight into Iron Age human subsistence strategies was attained. The poor preservation of the Later Stone Age and Middle Stone Age faunal materials precluded an understanding of the human subsistence strategies employed during these periods. / Anthropology

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 4, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-84).

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Since the earlier 1970s the government of Mozambique has been carrying out legal, political, economic and institutional reforms which are culminating in the establishment of the current fisheries governance systems. An important achievement of these reforms is the political recognition the government has given to the importance of subsistence fishing and its incorporation into policy instruments such as the Fisheries Master Plan II (2014-2019) and the Artisanal Fisheries Development Strategy (2009-2015). In these policy documents, fisheries authorities put subsistence fisheries on top of priorities. However, the practice in Mozambique’s fisheries is indicating that, despite this recognition, subsistence fishers remain amongst the most vulnerable groups, particularly at district and village levels. The objective of this study is to understand the patterns of inclusion and exclusion of subsistence fishers from the fisheries governance spaces in Mozambique with particular emphasis on Palma district (Cabo Delgado province). The study uses the concept of Action Spaces to situate the nature of opportunities that are being created under these reforms. A critical finding of this study is that, the institutions for fisheries governance being created by the government at district and community levels are not creating a functional mechanism for subsistence fishers to participate, access opportunities, and bring their voices into decision-making systems. As a result, subsistence fishers are creating their own spaces which are based on informal structures and relations to sustain their livelihoods. The study resorts to the institutional governance insights to understand the factors that may determine the interactions between the formal and informal action spaces while improving the contribution of subsistence fisheries to the livelihoods and food security of the vulnerable groups.

In Paraguay's rural northeast, small-scale farmers, called campesinos, are targeted by the military as sympathizers for El ejército del pueblo paraguayo (EPP), an alleged terrorist group comprising only 15 - 80 members nationwide. Since 2013, President Cartes' administration has used a threat of rural insecurity to militarize campesino settlements that are peacefully resisting displacement from foreign agroindustry. This thesis considers perspectives from campesinos both living in the countryside and imprisoned in the national penitentiary to examine effects of increased militarization. Testimonies demonstrate that a discourse of rural terrorism serves as a legitimizing mechanism to criminalize and eliminate campesino movements as obstacles to agroindustrial expansion.

Magister Legum - LLM